These global winners of the Ikea Soft Toy Drawing Competition 2017 will deliver smiles and happiness around the world. This special collection is now available at Ikea stores worldwide.

“The Soft Toy Drawing Competition has been held for five consecutive years. We have also received excellent feedback in previous years. Children from around the world are interested in submitting their dream soft toy drawings. Last year, we received more than 87,000 submissions. All of the designs were fantastic, with a massive level of imagination. We were astonished at the degree they put their hearts into their drawings. We had a lot of unicorns, monsters, and many rainbow soft toys. However, kids’ all-time favourites like owls and penguins were among them too. Ikea has selected five designs as the global first prize winners and these will be made into real soft toys for this special Sagoskatt collection,” says Bodil Fritjofsson, product developer at Children’s Ikea.

The selected winners are the unicorn by 5-year-old Peixin from China, the shark by 9-year-old Jimin from South Korea, the monster by 8-year-old Runar from Iceland, the hedgehog dinosaur by 8-year-old Greta from Sweden, and the dotted seal by 8-year-old Natalia from Poland. Each is priced at Bt239 and available at Ikea stores.

Ikea Thailand is also holding the “Give Twice Campaign” in which Ikea and Megabangna will add one extra item for every soft toy purchased and dropped off in the donation box for the Special Olympics Thailand and Handicap International. All donated toys will be given to impoverished children. This campaign is a part of the “Let’s Play For Change” campaign which is being held for the third consecutive year to support children’s right to play and develop.

Show your support and double the happiness and smiles for children at the Ikea stores at Megabangna, Central Plaza Westgate, and in Phuket from now until December 23.

MORE THAN seven years have passed since most of the Tohoku (northeast) area of Japan was wiped out by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami of March 2011. More than 20,000 people died in the disaster but the Japanese have picked themselves up and brushed themselves down and while construction is still ongoing in many parts, the local people are doing everything they can to encourage international tourists to return. Their focus is a series of campaigns to underline that the revitalisation and reconstruction of tsunami-affected areas has been successful.

Thai visitors continue to flock to Japan to marvel at the koyo or momiji (red leaf) season of autumn, the snow in winter and the cherry blossoms in spring. Yet they are seemingly unaware of another type of tourism that has been gaining traction among Japanese and visitors from other countries – disaster prevention.

Known in Japanese as bosai kanko, this type of tourism uses the word bosai to refer to comprehensive efforts including prior countermeasures against disasters, emergency responses after a disaster, restoration and recovery. Indeed, bosai has even given its name to the World Bosai Forum, an international meeting focused on understanding the practical side of disaster risk management rather than mere theory.

The Tohoku Tourism Office recently invited XP to visit the Miyagi Prefecture where many cities were heavily hit by the tsunami including Sendai, Ichinomaki, Kesennuma and Minamisanriku. The programme took in the disaster areas and also introduced me to local people and entrepreneurs, all of them eager to tell me what they experienced and explain how they are using bosai to proactively engage in preparing for possible disasters in the future.

Miyagi is one of the premier rice growing areas of Japan and home to a famous sake brewery. On my first day, I am taken to the Urakasumi Sake Gallery at Shiogama, where life has returned to normal. When I ask about the disaster, the manager gives me the full details in English. Nearly 30,000 bottles of sake were damaged, the brewery’s buildings had to fixed or replaced and their sale of sake put on hold even though it was the peak of the Ginjo (premium sake) season, he tells me. Now they are giving back to the community based on the idea that “we cannot achieve a true recovery of our own without our region’s recovery”, donating part of every purchase towards the region’s recovery.

Even though the staff cannot speak English, foreign visitors are welcomed and are taken on a walking tour of the brewery and invited to taste to sake, “Please come to visit our shop and see how the sake has been made. Language is not a problem; we use a dictionary application to translate and talk to each other,” says a member of staff.

We stop at another sake brewery, Kakuboshi in Kesennuma, and here too they are eager to talk about the after effects of the tsunami. In some ways, they were more fortunate: the big wave swept away the first storey of the shop but the century-old brewery is located on a hill and thus suffered no damage.

Daisuke Saito, the managing director of Kakuboshi Brewery, takes us to visit the brewery. He’s the sixth generation and now overseeing his family business. He was studying in Tokyo when the disaster hit but had come back home for a holiday.

“This is a fishing town so the homes and factories are scattered around the bay. If we know a tsunami is coming, we don’t think it will be too high so most of us just move up to the second storey of our homes. At that time we didn’t know how high the waves would be so, even with the announcement to evacuate, we didn’t run up the hill. My cousins headed to the second floor but when that flooded they had to climb up onto the roof,” he says.

Like other cities along the Miyagi Prefecture coast, Kesennuma has experienced several tsunamis. Saito had been told about them but this was his first experience of the real thing and it was far stronger and higher than those that had come before.

Kessenuma is home to two interesting permanent exhibitions about the disaster. The one at the Rias Ark Museum of Art showcases a selection of items from daily life. The exhibition brings together 203 pictures and 155 articles from the disaster site, 137 documents, the clock from the fish market, which stopped when the tsunami hit, as well as a washing machine, electric rice pot, an old video game, a Tamagotchi, video cassette player and even a variety of tiles. The historical document section also showcases the 1896 Meiji tsunami in the Sanriku area, the Chilean tsunami that hit same area and the Heisei tsunami in 2011.

The second exhibition is on at Karakuwa Peninsula Visitor Centre in the far northeast of Kesennuma on the border with Iwate Prefecture. This is the first tsunami museum in Japan and looks at the history of past tsunamis in Kesennuma as well as the history of the tsunami-ridden Sanriku Coast, as the Pacific coastal area in mid-Tohoku is known, and the menacing power of the great wave.

In addition to a comprehensive archive of pictures and video footage documenting the 2011 tsunami, visitors can also experience a live tsunami simulation with visual and audio effects including motion and vibrations and learn to prepare for them. The hilltop Tsunami Simulation Centre invites visitors to experience the sounds, oscillation and winds of a tsunami movie, the first in Japan to do so. It feels like you are in a 4D theatre with your seat shaking in the strong winds from giant fans while watching the gigantic waves on the screen. The movie was produced from data collected from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and made to promote disaster prevention education.

Both centres are some 20 minutes from Kesennuma, itself 120km from Sendai, and all the visitors are Japanese.

In addition to these tsunami centres, local people are also helping to educate visitors about their experience. In Arahama, about 10 km from Sendai, the residents tell us that the population prior to March 2011 was 2,200 people spread over some 800 households. When the wave came, many rushed to Sendai Arahama Elementary School about 700 metres away from the coast. The school was established in 1873 and was only the high and durable building in the Arahama area. Residents joined the 91 students attending it before the disaster hit and despite the wave reaching the second floor, 320 people including the children survived.

Today the school ruins remain open as a memorial to remind visitors of the real threat of a tsunami to future generations. Intended to pass on the lessons and never again fall victim to a tsunami, the building is preserved along with other records and open to the public.

Kawamura Keita, who works as a guide to this memorial, shows us the lower floors, which have been left as they were found after the event, full of debris and with ceiling panels dangling. On the second floor, we see a mark showing where the water reached –40cm above the floor – while a model depicting the town of Arahama pre-tsunami serves as a contrast to the view of empty land through the windows.

On the fourth floor, a 15-minute documentary is screened telling the events of that day through the victims, from the principal to the elderly. Kawamura was a former student of Arahama school though he graduated years before the tsunami, which wiped out his family home.

As the area is considered prone to more tsunamis, residents have been relocated further from the beach. Associate Professor Dr Anawat Suppasri, a Thai academic who works at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, explains that the topography of Arahama is such that the great waves can go deeper inland. In 2011, the tsunami went 4km into the interior, wiping out everything along its path. Seven years on, here as elsewhere, the construction to prevent future tsunami damage is still going on due to endless public hearings among those who live in the area, construction troubles and disputes over land rights.

He said public interest was keen and tickets have sold well for the final round set for December 17 at Impact Arena outside Bangkok.

Sharing the schedule, Weerasak said there would be a gala dinner reception at which souvenirs would be auctioned, followed by a tour of Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Krabi, Samut Sakhon, Suphan Buri and Chon Buri.

Ministry officials recently met their counterparts from the Interior Ministry and were liaising with provincial governors on preparations, he said.

The provinces were advised to arrange activities that would give the contestants exposure to local communities, food and culture that they could share with the pageant’s millions of followers around the world.

Weerasak declined to comment on a rumour that the contest was being cancelled due to a shortage of funds, other than to say he’d picked up no such signal.

He affirmed the ministry was ready to serve as a good host and welcome everyone involved.

The 67th Miss Universe competition is expected to earn millions of baht during tourism high season.

This is the third time Thailand has hosted the pageant, which was held here in 1992 and 2005.

Thais have won the crown twice – Apasra Hongsakula in 1965 and Porntip Nakhirunkanok (Bui Simon) in 1988.

Thailand’s representative this year is Sophida Kanchanarin.

THE BRAND new luxury Iconsiam shopping complex is marking the 250th anniversary of Krung Thonburi and the legacy of its ruler, King Taksin the Great of Siam (1734-1782), with the opening of the Thailand’s first floating museum – the Sri Mahasamut.

After the Second Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, the hero of the old capital and the only king to reign during the Thonburi era, 1767 to 1782, King Taksin the Great is credited with bringing commerce to life in this major port city along the Chao Phraya River.

Thailand’s first floating museum the “Sri Mahasamut Ship” marks the 250th anniversary of Krung Thonburi, the old capital of Siam. 

The floating museum combines the very best of old and new, using advanced interactive techniques to offer visitors a virtual reality experience of bygone days on a real junk. The sensations are further enhanced by the constant movements of the Sri Mahasamut as she is jostled by the current and the wakes of other river craft.

The museum ship is modelled on the spectacular Red Head Junk, or Ang Thao Tsung, as the Teochew called it, and it’s a behemoth of a vessel measuring 50 metres in length, 30 metres high and nine metres wide with a total space of 1,800 square meters.

“It took five months to build the life-size ship, which is as high as a four-storey building. The Culture Ministry’s Fine Arts Department served as consultant, making sure the project was true to history. It has been a great experience creating the floating museum modelled on a real junk.

We started the work in Pathum Thani province but were told that with the level of the Chao Phraya River wouldn’t allow the ship to pass under the bridges. So we had to drag it to Bangkok and continue building it.

The junks used to have crews of 200 sailors but with the displays and equipment, especially the air conditioning, we can only receive |about 25-30 visitors per 30-minute round,” says Upatum Nisitsukcha-roen, chief executive officer of exhibition organiser Right Man and the curator of the show.

“Our research showed that the Siamese junks used for international trade combined the features of the Guangdong and Fujian junks. They were suited to shallow waters and had pointed bows. There is a shack at the stern and the vessel is surrounded by handrails. Trying to physically sail the Sri Mahasamut was very exciting. There’s no engine so the ship relies on the wind. Of course, we had an idea what it would be like but the real experience was amazing. The ship moved very fast and was very hard to control,” he adds.

The main exhibition area in the Civilisation archive

Inside, visitors are able to observe different areas of the vessel, each of which tells a different story based on the historical timeline.

Visitors stepping onto the deck are greeted by statues of sailors complete with the Chinese pigtails fashionable in those days. But the real journey begins inside when you |start exploring the three exhibition zones.

The first zone is the Captain’s Cabin and relates the history of the maritime trade, the building of the capital and its relocation, and Krung Thonburi as an international trading port. The video presentation explains the trading route from Southern China to the Chao Phraya River and to Bangkok Yai Canal using hologram techniques to trace the past.

The second zone is the Crew’s Cabin and portrays the atmosphere and life of the sailors, an existence without much comfort and totally different from the cruises of today. Sailors had to sleep in a tight communal space, often for several months for end. They had to prepare fresh water, food, and dried goods that could be stored until the next anchorage, a duration impossible to predict as so much depended on the weather. It is assumed that the crew used fishing lines and nets to catch fresh fish as an additional food source while on their journey.

The third zone is on the lower level and is known as the Civilisation archive. This is home to a biography and the initiatives of King Taksin the Great in rebuilding, a chronology of the wars fought to unify the kingdom, Thonburi-China trade relations and diplomacy, world trade routes, and the ship as a symbol of prosperity.

There are also hands-on activities for visitors to enjoy including taking on the role of a crewmember and hoisting a cargo crate.

Also displayed is the helm, which controls the direction in which the junk is moving. It too is very different from the controls of a modern sailing ship – more like just a hunk of wood – and gives an idea of what caption and crew had to contend with more than two centuries ago. Information about the junk itself is explained in three languages – Thai, English, and Chinese.

The exhibition demonstrates life of a sailor on board.

The junk is comprised of three important parts. The sails are designed to be able to counter the wind and are flipped to control direction. The crew can climb the batten to work on the upper part of the sail. The hull is made up of multiple internal compartments to help the junk survive intake of water and help it to float. And finally there’s the rudder, which is hinged. Holes are drilled into the rudder to buffer the water pressure and to sail well in the deep sea. Rudders were invented to save human labour.

The red painted eyes on the exterior of the bow are known as “miracle eyes” and stem from the Chinese belief that the junk is comparable to a fish and that by drawing eyes on both sides of the bow, the junk will be able to sail safely in the right direction.

Limited space and the need to provide information in different languages has resulted in the written explanations being small and difficult to read, particularly for visitors with poor eyesight. To counter this problem, the curator has opted for technology to showcase the maps of the trade routes and introduced a range of activities guaranteed to please.

For example, visitors can also change into various national outfits through Kinect and pose for photographs in the civilisation archive then share them while still on board to their social media platforms. They can also learn about some important places in Thonburi district that still exist and historical sites with a connection to King Taksin, which they can visit in virtual time.

The floating museum pays tribute to King Taksin the Great.

A large screen in this area shows a short video about the Great Warrior King, from the point when King Taksin broke through the enemy line three months before Ayutthaya fell. With only 500 fearless soldiers, King Taksin successfully attacked the Burmese and headed east from his Pichai campsite to find a stable base for building up his troops to win back the nation. His strategies to rebuild the country, the urgency of the royal duties to make sure the poor and hungry were fed and his trading skills that made Thonburi prosperous are also detailed in the film.

The overall explanations of the exhibition are clear and concise and will help young students and tourists to better understand the history of the era.

Another nice touch are the models of the merchandise traded including tea, silk fabric, ivory, |animal horns, deer leather and spices.

And, as you’d expect, the Sri Mahasamut also caters to the modern visitor with retail and coffee areas on the top deck. Cheers!

>> The exhibition is free of charge and continues until January 13 at the River Park of Iconsiam.

The couple, given the titles the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after marrying in Windsor in May, will live in Frogmore Cottage, a two-storey stucco-faced house in Windsor Home Park close to the castle.

They will relocate to their new home, around 20 miles (32 kilometres) southwest of London, “as they prepare for the arrival of their first child,” the palace said in a statement.

“Windsor is a very special place for their royal highnesses and they are grateful that their official residence will be on the estate,” it added.

Prince Harry and Meghan, who returned earlier this month from a 16-day tour Pacific tour, currently live in Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace in west London.

Described as cosy and “modest”, it consists of two reception rooms and two bedrooms.

The Palace said the couple’s office would remain there.

It provided no further details on the new official residence.

Historic England, a public body which maintains a register of old buildings given special protections, lists Frogmore House in its Grade II category.

The status is awarded to just 5.8 percent of approximately 500,000 listed buildings in England, marking them out as particularly important sites.

The organisation dates the cottage back to the early 19th century but does not detail how many bedrooms it contains.

It sits on the grounds of the far grander Frogmore House, built in 1680-84 and a royal residence since 1792 — and where Harry and Meghan had their evening wedding reception.

“The name derives from the preponderance of frogs which have always lived in this low-lying marshy area,” according to the royal family’s website.

 A KEY impression that emerges in the short-story collections of Bangkok resident Deryck Whittaker is one of architecture. The reader might imagine the writer labouring over blueprints, charting out the structure episode by episode, adding and subtracting components, firming up the edifice, wasting no materials, ensuring that all is sound. Perhaps a vast map on one wall is crisscrossed with threads in various hues, aligning the connections and pathways of ideas.

Artfully designed by a man of impeccably good taste (Whittaker’s 2014 story collection “Cheese” was just as erudite and brilliant), the building we watch being erected is meticulous in its carefully considered detail and as welcoming as could be. Even the gloomier rooms and haunted hallways entrance the emotions and beg for repeated return visits.

“The Colours We Choose” does indeed play with colours in most of the 30 short stories presented, but read the title as “the choices we make” and be prepared for a meditation on the consequences that ensue. One of the tales, “Pinball Wizard”, examines quite painstakingly the ramifications of this supposedly divine gift of free choice.

There are gothic wings, classical and ultramodern wings to this edifice, but perhaps the keystone is found in the story that shares the book’s title.

Bangkok-based British writer Deryck Whittaker’s second collection of short stories has all the wonder of great architecutre and all the sensual diversity of a garden in bloom.

Something of an epic for a short story, it traces recent human history through that of a particular London rowhouse and its marvellously diverse occupants, its builders and its neighbours. Each chapter of the unfolding pageant, whether several pages or a paragraph, is remarkable.

“Edible Leather” opens the book with a snapshot of Thailand. A visiting businessman’s valuables fall into the hands of a Thai youth who, in his predicament and choices, presents the foreigner with a mirror by which to examine his own life and decide what’s truly valuable.

In “Pinball Wizard”, an English couple have left their favourite Indian-food restaurant just before an explosion destroys it and all of its lingering diners. Tabulating the myriad “what-ifs” in the course of the day and in their lives and in their parents’ lives that saved them from doom obsesses the husband and keeps the reader on pins and needles. Built into the story are a dozen tense anecdotes about seemingly impossible coincidences and/or strokes of luck. The question is how one goes about beating chance.

That explosion turns out to be a gas accident, not terrorism, but ideology does play roles in a couple of other yarns.

“Fat Chance” looks at what might happen after UK government-imposed restrictions on personal choices devolve from abortion to smoking to obesity and the Weight Police roam the streets applying summary injustice.

In “Blues in the Night”, the most creatively conceived and most powerful story in the collection, almost the entire population of a small American town is wiped out, and it’s no accident. Again, there is the distrust in government as an undercurrent, and here the central character, Ripley Winkle, advises against oversleeping.

In “Killing with Kindness”, a foreign good Samaritan picks up a destitute couple on a road in Kenya and ferries them to their destination, only to discover too late that they’ve inadvertently left all their worldly belongings in his backseat. Years later and an ocean away, he finds himself in the same awful situation.

Another politically shaded tale is “Prisoners of Conscience”, in which a moneyed vigilante organisation makes up for society’s failure to punish the wealthy and powerful who misbehave. Villains very much resembling Pinochet, OJ Simpson and others are spirited aboard a ship and confined to ghastly lower berths, never to see land again.

The book is certainly not without humour. “The Nightingale and Rose (Oscar Wilde’s Local?)” doesn’t feature the celebrated English purveyor of wit so much as a match for his ingenious wordplay. This is a fairytale built on something akin to Cockney rhyming slang.

Whittaker has incorporated puzzles into his writing before and his challenge this time, particularly for anyone unused to that urban patois, is to figure out, for example, that “a Rob Roy and a Cadbury Swirl” means “boy and girl”. (It gets easier. One amused character “Steffi Graffed outright”.)

“Character Building” is pure delight, the author having a jaunty afternoon inventing a fantasy peopled entirely by different typographical fonts. Choices in life needn’t always be so harrowing.

“Grey Amber” is a mild tragicomedy about a struggling couple who believe their fortune has turned with the discovery of a huge shard of valuable ambergris washed up on a beach – except that it’s not, and they turn out destined never to find such a treasure.

An intricately interlocking meditation about various strangers, “Short Cuts” explains why it’s not always advisable to take them. “Spanner” is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying in explaining that, on the contrary, there’s danger in being too careful, or at least too organised.

In “What’s Up Doc”, a Conan Doyle fanatic turns into Sherlock Holmes, who for good reason finds it far too easy to solve crimes. There’s a prize in the pudding here too – a lovely little anagram.

Setting aside the giggles and guesswork, Whittaker is supreme at the pensive essay on life’s setbacks and the symbols and meanings deeper within.

“Two Men in a Boat” postulates that brotherly love shouldn’t be shared around. In “Bus Shelter”, the world seems suffused in mediocrity except for a terrible memory haunting a mum.

“Skin Deep” is a lovely little mystery that unfolds like a blossoming flower, about a Parisian’s affections for a woman disfigured in an accident. How she got that way is interesting. How they come to meet and why they stop is fascinating.

“Ophelia in Orange” takes us on vacation to Spain with a trio of hen-pals, but all goes dark with the swiftest of boozy paddles in the sea, save for the bright tangerine one-piece worn by the pal who becomes the mystery woman of the title, famously salvaged from the Seine in an eternal sleep.

“Baron” is another standout. A man disinterested in his own mundane life and dreary acquaintances but fond of socialising with strangers while on holiday wins the lottery and buys himself a permanent place in the sky, growing steadily healthier and seemingly younger – god-like, one supposes.

The architecture metaphor notwithstanding, “The Colours We Choose” might also be compared to walking through a garden abloom with many, multihued varieties. Some delight, some soothe, some bring you to your knees.

The Colours We Choose

By Deryck Whittaker

Published by Matador, 2018

Available at Kinokuniya Books, Bt446

WITH THE highest-performing chipset currently available on the market, the new flagship smartphone from Chinese manufacturer Huawei – the Mate 20 Pro – offers everything you want in a personal device and a whole lot more.

Its impressive performance comes from Huawei’s Kirin 980. Manufactured with the advanced 7nm process, it offers improved performance and an unprecedented smooth user experience.

The Kirin 980 has two Cortex A76 cores running at 2.6GHz, two Cortex A76 at 1.92 GHz and four Cortex A55 running at 1.8 GHz. And the new chipset also uses the ultra fast Mali-G76 MP10 graphic processing unit (GPU).

Compared to the Kirin 970 used in previous Huawei smartphones, the Kirin 980 has 75-per-cent better CPU performance, 58-per-cent better CPU power efficiency, 46-per-cent better GPU performance and 178-per-cent better GPU power efficiency.

Apart from the eight main cores, the Kirin 980 comes with a dual Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU). This new dual-core NPU can achieve 4,500 images per minute, which is an improvement of 120 per cent in the recognition speed. As a result, the Kirin 980 helps the Mate 20 Pro to quickly adapt to AI scenes such as face and object recognition, object detection, image segmentation and intelligent translation. The powerful object detection capabilities can also accurately identify a variety of objects. In comparison to the Kirin 970, the Kirin 980 is an impressive leap from image recognition to object detection, resulting in better performance of the Mate 20 Pro’s camera.

The Kirin 980 also has very fast Internet connection as it supports 1.4Gbps LTE Cat 21.

Mate 20 Pro has 6 gigabytes of working memory and 128 GB of internal storage. The phone uses a nano memory card, which is 45-per-cent smaller than a microSD card and shares a slot with a nano SIM card.

The smartphone runs on the latest Android operating system or Android 9.0 with Huawei’s EMUI 9.0 user-interface on top of it.

During the test, I was impressed by the speed of the Mate 20 Pro. Touch screen and menus were very responsive. Graphics games and HD videos ran fast and smoothly.

I used AnTuTu Benchmark V7.1.1 to measure the performance of the smartphone and it got an impressive score of 251,815 points.

I further tested Mate 20 Pro on TrueMove H’s LTE network and the connection speed was very fast. Apps were downloaded swiftly and my snapshots were backed up to my Google Photos cloud storage in no time.

I used Ookla Speedtest app to measure the connection speed and it reported an impressive download speed of 125 Mbps and upload speed of 38.1 Mbps.

Mate 20 Pro looks sleek with 3D glass covering both its front and back and smooth curves on both sides. Best of all, the special glass texture at the back is non-slippery and anti-fingerprint.

And its 6.39-inch OLED display blends beautifully into the 3D-glass design and curved look. The display is bright and sharp with high resolution of 3120×1440 pixels.

During the test, I enjoyed watching Full HD movies from the TrueID TV and iflix apps, appreciating the vibrant colours and the sharp pictures.

On the negative side, Mate 20 Pro no longer provides a standard 3.5mm stereo jack for connecting to wired headphones though the phone does come with a USB-C-to-3.5mm jack. If you have Bluetooth headphones that support the high-resolution LDAC or aptX HD streaming protocol, you won’t need the adapter.

I tested Mate 20 Pro’s music playback with Sony’s MDR-1ABT headphones that support LDAC streaming and was pleased to find the music quality excellent with good music details and powerful bass.

The triple rear-camera system of Mate 20 Pro co-developed with Leica is also great and comes with Leica lens.

The triple camera is made up of a 40-megapixel sensor with 27mm f/1.8 lens camera, a 20MP sensor with 16mm ultra wide lens with f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP sensor camera with 80mm or 3x telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture.

The design is very good, allowing the camera to be used in all shooting ranges from macro to telephotography and making the Mate 20 Pro such a handy travel mate that you can leave your camera at home.

To cycle among the three cameras, you tap the zoom icon on the viewfinder screen. The default zoom is 1x, which is the 27mm equivalent normal zoom camera. Once you tap it, it changes to 3x for the 80mm or 3x zoom. The next choice is 5x, which is the 3x optical zoom plus 2x digital zoom. The last is 0.6x, which is the 16mm equivalent ultra wide camera.

I found during the test that 40MP resolution is available only for Photo, which is the AI auto-exposure mode, and Pro mode. Other modes, including Portrait, Aperture, and Night, restrict the highest resolution to 10MP.

The AI-driven Photo mode was really effective in helping me capture beautiful shots in most environments. Huawei says Mate 20 Pro’s AI can recognise more than 1,500 scenarios and 25 categories. The AI-powered Photo mode can now segment different objects and scenes in one photo and adjust colours, brightness, and contrast accordingly.

For example, during my test at Kenny G’s Jazz Night at the Ancient City in Samut Prakan, the Photo mode recognised that it was a stage performance and captured the beautiful lights of the concert.

The Photo mode also switched to Macro photography automatically when I took shots of objects at close range.

And the 16mm ultra wide lens was really good for capturing beautiful scenery.

The Night mode is good for capturing the lights and colours of the night but you will need a tripod or something to keep your hand steady as the camera may expose the sensor for lights by up to six seconds, depending on the light environment.

And of course, you can use Aperture and Portrait modes to make your subjects look even more outstanding with a blurred background.

The Portrait mode not blurs the background but also provide three types of effects to further enhance the shots. If there is a light source in the background, you can use the Blurred effect to make that light source look stunning. You can choose to have the lights appear as circles, in heart shape, swirls or like discs. You can also set the level of beautification effect for your subject.

To add even more fun, you can select one of six Stage effects from no lighting to Photo booth, Stained glass, Folding blinds, Pop and Stage lighting.

If you are an advanced photographer, you will like the Pro mode that allows you to take control of the camera by adjusting several shooting parameters, including metering mode, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and exposure compensation.

The camera’s AI also helps you capture stunning video clips. Best of all, the AI video editor can identify faces and create separate video highlights for each person.

Opt for the classic 21:9 movie ratio and the record can be made with real-time HDR to make the clips clear. You can also adjust a range of filters like Fresh, Vintage, Background Blur and Suspense in real time while shooting. The AI Portrait Colour will detect the people and grey out the background for you.

Mate 20 Pro also captures beautiful selfies with 24MP f/2l0 camera with 3D Depth-Sensing technology.

Mate 20 Pro comes with biometric technology to make your phone safe. You can unlock Mate 20 Pro with the Face Unlock function that uses 3D Depth Sensing Camera to project over 30,000 points of your face. The technology allows Huawei Mate 20 Pro to recognise your face easily and unlock the phone swiftly. Your face ID can also be used to securely access your folders.

To scan your face ID, Mate 20 Pro will guide you to turn your face left and right and up and down.

During the test, I found the 3D Face Unlock was really fast for unlocking the phone.

You can also opt to use the fingerprint reader, which is embedded on the screen, to unlock the phone. It uses dynamic pressure sensing technology to quickly read your thumbprint.

Mate 20 Pro comes with a large battery of 4,200 mAh capacity with smart AI power management that allowed me to survive a day easily.

And the package comes with a 40-watts Huawei SuperCharge charger with TUV Safe Fast-Charge System Certification. That recharges Mate 20 Pro to 70 per cent capacity in just 30 minutes.

Moreover, the phone comes with Wireless Reverse Charging technology that allows you to recharge your friend’s Mate 20 Pro by touching their backs. You simply first enable wireless reverse charging on your Mate 20 Pro in the phone’s setting.

And the features don’t stop there. The Mate 20 Pro also offers precise GPS technology by using L1&L5 dual frequency simultaneously.

And Mate 20 Pro conforms to IP68-rated water and dust resistance so you can use it without worrying about spills and splashes.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro is available in black and emerald green and costs Bt31,990.

Network: GSM, UMTS, LTE (Cat.21)

>> OS: Android 9.0 with EMUI 9.0 user-interface

>. CPU: HUAWEI Kirin 980 cta-core CPU (2 x Cortex A76 2.6 GHz + 2 x Cortex A76 1.92 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz) plus dual NPU

>> GPU: Mali-G76 MP10

>> Memory: 6GB RAM

>> Storage: 128GB expandable with Nano Memory card

>> Display: 6.39-inch OLED2K (3120 x 1440 pixels)

>> Cameras: Front: 24 MP, f/2.0 with 3D Depth Sensing Camera; Rear camera 1: Leica 40MP ?(Wide Angle Lens 27mm, f/1.8); Rear camera 2: Leica 20MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens 16mm, f/2.2); Rear camera 3: Leica 8MP (3x Telephoto 80mm, f/2.4)

>> Connectivity: 802.11 a/b/c/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 5.0; USB Type-C 3.1 Gen1

>> Battery: 4,200 mAh, Super Charge (Max 40W)

>> Dimensions: 157.8 mm x 72.3 mm x 8.6mm (H x W x D)

>> Weight: 189g

CHEESE TEEMING with squirming maggots, sheep’s eye juice and mouse wine: the “Disgusting Food Museum” explores why a dish seems delicious to some, but for others is stomach-churning.

On show for three months at an old slaughterhouse in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, the exhibit – created by Samuel West, who previously served up the Museum of Failure – promises to shock the senses.

Visitors touch the “Bull Penis” from China presented in the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmo, Sweden.

“Disgust is always subjective because it comes with what we grew up with. It’s kind of an indoctrination,” says museum director Andreas Ahrens.

“If we grew up with something, we don’t find it disgusting,” he adds.

To highlight the point, the exhibition puts foods from around the world on an equal footing, so lobster and foie gras are presented in the same way as chewy kiddie sweets and rabbits’ heads.

Gastronomic explorers are warned on entry: the exhibit is not for the squeamish. But, conveniently, the entry ticket is – a sickness bag.

Bag in hand then, visitors venture off on a world tour of specialities, some of which may seem to a Western palate like ingredients in a witch’s brew but are considered delicacies.

“The Disgusting Food Museum exists to let people explore the world of food and to see both their own food and (other food) from the lens of another culture,” says Ahrens.

Its founder “began by thinking of other museums that don’t exist that he would like to visit, and that led to the Disgusting Food Museum,” he continues cheerfully.

“I think it is by far one of the most interesting museums I’ve been to,” says Charlie Lam, a 23-year-old Hong Kong student.

Touring the exhibit with friends, she inspects the 80 dishes on display, cautiously sniffing some, and, when curiosity gets the better of her, tasting a few.

Visitors react to the “Mouse Wine” from China.

She says she’ll never forget the Su Callu, an ineffable Sardinian cheese served in dried tripe with a lingering aftertaste of ammonia, or the Icelandic delicacy of fermented shark, known as hakarl.

And she finds salty liquorice, a hugely popular candy in the Nordic countries, and stinky British and French cheeses as off-putting as some of the non-Western foods are to European tastes.

Many of the dishes are freshly prepared and visitors are encouraged to poke and prod some of them, and of course have a taste – museum staff make sure nobody leaves without trying at least one item.

The bull’s penis – an aphrodisiac in China – is a hard one to resist for many curious onlookers.

“If it would be just fake food, or just plastic or things in a can, it wouldn’t be as interesting. It wouldn’t be as fun,” says Ahrens, who happily guides people through the tables of food.

“So it’s an important part of the experience for the guest.”

Some dishes are displayed on a video screen, such as the cobra’s beating heart, which in Vietnam is savoured together with its blood.

A man takes pictures of a “Habushu” snake wine from Japan.

“That’s really what I found most surprising,” admits Adam Eliasson, a 24-year-old factory worker.

“Normally I’m a pretty picky eater,” he muses. “I eat very few things… but here I tasted everything. And I didn’t throw up!”

Some dishes however, such as the tortoise soup and bat soup, the sheep’s head stew and baby mouse wine remain off limits to even the bravest of visitors.

The food that is fresh, such as the cheese, is kept in the fridge for three or four days before being thrown out.

Once the exhibit ends on January 27 in Sweden, Ahrens and West hope to take the show on the road to other cities in Europe and around the world.

AS THE festive season is approaching, Ikea is launching a new collection, Vinter 2018, in time for shoppers to prepare their homes for parties. The collection offers decorative items including LED lighting, pillowcases, baking tools, gift-wrap and ribbons and authentic Swedish baked goods and pastries.

Here are a few home-decoration ideas for the festive season.

Ikea has launched Vinter 2018 collection with a variety of decorative items to celebrate the festive season.

FULL HOUSE REUNION

New Year’s Eve is when many of us enjoy spending time with family and friends or throwing a cosy party at home. And food is definitely the highlight of any party. So let’s count down to some joyful moments to prepare a feast with food, drinks and delightful conversation and camaraderie. It’s time to show off your cooking skills and creativity.

Set up a fine dining table to create just the right atmosphere and ask for help if needed. Start off by adding your own unique identity to the table by choosing some pretty tableware and a table cover with patterns that fit well with the holiday season.

Your helper here can be flat and dry Knackebrod (crispbread). It mainly contains rye flour and is rich in fibre. Crispbread is famous in Sweden and is served at every meal, making this the perfect choice to share during break time or to serve as snacks instead of crackers. It is usually served with butter, cheese and fruit or smoked salmon, cold meats, pates and dips.

JUST YOU AND ME

For those who are planning to spend the last night of the year with someone special, nothing can be better than having quality time together on a date night and enjoying a romantic candle-lit dinner.

The right lighting and temperature help to enhance the heart-warming atmosphere in the room. Try using different shapes of candleholders and lamps. For example, use round or heart shapes to create a variety of effects that can improve the lighting and mood.

You may spend some time during the holidays making DIY gifts or decorating gift boxes for family and friends. Gift boxes can also be used as decorative items to brighten up a room and create a festive atmosphere.

HOME-ALONE VIBE

Some people prefer spending their holiday time solo, to relax and escape from the hectic pace of daily life. They just want to have some time alone and to maybe treat themselves, for example, decorating their favourite corner to relax and recharge for the exciting year ahead.

Enhance your entire home with the right selection of furniture and home furnishing items in curvy shapes, or items with a combination of gold, yellow, red or white to create a more elegant vibe, thereby giving your room an extra special sparkle.

Even a minor change in your room can boost the ambience, offering an improvement over a more monotonous or boring feel. Colourful artificial flowers or boxes can instantly add a new dimension to your room adding a sense of style.