My first foray into Asia started off with two long and boring flights. Korean Air makes you sign a waiver if you check in an instrument, so if somebody decides to tapdance on your guitar case or take a walk with it, they have no responsibility. Which is strange because their maximum liability for losing a regular suitcase during an international flight is around USD 1,400... Discrimnation that is.

Well, in any case - I arrived in Taipei on December 1st to start playing ten concerts with Huang Chia Wei, a fine guitarist and a pioneer of acoustic guitar music in Taiwan. No jet lag, which I was really happy about. Traffic in Taiwan was a completely new experience - I'd previously always thought my brother in strings, Eric Roche, was the worst driver I'd kown but it looks like everybody in Taiwan drives like him. He would have fit right in. I am still hoarse from screaming like a little girl every two minutes in the car.
In any case, almost all of the concerts were in Universities all over Taiwan and I enjoyed the food and Chia Wei's company. I even learned a bit of Chinese to make a fool of myself with on stage. It was a strange experience to find out how much I missed being able to talk freely on stage and tell the stories that go with the pieces. The fine Japanese guitar players, Masaaki Kishibe and Ryohei Shimoyama, joined us for the last bit of the tour and I was very impressed by their musicality and their live sound.

I was picked up by Ed Ha and Michael from Parkwood Guitars at Incheon airport near Seoul - and was instantly amazed by the city - it's a bit like San Francisco, only much, much bigger and all skyscrapers.

Full rock-star treatment - being chauffeured to concerts, TV-shows and photo shoots with a cameraman and a make-up artist in tow- is definitely something that needs getting adjusted to. Usually I drive my own Austrian butt to concerts and the make-up part before the show is limited to making sure my pants are zipped up.
I was very well taken care of by the staff from Parkwood guitars and my friend Sockgoo Choi from C&L music! Korean sushi was also quite adventurous - what with still-squirming tentacles and fermented fish and all. With food, I usually try everything twice but the fermented fish I only tried once.... Plus where I come from your food is supposed to be dead and not holding on to the chopstick.

I am looking forward to my next visit to these two beautiful countries and their people in April 2008!

Grateful and humble,

Thomas