Serving the world

Having just got back from mainland China, the first concert back in Taiwan was in a place called Miaoli. It was at a college for students who were mostly studying something to do with the medical profession. I met some students who were studying childcare, others who were studying to become opticians and many others were studying nursing or medicine.

Personally I found it quite humbling to think that we could perform our music for 2000 or more students who are going on to take the kinds of jobs that make this world a better place! I know we all have a responsibility to bring something positive to whatever environment we are placed in, but it was quite a strong feeling to see so many students who wanted to dedicate their study and then work to helping others.

I hope that our music was in some way an encouragement to them as it was certainly inspiring for me to go there, all the best to the students of 仁德 college, Miaoli!

Mainland

Well, having been all over Taiwan again since my recovery, enjoying a visit to a small island called 'Xiao Liu Qiu' (sorry for the pinyin) and also to 橋頭 where I intend to return to race their karts, the time came to go to Mainland China. This was something I'd been nervous about for a while, not because it was unknown, actually I was there myself in March, but one person with a small suitcase is quite different from 3 people with instruments!!

We had to land in HK, get an express visa immediately, the next afternoon rush to Guangzhou, be in the city centre for an evening meeting, then head out to a university campus in the countryside area. The next morning we had to rush to Shenzhen, stay the night there and the next day take a day trip to HK to attend another meeting (going back to Shenzhen in the evening). This was all for government meetings in each place, so it felt quite annoying to be carrying all the band's equipment around with us. Definitely one of the funny moments was walking into the Guangzhou meeting, full of suits all listening to a lecture about the economy of the Guangdong province, when suddenly the doors open and a band comes crashing in (quite late) with all their gear. It was quite an unlikely scene.

Well, we did have 2 concerts at the end of the trip, both in Shenzhen, largely thanks to our friend Liu Yi, so that seemed to make the trip worth doing I think. Both gigs went well, especially the first one and we were also invited onto one of the biggest radio stations for an interview (going out to the city of over 10 million people so that makes it bigger than London).

So China was definitely a high pressure trip in some ways, but it finished much better than it started and no doubt we'll be heading back there at some point. Having said that, coming back was also a very good feeling :).

Mainland

Ill abroad

Well, I hope I don't bore my readers (all 2 of you) with the news that I've been ill as you probably all already know.
Anyway, not harm in documenting it, not least to say a major thanks to my host family Jimmy and Kristy for making sure that I'm still here and still able to eat and walk and hopefully drum (soon).

The main cause of the illness is something I don't know, probably H1N1 as that's quite widespread at the moment and most symptoms seemed to match (although I could swear that it's a stronger variant than the one people had in England back in July from what they described).

Anyway, after a week's rest, Kristy cooking me lots of rice soup and some various kinds of medicine then I'm beginning to get back to normal and feel like going outside again. Unfortunately for the other Transition members I had to let them down for an important gig, but thanks to our Korean friend Ko I think things seemed to go well (he stepped into the breech, although hopefully didn't break it...).

So apart from being ill, what's up, ah yes, on the day of getting ill, thank God I was still able to go to see David Tao's concert in Taipei! Thanks to Diana for getting the tickets, it was an occasion to remember. David Tao was the first Taiwanese singer I ever heard (back in autumn 2002) and I've been trying to see his live show ever since, finally the dates worked out this time and it was definitely the show to see!! He just had a five piece rock band and the songs from the new album really flew in that setting. For those few hours I was able to forget that I was starting to feel ill and enjoy the fact that I was in the best David Tao concert this side of Hei Se Liu Ding!!!

Sorry that there's an ugly photo of me looking ill, but photos at the concert were not allowed and I like to obey rules, sorry.