Update #6 - China Tour

Sunday, January 3, 2010, 11:00 pm local time

Sunday, January 3, 2010, 8:00 am Tucson Time

The last few days have been very full, but we have an evening off today after four evenings of concerts, giving me a chance to send you updates from Donna Kreutz, Linus Lerner and myself.

Best wishes,

Tim Secomb

Tour Manager

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Donna Kreutz writes:

“On the road again. I can’t wait to get on the road again. Making music with my friends. Just can’t wait to get on the road again.” – Willie Nelson

It is 5:20 a.m. as we gather in the lobby of the Silverlake Hotel in Dongguan. Our three concerts in South China are over and we now head north to Shenyang, crossing much of China once again. We leave by bus for the Shenzhen airport then will travel five hours to perform our fourth concert there at 7 p.m. tonight in the very modern Dongguan Yulan theatre, considered one of the top five in China.

We played an 8 p.m. concert last night. Once again the audience was most enthusiastic – a cheering, applauding crowd that gave us yet another a standing ovation. So far we are 4 for 4 – a good sign indeed. After the concert about a third of our group was tough enough to attend a dinner – which was reported to be the best meal of the tour to date, with beautiful platters of whole fresh fish. The majority of us opted to turn in for scant sleep.

Shenzheng is a new city of more than 10 million people. Like Dalian, this is a designated Special Economic Zone, burgeoning over the past decade. After three nights in Shenzheng we traveled in constantly heavy traffic by bus about two hours to Dongguan, another new city of roughly eight million people. We immediately noticed the refreshing greenery – blossoming plants along the freeway, colorful flower beds, manicured gardens and meticulously trimmed landscaping.

We check into the 26-story Silverlake Hotel, a grand ol’ dame with inlaid marble floors, circular stained glass ornamentation on the lobby ceiling, plus a iimposing dark green jade sculpture at least 10 feet high – intricately with bridges, temples, dragon turtles and many more details.

A few highlights of our time in South China:

• On New Year’s Eve day we had free time for excursions – to a swap meet in a historic area of the city, a treasure hunt of bargains and bargaining…to an Epcot-style theme park featuring cultural displays of many Chinese villages from every province, plus an area depicting China’s view of the world, complete with a replica of the Eiffel Tower…and shopping. Directions to the chopstick store and the three-story Chinese book shop: cross over the street using the pedestrian bridge, pass Starbuck’s and Papa John’s pizza, then turn left at the McDonalds. Problem was we were to turn at the third McDonalds after passing the second Starbucks. Along the plaza we passed a crowd watching Chinese men in red cowboy hats try to ride a mechanical bull and not get bucked off. This was a promotion for Joe One blue jeans.

• There is no energy shortage here. Shenzheng looks like “Las Vegas on steroids,” according to one of our musicians. At night sculptures, skyscrapers and everything in between are decorated with moving lights, changing from red to green, blue, white and purple. But take pictures early. The lights go out by 11 p.m. except on New Year’s Eve.

• Images of Linus are everywhere. His smiling image – with a backdrop of the Grand Canyon – is seen on theatre banners, huge ads on buildings, posters on pillars, four-color brochures and concert programs. Many of these marketing materials also include a photo of the orchestra – sometimes large enough to recognize individual players. In one instance, Linus’ photo is reversed, with the baton in his left hand, not his right.

• Food in our Shenzheng hotel was served buffet style with plenty of authentic Chinese dishes, plus some things aimed to please the Americans – like Lipton yellow label tea, baked beans, white bread for toast and French fries with ketchup. We have twice encountered chicken feet – once in soup and later as part of a lunch dish. One of the best dishes yesterday looked like green beans and octopus. An adventurous dinner realized it was not octopus, but very tasty eggplant. Our hotel lobby included an aquarium and tanks of fish, shrimp and lobsters. This is not for ambiance but for a high-end restaurant in the hotel. Each creature is priced. Another disconcerting reality: a couple in our group observed two crates of live ducks being hanging on display.

• All this travel on buses and planes, plus rehearsals, sound checks and concerts, lead several of us to seek out massage bargains. Some enjoyed spa packages in the city. In our hotel a full body massage was just $20. One young female masseuse worked deep wearing four-inch heels for a while, then nimbly kicked them off and practically flew Ninja-style up onto the massage table to continue delivering an out-of-this-world massage experience. The hotel spa was open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

• Unlike Dalian, not much is signed or translated into English in Shenzheng or Dongguan. Most hotel staff and shopkeepers are conversant in the very basics. Not many American tourists visit here. We are exotics. In turn, we are expanding on our vocabulary: I don’t speak Chinese sounds something like “wor boo-hway” and how much is that sounds like dwor-show chyen. Today’s favorite translation was on a moist towelette called a “wet turban.” Our paper cups of tea read “I Love Shenzhen Airlines.”

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Linus Lerner wrote on the Arizona Daily Star web site:

“SASO has been quite busy these last 3 days. The New Year’s concert in Shenzhen was again a great success and it was sponsored by Nissan. Apparently it was sold out because Nissan had bought all the tickets so you could not even get one unless you buy from the ‘black’ market, meaning the guys that bought tickets before and were selling them for more just before the concert just like what happens at La Scala in Milan and other European theaters.

“The orchestra played very well once again and we did not leave the stage without playing three encores. There was a feeling that they wanted more.The next day, Jan. 1st, we took a short bus drive to the neighbor city of Dongguan where we played at another amazing venue and with such great acoustics. They said it was supposed to be one of the best five theaters in China. It was indeed a treat to play there because so far it has been the best venue we played. We could hear every nuance of the orchestra and we sounded really good.

“The city of Dongguan was also quite impressive. Very modern and bright! To me it is a conbination of Washington, D.C., and Buenos Aires with the lights of Las Vegas. Lots of green and very well planned. I think most of the orchestra agreed that it was the most beautiful city we visited so far. The hotel there was quite interesting in terms of taste. It was comfortable but they could use some designer because I don’t think I ever stayed in a place where the combination of colors, carpet and furniture clash so much. The building was very modern but they had a theme for the hotel as if it was a ‘New York ’20s or ’30s hotel style’

“We left very early from Dongguan to the airport of Shenzhen where we took a flight to Shenyang back in the north of China. It was a long trip but we had a good time stopping in the middle of nowhere to change the flights. I can’t remember the name of the place but it was a short stop and then we were back in the airplane and arrived in Shenyang early afternoon.

“Shenyang was yet another surprise for the orchestra — very cold!! The temperature was -28 Celsius. Not sure about Fahrenheit but like -12!! You just step outside and you freeze. Quite different than Arizona!

“The hotel was probably the worst we stayed so far although some people thought it is charming and everyone got a suite.

“We performed last night at the Liaoning Theater, which is also quite impressive but old and very cold, too, although they had the heater running. We had a good audience and they seemed very cold as we started playing but they warmed up after a while and again we did not leave the stage before three encores and a standing ovation.

“Now we are almost about to leave for our last city, Beijing. We are taking the bullet train early afternoon and everyone is excited about it. I can say that this trip has been really amazing so far and SASO is a great group to travel with. We are already thinking where we go next? ;-)

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Tim Secomb wrote:

Earlier this evening we arrived by train in Beijing, in the midst of the heaviest snowfall seen in Beijing in years. We are staying in the Poly Plaza Hotel, in the same building as the Poly Theatre where we will perform tomorrow evening. It is a beautiful hotel and the atmosphere is lively and cosmopolitan. An orchestra from Vienna performed in the Poly Theatre this evening and members of both orchestras found themselves bumping into each other in the elevator.

The train ride from Shenyang to Beijing was an adventure. We were delayed in our departure from the hotel because the baggage truck was late arriving. We arrived at the train station only 45 minutes before departure time, but we had to line up and go through a frenetic security check for cases and then find our way through throngs of people to the train. There was quite a deal of pushing and shoving but with our cellos, percussion cases, and the tall young guys in our party, we were more than a match for the locals and we made it to our reserved seats on the train with about ten minutes to spare. Then there was the challenge of stowing all of our cases and equipment on the train, where every seat was filled and many people were riding without assigned seats at the ends of each car. The bullet train ran non-stop to Beijing, taking about four hours, through a snow-covered landscape.

On our arrival in Beijing, we joined a tremendous river of people surging towards the exit of the station. Some of our group were washed up on the opposite bank of this river and could only wave to the rest of us across the flood. After a while, the human river subsided a little and we were reunited. We exited and saw the exterior of the impressive station building outlined in colored lights with heavy snow falling. It was a fairy-tale scene. Fortunately after hiking a couple of hundred yards through the snow, we found real buses waiting to deliver us to the hotel.