Last week I blogged about participating in a treasure hunt, saying that me, Ken and Huei will win because we’re the “dream team”. We did win! I’ll let the pictures do the talking and I’ll explain it in the captions.

My team mates, Ken and Huei. This was before the hunt. They were reading the guide to solve the clues.

My car. We had Acer and Microsoft Windows 7 pasted all over the car. We brought our own stickers as well. I had two CHIP stickers printed and stuck them on the windscreen. Huei brought a whole bunch of Lowyat.net stickers and we pasted it everywhere. Ken brought a single STUFF sticker so to make it symmetrical, we pasted it right in the middle of the windscreen.

Closer look at our stickers.

“Slim & Sleek On Board”. Huei is slim and sleek. Not me and Ken.

The back of the car.

Huei and Ken still reading the guide to solving the clues.

The agenda. 6 hours to Port Dickson!

Our room at the Thistle Hotel, Port Dickson.

The toilet of our room.

The side sofa thingy. THere is a word for it but I can’t remember what it’s called.

The view of our room.

Well, we won second prize with 72 points. The first prize winner, Kevin, Kuan Lim and Nick from HWM, pipped us by one point! Alas, they were the better team.

The prizes were an Acer Revo, a 23 inch Acer monitor. Each of us also got RM150 Jaya Jusco vouchers and a night stay at the Thistle Resort in Port Dickson. We’re planning to sell the Revo and the monitor to split the money. So if any of you guys want a HTPC, let me know.

That’s about it. I’ll be busy until the end of the month so it’ll be a little quiet here. Not that it’s not quiet enough already.

This is the last installment of my Stuttgart trip posts.

In this entry, I’ll talk about the free stuff I got form Nokia World.

The red wine I got from the Nokia SEAP dinner. They gave each of us one bottle. Luckily I brought a spare bag with me. If not, I’ll most probably be drinking it in Stuttgart.

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset (BH-214). All media people got this. As we were walking out from one of the interview rooms, they passed each of us one unit. Not too sure if I’m gonna use it or not.

I did what Malaysians do best – getting free gifts! I went to the Nokia Comes With Music booth and played a simple game. Three really easy questions and I got this, a 4GB microSDHC card. I told the others about this and they did it the next day, they got 2GB. I guess I was lucky.

They had a wall mural outside the experience lounge for people to write their thoughts. I wrote one and I got this, a Nokia WH-701 headset. I don’t have a Nokia phone with me to try it out and it is not compatible with the phones I have with me right now. I looks really high quality though.

They launched the Nokia MD-9 loud speaker there and we all got one each. I’m not too sure if everyone attended Nokia World got it or not as they were giving it out as a token if you’ve participated in the games at the Nokia World Party. The Malaysian and Singaporean media got it by default though. It comes with a Nokia branded gold plated 3.5mm to 2.5mm converter as well. I’ve never seen a Nokia branded one in Malaysia.

Since A(H1N1) is on the rise every where in the world, they had Nokia branded hand sanitizer at the counters everyday. These were snapped up pretty fast. I’m pretty sure it’s another brand with a Nokia sticker but it smells nice!

At the first keynote, this notepad and a pen was on every chair in the hall. You know, journalists and notepads – they are inseparable!

Well that’s all the things I got for free at Nokia World 2009. Let’s hope I’ll get invited to more media junkets soon!

Day 4 (4 September 2009)

It’s finally time to go back to Malaysia. For some reason, I got home sick on this day. Not too sure why. Anyway, we woke up a little late (9am) and had breakfast at the hotel cafe.

I had this every day! DAMN NICE!

After breakfast, we walked to the train station “near” the hotel. It was a 45 minutes walk and it was a really really nice day.

Look at the clouds!

I regretted not bringing my DSLR with me. It’d be nice to have HDR photos of clouds like this!

We arrived at the train station, albeit a tiny one, and bought our tickets. The machine was in German and thank God there was an English speaking lady to help us with the tickets. The train ride was about 25 minutes and we’re brought right into the middle of the city.

Tiny train station

We split into two groups, guys and ladies. I went with the guys obviously. We just walked around and took pictures of the city.

Nice water feature

Some building

An important person because he is so high up

An even more important person because he is even higher up

Me pointing at the even more important person

A building ( I think it’s a palace) behind the even more important person

Me lying on green grass. I like this photo, taken by David Chieng with my LX3.

We walked further and came to an area with a lot of people and tents everywhere. We found out that conincidently, it was some Stuttgart Wine Festival thing. David and I saw this sign-

1/2 meter Feuerwurst mit Brotchen

We had no idea what that meant but he “1/2 meter” on the sign indicated that it’s LOOONG. How long?

This long!

David and I having the 1/2 meter hot dog!

After hot dogs, we bought ice cream. Eating ice cream on a cool day like that was really nice!

Me with ice cream

We walked further and went to a sneakers shop. They were having a sale there but the prizes are only slightly cheaper than Malaysia. I bought a pair for Eileen since she always wanted a pair of Nike Cortez.

I bought the one with the green Swoosh. 40 Euros after 50% discount.

We noticed that it’s time to checkout soon and we can’t afford to take the train back and walk 45 minutes back to the hotel. We hailed a cab from the city and rode it back. We go into a brand new W212 Mercedes Benz E Class. We don’t even have it in Malaysia yet and they are using it as cabs! Anyway, every other car in Germany is a Mercedes Benz, can’t complain much there.

The interior

I couldn’t get an exterior shot because when we arrived at the hotel, it was raining. Really unpredictable weather!

My bags are packed the night before and all I had to do was to go to my room and get my bags. Checked out and chilled a bit at the hotel cafe because some of the them haven’t had lunch yet.

Our transport came at about 3.30pm and I was at the airport by 4pm. I always thought that I’ll be flying MAS back home but the others told me that we’re flying KLM. I had no idea how the Business Class seats at KLM are since I was only Googling for MAS seats.

After checking in, we went to the KLM Lounge in Stuttgart Airport. It was a really small one since KLM is not based in Germany.

The seats

The pantry

Coat hangers

Boarded the plane and the only difference between Business Class and Economy is this-

A detachable curtain!

The food

As we’re taking off

We arrived at Amsterdam Schipol airport. I saw a Rolex shop and went in to look for the Rolex Milgauss. They have one piece that arrived 30 minutes before I went in! I was in luck. The price is also cheaper than Malaysia. I bought it since my dad asked me to search for it.

Went through immigration and we saw these statues.

Two fat boys sitting on the floor

I knew I had to pose with them!

Three fat boys sitting on the floor

Since we had time, we went to the KLM lounge. This time, since KLM is based in the Netherlands, the lounge is HUGE!!! I went around taking pictures.

Look at the number of seats, each with individual power socket

Ramp leading to the pantry

They call this the Entertainment Center. I didn’t try it out though

Red and white

Heineken draft

It was a long walk to our gate and I had to take off my shoes and watch just to get pass security. I didn’t expect security to be so tight.

I went to my seat and the KLM Business Class seats are A LOT better than MAS’! The particular plane we’re on was only 2 weeks old, no wonder the things inside are so new.

My seat

Proper earphones!

The headset, with QWERTY keypad!

Sleeker than the MAS ones

This is at least 17 inches!!!

Plenty of storage space below the screen

Storage on the right of the seat

Storage on the left of the seat

More storage on the right of the seat!

Seat control. A lot less complicated compared to MAS’

Welcome drink

The toilet. Smaller compared to MAS’

Dinner was served about 1 hour after we took off.

Some salmon appetizer

My drink for dinner

Some fish thing

Dessert

The in flight movies are a little old and I only watched Wolverine. I’ve seen most of the others. I slept throughout the whole flight.

The flight attendant woke me up for breakfast and I got this-

Heavy breakfast!

After an hour or so, we landed at KLIA and this time, I got my luggage! Took the train home and went back to sleep!

Next: The things I got

Day 2 ( 2 September 2009)

Woke up early this day, washed up and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.

Waited for our transport to the Messe Stuttgart, where Nokia World is at.

The first thing we saw is this huge sign.

I feel so welcomed!

Went in for the keynote but before going in, I caught a glimpse of the new Nokia Booklet 3G.

Nokia Booklet 3G

I’ll save you guys with the boring (not so boring to me) stuff. If you want to know more about the keynotes and stuff like that, buy my magazine next month. hehe.

I played with all the new devices they launched that day, Nokia N900, Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia X6, Nokia X3, Nokia N97 Mini and a few others.

Nokia X6

Nokia N900

Nokia N97 Mini

Did a few interviews and went back to the hotel to get prepared for the Nokia Party.

My party tag!

Person holding the Party sign

It was a long drive to the party place. It turned out to be a really old and nice place. I think it’s a castle because I saw “something-something Kastell” on the way in. Not too sure though.

The party place

Nokia World 2009 Party

One of the games area

The party was a little boring. It was basically a drinking thing with nothing much going one. A band from the UK, The Noisettes, performed at the party but we left before that.

We went back to the small town and headed to a pub.

Half a liter!

Left the pub after midnight and walked back with the rest of them to the hotel.

Day 3 (3 September 2009)
Woke up early in the morning again and had breakfast at the same place. It’s a little gloomy this day.

Rain clouds

I’ll skip the work part here as well. I did a few interviews on this day as well.

We went back to the hotel right after lunch because there’s nothing much we can do at the halls. We went to the town center again because we saw a few shops the night before. Walked there again in the afternoon and spent 3 hours there, mostly walking, and went back to the hotel for another Nokia dinner. This time, it’s regional, the SEAP Group.

We were driven to this place. A hunting lodge cum vineyard for one of Germany’s Kings. DAMN NICE!

The hunting lodge/vineyard

Me and the hunting lodge/vineyard

They served finger food and wine before letting us go in. We are assigned to specific seats.

My seat

The set up

The ceiling

Dinner served and it was fine dining style. Look at the cutleries you’ll know lah…

Salmon, crayfish appetizer

Close up on the crayfish

Asparagus soup

Chicken rice, high class style!

They had different kinds of wine for different kinds of food. White and red. Just look at the glasses!

Everyone had at least 5 glasses!

The power of LUMIX LX-3!!!

The dessert buffet

Everyone got a bottle of wine after the dinner to take home. It’s one of the ones we had at the dinner.

Red wine. Luckily I brought an extra bag!

Next: Free time and going home!

I woke up late this morning because my room mate’s alarm was on snooze all the time. Anyway, I woke up just in time to meet the Sales Director of Notebook Division of MSI for breakfast, talked about some of their products.  It was a casual meeting cum breakfast thing at a five star hotel about 5 minutes away from my hotel. 

After that, we proceeded to Nangang Exhibition Hall and visited NU‘s booth and took some pictures, went to Kingmax’s booth and visited their booth, taking pictures and stuff.  It’s funny that both of the booths had some form of water feature, with NU showcasing their waterproof devices and Kingmax displaying their waterproof products.

Met up with the boss of Kingmax, interviewed him on stuff like SSD transitions, future plans – the usuals. It lasted about 30 minutes and it was free time.  So I took Huei along with me and dropped by ASUS’ booth and took a few pictures at MSI’s booth.  

We then took a shuttle bus to the other exhibition area near the Taipei 101 building, where Hall 1 and 3 of the TWTC, as well as the TICC was occupied with the exhibition.  We went to the TICC first for Intel’s keynote, then left to raid Hall 1 and 3.

This year’s Computex is REALLY quite.  I’m not too sure if it’s the first day but as compared to last year, it really toned down a lot.  There aren’t many door gifts too.  Then again, I spent most of my time at TWTC and TICC and the bigger brands (sans Gigabyte) are all at Nangang.

Anyway, when we could hardly feel our legs, we had coffee and ice cream at some funny cafe with SUPERB ice cream! The prices were not too bad.  Both of us racked up about NT430, which is slightly less than RM50.  Well you can’t expect too much for stuff like this, especially when it’s located at the Taipei 101 building itself.

We went to the MSI Media night for dinner at about 6.30pm and met up with the rest of the Malaysian journalists.  There were performances at the dinner, namely some catwalk with MSI’s latest notebooks, followed by a bar tender flare show and ended with some contest which I didn’t join.  I was just too tired because there are blisters on my toes.

When the dinner ended, we the took a cab to Rao He Night market which is about 10 minutes drive away.  Like what Huei said,”Nothing fantastic here besides the petshop,”.  Shi Lin Night Market is 100 times better than this and I’ll see if I can make a trip there one of these days.

Anyway, I have to sleep now.  Early day tomorrow as well.  Will be meeting with Galaxy’s people for breakfast, then their booth.  Cheah needs my help for his ASUS thing and there will be a Kingmax party later in the day.  All are at Nangang but I’m thinking of going to the Gigabyte Reunion at Taipei 101 tomorrow since they sponsored my trip last year.  I’ll see how it pans out.  Good night!

P.S. Oh yeah, I will try to catch up with CHIP Indonesia’s Lab Director, Dedy Irwan, tomorrow.

P.P.S. Will try to have MOS Burger tomorrow at Nangang!