Sunday, September 3, 2006

The Malaysian Review Part II

Here are the ones about me & the Chinese etudes:
"We thought you were playing four instruments up there."
"I never thought the piano could sound like that... so many instruments."
"We've not heard pieces like that before and seen the piano treated this way."

I'm glad I accomplished what I wanted to communicate to the audience. Those were the remarks I was hoping to hear. Maybe there is a chance for the piano to be loved in Malaysia, not just played for exams.

Friday, September 1, 2006

Going to the Taiping Zoo

Now, now.. yes.. I've not been to this zoo since I was five. And for good reason too, the last time I was there, a monkey attacked me. Funny, yeah yeah!!

Sheri: Going to the zoo with you guys is like walking into a grocery store. How many things do you guys eat? (Yes, we did point at all the animals and plants that we'd eat given the chance and given a chef.)

Highlights at the zoo include:
1. Annoying a king cobra so much that it flared its hood. No one likes to be woken up rudely!
2. Being approached by a lovely deer, begging for some attention. Bright eyes and a lovely coat. This was some Bambi!
3. The sun bear showed us how well it could balance itself by pacing to and fro .. maybe about only 6" wide before it'd fall into the little moat in its enclosure.
4. Orang utans are smart animals. One of them put on a great show for us, by waving a leaf and then getting her partner to join her.

Well, after all maybe the animals found us to be just as or more amusing. Silly humans!

Malacca, July 23

We arrived in the historic city of Malacca and were hosted by Dr. Francis Yip. We found out that the sanctuary in Malacca Wesley also had pretty good acoustics. We were visiting when it was also Youth Sunday so they were in charge of the worship service as far as all the music was concerned.
Our hotel was in the historic district and it was quite an experience to walk around that area. We saw an iguana swimming in the river and I guess, it probably thinks of the vehicles that pass by as its lunch cart. There was a night market in the next street and they sold some pretty interesting items.


Performing in the sanctuary.


Dinner party and informal performance at Dr. Yip's home.



Mr. & Mrs. Taylor presented with a painting by Malaysian artist, Jehan Chan. A gift from Francis and Gillian Yip.

We had an unfortunate event in Malacca. Our borrowed Merc had a window that was smashed and a document folder was taken. However, nothing of value was stolen and we had to deal with a slight inconvenience of replacing the window. Then, on the 24th we were off to Penang Island.

Travel Tips - NO Liquids allowed!

Alright.. it was awful to travel under those restrictions as it changed a week before I was supposed to come back to the USA. I had to do some repacking and figure out how to take care of myself for that 36-hr journey.

No toothpaste allowed? Bring this instead, Listerine Pocketpacks & toothbrush.

No gel deodorants? Solids are fine, talcum does the job too.

No facial cleansers/moisturizer? Ponds or Olay Daily Facials.. they are dry. Check to make sure it's alcohol-free if you have dry skin. I actually used a plain fragrance-free, dye-free lipbalm as a moisturizer. It worked!

No liquid lipgloss, that included Blistex & Carmex jars? Solid lipgloss.

No antiseptic or anti-itch creams? I was attacked by mosquitos as you can see in my earlier posting.. I found 24-hr anti-itch insect bite patches made by Hansaplast, Germany. Thank goodness for those, I survived my journey without scratching.

For the latest travel announcements & what you can and cannot bring, check out the TSA website. Here's to air travel of the 21st century!!

Friday, August 4, 2006

Only in Malaysia

Mosquitoes on stage and in the green room. It was rather comical for everyone to watch us slap them off on stage. Repellent was just as important as music and water.

Pop cans opening during "Flower Drum" kinda added to the festivity of the piece.

An intermission that never really was.

Muslim prayer call during the concert and Mr T singing without a mic, still audible to the audience.

Can a recital end at 10:30pm and the audience still wants an encore because the night is still young.