Still riding high after the triumph of last night we awoke at a horrifically early time – (later for some, including Theo Peters who had been caught walking down the stairs with his duvet and pillow at 1am?). After some last-minute packing we gathered downstairs for our much-anticipated trip to Ocean Park. The singing guests were not able to come which was disappointing (and devastating for those in the choir who had become particular fans…) but we got on the coach for what we knew would be one of the last times.

We walked into the park as a group and looked at a few animal displays. Sadly, the pandas were too busy mating (I’m told by Will Harris that they only can mate for 36 hours a year) so we couldn’t see them. Nevertheless, after a scary train ride up the mountain, we looked at lots of sharks where we witnessed what seemed to be one eating another shark- quite scarring stuff although a few of the younger choir members seemed more focussed on taking pictures of it, notably Orlando Oliver and Jack Finnis. Perhaps as more informed members of the group they realised that the fish must have been playing rather than hunting?!

We were then let loose in the park for the next few hours. The first ride was worryingly rickety and the double loop the loop turned quite a few stomachs, but this didn’t seem to discourage anyone! One my personal highlights was a huge tower where you were raised in chairs to the very top before being suddenly dropped. There was a beautiful view at the top, not that Tom Roberts managed to see this as he had his eyes closed for the whole ride. 

The highlight for most people, from what I gathered, was probably the VR ride. This, not for the faint hearted, included going on the ride with a VR headset on. This was by far the scariest ride as we were taken through a jungle at high speeds. For Will Briggs and Tom Roberts, their headsets weren’t actually working so it was a much less thrilling ride with just a broken screen in front of their eyes! All of this was a bit too much for Ernest Newland as the sudden drops (which couldn’t be anticipated on the headset) took quite a bit out of him- this was one of his last rides of the day!

After an excruciatingly expensive lunch the C block group were borderline assaulted by some Chinese grannies who tried to cut the queue for a water ride. After we had employed the ‘inside line’ tactic, where we blocked out some of their group while letting Tim Manley (who almost was impaled on a turning pole in the process, such was the grannies pushing!) edge past them (after they had pushed in front of him) around a turn, we enjoyed our ride as they admitted defeat.

We completed a few more rides, the Hair Raiser almost bringing up a few people’s lunches, and we gathered again as a group (with a perfect numbering off). After a picturesque cable car ride back down to the entrance we walked out, drenched in sweat and ready for a shower and to go home.

After we had all (Alex Coley had to be forced into it by AJM) showered, we went out for our final dinners in Hong Kong (and some last-minute souvenir shopping). Then, with some expert handling of baggage by baggage handlers (no surprises there) we got on the coach to make our way to the airport. We were given an extensive explanation of how airports worked by our esteemed guide and indeed, I learnt quite a few new facts about Hong Kong – it was a shame we were leaving though!

We got through the airport without any problems, although I was almost taken out by the rubber handle of the moving walkway which attached itself to my clothes as I lent against it. The most notable moment of these few hours was when Adam Banwell managed to spot the legend Rio Ferdinand in a restaurant. By chance, Adam was wearing an England shirt and promptly Rio signed it without complaint! I’m told that some F blockers tried to get his signature later and he wasn’t as willing…!

On the plane, Edward Boileau had pulled the short straw as he was stuck behind Albert Soriano, whose seat leant back with the slightest force applied to it. Tom Pickard managed to sleep through the whole flight whereas Henry Butlin claimed to not have slept at all! Hector Lawson seemed to exhaust every possible movie and game on the in-flight entertainment, Ernest Newland woke up his whole section of the plane with an alarm which he had forgotten he had set and chess fanatics, George Vines and James Francis, gave a masterclass in how to make chess sound like an enjoyable game.

After an early arrival back at Heathrow we said our goodbyes and went on our way home.

A huge thank you must go to Mr Johnson, Mr Maynard, Mr Goode, Mr Grace, Ms Kemp and Ms Stevens! This has been the best tour in recent memory and our stellar performances at the end of the week were all due to the vocal health (helped by Ms Kemp and Ms Stevens), general happiness (bolstered by the Conduct’s regular performances), work ethic (mainly fostered by Mr Johnson), the slick running of the trip was all down to Mr Grace and our (for the most part) good behaviour was kept in check by the well respected Mr Goode (with his expert accompanying and organ playing in our concerts and rehearsals) and Mr Maynard (among his many other duties on the tour).

A massive thank you also goes to Isaac Cowley who has taken a roasting in most blogs in the last few days- he’s been a great sport and an alright editor. He’s definitely enjoyed providing much comic value for this year’s tour!

It is also time for me to say goodbye. I know I may have not written the blog every single day but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being ‘Blog Co-ordinator’- I think (hope) that everybody has been mentioned at least once! Good luck to the blog dogs for the next inevitably successful tour that the choir goes on!

Connor Carnathan, after much persuasion, duped me into letting him write today’s blog but I’m not sure he will ever write it!

Day 9 was much the same as day 8. We enjoyed quite a lot of free time, with E and F Block under supervision while the other years roamed around Hong Kong during the morning and then slept in the afternoon. We sang again in the evening, probably even better than the preceding night and our post-concert recital in the foyer was equally magical, helped along by the masterful performance of the Incognitos.

We can only imagine whether Connor’s yet to be written blog was going to capture the magic of day 8!

It was concert day! We were dealt the earliest wake up so far at 8am – therefore much carboloading in the morning was necessary to keep our spirits up for the big concert that night.

We had a quick warmup with Ms Kemp to start our rehearsal, back in the cultural centre, which proved interesting. We started with actions more resembling swimming than singing before we sang the song ‘copper coffee pot’ – unknown to all except for the learned Roly Peel. It was quite difficult to actually sing this song as it was such a difficult tongue twister that Ms Kemp could not sing it herself! We then further warmed up by running around the rehearsal room while singing. This proved interesting with a few collisions here and there and some strange looks from our hosts in the cultural centre- Mr Maynard refused to take part…

It was then time for a run through with the maestro. This all went to plan but was marred by some questionable puns from Slatkin – “I hope you’ve eaten (Eton) well” Ha. Ha. Ha.

Lunchtime! C block enjoyed yet another Michelin star/guide restaurant at the capable hands of Armaan Banerjee and Mr Maynard braved yet another meal with F block. The numbered system of ordering meant that Mr Goode became an auctioneer at the B block meal – “112, anyone for 112, no? Last chance? 113- that’s two. Any more for anymore? etc.”

It was an exceedingly quiet afternoon which the teachers recommended we use to sleep- apparently there was “comedy yawning” from many a treble during the introduction to the third movement of the Bernstein in the rehearsal. A few ventured out onto the streets of Hong Kong, under the final words of Mr Maynard that they were “absolute lunatics to go out in this heat.”

After a quick, early supper (at McDonalds- cue another sighting of Will’s girlfriend!) we walked over to the venue with an inspiring speech from Mr Johnson ringing in our ears. We warmed up, ate some chocolate wafers and then took our places. The orchestra played their first two pieces: the first was a very modern piece which was amazing with respect to them actually managing to keep in time and together!; the second was Barber’s Adagio for strings, hailed by Isaac Cowley as “an absolute banger” – for once I agree with him!  

It was time for the Bernstein. Looking into Slat’s encouraging eyes we began. Our singing was on top form and after the shorter solos (Will Harris should be commended for stepping in to sing the bass solo at the last minute) it was time for Sunny’s. With a spotlight on him, Sunny serenaded the whole room. Although he would later celebrate his performance with random gang signs, this was a moment to behold as people sighed with joy around the room!

Our “Lama rag’shu”’s were on point (as per usual) and the rest of the piece went incredibly smoothly, with an incredibly long silence after our final ‘amen.’ There was rapturous applause and Mr Johnson came on for his own bow, even receiving a TWO-handed handshake from maestro Slatkin. We were lucky enough to then sing Hubert Parry’s “My Soul there is a country” as an encore, somewhat unknown to many present (including Slatkin himself!).  Everyone seemed to love it and we took a few more bows at the end of it.

After the concert we sang a short recital in the foyer with three balconies of people filled as we performed ‘Faire is the Heaven’, an image that will stay with me for a long time! The Incognitos provided even more entertainment after that, especially with Tom Pickard and Robbie Winter’s solos in ‘I wanna be like you’.

Much to Sunny’s delight, he also had multiple people asking for selfies with him – hopefully he’ll be humble enough to come back and sing in the choir next term…!

Sorry it’s shorter (and less content-full) today, other than the concert, nothing particularly crazy happened!

Let’s do it again tomorrow night!

This blog is brought to you by Tom Barry!

Feeling (somewhat) rejuvenated following a second late-ish wake-up, the choir stumbled out of the elevators into the hotel lobby for the standard morning briefing. But to our shock and horror, Mr Maynard announced that, because of the sheer amount of hotel key-cards that had been lost, we were now going to be charged HK$100 for every further lost card!

After this nasty revelation we piled onto another quite cramped coach for the journey to Diocesan Boys’ School (or for the sake of not having to pronounce Diocesan, DBS). On our arrival we were shepherded through the school to a performance hall, that already dwarfed any hall we have back in blighty. Perhaps this was telling of things to come as DBS’ Senior Choir climbed on stage and performed 3 difficult pieces immaculately and completely by heart. You know that they are a good choir when half way through the third piece the conductor turns to the audience and begins to sing a solo tenor line like proper virtuoso, whilst still conducting the singers behind him. Seriously though, we were all blown away by the performance and if anybody from DBS reads this, we were incredibly grateful and honoured to have you perform for us.

Our egos suitably crushed, we trundled onto the stage, still determined to prove our worth. Like on the first school visit, we started with Cantate Domino by Giuseppe Pitoni, followed on by the School’s Primary- Sorry, I mean Foremost Close-Harmony Group: The Incognitos. Unlike the Incognitos’ previous performance Robbie Winter and Albert Soriano gave simpler but perhaps more coherent introductions to pieces and although Billy Jean was slightly shaky to begin with, Tom Pickard’s monkey noises went down very well in I want to be like you.

Next up in our little program was Andrew Liu playing a Fantasie and Impromptu on his flute accompanied by an ailing Mr Goode. Despite, and this is in DWG’s own words, ‘Sightreading the piano part, never having rehearsed it with Andrew and being deaf in one ear’ the performance was a triumph! We finished off the show with an old favourite: Parry’s My Soul There is a country, which was about as good as ever.

After some very photo-genic posing by TJJ over the exchange of gifts with DBS we were treated to some more Hong Kong snacks. We evaded bubble tea on this occasion but were faced instead with cans labelled ‘Sweat’. We can only hope that they meant ‘sweet’…

On the journey to the Cultural centre for a further rehearsal, the airdrop gang were enlightened to the fact that the pictures they had been sending to each other were also being picked up by the teachers. With Mr Johnson’s airdrop left on unknowingly, he was sent incriminating pictures of a certain Fergus Trower, which he quickly declined! Not being myself a member of the Apple master-race, I can only guess what the picture may have been…

The worst part is, of course, that Fergus isn’t even on tour to defend himself.

During this small kafuffle, Mr Maynard was on his own crusade against casual mobile games, much to Henry Butlin’s dismay. It turns out that there is one game that he has a soft spot for, this being the timeless classic snake. Timeless, classic and snake are incidentally all words that describe Mr Maynard very well. (Sir, I swear this is a complement… please don’t take my laptop…)

On arrival at the cultural centre, there was a slight sandwich mix-up, by which I mean nobody had thought to order the sandwiches. We had a little rehearsal that would have happened after we had eaten anyway, giving the sandwiches time to arrive. 2 crustless white slice sandwiches later and all was well. We then had another rehearsal with Maestro Slatkin himself, which proved very productive, before heading back to the hotel for a bit of R&R.

In the evening we regrouped for what would turn out to be quite an eventful night. We had been invited to a dinner provided by the Hong Kong Phil at a very posh restaurant named Jade Garden and as we sat down, we were slightly alarmed to see that the ducks, head and all, were turning on spits through a glass wall opposite the table. We made our drinks orders and the food started rolling in. On the F-Block table the spinning centre of the table was causing much amusement and despite some struggles with chopsticks the food was delicious.

Meanwhile, me, Sam Reason & George Vines were contemplating the just slightly too hipster toilet signs and trying to figure out in what way a seemingly one legged, one armed person with a hole in his torso was in any way representative of either gender.

Following the excitement at the restaurant the whole choir went on a walk along the harbour-front to enjoy the warm night air. We came across a little stall selling sweets and drinks and the little stall received so much custom that the owners thought it worthwhile to document our visit by taking pictures of us! Much to the dismay of many, we managed to exhaust the little shop’s supply of Pocky, ice-cream and root-beer. Meanwhile, I thought it would be more prudent to invest in a little bowl they were selling. Still not quite sure of my thought process there… umm, buyer’s remorse?

We stomped back to the YMCA and were warned to get a good night sleep ready for the concert the following day. It was nearly D-day and we had a whole other challenge ahead of us, but for now we slept.

We were due a lie in after the late night coming back from Macau, so we were given a whole 45 minutes extra in bed. After yet another big breakfast we walked across the road (very convenient) to the cultural centre for a rehearsal ahead of the big meeting with Slatkin/The boss/Incredible conductor/maestro Slatkin. Theo Peters was quick to point out that the Eton Music page actually has more followers than Leonard (or Lenny to close friends) on twitter but we could only speculate as to whether he would live up to the furore which we had built up around him.

With a fairly standard warmup from Ms Kemp we began to rehearse the Bernstein. It became immediately obvious that this was no ordinary rehearsal- all tempo markings were the same as Slatkin’s (the Slat’s) recording and we were frequently reminded that we would have to be looking up 80% of the time and that he expected us to “get stuff just like that *click of fingers*” This would obviously be no mean feat. It was also clear that Mr Johnson was a long-time fan of Slatkin- as we would later find out. Most worrying in that rehearsal was when Mr Johnson pointed out someone’s “extreme unmusicality” on one of the soaring lines from the second basses- all members of the engine room (of which Isaac Cowley cannot really claim a part – he is a first bass after all) obviously denied such horrific action. The investigation continues.

It was time for our independent, free time, lunch at leisure where we could explore the many culinary options on offer in this beautiful city. We were given two options which we should attend in groups: either McDonalds (culture!); or Café de Coral, basically Chinese McDonalds (oh the culture!). It was obvious that we were under extreme time pressure- we only had an hour and a half till we had to be back for the rehearsal- so the logic behind the decision was clear. However, a few people had their own ideas, namely half the choir, who went for some lovely dumplings in a nice little place next door. The other half of the choir visited McDonalds where I’m told that Wilki Dent had a bit of trouble carrying his coke- instead of washing down his burger with the drink he instead decided to wash the floor with it!

Nevertheless, after we had forced down our dumplings at high speed (and Alex Coley, after his questionable sleeping techniques yesterday, now demonstrated an entirely new way of eating noodles- hardly using chopsticks or any other utensil at all…)  the whole choir convened on the ground floor of the mall where our numbering off caused mass alarm- we were asked to move by security while other shoppers gave us a wide berth.

To the surprise of many, Will’s girlfriend (no not his friend from the girl’s school) suddenly turned up. She is from Hong Kong after all. He couldn’t help but have a date put into his calendar only for the two-option rule to force them into a romantic fast food feast. How picturesque!

We returned to the Cultural Centre where we were lucky enough to sight Slatkin rehearsing the orchestra before our grand entrance. Excitement was high and we were all on edge- just how incredible would he be? We took our places in the hall. The conditions were not ideal: Lenny was sat what seemed 100m away from where we were sitting; and Mr Goode’s piano playing (a similar distance away) was barely audible above the large choir, bolstered by the addition of a few sopranos and our other esteemed guests.

It was a fairly standard rehearsal with Mr Slatkin but I was particularly overawed with the business like manner with which he was able to recount all the details of the piece which he wanted improved. We reacted well and managed to overcome most of the difficult aspects to the rehearsal although on a few occasions in the last movement, we sang so flat that Mr Johnson would later say that he would have nightmares about it.

After the orchestra joined, we then had another similar rehearsal the most awkward moment of which came when Slatkin asked his assistant in the audience how it sounded, but Mr Johnson, keen to express how well we were singing and unaware of the other man, said “great, great” and gave a thumbs up much to the amusement of us all. Indeed, we and Mr Johnson must have made an impression with the big dog, head man, Leonard Slatkin as he was summoned (“the maestro wants to see you”) for a quick meeting after the rehearsal. Apparently, he was very complimentary of our efforts and requested to practice an encore for the night. We can only assume that Mr Johnson asked for an autograph or selfie in return.

We had a leisurely afternoon either sleeping or relaxing by the pool. It was during this time that I was honoured enough to have an exclusive interview with the elusive ‘Alex’s iPhone.’ He asked to have his identity hidden for legal reasons.

What made you decide on that specific name for your phone?

No comment

What’s your favourite tie?

Quack quack. (the duck tie)

Are the rumours true that you are F blocker Alex McGinn?

I can neither confirm nor deny these rumours.

Is that a no?

No comment

How many photos of Isaac Cowley do you have on your phone?

No comment

END

Enlightening stuff there.

It was then that we came to one of the highlights of the tour- dinner on a ship which would take us around Hong Kong harbour. This was a great occasion and under instructions for “smart casual…no trainers” we all arrived ready to go in the lobby (there was a perfect numbering off too). Not quite all however, Isaac Cowley decided that baggy shorts and trainers was acceptable but whatever, maybe he’s just trying to get a mention in the blog…

We boarded the boat, questionably named Rainbow Star (?), and began to drive through the harbour towards our mooring. It was on this journey that we snapped many, many pictures of the sunset, received a photography lesson from the fountain of knowledge George Vines and worried that Jack Finnis might be getting drunk on 7UP.  

We then got onto dinner. It was immediately obvious that this was going to be some great food when Tom Pickard was heard saying “it’s well decent.” Indeed, it was. We sat on deck for the next hour while F block and similarly sized Theo Peters, on a serious sugar high from all the soft drinks, began to talk louder and louder. After a delicious trifle we motored back to the harbour, viewing the lights show which was really impressive though strange without any musical accompaniment. After disembarking we had two perfect numbering offs within the space of 5 minutes and were in high spirits as we walked back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

A huge thank you must also go to the Salata’s for hosting us- it was a great evening!

This blog is brought to you by George Vines, as sarcastic as he is funny…

After a brisk breakfast buffet and a smooth crossing by hydrofoil (Binath continuing his crusade for an upgraded seat unsuccessfully), we emerged blinking into the light of a new city – Macau. Unfortunately this was not without some minor letdowns as we received automated texts informing us that data cost up to £7/MB while we were there; dozens of weeping F Blockers realised they would have to take a break of several hours from their Fortnite addictions. Some were even forced to start speaking to other boys in the choir.

On boarding the coach, our tour guide pointed out some impressive casinos and talked about the continuing influence of Portuguese culture. Initially demanding silence onboard, she soon took a softer approach, presumably realising that nothing short of a tranquilliser could stop Theo Peters talking.

We shortly arrived in a beautiful set of gardens. Across a stretch of peaceful green water, houses of bright magenta or pale yellow rose in the distance. Behind them stood a set of monolithic high-rises, providing an awesome sense of scale. Boys dispersed around the gardens; Binath Philomin was enthralled by a group of middle aged and elderly Macanese women practising traditional rhythmic dances beside a fountain. Being a long time member of the Incognitos, Binath was well accustomed to cheerfully embarrassing himself for others’ entertainment, so he was all too keen to take part and flashed the rest of us some fantastic moves.

As the choir reassembled, a moment of pure ecstasy took place. James Francis, with his typical professionalism, began the numbering-off to make sure everyone was present. But all were shocked as we reached the number 41 without a single treble forgetting their number, calling out somebody else’s, running away to recover a forgotten shoe or making a break for it to escape the tour group. Spontaneous applause erupted and Adam Banwell, our glorious Keeper and God of Clipboard Registers, immediately claimed full responsibility for this unprecedented event.

Regrettably, this quality did not last for the rest of the day. Special recognition goes to one tenor for managing to call out the wrong number once and then missing his number in the next one. Even the most haphazard treble can normally only aspire to one of these within a day, but Tom Roberts surpassed expectations in this department.

We climbed back into the bus, awaking DWG after several hours. The bus ascended towards the summit of the Fortress, where we enjoyed two unbelievable sights: firstly, a gorgeous vista over the sprawl of Macau, including an extraordinary golden casino behemoth which was quickly decried by Will Harris as “vulgar”; secondly, and even more unexpectedly, Robbie Winter was overjoyed at observing a Chinese boy in a Liverpool shirt. The boy was about 8 years old, which at least gives him an excuse for his choice of Premier League team.

Just as we were leaving, Roly Peel decided to kickstart the Eton College Horticultural Society by apparently invading a potted plant, firing soil over the surrounding area and providing light entertainment for the customers of the café opposite. His confidence recovered once we reached street level: he was visibly chuffed when a pair of locals called out, “Hello handsome boy!”

Later, we trekked downhill through the winding streets of the city centre. Damian Yiu and Ian Leung were gazing longinglyat each passing bakery that promised fresh egg custard tarts.

Half the choir boarded a coach while the other half waited outside for the other bus to park. This gave the Conduct a perfect opportunity to demonstrate his Charlie Chaplin-style silent comedy routine as he waited on the pavement, watched by an audience of B Block in the back row of the nearby coach. The routine included a balancing act, some cheeky mimes and even a guest appearance by Mugamba Wilkins, who went for a casual stretch exposing his abs to the coach inhabitants. Rumours say he has already been scouted by three modelling agencies.

Other curious incidents occurred on the streets: a religious activist approached Tom Pickard and joyfully announced, “Jesus loves you!”

Tom, never one to mince words, replied “Ah. Decent.”

Eventually, the choir arrived at the venue and was introduced to Cyril, the pastor of the seminary. He in turn introduced us to some enthusiastic Church banter before moving on to the rehearsal. The eyes of the Compline choir lit up, finally affirming their weekly labours: a plain chant was featured in the service. While the rest of CCC initially stumbled through the maze of conjoined notes, the Compline boys confidently led the way. ECY would be proud.

Connor Carnathan was leaving the stage after rehearsal when he dropped a few sheets of music from his open folder. Realising this, he stooped over – without closing the folder, of course – at which point the entire remainder of his music fell out and scattered over the steps. Another day, another Connor moment.

More confusion ensued when Tom Pickard was seen bursting out of the ladies’ toilets looking rather flustered. Details surrounding why he was there in the first place are sketchy, but the visiting sopranos are likely to have a few questions.

The performance got off to a good start with a couple of solos, featuring the smooth tones of Albert (AKA Silky Soriano) and a soaring top D from Isaac Cowley. Jamie Andrews provided a dazzling organ solo and the choir replied with renditions of When David Heard, Timor et Tremor and Solus ad Victimam, among others. Fellow members of the so-called Engine Room (the lowest basses) were utterly emasculated as Tim Manley sank to a filthy bottom D flat, possibly causing a minor earthquake in some regions of Macau.

After the concert, TJJ was presented with a hefty collection of Chinese hymns as a gift for the Eton shelves. Some light reading for the return flight perhaps?

The journey back to the hotel revealed some bizarre behaviour, including what seemed to be an audition for Cirque du Soleil from Alex Coley who was witnessed sleeping in some odd positions. On the boat he resembled a folded-up deck chair, resting his chin on his knees and lying on his back. On the bus he slouched over until his head was between his legs and fell asleep within seconds. Ms Kemp is thought to be studying his behaviour as a possible alternative to Alexander Technique.

Sanuda Kariyawasam had been extraordinarily energetic all day (using a depressing amount of roadman slang), so it was unsurprising that he slept through the hydrofoil trip to HK Island. However, he was difficult to wake up: Robbie Winter shook his arm, Jamie Andrews even delivered a blow to the head with his passport, but to no avail. Eventually he was shifted into the station, where Wilki Dent was so busy explaining his fancy backpack to Tom Barry (AKA Barrychush’mo – from a Chichester Psalms lyric) that he managed to leave his suit bag and cassock in the middle of Customs.

We reached the hotel at nearly midnight, eagerly anticipating the enlightening trip to the Cultural Centre tomorrow or, in my own case, eagerly anticipating the breakfast buffet in the morning.

Today’s blog is brought to you by Tom Roberts who has kindly volunteered to bear some of the blogdog stress. (editing by Alex Smith- Isaac Cowley has been demoted from editor-in chief.)

The day started off with a relatively early start at around 8:30 and an all you can eat breakfast buffet which more than made up for waking up a tad earlier than we would at home- especially for the conduct who took great advantage of this and managed to fit in two breakfasts. Conspiracy theories continued to rage as to where his sermon had gone – some claiming that Adam had hidden it at the bottom of the swimming pool. Shortly afterwards we were escorted to the Cultural Centre where we are going to sing on Friday and Saturday. Everyone was forced to bring their cassocks with them in order to sort out a cassock-related emergency. After a quick cassock inspection and the one person to whom the issue actually concerned was happy, we were able to carry out a short rehearsal in the centre. There was a ‘riveting’ warmup from Ms Kemp with much buzzing and rrrring- perhaps this was her gift back to us on her birthday (Happy Birthday!), but other than that it was a fairly standard rehearsal for the choir with nothing too much to shout about (apart from shouting ‘Vroznim’ in the Bernstein.)

Next, we were given instructions to do our own thing for lunch, which is easier said than done, as Albert, Tim, Alex Smith, Jamie Andrews and I soon found out. Having said we were going to MacDonald’s Albert insisted that we experienced a little more culture and so we obeyed (he is in incogs after all…). We walked around for a while wondering where to go and eventually stopped at a small green store where they sold black burgers and what seemed to be ‘toothpaste flavoured’ iced tea. It also featured an ‘evil waffle’ (see picture) on the menu – we have that one a miss. Once Tim and Alex had bitten into their ‘not yet de-frosted’ black burgers (there were also questionable juices coming out of them- and they had conflicting views as to what the meat actually was) and Jamie sipped from his toothpaste flavoured tea we realised we should have just gone with Ian, Isaac and Armaan who were enjoying their Michelin-starred restaurant for about the same price. We wound up back at The Golden Arches though, and once we tasted the MacDonald’s fries we knew we had regrets about not just going there in the first place. E block enjoyed some sushi with Miss Stevens and B block ate something similar. Adam Banwell was keen to ask repeatedly ‘where did you go for lunch? … I don’t care cos ours was the best sushi ever.’ Funny one.

The most eventful part of the day though was when we went to Good Hope School where we performed a joint concert with the secondary school. After introductions from both ‘representatives’ of the schools (on our side was James Maclean) before we exchanged gifts. They then gave us an exemplary performance using traditional Chinese instruments such as the ‘Erhu’, which is a two stringed violin-like instrument, and perhaps my favourite instrument called a ‘Guzheng’ which one of the girls described as a ‘Chinese piano.’ After this we gave our various performances. The Incognitos also performed three pieces and introduced themselves fairly nervously (contrasted by the preceding masterclass from James Maclean), most noticeably from our two pop members Binath and Tom Pickard. I’ll provide a transcript below.

Tom: I’m from the Isle of Man (silence), um it rains a lot there so um when the rain goes away we get a rainbow. Here’s over the rainbow (assorted chuckles)

Sings over the rainbow

Binath: I’m from Sri Lanka (silence) and I like cricket (blank faces). I also like culture so we’re um spreading the culture by singing this um very English song.

Sings Wonderwall (questionably ‘very english’ – it’s not exactly national anthem worthy)

We then had a little mingling session with the girls while consuming traditional, and delicious, Chinese food such as Bubble tea, egg-tart and fried chicken. Will Harris was particularly good at ‘mingling’, it seemed, and managed to get one of the girls’ numbers for what he deemed ‘networking.’ He’s obviously been getting some lessons from Tom Pickard.

I caught up with Sunny (E block chief and all round hardman) afterwards who, in a now heavily edited conversation was heard saying ‘I just don’t know how he manages it, girls are just so scary.’ Also scary, according to the girls who talked to Wilki Dent, was Alex Smith- described as ‘the tallest man they had ever seen’ As you can imagine, Will’s mingling caused mass amusement to us all and once this had died down we were taught by the girls about the various instruments. This provided some much needed music revision to the D blockers in the audience and it was a lovely refresher for those in the higher blocks.

Once we had expressed our gratitude to the girls and teachers at Good Hope School we went on our way. Our rather squished bus ride home was filled with chants to honour the man of the hour Will Harris, and we had the pleasure of being entertained by the mysterious reappearance of ‘Alex’s iPhone,’ (we were treated to another picture of the ties which he had bought on the previous day?- got to respect his marketing skills) which was supplying us with sufficient entertainment for the 30-minute ride home.

The day was topped off with individual block suppers. Our block was accompanied by Mr Grace to ensure that we didn’t get too rowdy and I understood that Mr Maynard was behaving well under the guidance of D block. We went to a restaurant called QI Nine Dragons which was slightly more expensive than the previous night. However, under Isaac Cowley and Alex Smith’s very, very close watch (calculators were seen to be used) we gorged on an assortment of Chinese food (but only one main with a side of jasmine rice- ‘we simply cannot go over the limit’). It also had the best view of Hong Kong I have seen so far, an upgrade on the failed view of fog that we saw yesterday from the top of The Peak.

Onto the next one!

Day 3 (or is it 2?) started very early for some members of the group- Albert Soriano and Armaan Banerjee were so plagued with jet lag that after waking up at 3.30 they never actually got back to sleep – they were in for a rough day! Another notable mention for their jetlagged shenanigans must go to Tristan Betts who, having similarly woken up at 3, decided that it was in fact 8am and promptly showered- only to realise the actual time! Anyway, after a hearty breakfast (for some, very hearty indeed – Will Briggs enjoyed a 1-hour long marathon meal) with boasts of how jetlagged or not jetlagged everyone was – the standard “how can it be 2 in the in morning in England right now?” and “honestly I can’t even feel the difference- I slept fine”.

Soon we got on the two coaches which would take us to St John’s Cathedral (the oldest Anglican Church in the far east) where we were welcomed with a short tea. A select few of the congregation present took an instant liking to Binny Philomin, demanding pictures and calling him ‘beautiful’ as everyone else walked past feeling hard done by to say the least. We had a quick rehearsal before walking over to the cathedral. Our red cassocks caused a slight spectacle with quite a few sneaky selfies from passers-by taking place! With the addition of the guest singers, the choir sang even more beautifully than usual- indeed, ex keeper of choir Charles Marshall was so keen with some of the spoken prayers that he ended up declaiming “in your mercy hear us” before the reader had the chance to lead the congregation! Moreover, with the Conduct present to give a sermon it was like a standard College chapel service away from home (but with ceiling fans, deafening air conditioning rather than hymns and a strong smell of incense!). He was in fact, improvising as he had lost his sermon but no-one (myself included) noticed at all- this demonstrates how much of a pro Reverend Gray (or Rev G, as TJJ was heard saying later) is at his art. We then changed into our casual clothes. Isaac Cowley and George Vines had forgotten a change of shoes, Mugamba Wilkins the whole set of clothes and Roly Peel had lost his sense of humour after being followed around by Sunny Kariyawasam. Following a quick reconciliation between the two we got back into the coaches for a tour of Hong Kong Island.

On my bus, the guide gave us a plethora of information: from the diversity of policemen (whom we encounter later); the rise in house prices; the different religions in India; the best jobs to get; the apparent slowing down of Hong Kong’s economy (but not as slow as Tokyo); the different tunnels which had been built and who they had been built by (Harbour tunnel was built by the French I was reliably informed). The list goes on- some say Theo Peters learnt more on that bus journey than in the last two and a half years at Eton.

After a long, zig-zag drive we came to ‘The Peak’. This is the place to be for stunning, panoramic views of Hong Kong as far as the eye could see. Just imagine, the terrain of the island would be clear for all to see (our guide had also pointed out that this was a mountainous island…) and we could lots of beautifully framed photos to take home and share with our parents- ‘look mum this is what you can see from the highest point on Hong Kong island. Yes, it is the highest -our guide told us!” All but Ben Cole and Henry Butlin (who had promptly fallen asleep) were beside themselves with excitement-this was a highlight for the trip! Theo Peters even had his GoPro ready for some pictures.

Unfortunately, it was cloudy, and we couldn’t see a thing- although there was a fantastic silhouette of an apartment that we could just about make out through the mist.

Back on the bus and we soon encountered another difficulty. After the guide’s mention of policemen earlier – we now saw them in the flesh! Our driver had committed an offense by parking the bus slightly prematurely and therefore blocking the road. The sirens began to wail, someone mentioned “We’ve reached two stars on Grand Theft Auto”, and the guide began to talk in Chinese through the microphone with the only understandable word suddenly being “illegal”. Somehow, we managed to avoid punishment and were able to park as buses in front of us moved on. We had reached a much better viewpoint – In other words, we had reached somewhere not shrouded in mist – and everyone took this as a photo opportunity. Isaac Cowley (editor-in chief of this blog) even managed to get a selfie with the elusive Incognitos! What an achievement. It’s the closest he’ll get to the prestigious group- it was a shame they rejected the requests for autographs at this point.

Back on the bus, again, and this time to a boat tour of a harbour – many who had dozed off (Adrien Rolet, Albert Soriano, Armaan Banerjee, Myself, Tim Manley, Ben Cole, Henry Butlin, Will Briggs, Alex Coley- the list goes on) were unsure as to where we actually were, but there were some beautifully rusted boats as well as a floating restaurant once we had stumbled onto the boats. Most impressive to those on my own boat was a sandwich handover. We came up to the wall of the harbour and, with expert manoeuvring, our driver got himself up next to it. He was then handed his sandwich in a bag by a passing friend walking along. We clapped and cheered, calling for “Again! Some , more boat tricks!” However he didn’t speak English and William Briggs was really helpful to continually mention that the boat was leaning on it’s side of it’s own accord. We thought it best maybe to not encourage it as the water was about as clean as Sunny’s hotel room in the morning. Mr Grace and the rest of the boat had similar appreciation for the incognito (haha) stunt driver’s performance, (Although I’m not sure this was part of his risk assessment) but we returned disappointed back to the bus.

Almost all photo credits (one can probably guess which might not be!) go to N-JPK (Head Of Singing)

At last, we were brought to Stanley Market (apparently part of a fancy district in Hong Kong) where we were given 40 minutes free time. Armaan Banerjee and James Maclean were quick off the mark to go and buy a Chinese sim card, such was their addiction, before promptly failing to actually get it working. Of this allocated time, for the most part, the group spent it waiting for each other to buy the heaven on earth egg waffles. Debate raged concerning whether ‘chocolate’ was better than ‘chocolate star’ and if this was worth the $3 mark-up but I won’t go into it as I don’t want to relive the experience. Binny decided to abstain from this argument and just get a seaweed (yes seaweed) one instead. Salty much like those who wasted 3 dollars on stars…Alex McGinn was the winner of this short stop as he made the most of the deals on offer, purchasing five ties for what I’m told by fellow entrepreneur Samuel Reason was ‘a jolly good bargain.’

It was on the return to the hotel then that the dreaded ‘airdrop gate’ occurred. Alex McGinn was at the heart of controversy as random pictures were circulated through Bluetooth. With four Alex’s on the bus – Alex Finlayson Brown, Alex Coley, myself and the elusive Alex McGinn– there were a multitude of phones called “Alex’s iPhone”. This led to random sources claiming that name as their own territory before we figured out who the real Alex’s iPhone was after a thorough investigation. I can confirm that Isaac’s selfie with his idols was also circulated.

On our return to the hotel we were met with some much-needed free time before going out to dinner in select groups under the watchful eye of staff. I heard that Mr Maynard was only slightly terrorised by F block and although I can’t speak for everyone, in C block dumplings washed down with Chinese tea was a fitting way to finish off a successful day.

Hello and welcome to the blog, run by Alex Smith (yes, ECMS Secretary Elect) and the rest of C block or maybe just me I’m not sure yet!

It was a clear day in Eton, perfect conditions for flying. First however, we gathered for a quick lunch in Bekynton where the age-old argument raged on – is eat in worse than Bekynton? Debate shortly descended into a competition as to who had the worst story. Tom Roberts claimed his own house food was inedible while any regular Bekynton goer pointed to Mindful Mondays as evidence enough. Armaan Banerjee, not one for change, insisted on sitting in exactly where his house normally sit to the distress of the Bekynton staff who were equally unhappy with his decision. What a change we were in for however- after reconvening in upper school we had a good chance to properly inspect each other’s suitcases- there were the usual black hard top suitcases and duffel bags. Most interesting however was Isaac Cowley’s own suitcase belonging to his grandma – he claims. With a delectable pink bow attached it was a beautiful addition and makes sure that in his role as baggage handler for this tour he may never lose his bag- not that anyone would take it by accident either! After a disappointingly disjointed numbering off we were met with one of the greatest surprises of the tour so far- Connor Carnathan was in fact present and packed?! Surely this is a good omen? He is number 13 however so one can never be sure.

We then made our way to the bus where the “back row chiefs” in the form of Binny Philomin, Tom Pickard and Albert Soriano were in high spirits- even managing to find a lacklustre gardener hosing his bush a hilarity! Theo Peters was unwise to flash his near full budgens bag to a few hawk eyed F blockers who stalked him from the bus (where the baggage handlers (Roly Peel, Me, Isaac Cowley, Adrien Rolet, Mugamba Wilkins and George Vines) were given an “excellent” out of 10 by Mr Maynard) all the way to the terminal where Theo required security (payed in Jelly Babies – obviously) to remove Wilki Dent, James Midgely, Tom Barry, Luke Barron and Samuel Reason. However, this was only a small saga compared to the drama which ensued with reference to ex-blogger Robbie Winter. After locking his own luggage with a pin code which he could not remember he then attempted “one thousand” (sure) combinations before resetting it back to 000 to start again. Suddenly, it popped open! Dear oh dear might want to investigate that OS of his… Also notable in this short wait was Adrien Rolet’s subtle flex of “Adrien take out your Airpods to number off” , “Sir, I’m not even listening to music!”We get it, you’ve got some nice headphones. We then continued through to security with Mr Maynard (led by Theo Peters) and Mr Grace taking the lead. Tristan Betts gained the award for most trays used- he emptied out every pocket from his puffer jacket only to be told that he had to put that in yet another tray too! After a quick briefing from TJJ we numbered off yet again- Roly Peel opting for an Irish accent, Tim Manley opting for the lowest “38” possible, and Ian Leung opting for not saying anything at all.

Food was on the cards and it was time to explore the range of nourishment available at the terminal – Pret, WHSmith, EAT and Yo Sushi. You can tell a lot about someone from where they go to eat (I haven’t worked out quite what yet however). Tom Pickard went for quantity not quality- eating three meal deals. It was quite the opposite for Jamie Andrews who nibbled on a mere Pret a Manger sandwich. Most shocking of all however, might have been Benedict Harvey queuing up for Yo Sushi under slight time constraints- it’s not like we’re going to get any oriental food once we arrive in Hong Kong, right? Oh wait.

Before we knew it, the gate time was up and Miss Stevens was handing out our passports and in Adam Banwell’s (Keeper of Choir) case another 50 cough sweets to remedy his recent onset of Laryngitis. We boarded the plane with only a few slight mix ups. There were a few raised eye brows from the usual suspects when Tom Pickard was sat next to someone of the female species (how very exotic). But when had they gotten over their own immaturity and settled into the flight, Alex Finlayson-Brown settled into the true task at hand- just how many movies can you fit into an 11-hour flight? After being served dinner, George Vines was especially confused at the “Gü” provided and as to what a ganache consisted of. Armaan also became increasingly worried as to what effects the “Gü” would have after he dropped his phone into the pot by some feat of physics. No matter, it contained chocolate, so everyone ate it (or in Armaan’s case licked it off, I assume) without hesitation! Finally, we settled down to sleep, Alex Coley not making use of his pillow and instead falling asleep on James Francis– adapting to his surroundings, I guess!

After a couple of hours, the lights were brought up and we found ourselves tucking into a full English breakfast suspended over western China – a surreal experience. It was here that a select few of the party discovered the ‘chat’ feature on the screens which resulted in even more speculation about Tom Pickard’s friend. This was all in good humour (surely Tom wouldn’t say anything to her) only for them to actually exchange numbers by the end of the flight, much to the surprised/horrified/impressed faces of everyone else on the flight! We’ll have to see where this one goes…

Forgetfulness is another common theme on these tours which I am sure will feature in days to come- the list of shame this time was that Tristan Betts left his hat and Wilki Dent his phone. It could have been worse I guess- what would we have done without the vital plane checkers in the form of Luke Barron and Ben Cole.  Almost as important as the baggage handlers or even the guest cassock manager, Tim Manley.

At last we arrived at the airport and after some textbook passport stamping, suitcase collecting and baggage loading we were on the bus- now seriously tired and eager to reach the comfort of our hotel rooms. I slept through the whole bus journey so I can’t comment much about what went on but shortly after arrival at the YMCA Hotel (incredibly nice but like a holiday inn compared to the Hotel Peninsula next door!) we settled down for a buffet dinner. And what a dinner it was.

Many of those present probably didn’t realise just how much we needed the food- Jamie Andrews made up for his small meal back in the airport with King Size Prawns and F Blockers Tristan Betts, Luke Barron and Connor Carnathan made light work of the admittedly small provisions of egg fried rice which the chefs had put out. I had about 7 deep fried prawns while Binny was quickly onto dessert trying out the bean curd (when in Rome…).

After a short walking tour of Hong Kong where we surveyed the skyline at night and marvelled over a poster advertising our own concert later this week, we returned to the hotel – shattered but ready for the week ahead.