Off Days Rock

Just a brief post to record my night so future Miriam does not forget. Today was my off day. Had a ridiculous day of bipolar-fuelled spending at Zhu Hai (which incoincindentally is pronounced, "Jew High"). Highlight of my purchases was a grey hoodie with a batman emblem (king of superheroes) and a gold ring which said "strive". After that I made my way to Macau Cultural Centre via (thankfully) free shuttle bus to watch Roby Lakatos & His Ensemble. The concert was absolutely wonderful and I was furiously writing notes at interval and after the show so I can review it for my new website www.miriamreviewsthings.blogspot.com . I ran into a friend and colleague of mine from the Venetian, a great musician called Oleg. Oleg introduced me to his friend Darryl who plays a traditional Chinese instrument called the Ehru. We waited around for another musician friend of Darryl's, an incredibly sweet girl called Ines who plays the Dulcimer. Ines had approached Roby's cimbalom player after the show to talk to him about the cimbalom and the dulcimer. He let her play his cimbalom and then he came with us and we went to Ines' house and she set up all three of her dulcimers and played for us. She is phenomenal. The cimbalom player had a little hit and even let her have a pair of his cimbalom mallets! Very nice guy. After we dropped him off we went and had delicious food, (I had the best Rose Iced Tea of my life) and we talked for hours. Darryl and Ines are wonderful people, Darryl is from Singapore, Ines is Macanese. They met at Beijing Conservatory of Music where they both studied. Now Darryl plays in the Chinese Traditional Orchestra (which is an orchestra of entirely traditional Chinese instruments playing Chinese music) in Macau. Ines teaches part time for Macau Conservatory (I think?) and also teaches privately. Such wonderful people and there was so much to talk about. I miss having an exchange with musicians. It felt nice not to feel over-the-top or out of place in my enthusiasm for discussing all things musical. That's my favourite part of travelling, those serendipitous moments where you are thrown in the path of wonderful and talented human beings who you can connect with.