So Hannah has been the Atlas of blogging for the past 8 months or so, carrying all of the weight of the the Dalager Experiment's content and publicity. But now it's time that I pull my act together and contribute to the blog society once again, too. So here's rare post from me, Jacob Dalager.
While Hannah was off doing her solo adventure in Melaka, I went to Hong Kong and Macau for a 3-day weekend. Hong Kong and Macau are "Special Administrative Regions" of China that have recently been handed over from their colonizers, England and Portugal, respectively. They are islands and loosely connected peninsulas off the southern coast of China. The "SAR" status means that they are relatively independent. Each has their own government and currency, separate from mainland China. But gradually, they will be more and more integrated with mainland China. Hopefully they will never lose their unique qualities and charm though.
The purpose of my visit was more business than pleasure, so that's why Hannah and I opted to part ways for this trip. There are three professional orchestras there: the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Macau Orchestra. And Southeast Asia (and extending to southern China in this case) being a very small professional brass playing community, I thought it would be wise to meet some of the musicians in these groups, take some lessons, hear some concerts, and do some general "networking." Hey, maybe one of these groups will need a substitute or extra trumpet sometime, and I'm cheaper to fly in than someone from the US, Australia or Europe.
So I took the airport express train in to Hong Kong on Thursday night, April 25th, and immediately felt more like I was in New York City than in China. I checked in to the Apple Hostel, located in the Chungking Mansions, one of the most interesting places I've been in Hong Kong. It's an old block of buildings designated for residential use and about 4,000 people live there. Despite this, there are still many, many hostels, businesses, stores, money changers, and restaurants. An estimated 120 different nationalities live there, predominantly South Asian, Arab, and African immigrants, an interesting combination in the heart of Hong Kong's luxury shopping district. There are a lot of other curious things about the place, too, such as "20 percent of the mobile phones recently in use in sub-Saharan Africa had passed through Chungking Mansions at some point." It's a crazy place with lots of people trying to sell you fake Rolex's, chicken tikka, and hostel rooms. My room was dirt cheap (for Hong Kong prices anyways), and adequate.
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| View from the Star Ferry |
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| Bed and practice room; all a boy needs |
The first night I met up with one of the trumpet players from the Hong Kong Sinfonietta for dinner at a Vietnamese placee. He was very friendly and we had a good time. I spent most of my spare time practicing in my room with a mute in. Boring, I know, but I had an audition coming up. Friday, I practiced a bit more, explored the giant music shop down the street, and then met some the members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic for lessons. They were really good teachers and very kind as well. Then I went to their performance of Dvorak's Second Cello Concerto and Brahms 2. It was a really great performance. And I ended the night by taking the Star Ferry back across the harbor for a beer on the docks with some orchestra members.
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| Post concert beer by the docks |
Macau is a very interesting place. It's only an hour-long ferry ride from Hong Kong (ferries run 24-7 to help gamblers get there). It looks like you've stepped in to Lisbon, but everything is written in Chinese. It was an old Portuguese colony, and they did a lot of work to make it look like home. Unlike pretty much anywhere else in this part of the world, there are actually a lot of big, old churches everywhere. The Jesuits came here and built a ton them starting even almost 500 years ago. The other side of Macau, is that it is the "Las Vegas of the East." There are dozens of casinos that make billions and billions off of all the (mainly Chinese) gamblers that come in (casinos are not allowed in mainland China or Hong Kong, so they all come here for the action). These two faces of Macau do not intersect though (casinos along the coast, and old buildings are around the city square more inland), so I was able to enjoy the European feel without the casinos' din. I met up with the hilarious French principal trumpet from the Macau Orchestra. We had lunch at a delicious hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant. And then we went back to the little school where he teaches a little bit for a lesson. Then I had some extra time so I explored some of the old churches of Macau. Then it was off for more networking over Chinese dumplings with the 2nd trumpet of the orchestra. I enjoyed their free concert of Kodaly, Wagner, and more Brahms at yet another church in Macau. I finished the evening with a martini at a very nice bar with some of the orchestra and conductor. I was also surprised to run in to the the tubist and one of the bassoonists from the Singapore Symphony in Macau, who were subbing in for the concert.
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| Macau City Square |
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| Wait, where am I? |
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| The ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral. If you look close there are both gargoyles, saints, and Chinese dragons on the facade. |
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| Seriously, where am I? |
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| Wait, it looks like Europe, but I can't read the signs... |
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| Huh? |
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| Seriously now, this is China?? |
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| Macau Orchestra post-concert hang |
My last day before my flight, I had do to something touristy in Hong Kong. The famous "Big Buddha" is on the same island as the airport, so that seemed to make sense to check out. It's the world's largest seated Buddha. And I can't help but wonder that if he just stood up, would he be the biggest Buddha of them all? He's made of bronze and sits on top of a giant hill on Lantau Island near a couple of monasteries. The best way to get to it is via cable car. It's often very cloudy and drizzly in Hong Kong (no wonder the British wanted to colonize it!), but the view was still great. Then it was back the airport and home before teaching early on Monday morning. It was a great trip but it was great to get back and see Hannah again, too.
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