Straight Forward

MINT Museum of Toys

I woke up late because P’Chompoo (my wake call machine) went out to take a walk along the Singapore River in the early morning. I hadn’t even pack my things. I hurriedly went down to the Melt Cafe to have breakfast alone. We checked out of the hotel then went to the MINT museum of Toys.

MINT (Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys), the world’s first purpose-built museum for toys, opened in Singapore in May 2006. The museum showcases an extensive collection of vintage toys, including rare and unique one-of-a-kind toys, covering a period from mid-nineteenth Century to mid-twentieth Century.

MINT museum of Toys

The museum collection, numbering more than 50,000 toys and valued at over S$5 million, includes rare vintage Disneyana toys and memorabilia; Character toys such as Astroboy, Batman, Bonzo, Dan Dare, Popeye, etc; Pre-war Japanese toys; China-made toys, including a rare ‘Door of Hope’ doll collection, dating from turn-of-the-century; exclusive Teddy Bear Collection and a unique collection of Chinese comic covers dating from 1920’s; Golden Age Comics; Tintin collectables; others.

Vanilla Ice-Cream with Brownie

We had lunch at Blu Jaz Cafe on Bali Lane. I really do like this place. It’s so colorful. I had salad, corn soup, main dish (fish) and vanilla ice-cream with brownie.

P’Oh, the reporter from Daily News interviewed me about my blog while we were at Blu Jaz Cafe. She’s interested to have a website and a blog. P’Oh, P’Thom, Khun Po, Khun Pik and I talked about many things especially about me being a flight attendant.

Wisma Atria

We went to Takashimaya on Orchard Road to do shopping. I went around the Orchard Road with P’Thom. He’s been to Singapore quite often. He’s like a tour guide. I bought some souvenirs for my loved ones. There’re many things I wanted to buy for myself but I did not buy because I am broke. The only thing I bought for myself was a pin from the Mint Museum.

At 5 pm. we went to Changi Airport. Azzah came to see me at the airport. We hugged and said goodbye. I hope she will come to Bangkok soon.

I hurried to go to the store to buy the remaining souvenirs. There’re 3 bottles of Australia’s wine for N’Goy’s mother, a carton of Sobranie Pinks Slims for my aunt and Hershey’s chocolate for N’Goy.

I bought Bvlgari Omnia Amethyste for my mom from KrisShop, Singapore Airlines’ inflight sales service. I arrived Suvarnabhumi Airport at 9 pm. My father picked me up.

Thank you Nokia for this awesome trip!

Melt Cafe, The Oriental Singapore

I woke up at 7.30 am. P’Chompoo kindly did the wake up call for me. We went down to the Melt Cafe to have breakfast buffet at 8.30 am. I felt so full after eating. Everything was so delicious. P’Chompoo had only a cup of coffee. She’s on a diet.

At 9.30 am. we went to do Media Workshop. Listening to Mr. Jose Luis Martinez, Vice President, Sales and Channel Management, Asia Pacific, Nokia Multimedia on a View of Consumer Internet Services.

Then the panel discussion on the Nokia N-Gage platform “Mobile Games: Raising the Bar, Lowering the Barriers“. The panelists were Mr. Ilkka Raiskinen, Mr. Ludovic Blondel (OEM Director, GameLoft), Mr. Vishal Gondal (Founder & CEO, Indiagames Ltd.) Mr. Bryan Ma (Director, Personal Systems Research, IDC Asia Pacific) and the moderator was Mr. Keith Liu (Head of Internet & Games Experiences, Asia Pacific, Nokia Multimedia).

Media Workshop

The new N-Gage mobile gaming platform is Nokia’s redefined mobile games offering where it aims to take it to new heights, as one of the key services within Nokia’s new strategic direction towards consumer internet services.

The N-Gage platform is a hardware-agnostic software platform which seeks to deliver an as yet unparalleled mobile gaming experience to consumers through Series 60 devices, including Nokia Nseries multimedia computers.

As a leading Mobility player, Nokia plays a leading role in mobile gaming as a first-party games publisher, and also has good collaborations with other industry leading games publishers and developers.

Digital Music: Evolution or Revolution?

10.55 am. the panel discussion on Nokia Music Services “Digital Music: Evolution or Revolution?“. The panelists were Mr. Jawahar Kanjilal (Director of Multimedia Experiences, Asia Pacific, Nokia Multimedia), Mr. Alex Lambeek (Vice President, Sales and Portfolio Management, Mobile Phones, Asia Pacific, Nokia), Mr. Sandy Monteiro (Senior Vice President, Southeast Asia, Universal Music), Mr. Bryan Ma (Director, Personal Systems Research, IDC Asia Pacific) and the moderator was Joe Augustin (Veteran DJ and Emcee).

In Asia Pacific, music plays an integral part of people’s daily lives, something that they cannot live without. Music is considered lifeblood, especially among the youth. Mobile phones have also become a very important part of people’s lives. In Asia Pacific, consumers experience the benefits of a portable music player, their first camera, games and internet on their mobile devices. If music evolves into digital music, should this then be considered the next big revolution?

Floor Play by Burn The Floor

In the afternoon, P’Chompoo, P’Mai, Khun Po and I went to China Town by MRT. It was raining day but it was fun to hang out with my friends. I took many pictures (you can view them here). We hurried back to the hotel to go to dinner at No Signboard Seafood. I liked Hokkien Style Steamed Fish and Shark’s Fin. After dinner, we went to the Esplanade Theatre to see “Floor Play” by Burn The Floor. It was an fantastic show! I love it. They spiced up the dance floor and danced awesome during the entire show.

I went back to the hotel at 10.20 pm. I met Azzah, my friend. She’s been waiting for me in the lobby. We went to my room and she ordered something for us to eat in the room. We talked about work, love and life. It’s good to catch up with her again. We exchanged the birthday presents. She gave me a book, Marley and Me by John Grogan. Thank you Azzah.

Reporters & Bloggers

Finally I have finished uploading my Singapore trip pictures to Flickr. You can view all the pictures here.

I was invited as one of two bloggers to go to Nokia Go Play in Singapore with 10 reporters. I am not sure why they chose me to go. I think I am just lucky. I did not know anyone in this trip before so it was kinda exciting. My Papa and Mama took me to the Suvarnabhumi Airport. We arrived there at 9 am. I met P’Yee. She’s the Communications Manager from Aziam Burson-Marsteller (ABM). Then I met P’Mai, the senior reporter from Siamrath Newspaper and P’Chompoo, a blogger from BlogGang dot com.

Okay, let me introduce people in the group ;

P’Ning – Communications Manager, Nokia (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
P’Yee – Communications Manager, Aziam Burson-Marsteller (ABM)
Ple – Client Service Executive, Aziam Burson-Marsteller (ABM)
Khun Pui and Khun Yod – Nokia (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
P’Chompoo – Blogger, BlogGang
P’Mai – Senior Reporter, Siamrath
Khun Po – Reporter, Prachachat Newspaper
P’Joy – Social Director, Image Magazine
P’Ko – Lips Magazine
P’Thom – Writer, Manager Weekly
P’Oh – Reporter, Daily News
Khun Pik – Writer, Esquire Magazine

They are all nice people. I am glad I know them. Anyway we fly with Singapore Airlines to Changi Airport. The weather was not good, turbulence occurred most of the flight. We arrived Singapore around 3 pm. local time. we went straight to our hotel, The Oriental Singapore. After we’re done with checking-in and cloths changing, we went to Market Street Carpark where the event took place.

Nokia Go Play

Around 5 pm. the event began with welcome address by Mr. Chris Carr, Country Manager, Nokia Singapore. Keynote speech by Mr. Urpo Karjalainen, SVP, Customer and Market Operations, Nokia Asia Pacific. Consumer Internet Strategy presented by Mr. Ilkka Raiskinen, SVP, Multimedia Experiences, Nokia Multimedia.

Nokia today introduced Ovi, the company’s new internet services brand name. With the introduction of Ovi, Nokia is expanding from a focus on mobile devices to offer a range of internet services. Ovi, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as acting as a gateway to Nokia’s services.

Ovi – one key opens every doors.
Ovi is the gateway to Nokia’s internet services, including the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and N-Gage games. It will also be an open door to web communities, enabling people to access their content, communities and contacts from single place, either directly from a compatible Nokia device or from a PC. The first version of Ovi.Com is scheduled to go live in English during the fourth quarter of 2007 and additional features and languages expected to go live during the first half of 2008.

Nokia Music Store – all the world’s music in your pocket
The Nokia Music Store (http://music.nokia.com) offers millions of tracks from major artists, independent lables as well as a broad range of local artists from around the world. The store is accessible via a desktop computer or directly from a compatible Nokia device, such as the Nokia N81 or Nokia N95 8GB multimedia computer.

Entertainment made simple

N-Gage – mobile gaming experience
N-Gage offers an easy way to find, try and buy great quality games directly from your compatible Nokia devices. Selecting the N-Gage application onyour compatible Nokia device, you can preview available games, connect with your friends, read reviews or download a free demo. Buying game is easy, either with a credit card or by charging to your monthly phone bill. Companies like Electronic Arts and Gameloft are making some of their biggest brands available through N-Gage. The application is expected to be available for download from N-Gage.com in November 2007.

Nokia unveils four devices optimized for entertainment, music and games.
Alongside the introduction of Ovi, the door to Nokia’s Internet services, Nokia today unveiled four new mobile devices specifically optimized for entertainment, music and games.

Nokia N81 and Nokia N81 8GB : Entertainment made simple
With dedicated music and gaming keys, a 3.5 mm headphone connector and 3G and WLAN connectivity, the Nokia N81 multimedia computer is a true mobile entertainment powerhouse. With a sleek, polished surface and keys that light up when you activate them. accessing content on the 3D multimedia menu is fast and intuitive. The Nokia N81 is configured to find, buy, mange and play music and games purchased from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service.

The Nokia N81 comes in 2 versions : the Nokia N81 8GB with internal 8GB flash memory, and the Nokia N81 with expandable memory. Both versions are expected to begin shipping the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia N95 8GB : Stunning screen, massive memory
The Nokia N95, the world’s greatest multimedia computer, just got greater. With all the key features of its predecessor, including a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, built-in A-GPS, WLAN, HSDPA and an innovative 2-way slide, the Nokia N95 8GB now offers up to 8 gigabytes of built-in memory. The N95 8GB also boasts a new luminous 2.8″ QVGA display – one of largest ever for a multimedia computer – so that watching videos, browsing the Internet or viewing maps is easy. With its expanded memory, the N95 8GB offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6,000 songs. The N95 8GB multimedia computer is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia 5310 XpressMusic – Small in size, big on music
With a sleek aluminium finish, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone blends an array of features with an iconic design. At only 9.9mm thick and weighing less than 71 grams, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic fits comfortably in a pocket or purse. A mini music powerhouse, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic offers up to 18 hours of music playback, memory for up to 3,000 songs on an optional 4GB microSD card and delicated music keys. Expand listening options to music headphones or speakers with a built-in 3.5mm jack. With a 2-megapixel camera and a bright 2-inch QVGA screen with up to 16 million colors, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia 5610 XpressMusic – Edgy design, sharp sound
The Nokia 5610 XpressMusic comes ready to rock with an iconic Music Slider key making music easy to access with a flick of the thumb. Aluminum side panels accent the all-black high gloss finish and large 2.2-inch, 16 million color display of the Nokia 5610 XpressMusic. The Nokia 5610 XpressMusic offers crystal clear sound and up to 22 hours of music playback and memory with capacity for 3,000 songs on an optional 4GB microSD card. More than just a phone and music player, the Nokia 5610 XpressMusic features a high-quality 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. The Nokia 5610 XpressMusic uses 3G technology, and with pre-load web applications, downloads, web-browsing and video calls can be made faster and easier. The Nokia 5610 XpressMusic is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Market Street Carpark

After Nokia: Go Play Showcase, we had dinner on the rooftop of Market Street Carpark with the bright big moon and stars glowing above. The dinner menu were Symphony of Ocean (Poached boston lobster, Thai style mussels marinated with garlic and lime, Seared bay scallops topped off with a tangy dressing, Confit of blue water prawns with Asian Sesame dressing), Clear Concoction (Double-boiled winter melon consomme with prawn tortellini, snow fungus, wolfberries and cilantro), Surf & Turf (Oven-baked cajun spiced baby chicken and wok-charred gindara served with potatoes and soy-mirin jus and accented with a cepes foam) and Dolce ( Chocolate hazelnut mille feuille, structure of citrus and wine gel, strawberry panna cotta, mini blueberry shortcake). They tasted wonderful. They were amazing.

The entertainment shows were incredible. I couldn’t remember the artist’s names but they were great.

Before we headed back to the hotel, I went to 7 Eleven to find a phone sim card. Unfortunately I couldn’t get one.

Related Links
P’Chompoo’s Blog
Nokia Go Play