It's a Sunday morning and I woke up at 5.30am. Isn't it AMAZING (Mr Chang's voice)! Anyway UK trip! I'm lazy to type so I guess I'll just upload some pictures.

Day 1 (6th July) - 2
Set off from Changi Airport T3 (my first time there!) to Manchester for Eisteddfod in Llangollen (my first time out of Asia too!). Slept for very long on the plane... I managed to spend my entire time on the plane without watching a single movie. The temperature there was not like the summer that I know, the weather was some 10+ degrees celsius which was like a typical winter day in Hong Kong.

England was really beautiful. Because we arrived in the early morning in Manchester, we took a day tour.

Leeds - Royal Armouries Museum and the Leeds Parish Church

Trafford - Some shopping centre and Old Trafford Stadium (it's the best shot I could take)

We ended the day in Britannia Hotel, realising that the sky was still very bright at 8.30pm.

Day 3
Basically the whole day was spent in Chester (we did go to Llangollen to register but the choir had to stay in the bus) and moving into an inn which we had to stay for the following few nights.

Just fooling around in the toilet.

Chirp! Actually they don't make any sounds.

Team Read, found outside the Chester Library. Pronounced as Team 'Red' not 'Reed'.

Bridge of Sighs

8.30pm outside our inn

Day 4
Opening Ceremony. Just random shots of people so I won't upload them here. We performed 2 Filipino songs, Katakataka and Dum Belle, and the audience went wild (ok maybe not to that extent) after the emcee explained that Dum Belle meant 'Rain Chant'. It rained pretty much there. Oh I received a compliment from a member from a Filipino choir the next day.

Day 5
Competition for Youth category. But before I write about it...
Notice anything odd about this picture? There are no guys there haha. Ok actually other than me there was Mr Kwei and Gabriel (Mr Cheow) too. I had to be there because Mr Kwei wanted me to practise with the girls on the bus before the competition. Now this is one picture I am going to bring with me to my grave... just kidding, I won't do that.

The festival ground.
Okay our competition went very smoothly. Got our category champions easily because we won the second-place choir by 10+ marks, so it was very clear that we were the champions. It was one of the best that we gave, our tempo was steady, everyone was calm, the feeling was there, all was right.

Bored. From top left, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 pence, 1 and 2 pounds.

Bah!

Neigh... is it? I can't tell what animal they were already!

There were some cows on the way actually. But every time I tried to take a picture, the cows disappear out of sight already. So I use this instead...
Moo! Just kidding. He's our tour leader, Gabriel (Mr Cheow).

Day 6
Competition for Folk and Mixed categories.
Our folk category I thought was rather good. We stayed in pitch anyway, perhaps our songs were not powerful enough and we lacked choreography. I guess we don't actually deserve a fourth in placing.

The best meal that the festival ground provided. Ok it was really good actually haha, the only meal which was both filling and appetizing enough.

Our performance for mixed category was the worst among the 3 categories that we competed in. We just could not maintain our cool on stage and screwed up. Everyone had the desire to win the category so we could at least compete in the grand finals but we just could not handle the pressure on us. I think this is a lesson for all of us choir members to learn, a failure for all of us to accept and a consequence for all of us to face. Third for this category. I haven't listened to the top 2 choirs yet, will listen later.

6.30am and the sun had risen already.

Llangollen.

Day 7
No grand finals to compete in. Went out to Liverpool instead.

Liverpool is so crowded. It's like an Orchard Road (just look at the background of the 3rd picture). Oh the 4th picture is the town hall I think.

Day 8
Spent our morning in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare.
Quack!

Then to Oxford in the afternoon. Frankly speaking I don't really like that place.
My house.

I stole the little kid's ice cream.

Street performer

Another one. That's Chan Wei in the foreground.

After Stratford we travelled to London. Heard about all the stabbings and bombings or whatever just before we reached there.


Admiral Nelson

Went on a night tour in London with Mr Kwei. Only for those taking Chinese because we had to return to Singapore a couple of days earlier. Hmm that night a few of us gathered in Abel's and my room to discuss about the London tour for the following day...

Day 9
Free and easy in London, but only from morning until 2pm.
I'm lazy to add captions because I am very inclined to end this post. But anyway, I don't really like London too, but it was not as bad as Oxford. It had more things to see than Oxford. So I think I just prefered the outskirts than the urban areas. Oh yeah I must say that the underground tubes travel much faster than Singapore's MRT, so fast until when the train appeared, there will be a super strong gust of wind that blows from the tunnel. No wonder the platform is usually dust-free.

People usually ask me how the trip was. I will tell them about the trip itself rather than the competition. Maybe I just don't want to remember about the competition, but I think the sight of England was too wonderful for me not to comment about it first.




Alright. Back to Singapore already. Gotta catch up on my studies. And gotta work harder for choir!