September blues

  Royal Brunei Airlines

 

Click image to enter flyroyalbrunei.com

 

 

The country’s potential in producing highly academic and intellectually exceptional students capable of competing in the global arena was deepened further as two gifted students who were nominated by the Special Education Unit at the Ministry of Education (MoE) achieved top awards at the 5th Apec Future Scientist Conference in Changwon City of the Republic of Korea. It was held from July 22 to July 26.

Their achievements were praised by Choi Byung Koo, South Korean Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam who hosted a luncheon for the gifted students and the lead teachers at his residence in Jln Muara.

Lim Chai Tze of Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College (MSPSBS) won a gold medal and a Best Presentation Award for her research work during the Poster Competition while Dk Umi Kalthum binti Pg Hj Muhd Sazali from Jerudong International School (JIS) received the bronze award during the Team Project Competition.

South Korean Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam, Choi Byung Koo with the gifted students and lead teachers in a group photo.

During this period, five research articles written by gifted Bruneian students have been selected for publication in the prestigious Apec Youth Scientist Journal including Converting Harmful Gases released from Factories into Useful Substances by Awg Muhammad Hazman bin Muhammad Iskandar (2010), Cyanobacteria: Solutions to Global Warming by Law VI Yen (2011) and Solar Distilator: The Solution to Water- Related Deaths? by Sum Yi Ren (2012).

These amazing achievements reflected strong commitment of the Special Education Unit of MoE in ensuring that exceptional Brunei students were provided with opportunities to attend internationally gifted programmes and competitions which further extended as well as challenged their abilities while developing excellent leadership skills within international fora.

Meanwhile, gifted Bruneian students also demonstrated an impressive level of accomplishments and standard parallel to their regional and international counterparts at the 2nd Asean Plus Three Junior Science Odyssey (APTJSO) in Busan at the Republic of South Korea.

The Special Education Unit, in its endeavours towards realising Wawasan 2035, has selected gifted students to represent Brunei at various international gifted programmes including the Asean Plus Three Teacher Workshop and Student Camp for the Gifted in Science 2, Asean Plus Three Junior Science Odyssey (APT JSO) and the Apec Mentoring Centre for the Gifted in Science. Click here for more of the article. Text and image courtesy of Fadhil Yunus of Borneo Bulletin.

 

Winners of the Hari Raya Promotion 2013 by Cooltones

Cooltones held a Draw & Prize Presentation Event for Raya Promotion 2013 at iCrave Kopitiam in iCentre building, Berakas. Eligible winners were those who ordered Raya Tones from 1st August 2013 till 31st August 2013. Only Active Users of Cooltones were drawn.

  Representatives of B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd and Cooltones were Iskandar Haji Zulkifli and Haniah Haji Hamzah respectively.

  This draw is in conjunction of Cooltones 6th Year Anniversary and Raya Celebration where Top 10 winners will stand a chance of Hampers and Top-Up cards worth of $10.00 each. Following are the winners’ name;

   1. Pg Noorhanani binti Pg Sabli
   2. Abdul Aziz bin Hj Ahmad
   3. Mahani @ Nur Badri binti Denian
   4. Md Sahlan bin Hj Ruslan
   5. Rosnah Hj Othman
   6. Pg Halimah bte Ph Mohiddin
   7. Nasyran Musyrif Warid bin Salleh
   8. Dyg Sarinah binti Hj Aisa
   9. Nurainah binti Mohammad Noor
   10. Muhammad Danial Melintang
  
  

 

David Biggs with the dolphin by the beach. A rare moment indeed. Image taken from TBT and courtesy of David Biggs.

What are the chances of us seeing a dolphin just by the beach? Rare, right? Two expats came across the dolphin as it was stranded by beach at Seri Kenangan Beach. Both of them were jogging when they noticed an unfamiliar object at the shallows of the beach.

So they guided the dolphin as it was trying to swim back to the sea. Eventually it did after reaching the deeper water level. The Ministries and relevant government would be pleased to know of this. Scott Cassell, Luminox brand ambassador would also be a happier being if he reads the news. I myself is amazed by this. Kudos to both of you.

 

Few nights ago, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) hosted dinner in conjunction with awarding the top local travel agents in Brunei Darussalam. They are being awarded best on their achievements and milestones. 11 travel agencies attended the function which took place at Rizqun International Hotel.

The guest of honour was Teo Beang Soo, MAS Area Manager (Singapore & Brunei) and he appreciated the agents in reaching the milestones and hopes for a much stronger tie. Also present was Zainal Abidin, District Area Manager of Malaysia Airlines (Brunei) and Zurina Abd Samad, the new director of Tourism Malaysia (Brunei).

Ken Travel & Trading, JJ Tours & Travel, Darussalam Holdings, Anthony Tours & Travel, Southern Cross Travel and Continental Tours all received Six Tall awards.

PGGMB Travel earned the Highest Revenue Passenger Growth award. Century Travel Services, Pan Bright Travel and Straits Travel Agency earned the 1st, 2nd and 3rd million dollar award respectively. The big winner was Freme Travel Services for the RSVP award.

Teo Beang Soo, MAS Area Manager (Singapore & Brunei) giving his welcoming remarks

Teo Beang Soo and Zainal Abidin with representatives from travel agents

Freme Travel earned the biggest award of the night

Mindful of enthusiastic travellers who may not be able to make it the travel fair, Malaysia Airlines will also be offering these promotional fares through the airline’s website www.malaysiaairlines.com, Malaysia Airlines’ ticket counter in Bandar Seri Begawan or participating travel agents from 2 until 13 September 2013.

All adult and child passengers travelling on Malaysia Airlines will enjoy 30, 40, and 50 kilograms free baggage allowance respectively for travel on economy, business and first class.

 

First prize for Open category (primary level). Image by Sim.

First prize for Regular Category (Komodo Island). Image by Sim.

First prize for Open Category (secondary level). Image by Sim.

I saw this once when STEP joined the Consumer Fair a few years back. STEP stands for Science, Technology and Environment Partnership Centre under the Ministry of Education and their role is to give opportunity to students to have hands on experience on creating mechanical robots using Lego Mindstorms products. So it’s up to the imagination of the individuals on what kind of mechanics they can create from the resources given.

The Brunei Robotics Olympiad (BRO) competition ended two days ago followed by the prize and certificate presentation. The guest of honour was Hj Abdul Rahman Hj Nawi, Acting Director of Curriculum Development Department, MOE. He toured the exhibition and gave the certificates and prizes. He was accompanied by Sarimah binti Abu Bakar, Acting Head of STEP.

The event took placed at Sekolah Rendah Perpindahan Kg Lambak Kanan, Jalan 10, and it was my first visit there too. According to the press release, there were 51 teams from primary and secondary school that took part. The idea of this competition is to challenge the students to come up with their creativity in overcoming obstacles using Lego Mindstorms products. By the way, if you are interested to get hold of Lego Mindstorms, you can contact Pentagram Design Sdn Bhd who is the distributor for Lego Mindstorms.

In Batik Challenge category, Deceptikons, the 5th’ team from Muhammad Alam Primary School was crowned as the champion, whilst in Borobudur Challenge category was won by Dazzwary team from Pengiran Isteri Hajjah Mariam Secondary School, Serasa and in Komodo Island Challenge, Ms-x3 team from Maktab Sains Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan took the first prize.

In the open category, the winner for secondary schools went to SMB ONE team from Berakas Secondary School whilst for the primary schools; the award went to Anak Warisan PSN from Pengiran Setia Negara Pengiran Mohd Yusof Primary School, Seria.

 

I’m impressed with what ICON Design Store came up with – the Double Dutch Lounge Sofa. It came about through a brain storming session from the guys behind ICON Design Store and a lot of thoughts have gone into the design and I like the finished product. According to Gert of Icon Design Store, the sofa is more flexible, it’s modular and interchangeable without compromising the feel and the looks. If you are into L-shaped sofas (and you want to impressed your love ones *lol*), then this is a good sofa to invest in.

Let me explain more about the Double Dutch Lounge Sofa. It is all in the design of being able to interchange the L-setting to be either at the left or right whenever your mood tells you to. Available in a range of great colours and materials to suit every taste. And the beauty of it all is it does not stop at the L-shaped sofa; soon 3-seaters, 2-seaters and a single sofa will be added to the Double Dutch Lounge Collection. All available in leather and cashmere wool and linen.

The new Double Dutch Lounge Sofa is another great reason to visit the ICON Design Store on Jalan Batu Bersurat. 

ICON Design Store’s latest design – Double Dutch Lounge Sofa. You should check this out 😀

I asked Gert to show how the sofa is interchangeable

This can be done in matter of seconds or less than a minute

It’s not that heavy, right, Gert?

Before it was on the right side and now it’s on the left 😀

Ahh.. I’m in love with this sofa already

Comes in black too or you can have your own design and texture

Mixing top designers from all the greats like Eames, Jacobsen, Wegner, Bertoia, Yanagi, Noguchi, Corbusier, it’s like visiting a furniture museum where you can sit on the classics, talk to knowledgeable staff (you should meet Gert in person) and then take the exhibits home with you.

Come and visit the ICON Design Store for a test drive of the new Double Dutch Lounge Sofa. And the very first owner will also receive a complimentary gift. ICON Design Store is located near Fun Bee Park at Batu Bersurat. They have taken three or four units I believe so it’s a pretty big store. They also do interior consultation work too and they come up with quality work.

You can also browse their Facebook page and also their website (tons of European furtinure to choose from) for more information.

Some of the items at ICON Design Store

Gert working hard on his current interior design project

ICON Design Store at Batu Bersurat