This year’s Chinese New Year celebration is slightly tamer than previous year. Though I would like to say that I managed to attend almost all the invitation surprisingly. I managed to collect a few angpows too along the way (perks of being single). Chap Go Meh is a few days away which will mark the end of the Chinese New Year festive celebration.

Here are some of the photos taken recently to commemorate CNY celebration.

Yang Berhormat Dato Paduka Hj Ali Hj Apong Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism and spouse visited the Chong Fu Li’s residence. Also present were Chang Ein Hong, father of Chong Fu Li, His Excellency Cho Won-Myung, Korean Ambassador to Brunei and his family, Pierre Imhof, CEO of Baiduri Bank, Rino Donosepoetro, CEO of Standard Chartered (Brunei) and his family, Chong Ming Rui, my friend and host :p and others.

Thank Chong Ming Rui for the invitation. This is our tennis family though only one person doesn’t take up the sport

Tennis players from Brunei and Japan

At Leonard and Jackie’s open house. So Jackie, are you planning to visit Katmandu? :p

Visited John Tan’s residence and we had a good chat about toys with Stephen. It’s good to know the other side of John and his army toy collections.

A quick visit to Pat Li’s residence and I truly like the vegetarian home-made roll

Thankful for a wonderful friendship we have though we see each other once in a while

Tasted my first ever Blue Tea at Pat’s house

Even Mr. Brown’s greeting happy new year

Only known for less than 2 years but we have a great bond of friendship. Thanks for hosting my friend

… and Kristy makes one of the best latte in town. You can ask for her to serve you at Piccolo Cafe in bandar

We had an awesome learning experience in Hua Hin among other friends recently. It was a like a solo reunion and see how much both of us have grown individually. See you next time, Sarina.

Truly appreciative of my friend Pranika for accompanying me on my CNY visits this year. More to come …. next year :p

Without knowing, we coincidentally wore Deadpool colours :p

Management and team of Interhouse Company wishes Happy New Year. Image courtesy of IHC Facebook Page.

 

Starting tomorrow

I’m not interested in the other board games apart from Scrabble 😀 So any takers?

Times Square Shopping Centre will be holding a Board Games Weekend from 19th to 21st February 2016 at the atrium this weekend. National Day Board Games Weekend 2016 is organized by Times Square Shopping Centre and is co-organized by Brunei Chess Federation (BCF) and the Department of CO-curriculum Education. Events include Scrabbles competition and Chess tournament. Participants may register for the Scrabbles competition by filling in the forms that can be retrieved at the lucky draw counter and submitted before the event.

Board Games Weekend activities will include a Chess Simultaneous match, Basic Chess Lessons and Chess Blitz games. For the chess tournament, it will be 9 rounds for Rapid and 9 rounds for Blitz using the Swiss Manager Programme organized in accordance to the most recent laws of chess. The time control for the Rapid Event will be 15 minutes for the whole game plus 2 seconds increment and for Blitz Event will be 5 minutes plus 2 seconds every move played starting from the first move. The entry fee for the Rapid Event are $12 for adults, $8 for Under-20 (students), $5 for Under-14 (students) per person and for Blitz Event will be $10 per person (Adults category). Medals will be awarded to the Top 5 finalists of the Open category for National Day Inter-School Chess Blitz 2016 and category prizes for the Top 3 finalists for the Best Junior U14 and Best Junior U10. In addition, trophies will also be awarded to the Best 3 of the schools’ category.

The public will have the opportunity to test their skills against Brunei’s best players and the chance to learn first-hand from a professional chess player. There will be a National Day Chess Festival 2016 where students from all schools in Brunei Darussalam are welcomed to participate in the competition, which will be held on the 19th of February 2016, Friday at the ground floor of Times Square Shopping Centre. The deadline for the registration is on Friday, 19th February at 2.30pm for the Rapid Event and for Blitz Event will be on Sunday, 21st February 2016 at 1.00pm. Interested students can either register directly at the ground floor of Times Square Shopping Centre or contact the organizing committee to register.

Other board games will also be opened for customers to try out and play. These include Snakes and Ladders, Cluedo, Monopoly and Jengga. In the nearest future, Times Square will be having several events such as Japanese Language and Culture week on 18th to 20th March, 9th Mini Carnival on 23rd to 29th March 2016 and a Wedding Exhibition in April 2016. You may also find out about all upcoming events simply by following Times Square Shopping Centre’s pages on Facebook and Instagram.

For further information about the chess tournament, please contact Pg Abd Rahman (+673)8780282, Amir Fakhry (+673)8669759, GM Vakhidov Tahir via Vakjhidovt@yahoo.com and for Scrabbles competition, please contact 2338208 or 2338006.

So speaking of board games, we recently had some board game session at Games & Latte

The gang that showed up last weekend. Let’s do another round.

 

The Clever Cup demo by It’s a Grind during BIBD Media Appreciation Night. Image courtesy of BIBD Facebook Page.

Members of the press. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

Bloggers and radio presenters. Image courtesy of @anakbrunei

Nadzri the magician and entertainer for last night’s event. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

Image courtesy of @photobychihb

The colgate potential model :p Image by Allen Shim.

Image courtesy of Conia Kaur.

The best dressed – Adriane Jaafar of The Brunei Times and Rudi Hamid of Pelangi FM. Image courtesy of @pelangifm