Day 6 Taipei-Tokyo

Last night we did something that we have never done in my 10 years in the choir. Backstage, before going on, we gathered in a circle and all joined hands and just centered and shared each other's energy. I am not the most "new-agey" kind of person, but something clicked and we honestly sang the show of our lives. After the first piece on the program people screamed and it just got better from there. Three encores ended the show. We all felt that a very special event had just happened.




Fabi basking in the glow of the "green wall" in the atrium of the concert hall.
After the concert we were taken out by the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus to a Hot Pot restaurant. The last time I went for Hot Pot back home, no one knew what they were doing and it turned out to be a frothy mess. This time under the careful tutelage of our hosts, eating the chicken feet and pig's ears seemed more like delicacies as opposedo to punishment.




Jason, Gordon, and Fortune




So good!! It is the same idea as a fondue. You cook meat and things in various flavoured broths. The secret is to only cook a little at a time and to make sure things cook for long enough. Hello salmonella! Yum Yum



The altos were the most rambunctious... of course!



The sopranos were, as always, demure.







Friendships were firmly forged, and saying goodbye at the end of the evening was honestly quite sad. It was a late night, but a real good one.
There was so much boiling soup it made my brand new glasses fog up. I took them off and forgot them on the table when we left. I owe Grace, my beautiful dreamer (that is her solo) for seeing and saving them.




Yes, they are real.... :)
This morning we woke up early and were taken to the National Palace Museum.
In 1945, due to political instability on the mainland, the Chinese National Party evacuated the treasures from the Forbidden City to the island of Taiwan. There is so much in the collection that the museum cycles each exhibition every 3 months. It takes 104 years to exhibit everything. It is huge, easily on the same scale as the British Museum, and we had 1 hour. Run!!! I went to the gift shop for souvenirs.








One of many buildings.



Then we were off to the airport! Hello, Tokyo!