During the Earth Hour, I was happened to be at a supermarket. In support of the Earth Hour, the supermarket chain switched off most of the lights. The supermarket was still very bright.

So my take back from this Earth Hour is that, we had switched on too much light every day of the year. It was only slightly diner in the supermarket, and I observed that only 1/3 of the lights was switched on. In another words, the supermarket can potentially save 2/3 of the electricity on lights. Imagine the carbon reduction.

As such, I am still thinking, since so many years ago, what had Earth Hour actually achieved? Buildings, companies are still wasting electricity on non-essential lights, switching on too many lights every single day of the year.

The Earth Hour is over, the lights were switched on again, what had everyone learned from the 60 minutes? Is the statement really made? Or back to normal life?

For me, the only take back is, we do not really switch on so much light. Only if, through these 60 minutes, those participating organizations realized that they had switched on too much light in the past and reduce the amount of light from this point of time, then I believe that the statement had been made.

It started some time back, when my younger brother loaned me a DVD of The Phantom of the Opera movie.

Sometime last year, I stumbled upon the 25th Anniversary The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Blu-Ray at a local shopping mall. I bought the disc almost immediately.

Before I realized it, I was captivated in front of the TV screen for the next three hours

When I got to know that The Phantom of the Opera was coming to Singapore at Grand Theatre of MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands, I bought the tickets immediately. The Phantom was played by Brad Little and Christine was played by Claire Lyon.

I must admit, I was not that willing to part too much of my money (which I regretted later), and not really experienced in choosing seats. I purchased the first row of the second cheapest tickets. Only available tickets in the next higher tier were just a row in front. I thought that the visual will not have much different with just a row apart. Only when I got sited, I realized that it was the first row of the upper deck. There was a safety bar in front of me. If I lean back, my vision would be block. So I ended up watching the whole musical leaning forward. From my position, I could see that last row from the next tier had so much better view. Anyway, I learnt a lesson.

I could not help but to compare the three versions which I watched.

The movie version was remarkable in term of the computer graphic effect, especially the rising of the chandelier. It really brought us back to the theatre in 1881 Paris. I also found it make more logical sense on the timing of the falling chandelier. At the same time, it took away some of the mysteries of The Phantom. I was a bit disappointed that the Phantom was not that ugly as expected when he was unmasked.

I personally found that the vocal in the movie was not as good as the theatre versions, in Blu-Ray or live. Some of the stage magic could not be duplicated in the movie. Example was Christine could appear to change three very different looking costumes without actually leaving the stage.

The 25th Anniversary disc was almost as good as being there. On top of that, the camera zoomed in in a number of occasions, and this allowed us to watch the actors’ and actress’ expression. We could feel their emotions. The use of the LEDs and having the orchestras above the stage complimented the performance. On the other hand, the over use of the LEDs somehow at the same time limited the wow factor in the stage magic.

It was nothing compared to watching the performance live. Of course, we could not expect the large cast in a regular show compared to the special edition like the 25th Anniversary. But I think it was already sufficient to woo the audience. Without the LEDs, I could see the wonders of the stage magic. There was the rising and falling of the chandelier (absence in the 25th Anniversary). There was the transformation of the stage from the old ruined look to a new look. There were sudden appearances of The Phantom in the various occasions (e.g. during the “All I Ask of You (Reprise)” and “Why So Silent?”).

Sitting at the high up at the upper deck did have some advantages. I could see how the disappearing and re-appearing of The Phantom being done in ending of “Why So Silent?”.

Overall, the three versions of The Phantom of the Opera gave me much enjoyment. I would like the live viewing best, provided that I could get much better seating. If I do have a chance to visit New York or London, and it is still playing there, I think I will be catching the show again there.

He carried on, “I am unlikely to watch these discs anytime soon. I had watched these movies countless time already. But getting this set is a fan thing… A must have.”

I understand what he meant. I did not have a Blu-Ray player yet, but I already bought the Blue-Ray set. Getting the Star Wars Blue-Ray set was a must have to a fan.

I had the original Star Wars Episode IV to VI Video CD and DVDs set. Frankly speaking, I had not really sat down to watch these videos discs. But I simply could not resist the Force to get them.

Star Wars Video Collection - VCD, DVD and Blu-Ray

I had not bought any of the Episodes I to III videos, because I knew one day, the complete saga set would be released. And this Star Wars Complete Saga Blu-Ray set was exactly what I had been waiting for.

This Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) [Blu-ray] had also given me the prefect excuse to get a Blu-Ray player. Although I do not know if I would really sit down and watch from start to end.

First we had the Seafood soup noodles. The noodle was a white color type. There are a generous serving of seafood. There were prawns, squids and vegetables in the soup.

When the fried rice was served, it looked like just a simple plate of fried rice. However, upon further look, we found the gems were all buried in the rice. There were again prawns and squids hidden.

Just like the fried rice, the omelet looked like an egg bun, so originally looking. There was a knife provided. We used the knife to cut open the omelet. The gems were in there. Inside the omelet, there was a generous chili crab.

This was another delicious meal I had in Phuket. And I know I will definitely miss the food there.

That was the suggestion from the person who fetch us from the Airport to the hotel in Phuket. Since we had made no plans for our stay in Phuket, we took up the Phi Phi Cruise package.

There were two types of Phi Phi Cruise package provided by the Phi Phi Cruiser, the normal one at 1,500 Baht per person and the VIP one at 1,800 Baht per person. The VIP one included “Under Sea Aquarium at Coral Bay”. We took up the VIP ones.


The following morning at 7.00am, while we were finishing our breakfast, the transport reached our hotel to pick us up. The journey to the jetty took about 40 minutes. They did not inform us that the VIP package included reserved seats in the air-conditioned cabin at the upper deck. Of course, we were delighted by it. And once we sat down, we were served with a croissant, some biscuit and a coffee.

When we embarked the ship, it was drizzling. Fortunately, soon after the ship slipped off, the rain stopped. This allow us to go round the decks and did some exploring, taking pictures of the sun, the sea and the islands. This was the time when some of the passengers took off the shirt, and enjoyed the sun tan. And this was the time when we realized that we forgot to get sun block lotion. We bought a bottle of lotion at the shop on broad.

The scenery just got better as we approached the Phi Phi Islands. The beauty was beyond my vocabulary of description.

The ship first stopped at Ko Phi Phi Don to allow the over stayers to disembarked. After a brief wait, the ship moved on. It first circled Ko Phi Phi Leh. We were enjoying the view from the sun deck. There were loud speakers announcements to introduce to us the spots along the route.

Viking Cave - Ko Phi Phi Len

After the sight seeing around Ko Phi Phi Leh, we headed back to Ko Phi Phi Don. We stopped at a distance from the island where we transferred to a smaller ship. This ship took us to Coral Bay. At there, it was the venue for the snorkeling. The snorkeling gear was provided for us.

As part of the VIP package, we were transferred to another ship. This was the Under Sea Aquarium ship. We put our things at the upper deck, and undress to our swimming wear. The guide led us to the undersea aquarium. Now we are inside a giant fish tank. The guide provided us bread to feed the fishes in the tank. The fishes were about the size of my palm. This was an interesting experience to have so many fishes to swim around me.

Under Sea Aquarium

Soon, we got dressed to head for Ko Phi Phi Don. We just slipped our shorts and T-shirts. We had a wet butt situation.

This was a requirement to pay 20 Baht to enter Ko Phi Phi Don and it was a separate charge. As part of the VIP package, we only paid to the guide and she would purchase the tickets for us. While the rest were busy queuing to buy the ticket, the guide led us straight to Phi Phi Hotel, where we had our lunch.

The lunch was great. There were tom yam soup, stream rice, fish, chicken, vegetables and others. We did not worry about not enough food. Along the course, the waitress would top up the food. Now we could forget about finishing the food. There was free flow of drinks available as well.

After lunch, we had about slight more than an hour of free time. We headed first to the beach. We just had a short walk at the beach, then we walked around the village, looking at the shops.

Before, we knew it, it was time for us to get back to the ship for our journey back.

I was wondering, was it because it was raining or was it because we had a tiring day. We slept our journey back.

We did not plan anything, and did not expect anything, but this trip was a surprising trip for us. At such a price, we had a cruise to the Phi Phi Islands. I would say, it was almost an all-inclusive package, including the transport to and fro the hotel, snacks and lunch. The only addition cost would be the 20 Baht into Ko Phi Phi Don and our shopping items.

The additional 300 baht to get the VIP package was well spent as well. We had more spacious seats and personalized service. During the snorkeling, the guide was there to help us take pictures.

It would be better if we were given more time at Ko Phi Phi Don. We had managed our time, so that we can explore more both the beach and village shops.

If I do go to Phuket again, I may arrange to spend an evening a Ko Phi Phi Don.

I tried a number of ways, like clear data, checking all the settings, however in vain.

Luckily, I found the solution to this at this site. – http://talk.sonyericsson.com/message/21791#21791

After trying out this solution, it worked and I can continue to download new Applications for my X10 Mini Pro Phone.

The phone was very small, even small than my palm. This was a contrast to most other touch screen phone with much bigger screen. The only thing was that it was quite thick due to the key pad.

Contact List

One of the first thing I did was to export my contact list list to the new phone. I had a habit of synchronizing my PC address book with my phone’s one. In the past, I would do so using the given cable or Bluetooth.

Suddenly, I realized that, with an Android phone, process had changed.

There were two options with X10 Mini Pro. First, Sony Ericsson provided storage space in their servers for us to store our address book and calendar. The other options was to make use of Google Gmail. Of course, this was an Android phone, the operating system was from Google. I decided to opt for the latter one.

There was a software provided by Google to sync my Outlook contact with my Gmail. Somehow, unfortunately, I could not manage to get that to work well. So, I had to do it in the manual way.

This took me a bit of time, exporting from my PC address book and importing to the Google Gmail Contact list. Good thing was, it was only an one time task.

After I had setup my phone for my Gmail Account, I soon found that my phone address book was updated.

Calendar

I did not expect that the calendar part was much easier and faster than the Contact List. I simply download another software from Google. This software would automatically sync my Outlook Calendar with my Google Calendar. This would in term sync my Google Calendar with my X10 Mini Pro Calendar.

One thing to take note that, I had to enable the Calendar Sync under the “Phone Setting”, “Data Sync” for it to periodically sync the calendar.

Phone Calls

This was the most basic function of a mobile phone. Making phone call was easy. It took my a while to get use of the receiving phone call.

Like most touch screen based phone, I had to slide on the screen to answer a call on the X10 Mini Pro. When my finger was a bit wet, the screen might not be as responsive as I hoped for. It took me a few sliding to answer a call.

Overall, as I got used to my new Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro, I began to enjoy the convenience it provided on the basic functions. I just need to update my phone, and my Google Gmail contact or Calendar would be updated and also the other way round.

Soon I began to explore more functions of this Android Phone.

I had been pondering, if I should get this Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro Android phone. Or if I should get other Android phone. My main concern was the functions which I had been enjoying with my previous phone – Sony Ericsson C902.

Sony Ericsson C902 was a fantastic phone – 5Mbyte camera, slim design, functionality as a modem for my laptop etc. The reasons for replacing this phone were to a faulty button and I needed even more functions. An Android phone seemed to fit in.

I usually used a mobile over 2 years before changing new one, so I would wish to check carefully first. Before buying, I had been comparing the phones’ features.

I knew Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro had these advantage over most other Android phones of the same price:
- 5 Mega pixel Camera
- A QWERTY Keypad
- Built in radio

At the same time, Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro was using Android OS 1.6 compared to most other Android phones using Android OS 2.0 and above. That means that I cannot share my Internet Connection with other devices. As far as I knew, Sony Ericsson would be releasing a firmware upgrade soon.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro also has a smaller screen size compared to most other touch screen phone. But I think I can live with it.

Jumping from C902 into an Android phone would mean, I would gain much more functions. There would be tons of Applications available in the Android Market. I would need to explore what were available. I can also make use of the available Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet, rather than just the 3G Mobile data only.

At the same time, I would lose out in term of using my phone as a modem for my laptop.

Further much considering, I finally made the jump and got my Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro.

The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics is currently taking place in Singapore from 14th to 26th August 2010. We only have this window to take the photos of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Cauldron Lit Up.

Zoom in shot of 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Cauldron

2010 Summer Youth Olympics Cauldron

I am still recovering from the fact that Bukit Merah Central McDonald’s is now closed. But I just received some good news.

According to the supermarket aunties, Bukit Merah Central McDonald’s is now going through renovation. It is expected to re-open in December 2010. And it would not be as big as it was used to. It would be smaller.

I hope that, this is true. And I am definitely looking forward to the re-opening of Bukit Merah Central McDonald’s.