Well, you can try tomorrow morning and who knows you might get the bibs 😀

Ok, yesterday I really had trouble registering for HSBC’s Walk Run Cycle 2012 (#walkruncycle2012) as the registration is almost at its maximum capacity. I was driving to two HSBC branches but with a little luck, I went to one where I managed to squeeze in for my own registration *lol*

Yes, the closing date was supposedly in early May but who would have expected that the numbers to be escalating like no one’s business. As of now, #walkruncycle2012 have reached almost or probably over 6,000 participants. This is perhaps the highest I’ve seen by any organisation in terms of numbers in Brunei.

I did receive a press release from HSBC this evening stating that individuals who are still interested in supporting the HSBC Walk Run Cycle charity event, you can submit the registration form to any HSBC branch before the NEW CLOSING DATE 28th April 2012 (not 5th May 2012 as previously stated).

Individuals who come dressed up in costumes will stand a chance to win the latest iPad, while families who dress up in costumes will stand a chance of winning an exclusive hamper.

Those who are not participating in the HSBC Walk Run Cycle event will still get to enjoy the night carnival with stall games, bouncers and many more exciting activities.

Click banner to find out more

Click image to enter website and start shopping

A sneak preview of what’s to come for the Spark

Wanna catch four superstar icons from Malaysia – Zainal Abidin, Sheila Majid, Jamal Abdillah and Amy at KK in one weeks’ time? Well, it’s just 30 minutes away (by air) and S-Team, the Brunei Sole Ticketing Agent, have created a package for the Brunei market. Further more, if you happen to “like” this Fanpage, the organiser will be giving away two tickets to two lucky winner and it will be announced this coming Monday.

The venue will be at UMS, Chancellor Hall, on the 5th May 2012. For more info, you can click on the link – http://legendary.gbs2u.com – or call 2345 999 or 2342 999 for more details.

Catch all the legendary singers in one night. Click image to see more details

Last weekend, Zainal Abidin did some voluntering work with the Beach Bunch for the Jerudong Beach Clean up.. Awesome lad 😀

So I’ve heard so much about Boracay which is one of the best beaches in the world!!!! Did you know that it is voted as one of the world’s best beach by the Sun Herald, Australia. It’s a good getaway island located in Aklan provence, 345km south of Manila. It is accessible by air from Manila through two principal gateways: Caticlan Airport or Kalibo Airport.

Reading from the articles, there are tons of things you can do at Boracay Island. Of course, some of the things you can do are diving, snorkeling and windsurfing. You can also sail around the island or kayaking, paddle boat, speed boating and many more.

It’s a norm that most travelers love to lie under the sun or under the shade of coconut trees. The sunset is something to be amazed of from the view of the beach. And when the night hits, there will be more exciting activities in store for tourists.

Now doesn’t the beach look awesome??

You can get massages on the beach too

There’s also under water activity

Another great view of the beach… Don’t you just want to relax here?

Lots of tourists on the beach

Wanna do parasailing?

Boracay Beach also known for its seafood

There’s a huge chance that I will be flying over there to feel the “Boracay Experience” so that would be an excellent coverage for my readers. I’m pretty sure a few Bruneians have ventured here after hearing rave reviews of the island.. Forget Bali, Kosamoi, Pulau Redang for the moment.. Boracay is the in-thing in terms of beach experience.

So the question is how do you get there? Easy peasy… Now Anthony Tours have launched a special package where you can go to Boracay for a 4 days 3 nights holiday package (31st May to 3rd June) and this is considered a long weekend because of the Army Day in Brunei.

The package is as low as BND 999 and you will be catching two flights (RBA and Cebu Pacific) and it includes Hotel Twin Share room only, return transfer Airport-Hotel. You can book online or call Anthony Tours 222 2666, 222 8668 or 222 7965.

Check out the great deal on

The Face Shop is finally opened at Mabohai

DST yesterday announced its first Instagram Challenge where contestants will stand a chance to win Samsung Galaxy Note, Professional Photograph Accessories, an IPOD Nano and more attractive prizes. The Instagram Challenge, is one of the many exciting activities organised by DST to celebrate DST’s 17th Anniversary with the public.DST has partnered up with BRUNIKA, Brunei’s official Instagram network association, to run the challenge through the popular social media platform Instagram, a popular photo-sharing site in Brunei and in the world.

The theme of the challenge is ‘The Future. Now.’ where photos submitted must capture a world of possibilities and progressiveness for the future. It is not limited to photos of technology, allowing for photos such as scenery, human relationships and emotion.

The Instagram challenge is open to two categories. The first category is for DSLR photography and second category is for mobile phone photography. All photographs will be uploaded to Instagram linked to the hashtag communities #dst_thefuturenow_dslr and #brunika for DSLR photography, and #dst_thefuturenow and #brunika for mobile phone photography.

Melina Jaini, Assistant Manager of DST’s Group Corporate Communications said, “We have decided to run two categories because we would like to include as much as possible the Brunei population in our activities. We would also like to recognize the diversity of photography from two popular platforms, DSLR and mobile. At the same time, we hope the competition will create greater awareness for DST celebrating 17 years of our company’s development.”

The challenge is set to close on two different dates depending on category. For mobile phone photography, the closing date will be on Friday 20 May 2012, while for the DSLR category, the closing date will be on Friday 20 July 2012. Photo entries per participants are unlimited and all original photos must be e-mailed to BRUNIKA upon submission. To show your talent and creativity, visit simpur.net.bn/instagram or find BRUNIKA on instagram for more details.

Are you ready for this challenge?

I fell in love with this move especially the final third. It’s something refreshing, unique, daring too and not many director or producer would take the risk to produce this masterpiece. It’s really hard to sum up this movie as a whole and I could go on and on and on because there are many talking points that I really wanted to share without spoiling the moments.

This is definitely not for those who can’t handle horror movies or let alone watching alone which one of my friends did a few nights ago *lol* (and my friend survived the whole ordeal by the way). There are still some minor questions that made me wonder but it really didn’t bother me in terms of influencing my level of entertainment of this horror genre.

If you love horror flicks and craving for something that’s out of the ordinary, this movie has the whole package. I know not all would agree with my rating but this is one movie that I truly enjoy. I also love the ending (and again not many would agree with me) because it’s unique in its way. Solid stuff. Verdict: 9/10.

The Nikon WalkAbout or the outing will take place on Friday 27 April 2012 at Kampung Ayer. This outing is also co-organising by GemilangFoto. Meeting point will be at The Waterfront at 8am. All NikonClub members are advised to wear “I AM NIKON” t-shirts. Those who haven’t got it, just wear black t-shirt. Members who participated in this outing would get the chances their photos to be featured on NikonClub website and can win attracted prizes from Nikon if their photos been selected as the best pictures overall.

Secondly, Nikon will be organizing the Nikon Basic Photo 1 Workshop on Sunday 29 April 2012 at SEAMEO Voctech, Jalan Pasar Gadong. Registration fee is only at B$20.00, refreshments and lunch is included. “I AM NIKON” t-shirt and Nikon Guidebook will also be given only to registered participants. To register for this workshop, please go to NikonClub website (http://www.nikonclub.com.my/pages/EventDetails.aspx?id=131) And deadline is on Friday 27 April 2012 at 12noon. Make sure you register as NikonClub members first, before you register for this workshop. To register as member, please go to this link.

AirAsia AllStars celebrated Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group recently at the AirAsia RedFort. Well, technically it wasn’t his birthday but it was a surprise advance celebration for Tony.

Below are pictures of Tony’s surprise and the pictures below are courtesy of www.facebook.com/AirAsia

Tan Sri Tony himself being surprised at AirAsia RedFort

Tony giving a speech during the celebration

Happy birthday Tony 😀

Click image to find out more

AIRASIA is giving you a chance to escape from your daily routine and embark on an exciting holiday to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan or Australia during the upcoming school holidays with its exclusive school holiday deals.

Guests can take this opportunity to grab AirAsia’s exclusive school holiday deals with affordable fares from as low as RM349 (about $142) one-way all-in to Taiwan (Taipei) and RM 389 (about $158) one-way all-in to China (Tianjin, Chengdu, Hangzhou) from Kuala Lumpur.

Other destinations that are available on offer from Kuala Lumpur include Korea (Seoul) from as low as RM439 (about $178) one-way all-in and Japan (Tokyo, Osaka) from as low as RM519 (about $211) one way all-in. Guests also have the option of a trip down under to Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Gold Coast) from as low as RM459 (about $187) one way all-in

Click image to find out more

CEO of AirAsia X Azran Osman-Rani said, “Spending quality time is essential to foster and maintain close relationships with your family members. What better way to spend your school holidays than with your family, enjoying quality time while discovering new places and experiencing the wonders of different cultures together.”

“To enjoy more savings during the holiday season, guests can opt to pre-book their meals, baggage, in flight entertainment and comfort kit online to ensure a more comfortable journey,” concluded Azran.

AirAsia keeps abreast with the social media community via their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Guests are able to receive real-time updates on latest promotions and interact with AirAsia via facebook.com/AirAsia and twitter.com/AirAsia.

Customers can also earn points with BIG, AirAsia’s Loyalty Programme when they purchase flight tickets and travel packages. Sign up now at tune2big.com to redeem BIG points for free flights with AirAsia.

The exclusive school holiday deals are available at www.airasia.com from April 23 to 29 with a travel period validity between June 1 to August 10. Flights and fares are subject to availability and terms and conditions apply.

Last weekend, HSBC featured its ‘model house’ for one hour outside The Mall in Gadong which attracted scores of visitors in an event aimed at creating awareness of its latest home loan promotion.

Gerald Sim, HSBC’s Communication Manager told the Sunday Borneo Bulletin that the gimmick they featured for an hour was aimed at raising awareness of the bank’s latest home loan promotion which among others offers rewards such as exclusive welcome gifts, special interest rates, exclusive subsidies and cash rewards for any signups. “This is something new and different” he said, adding that the public can expect more “gimmicks” of this kind in the following weeks aimed at creating awareness of HSBC’s products and services and in rewarding their customers as well.

At the model house from 7-8pm last night, anybody spotted wearing red shirts was also given a chance for a lucky dip which offered prizes such as HSBC Merchandise, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf vouchers and movie tickets. Text courtesy of Hakim Hayat of Borneo Bulletin.

And guess what.. That weekend, I became the first candidate to be showcased inside the HSBC Box and thank for the companion Rafhana

The guys from HSBC were holding this call sign for the eyes of the public

We played this game but didn’t last long

Yuniza aka Baby bumped into me and she was shocked haha

I also did some cleaning inside the box

We pretended that we need help within that hour

Some of my fans were there to support.. Awesome!!!

And they managed to be in the box as well

We wrote this message and one pretty lady came and bought us Fun Donuts.. Thank you a lot 😀

Eahui was also shocked to be see in the box

While training for #walkruncycle2012, he also dropped by to support.. Awesome lad 😀

Felmen was one of the pass byers that night

Vouchers were given out to those wearing red

Group photo with the Deputy CEO of HSBC and his family

For the third year running B-AA presents Brustralia3 – Foodie Event. Participants can register a dish (With Bruneian, Australian or a Bruneian/Australian fusion of flavours).

Everyone present will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite dish and the most voted dishes will be awarded prizes.

The event is open to all, so those who are currently not a member or B -AA are welcome to participate and also welcome to join the Association. This will be yet another informal get together for all Bruneians that have studied or worked in Australia and Australians living in Brunei. The event is intended to rekindle old friendships and provide opportunities to make new acquaintances while tantalising your taste buds.

Date: Sunday 29 April
Time: 3.00pm-6.00pm
Place: The Australian High Commission Residence
No 11, Spg 501
Kg Pelambarian
Kota Batu

We look forward to developing strong attendance numbers for events this year. Readers are encouraged to submit their expression of interest and registration of their dish to: enquiries@b-aaa.org

Should you require further information on this event please contact Shaikh Fadilah on email: jack191@gmail.com

It’s happening this Sunday

B-AAA is changing to B-AA. The Brunei Australia Alumni Association is currently in the process of changing its name to the “Brunei-Australia Association” or B-AA. This change is being made with the objective of including as many people with ties to Australia, whether through education, business, or family, both Bruneians and Australians. With this, we hope to increase our membership numbers further.

Apart from the Brustralia event, the B-AA has a few other events lined up for the year including a fashion show and gala dinner.

For those wishing to join, the joining fee for the B-AA is B$30.00 per annum and registration can be done either online at the association’s website,http://www.b-aaa.org or during the Brustralia 3 event this coming Sunday.

We hope that our media friends will be able to attend to event as well and join in the foodie fun!