Our first stop in Asia, waaaay back when, was Seoul, South Korea. Ably led by our friend Seongmin, we slowly waded into the new continent, groggily singing our way around the city. Half the group happened to stay near the old imperial palace and Gyeongbokgung, so we took a day trip to see the sights.
The most memorable part of my Korean stay, however, was perhaps our performance in Dankook University. Until that point, my idea of a truly appreciative audience was one in which we were met with loud applause, and then given several encores. But no, that was Europe. Asia was a whole ‘nother story. First of all, the applause itself was thunderous. But on top of that was screaming….. Oh, the screaming. Most of our audience was composed of girls, middle-school- through college-aged, and they went absolutely crazy with every song we sang.
When the performance was over, we patted ourselves on the back and got ready to go home. But indeed, we were just beginning. Upon opening the door leading into the lobby, I was met with a deafening combination (a din, one might say) of shrieks and giggles, and before I knew it, I was actually being mobbed by a veritable sea of girls, all asking to take a photo with me or ask for my autograph. Most of the other Dins faced similar experiences -- but having been the first to venture out into the lobby, I seem to have experienced the full force of the Asian juggernaut. In any case, by the end of the evening, I’d signed over 50 CDs, countless notebooks, and two t-shirts. Quite a nice welcome to Asia.
Our next two stops were Shanghai and Hong Kong. While performing at the Shanghai world expo was fun, and Hong Kong is an amazing city, the particular anecdote I wanted to relate here doesn't take place in either city. Part of our stay in Shanghai actually involved leaving the city to stay overnight in the city of Wuxi. Arriving there by bus, we were greeted by a large group of Chinese high school students, whom we got to know as we took a boat cruise around the local lake. While that was fun in and of itself, the most entertaining portion occurred the next morning, when we visited their school and gave a performance. The performance went smoothly, but we were slightly confused by the last part of the program, which said that their school’s students, in collaboration with Harvard students, would be doing a demonstration of Beijing opera. Just when we thought the collaborative portion might have been scrapped, a few of us -- Christian, Jon, Sam S., and I -- were selected from the Dins to don the traditional attire and do some Beijing opera moves. I was chosen to be the token female character. Hmph. That involved waving around my enormous sleeves and trying to look tragic -- probably ended up looking more comical than anything else, but no matter. But seeing Dins dressed in that incongruous attire was probably a highlight of the Asia portion of the tour.
Our next stop was Japan, which included three stops: Osaka, Tokyo, and Choshi. While Osaka was a blast for me, I’m a little bit biased towards it (much of my family lives there and I visit at least once a year), so I won’t gush upon it here. Suffice it to say that both Osaka and Tokyo went smoothly enough. However, while I was the manager of the Japan stop, I had no idea what to expect for Choshi, a smaller town which the Dins have visited for three consecutive tours now. I had no idea what our daily schedule would be, how we would get from place to place, or really, anything else about the whole stop. As it turned out, absolutely everything was taken care of by our faithful contact, Terajima-san. From finding us a traditional Japanese hotel to showing us the local fishing festival, Terajima-san had it all planned out. But most remarkable of all was our tour of the fish-processing plant. Attiring ourselves in surgical masks, full-body aprons, and shower caps, we trekked into the formidable local fish factory and watched the magic in action. We saw fish being de-boned, roasted, injected with saltwater, frozen, packaged, you name it. And all the while, the head of the plant was explaining the process to me in Japanese, which I would relate to the group in English via loudspeaker. The entire scene was a little silly, but extremely fun. Certainly not what I expected to be doing during a singing tour in Japan…
The next stop was Bangkok -- home of the famous Pinky Tailor’s. A legend within the Dins, Pinky’s tailor shop in Phloen Chit, Bangkok, has been responsible for keeping several generations of Dins looking snappy in their tailored suits and overcoats, all at a fraction of the American price. This time was no exception, and nearly all the Dins walked away with a new, tailored suit or two. If you know a Din, you’re probably in for a Pinky’s fashion show when we get back.
Our next destination was the beautiful country of Singapore, another land chock-full of screaming Din fans. Still, to avoid redundancy, I’ll skip that and first discuss our short stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While only in the country for one full day, what a full day that was: we ate a delicious breakfast in one of the local food markets, went to the top of the Petronas Towers, visited a Buddhist temple… after that, some of us got massages, and some of us went off to the night food market. The unabashedly self-promotional video we were made to watch in preparation for going up the Petronas Towers was a personal highlight.
I admit, I cracked up when the girl who’d just been given Petronas contact lenses looked into the camera and smiled, able to see for the first time, as well as when the close-up of children beatifically romping in the park zoomed out to show the towers majestically (yet beneficently) towering behind them. Perhaps I’m a little more cynical than I should be…
In any case, we returned to Singapore for one day after our trip to Malaysia, in time to catch Singapore’s National Day celebrations. Not only that, one of our illustrious Din alums, Jason, had actually gotten us a room at the Marina Bay Sands hotel so that we could access the pool and see the night’s festivities from an amazing vantage point. First of all, the pool at the Marina Bay Sands is no ordinary pool. It is, quite easily, the most beautiful pool I’ve ever had the pleasure of swimming in: an infinity pool overlooking the entirety of Singapore.
After several hours of lazing around and getting a tan, the festivities began. In many ways comparable to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, the show was amazing, complete with fighter jets swooping in from above and thousands of coordinated dancers. However, nothing quite compared to the fireworks. From the 38th floor of the hotel, the fireworks were just at our eye level. It was probably a sight to see, all the Dins pressed up against the window, shouting at each new flash outside.
The next day, we flew off to Sydney, where I write this now. While it’s winter here, it’s really not too different from summer back at home in California. In just about three hours, we’ll be boarding the plane towards our final two stops: San Francisco and San Diego. At the risk of descending into mawkishness, I won’t describe the particular blend of happiness and sadness that I’m feeling at this moment. But perhaps you can imagine. Anyway, I know it’ll be a great ride, to the very end.
