Beijing

We flew to Beijing from Wuhan to catch a flight home with tim for a short hiatus.  We stayed in a beautiful Hilton ( I posted a variety of pictures for Kendra's viewing!)  They had a wonderful restaurant with a very entertaining tea "somolier".  In the morning, on the way to the airport, we had the driver take us to see the Olympic Stadium.  There seems to be a ton of construction left to do, but it was awesome to actually be there and see it as well as the aquatic center and other buildings.  The Beijing Airport is huge and beautiful.  The flight was uneventful (thank heavens!)

Wuhan

We flew Tuesday April 15 to Wuhan and got to our Hotel a little after 2 pm, with just enough time to wait for our room assignment, throw our suitcases in and be at a press conference by 4 pm!  Needless to say we we're pooped! The Wuhan Holiday Inn has a great Western restaurant so Matt was thrilled to have a ribeye and french fries!!! After dinner we thought it wise to run to a store to get snacks for the week! That ended up taking a while as we went exploring through a Chinese Wal-Mart!  The next day Matt had Classroom hours 12-5.  Afterward we went for a walk behind the hotel along the Yantze River! What an adventure that turned out to be!  We found a park with the story of Yu and how he conquered the floods of the Yantze.  We ended up reading (walking) the story from end (Gun's life, Yu's father) to beginning (all about Yu), but still the parks in China are sooo nice it didn't matter.

Thursday we walked across the Wuhan Changjiang Bridge over the Yangtze River and made it to the Yellow Crane Tower which had incredible views and other pavillions to visit. On the walk home evening came fast and beautiful.  Friday the kids went to the theatre after school for a sound check a quick rehearsal/meeting for opening night in a new theatre, the boys were thrilled to have their own dressing room.  After the show the presenter put on a fabulous dinner for the cast and crew.

Monday was a "Golden Day"...No school, no play, no travel...YAY!  Tiffany and Emily took us (along with Zachary and Uncle David) to East Lake which is a National Park of China and we got a peek at Moa's summer home.  When we got there we rented a bicycle built for two and rode around.  We went into an "ice house", Matt, Emily and Zach went on a roller coaster, drove go-carts, fed coy fish, tried to walk in a hamster-ball on the lake, saw some women rehearsing dance, and played in the park (which happened to be full of exercise equipment...little did they know!)  We also visited a museum about Qu Yaun one of the most famous Chinese poets. Tim came out the last weekend and enjoyed the show.

Chongqing Theatre

 The Chongqing Theatre was very special. We were the first event ever in this new building which was built for government assemblies. Opening night was a success! Mad Dawg asked me what a typical day was like... well, we haven't had the same day twice since we've been in China.  After a show technically, there can  be no school or press for 12 hours. So if the kids show is over at 11 that means school starts around 11 the next day;  sometimes 12 and it lasts for up to 4 hours.  The kids are suppose to get at least 16 hours of school a week.  Sometimes there is more and they bank the hours, sometimes field trips or press events count as school depending on how much "Chinese culture" there is to offer! We are suppose read a notebook that is kept at the front desk of the hotel every night before we go to bed to see what the next day's bus call is, or how laundry can be done in that particular hotel, or how the master schedule's coming along!  Touring is definitely NOT for the planner, or the "need-to-know-er" (What the heck am I doing here?)  The best plan is to not make a plan and just be at the bus on time!!!

Welp... back to the adventure! The kids made the paper quite a bit!  On Sunday April 13, we had the busiest day yet!  Field trip, Press Event, voice lesson then a performance! We started out going to the Flying Tigers Museum  by way of  subway/tram.  It was really interesting! And the Chinese are doing a lot to keep that "friendship" alive! Then the presenter sent over a small bus and brought us to an ancient village.    Then we went to the other presenter's Condo community for a press event where we met with the winners of a promotional contest hat they held earlier on called "The Happy Family" contest. Monday James Haugland played Capt. Vonn Trapp on closing night. After the last show the kids had to say goodbye to Candance, their wrangler. Matthew became quite close to her and misses her quite a bit (like he misses his sisters!) So now we're flying off to WOOOhan! Wuhooooo!

Chongqing

I'm a little late with my blog on Chongqing... it has really been a whirlwind.  The kids had very little time to explore this city but they had some really great press events and stayed in a 5 star JW Marriott! So Monday morning we headed out on the busses for our 4 hour ride.  We stopped a couple of times to use the squatty potties, otherwise it was uneventful until we got to the exit off the highway where we pulled over until the other bus caught up to us AND the police escort with 8 or 9 of the presenter CHERY (a make of car here in China)which escorted us into the city.  When we pulled up, what a surprise!  Children from one of the local schools were there to greet the kids with flowers and a wonderful welcome sign... not to mention the gorgeous hotel!  The kids had about two hours before their first press event; some of them went straight to the pool, some of us went and had dinner! 

The next day was truly one of the best days so far (how many times have we said this? That's a good sign!) we went to visit one of the local primary schools of art and creativity! What an event!  We were greeted with a Marching band (which Matt got to conduct) and the red carpet treatment!  The school's children presented our kids and us parents with gifts. Matt received 2 large scroll with Chinese proverbs on them and I received hand crafted Chopsticks! Matt and the kids then enjoyed watching and participating in ballroom dancing, exercises, music class with traditional Chinese instruments, paper cutting, and calligraphy. Matt even got pulled aside for a TV interview!  Then we had tea in the teachers lounge and on the way out Matt was easily swayed into ping pong... we literally had to drag him away;  it was a long goodbye.  Matthew was exhausted when we got home.

 

Leaving Chengdu

Closing night at Chengdu was bitter sweet; we are excited to move on but we know the "tour"part has now really begun! After the last show and a couple more fans, we saw the load-out trucks start backing in to move the set and the equipment...it was amazing to see the 6 18-wheelers getting set to haul everything to Chongqing.  We went to Mc Donalds and some people there had gone to the show, so Matt and Zach's midnight snack began with autographs!

We had Monday  (April 7th) off. We went to Le Shan to see the Great Buddha.  It was the most incredible place we've ever been to (so far!).  Matt said it was his favorite thing in China (so far!) We loved every minute of our 8 our excursion. I hope the pictures justify the greatness of what we saw.  Matthew's new theme song is..."I like big buddhas and I cannot lie..."  So now we're off for Chongqing (a 4 hour bus ride).......

Random Pics

I received more pictures from Pam; some from the Panda Press Day, some from CFLS, and others from the Wenshu Monastery and Science Museum field Trip.  Also if you google Sound of Music Asia Tour you can find some clips from other SOMAers and possibly some news clips (here's one if you can pull it up).  I will post some snippets from the show as soon as I get them! There are also newspaper articles that you can use google's translation : Here's one (???-It's hard to literally translate into English!)

I do hope all of you know to click on the blue words and you can see related pictures. Ok I think we're all caught up now! We hope everyone is well and will keep in touch!

Invited Dress and Opening Night!

Wow, It's  been crazy since our last blog! Monday, April 1st was an Invitation Only Dress rehearsal!  It was soooooo good!  Tuesday morning we high tailed it back to visit the Pandas so Matt could hold one!  And then Tuesday night was Opening night!  Matt got a flower delivery from home - Birds of Paradise (memories of FL!!). Trokia sponsored a cast party that was a blast! It was truly an exciting day for Matt. But we had to be on the bus in the morning at 8:30 am (yes, we all thought it was an April Fools joke) to go update our visas. Wednesday night was the Presenter's night and we had a send-off dinner for Zacary's mom Pam, I'm really going to miss her.  Plus, the Chengdu Children that won the Do-Re-Mi contest sang at the end of the show.  Matthew made friends with Friedrich  (Oscar) and Louisa (Betty). We are excited and exhausted.  Matthew is still having girls come to the back stage door bearing gifts!  5 more shows in Chengdu and off we go to Chongqing!