Tempo of Bangkok

Carissa Hoffmeyer

After a sweaty, hot bus ride, a bumpy two-hour flight, and an hour van ride, the Dalat high school band arrived at the 24@Home hotel in Bangkok. A total of 38 high schoolers, along with Mr. Kearney, Mr. Ramos, Ms. Goh, and Ms. Claudia attended the 2018 Massed Band Festival from Dalat.

On Friday, September 7, 2018, seven different schools met at ISB for an eight-hour massed band rehearsal, where we had the chance to interact with other students and play music, conducted by a retired cowboy conductor from Montana.

Even though this band trip was for participating in the massed band festival, most students truly enjoyed the time spent away from working. Several new friendships were created over this trip, as there was a wide variety of different students from each grade, and they were able to intermingle. One student, Sieon Park (10) said, “I really liked going on the trip with friends, hanging out with them, meeting new people, and playing with them.”

On Saturday, after the concert, we got to go out to a mall in Bangkok to eat local food, buy some souvenirs, and explore. One store that a few students stumbled upon was an exotic shirt store. There, we found three strange, matching shirts with a child’s face all over it. Mr. Ramos, very graciously, decided to buy the shirts for himself, Ms. Goh and Mr. Kearney. Ms. Goh, reluctantly put the shirt on as they all posed for a group photo. With a bit of luck, we might be able to get them to wear their shirts at some point this year.

Hopefully, we didn’t give the band directors too much of a headache during the nights, as we were quite loud in the hotel. Several people were playing video games or card games, having fun and lively conversations, or just hanging out doing some homework.

Our last day in Bangkok, we took a van out to an island, which we had to boat to, where we shopped at a market. We explored the entire market, seeing their variety of clothing, jewelry, food, and several other things. Two favorite spots were the sweet corn and watermelon shakes.

Although the trip was short, we all enjoyed the time we got to spend bonding as a band, eating Krispy Kreme, and freezing in the auditorium.  I think we all can agree that this trip was one never to forget.