Day 6 - Terra-cotta Warriors

Today we visited the Terra-cotta Warriors of the Qin dynasty.  The area was a designated tomb for the emperor in the year 200 BC.  At 13 years old, the emperor decided that he wanted an entire city, and a legion of soldiers buried with him to protect him in the afterlife.  The tomb area is a total of 54km² and contains the largest pyramid, by area, on earth.  Within this area the emperor had buried clay statues of an entire lifesize army, including headquarters.  It took 38 years to complete, and was finally finished two years after the emperor’s death.  The warriors, however, were only found in 1974 by a farmer digging a well.  No mention of such a thing was ever written in the official record of the time, so this find was a complete surprise.  The scale and number of this army is extraordinary.  What’s more wondrous is the sheer audacity of the vision to have this built.  I wonder what we would tell our 13 year-old kids now if they had asked for anything like this?

We had our chance to visit a factory where they make replicas of these statues, with the option to buy later, of course.  I have to say, the Chinese are amazing sales people.  Some of you will be getting great gifts.

Throughout all of this, it was easy to see the pride that the Chinese people place in their ancient history.  It’s difficult for us, as Canadians, to relate to something so old and ancient, as an artifact of our own personal history.  The Great Wall, the old city of Xi’an, the tombs and the Forbidden City, (which we’ll see tomorrow) were built not only to provoke awe, but stand the test of time for the descendants of an entire people.

After this we went to an art museum back in the city of Xi’an, where we got to try our hand at calligraphy using paint and brushes.  The curator gave us some lessons on basic calligraphy and had all of us actually try and paint some.  Some of them weren’t bad.  It allowed everyone to see the complexity and inner meaning of several Chinese characters.

Finally, after a long day of sight-seeing, it was time to make our way to the train station for our overnight trip to Beijing.  The sheer number of people in the station was nothing like we had ever seen.  There were people from corner to corner.  Our guides (who by the way, are nothing short of amazing and knew the best way to navigate our group through this maze) had already loaded our luggage earlier in the day so that we wouldn’t have to deal with it.  A very wise move.  I can’t imagine the chaos there would have been if we had had our luggage with us as well.  They had purchased subway sandwiches for all of us (yes Subway), and expertly navigated us through the station and onto the train.

We were given sleeper cabins, with 4 beds to a room in 2 cars.  Apparently, these were the absolute top of the line cars on the trains.  Other cars only had seats, and even several were standing room only.  Imagine, standing all night long in a crowded train car.  We were told that train tickets are so scarce, that people can camp out for up to a week at the ticket windows to get a ticket, or if they’re lucky, purchase a scalped ticket from someone else.  Our guides had actually purchased an extra ticket for some lucky person to share their cabin with.  Generous indeed.

Our train left Xi’an at 7:30pm, travelled all night, and arrived in Beijing at 6:30am.  Most everyone fell asleep instantly.  What a day it was.

Day 5 - The Cycler's Guide to Xi'an

We left the rain of Shanghai and Hangzhou for the sunny and warm city of Xi'an in the heart of China.  This city was mile one for the ancient silk road for hundreds of years, and earned an international reputation because of it.  Roughly six hundred years ago, it was decided that a wall should be built around the city, to protect from invasions.  We thought it would be a good idea to bike on this wall - what a ride.

The wall is several metres tall and 12 metres wide at the top.  Originally, soldiers on horses would patrol along the top of the wall.  It surround the entire old part of the city, and is built in a large rectangle.  The entire wall is 13.6km long.  Nowadays, it has became a great tourist location, and a place for the local people to just go for a walk or bike ride above the hectic city.  The wall wasn't as populated as I thought it might be, and biking it was a fantastic way to see the entire city.  It was truly stunning.

After our ride, it was time for lunch.  And again, the food was amazing.  And for some reason, we were the only people in the restaurant!  It seems to be a recurring theme.  The food was amazing.  All of our meals have been nothing short or excellent.

After lunch, it was concert time.  We were taken to the Xi'an Concert Hall.  After dropping off our belongings in the dressing rooms we headed for the stage.  I could literally hear everyone's jaw drop as the choir upon entering the hall.  It was beautiful and sounded amazing.  We just don't have venues like this in Winnipeg.  After giving the kids a minute to get their bearings and take the ubiquitous tourist picture, it was rehearsal time.  And the kids truly did their best work of the tour here.  Leanne was also in her glory, being able to play on the world's best piano, a Fazioli.  I believe there are only one of these in Canada.  So it's a huge privilege to be able to play on one here.

We took the opportunity for a number of pictures of the choir, and then it was off to bed.  Tomorrow we visit the Terracotta warriors!

Day 4 - Singing in the Rain

Today started off great with breakfast in our hotels revolving restaurant on the 34^th floor. J Breakfast ranged from cereal to eel rolls, and bamboo shoots to cold cut intestines. I’m sure we’ve all tried at least one new thing every day, just in the food department!

We checked out of our hotel and started our Hangzhou adventure! We started with our wonderful tour guide, Joe, telling us a bit of the history of Hangzhou and telling us our plans for the day ahead. Our first stop was the Bamboo Forest Park. It was pouring rain and chilly but everyone seemed to have a blast. The sound of the rain, the sight of the shoots and trees, the smell of fresh, clean air and the river that ran parallel to the path left us all in awe.

Rain in the bamboo forest.  Here come the umbrellas.

After a quick bus ride to the tea garden, and a demonstration of how the tea was made, we were able to dry off and warm up with a hot cup of fresh green tea [which apparently cures everything, we were told].

Next, we headed to a restaurant to try some local cuisine, it was delicious to say the least. The restaurant was situated in a museum, and one of our meals came with a chicken head to add some fun and excitement.

After waiting for the rain to slow down, we were able to go to our final activity, a boat ride on West Lake. Every which way you looked had a completely different feeling. Hangzhou city on one side, a bridge on the other, and misty mountains all around us, the views were breathtaking!

When we got off the boat we had to get to the buses, and head on our way to the airport. We said goodbye to our tour guide, and went to check in our luggage. After waiting for a bit we got to go have our dinner in the airport, this meant everyone had to go to McDonalds, apparently. It was all around a fun process, waiting in line and trying to order between the three burger choices available and the minion colored ice cream. When we all finished, we headed through security to our gate, B97, where we are now. We’re currently waiting for the time of our flight to be announced, because it has been delayed due to the weather conditions. Cross our fingers that we take off soon, but either way, it truly has been the perfect day in Hangzhou. 

Katrina Stratton

Gabrielle Thalhammer

Our plane finally arrives

Waiting for luggage to arrive in Xi'an

Day 3, Silk and the Hangzhou Angel Philharmonic Choir

After being here a couple of days, one things is clear.  The internet in China is really spotty, and sometimes impossible to get on.  So for those keeping up with this blog, the slow postings is not for a lack of trying to post, it's just really hard to get connected and then bypass all the blocks.  All the kids have noticed that too.  But there are ways :)

Anyway, I have to say that yesterday was an absolutely incredible day.  The morning began with a visit to a silk museum in Shanghai.  Wow.  The things that a worm can produce.  We were shown the life cycle of a silk worm and even able to hold some worms in our hand - if we really wanted to.  They showed us how they obtain the silk from the cocoons and create thread, and then how that gets turned into comforters and blankets and clothes.  After that, we were able to actually browse their store and buy as much silk as we wanted (of course).  Some of us went away with pretty good hauls, as the prices don't even compare with back home.

Then we visited the Yun Garden.  A beautiful little historical grounds in the middle of Shanghai, along with shops and older buildings.  A great peek into old China.

Then it was off to Hangzhou, a 3hr bus ride west, taking us out of Shanghai.  Hangzhou is reputed to be one of China's most beautiful cities.  Unfortunately for us, it rained the entire time we were there - making it difficult to get a full view of the city.  But once we saw where we were singing, no one cared about the weather.

The concert hall is an absolutely beautiful building in the heart of Hangzhou, and is a phenomenal place to sing.  The acoustics are fantastic.  However, we were a little taken aback by the extremely steep and narrow risers, which we ended up not using.  The main entrance of the building is exceedingly grand and sparked awe in everyone.

We shortened our program because we were doing a combined performance with the Hangzhou Angel Philharmonic Choir - considered one of the best children's choirs in China.  They had sat in on our rehearsal and paid attention to what we were doing.  Both Philip and I had great discussions with several area choir directors about repertoire, technique, etc.  It was great making new connections with colleagues around the world.

The concert began with PTV performing the first half.  The 2nd half began with the children's choir.  And oh my, were they amazing!!  They looked absolutely adorable on stage and their music was extremely well done.  I was completely floored that a children's choir - grades 3s and 4s, could perform repertoire like that so accurately and convincingly.  The girls choir followed and sounded equally impressive and looked beautiful to match.  PTV was able to sit in the hall and watch, as the venue reserved the best seats in the house for us.  All of our choristers took note and our second half was the best I have ever heard our choirs sound.  It was such a joy to be a part of that.  At the end of the concert we combined the choirs together to perform "Mo Li Hua," which garnered just as much enthusiasm here as it did in Shanghai.  All the choristers exchanged gifts on stage, got to know each other, took selfies, and left the hall feeling like they had just experienced something greater than themselves.  It created an incredible buzz in our choirs.  And this is what tours are all about.

Day 2 - Buildings, Buildings, and more Buildings

Our first full day in Shanghai began with a tour of the downtown area.  Some of the tallest buildings in the world are here, and Shanghai boasts over 6000 buildings at 18 stories or taller.  With a working population of around 21 million people, the shear size of the city is overwhelming.  What follows is an account of the first day of our tour one of our choristers by Catherine Roffey.

This was our first full day in Shanghai. After a full 24 hours of travelling we were glad to have a later wake up call. Breakfast at the Jiu Long Hotel was a mixture of familiar and new foods. There were many foods that we were all familiar with, like bacon and eggs and toast. There were also many traditional foods that we obviously were not so familiar with, like interesting pork buns, soups, salads and noodles. It looked more like a dinner buffet and less like a breakfast.

Saturday was our first day of sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Jin Mao Tower, currently the third highest tower in Shanghai. Our visit started with the elevator ride to the 88^th floor. The elevator travels the length of the building in under 45 seconds at a speed of 9 metres per second. But it is so smooth that you couldn’t even feel the speed. Once at the top we had a total bird’s eye view of Shanghai. There were binoculars that you could look of to get a detailed view of the city and three or four little gift stations to buy little souvenirs.  There was a window at the centre of the tower where you could look straight down 33 stories to a view of a lounge on the 56^th floor.  Absolutely amazing!

View down the centre of the tower.  From the 88th floor to the 56th.

Our next stop was to an area of Shanghai called the Bund. We got to walk along the water front of the Huangpu River. Something that we all found was that many local people wanted to take our picture, or even have their pictures taken together with us.  Particularly those of us with blonde hair.  After some time wandering the water front to take photos we all gathered together and held a very informal performance. We drew quite the crowd by singing “Kom!”  As we gathered together for our first group photo of the trip, many other local people also took the opportunity to take our picture as well.  And a number of them tried to photobomb our little public photo session as well – like sneaking into the front row.  It was actually really funny.  It was an interesting experience.

We then headed to a local restaurant for lunch. It was an amazing meal, as usual. After lunch we headed to Heluting Concert Hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for a rehearsal. Outside of the hall was a huge screen with an older photo of the choir, and inside the music hall our name was displayed on a large LCD screen in the hall.  We felt a little bit like celebrities.

Rehearsal felt very long and we were extremely restless. We were still dealing with jetlag. At our break we walked around the corner for a boxed dinner which was really just classic cafeteria food. We didn’t have a choice of what was inside. But it was good. It was then time for our first concert of the tour.

Shanghai Music Conservatory.  Preparing for rehearsal

The first half of the concert went very smoothly. At intermission some little children wanted their pictures taken with the choir, and brought a banner and stuffed pandas with them as gifts. After we took the photo they gave the pandas to some of the girls. Mr. Lapatha took one and it is now our mascot. The second half went just as well as the first half. The audience was thrilled to find out we were going to do an encore in the first place, but when they discovered it was “Mo Li Hua,” (a very meaningful piece for them) they were super excited. They loved it. Some audience members even sang along!  Later that night our courier, Terry, told us that we should be confident with our Mandarin. At the end of the concert Dr. Sawatzky, Mr. Lapatha, and Ms. Leanne were given absolutely huge bouquets of flowers. It was such a pleasant surprise to everyone. Once we made it back to the hotel everyone was just about ready to pass out. It was excellent way to end our first day of tour 2015 in Shanghai.

Billboard outside the concert hall at the Shanghai Music Conservatory

Day 1 - Travelling to the other side of the world!

It’s been a day full of travelling.  Leaving for the Winnipeg airport at 4:30am from home, you feel that there can’t possibly be anyone else up at that hour.  Yet when we got to the airport, it was full of people getting set to travel the world.  That’s how it was this morning.  We all arrived excited, nervous, anxious, sleepy, and ready for this tour to begin.  Parents were seeing their kids off, and kids were getting to know their chaperone groups and already scheming about what they were going to do on the tour.  We all knew, this was going to be a great adventure.

The flight to Vancouver was uneventful, which is just as well.  Everyone got choose from a fairly narrow selection of on board movies and snacks.  Once in Vancouver we had three hours before our next flight.  I don’t think anyone took the time to catch up on any sleep.  We were all saving that for the flight to Shanghai.  However, there was an inordinate number of singers getting a bite to eat at A&W upon arrival at 8am.  Their metabolisms are a little higher than mine I think.

In a word, the flight to Shanghai was long.  11.5 hours, travelling at nearly 1000 km/h, the sun never went down.  We were all excited to fly on Air Canada’s new and much talked-about Dreamliner airplane, the Boeing 787.  Other than some fancy mood-lighting, entertainment options at each seat, plugin abilities for personal devices, crazy curved wings, and futuristic tinting abilities on all the windows, it’s still much like any other plane.  And 11.5 hours in one seat is still a long time.

We loaded into our two tour buses and headed for the hotel followed by dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant.  Everything was already prepared for us and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.  A great way to start the tour!

Tour Starts Tomorrow!

Cantemus and PTV Men have been preparing the entire year for this tour, and finally it is here.  The flight leaves tomorrow morning at 7am.  There's one stop in Vancouver before the direct flight to Shanghai.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we're incredibly excited for this tour.  

I've put together a map of our destinations.  It's colour coded by the day of the tour, just to make it easier to differentiate the days.  The first stop is in Shanghai.  We arrive July 3 at 2:25pm.  Keep in mind that China is 13 hours ahead of Winnipeg, so most of our tour will happen when everyone at home is sleeping.

See you at the airport!