My first trip to the Middle Kingdom and the second part of my international excursion.
Now there's a name with a nice ring to it, don't you think?
I'm was still in Hong Kong, freezing and the first major thing I came here for, its done and over with. The Dragon Gardens Sojourn is done. Initially intriguing, and ultimately, satisfying. The next part of the process was to contemplate, then conceptualize and finally commence on ideas for these kind people in Hong Kong.
But before that, a wonderful treat.
You see, other than the fact that these people from Hong Kong and the US are as kind and considerate as well as rich and, well rich, they also get to do amazing things, and they've extended an invitation to me. The American couple, managed to secure 2 extra tickets to go see a Lang Lang in China, and they've ever so graciously asked me to come along.
Wait, who?
Yea! That's exactly what I thought ... who? So I did what any person of the Net generation would do. I googled. And wow, did I found out who he was!
Lang Lang is a world class Chinese pianist, presently considered to be the finest in the Orient, possibly even the world, who has performed classical music in front of the likes of both presidents Obama and Bush, as well a host of other spectacular guests, ranging from diplomats to dignitaries, super stars to rock stars, and has played on every continent to world class audiences time, and time and time again. I'm not gonna keep on describing this man's unearthly musical talents and accomplishments, so to make things easy, and save space, time and effort, please just click on this link :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Lang_(pianist)
You'll get the picture soon enough.
I found out that this was the guy, that China hand picked to commemorate the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony back in 2008.
THIS was the guy.
- So how could I possibly say no?
- How could I possibly refuse an invitation to see the maestro perform and tickle the ivory keys in a world class performance centre in Shenzen, which is about an hour away from Hong Kong by train?
- How could I be discourteous to my kind, kind guests?
I'm a gentleman. Plus, it would have been so cool to see him perform in person. So it was confirmed. The plan was to meet the couple's nephew at the IFC in Hong Kong, and we were gonna rendezvous to catch a train together to Shenzen. We met at 1pm. Towering man he was, at 6'2", when I saw him, and he pretty much took care of everything, and the best part he spoke Mandarin and Cantonese, so all I did was tag along. Oh yes, so nice to just lay back.
So we took the train, had a good chat along the way, and whilst he napped in the train, I looked out. Looked out the train window, trying to enjoy everything as quickly as it whizzed by, the scenaries, the outskirts, the mountains and the skies.
The countryside was pleasant to say the least, with natural settings pretty much dominating the views from one end to another.
We eventually arrived at the train station in Shenzen, and after the routine immigration checks, we met up with the American couple. We were all excited, we were all thrilled. Excited about meeting up, excited about catching up and excited about tonite's performance. It was casual conversations all the way, till we reached in the middle of town.
I was in China!
I was in arguably the most dynamic country in the world! It hit me like a freakin' asteroid out of the blue, blue sky .. I was walking and savouring the sights and sounds on the roads in a city in China! Granted, its no Beijing or Shanghai, but hey, its a start and who knows, I mite end there too one day, but for the time being, this was cool.
China!
So we met, and first things first, we were off. Next on the agenda, lunch! But of course this being China, we needed something a little bit more exotic than the usual fare. So we decided on seafood, at some street peppered with seafood restaurants famous over the city for their bountiful harvest from the oceans, prepared as delectable cuisine for the traveller. And we arrived and we entered and we feasted. Man, what a selection of live food to choose from.
Vibrant crabs of red and orange, humongous lobsters of pink and maroon, alien - looking ceraphods with 8 legs ( or was it 10? ) , strangely vulgar looking elephant clam shells, bronze skin fishes with black spots, jelly fish - like soft scallops and a host of other weird, weird creatures from the deep were about to meet their untimely deaths so that we may dine on a feast of bizarre tastes on that fine Monday afternoon. Oh, and how we feasted.
Yes, life was good here in China. Well, for us travelers anyway.
after lunch, back to the hotel. it was time to take a rest, and we decided to rendezvous at the hotel lobby around 6.30pm to get to the concert later, and so i had a bit of free time to myself. so of course the first thing that i did was walk around the surrounding city areas just to have a look at the place. and well, to be honest here, there was nothing really all that spectacular to look at. lots of tall buildings, lots of big shopping complexes, lots of scattered retail lots and the usual stuff you'd find in an urban setting. i walked around, took some photos, and headed back to the hotel.
by 6.30, we were all set. all 4 of us had meet in the lobby, and we were off to the performance center in Shenzhen. Caught in the jam for a bit, but eventually we approached our destination, and as i saw glimpses of the venue from afar, i thought, "wow, what a building!"
from a distance, the building looked like a series of 3 distorted pyramids in white frames and clear glass, glowing like a lantern, through a transparent crystalline skin, supported internally by a yellow skeleton in the night ambiance, instantly creating a powerful appeal that magnetically draws you into the space.
as we approached, i was simply getting more and more excited.
excited about actually being present in the interior of this remarkable locale, and jumping at the chance to discover what the inside of this place must look like. and so, as soon as i entered, my eyes were wide open.
wide open to take in the wonder of the huge and elegant structures in a seemingly delicate arrangement of steel frames and trusses that appeared to be connected precariously in the air, through a humongous clear volume, containing a mixture of solid planes and empty voids, cleverly locked and lit together in a lattice net.
wide open to the the sense of openness and spaciousness of the environment within, in total awe of the view, where everything seemed alive, fragile and perilous, ready to collapse all at a moments' notice.
in architectural retrospect, as i was there, i was reminded of articles that i read when i was younger in design college stating that performance centres are designed to be as dramatic as the performances they house, and this place undoubtedly, lived up that intended ideal.
dramatic was the right word indeed.
ultimately, both the exterior and the interior of the performance centre looked like a concoction of spider webs interwoven together, held in place by randomly shaped and arranged white steel frames, occasionally inter positioned with elongated rectangular tubes in gold, and in rich detail, that seem to have fallen from the sky, and frozen into place upon hitting the ground. we were however rushing, and we had to move quickly, and after soaking in as much as i could, we were off to the performance hall itself.
"man, this was all so exciting. thrilling. electrifying,"
and upon entering the hall, it was another sight to behold. granted, it wasn't as spectacular as the main entrance area, but it wasn't without its charms. a simpler space no doubt, but just as wonderful to be in, and to sit comfortably to enjoy a show or two. this is where we would be seated to wait for the maestro himself to come and perform with an assembly of school children on stage and as soon as the show started, we were blown away.
there he was, Lang Lang, playing the piano, like a rock star on the ivory keys, surrounded by young children, probably between the ages of 4 to 12, who were unbelievably talented,playing along with him. to be honest tho, the performance itself was more like a tutorial session, where he would mentor the kids as they played along in mandarin, but that doesn't take away the awe one feels when being in the presence of a musical genius, doing what he does best. and doing it with a group of children who were well on their way of being musical geniuses and world class performers themselves.
the montage seemed appropriately complete.
and so, we sat there, enjoyed the show for about an hour or so, took as many photographs as i could, as usual and finally after everything was over, we departed. we left the hall on our separate ways, where the couple went back to the hotel and i followed their nephew back to hong kong, that very night itself.
i had momentarily contemplated on staying another day to see what shenzhen looks like in daylight, as i tried to see the city in the night within the silhouettes of the buildings cloaked in partial darkness, but instinctively, i didn't feel the need to do so. and so, i went back, by train to hong kong and with this guy as my companion. eventually we arrived back at hong kong station after taking a taxi, i was back home at sai wan at about 1am.
this amazing day was over and a sense of calm enveloped me as i recalled the events of the day.
started off in hong kong, took a train to shenzhen, made friends with a gentleman by the harbour, had lunch with an international couple feasting on strange delicacies, visited a world class performance centre, witnessed a genius piano playing maestro and back to hong kong in the middle of the night. this day truly was amazing. and the most amazing part ...
i was in china!
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