Crossroads

Another return to Albert Court

If you are wondering, I’m referring to the Albert Court Village Hotel in Singapore during my recent hotel hopping adventure. Albert Court Village Hotel is one hotel that I quite enjoy and it’s located at Little India. The rooms are spacious … Well, we were staying at club level rooms as we could enjoy extra service and amenities. This is my 2nd visit after my recent stay at MBS hotel during the recent CommunicAsia 2012. 

What I love about Albert Court Village Hotel is how they maintain the vintage feel and the culture of the past and yet have that modern feel atmosphere. It has 210 rooms and suites which offer modern facilities and amenities valued by today’s contemporary business and leisure traveller. 

You can catch the MRT at Little India if you plan to make your journey to other places such as Orchard or Bugis and it’s walking distance to the Little India MRT. What I enjoy also is the Trishaw Tour where you can booked from the hotel itself and you will enjoy the 20 minute ride around Little India. Sometimes I wonder where they (old men) get their energy from. They even play old school music to the delight of my ears.

The published price for the normal packages starts from $215++ and thank you to Albert Court Village Hotel, they are willing to give a 10% discount to my readers if you book online through this link [click here].

On trip advisor, it’s ranked pretty high with many votes on “Excellent” and “Very Good”. You can view all the comments on Trip Advisor by clicking here. Though it’s a bit far off from Orchard (where most Bruneians are aware of), I wouldn’t mind staying here and it’s pretty cozy and it’s good to be away from the busy life of Orchard too. 

This is the logo of Albert Court Village Hotel. Apparently a few Bruneians have stayed here too

The landmark of Albert Court at the courtyard where the taxi drop off is

The nostalgia feeling at the dining area


Another plus: They have iMacs for in-house guests at the lobby area

You can book for a Trishaw from Albert Court Village Hotel


For club patrons, you need the room key to enter the club area

This was my room back in April 2012

The room is pretty spacious too

This is my current room which is also at club level

…And yes, the room is pretty spacious 😀

The promotional poster at Bayfront MRT Station

I was fortunate that the Queen gig happened right after CommunicAsia 2012 and I’m a fan of Queen, not that big but I really enjoy their music. I remember my high school friend Sante from Geelong Grammar School and he was such a huge fan that he knows all the Queen’s songs and he was also a guitar enthusiast. He could play all the guitar bits from Queen songs and I would learn all the chords and lead from him. Only then I began to appreciate Queen’s music from 70s to the 90s.

So last Saturday I was able catch Gary Mullen & The Works who perform just like Queen band and Gary Mullen is almost as spectacular as the late Freddie, the lead singer of Queen. Gary Mullen & The Works did an awesome job and this is why they are the most demand Queen Tribute Show around the world. They were in Singapore from 21st to 24 June only and apart from @cuterabbit84 and I, they were a few Bruneians who caught it as well :))

The crowd was pretty stale in the beginning but the energetic Gary Mullen pumped up the audience and half way through the concert, everyone was on their feet, dancing and singing along. The gig was held at Marina Bay Sands Theatre and it was almost a full house last Saturday. Carol enjoyed the gig and it was good to know she knew some of the songs as well.

Hits such as Radio GaGa, A Kind of Magic, Don’t Stop Me Now, I Want To Break Free and Bohemian Rhapsody were being performed with great energy and it was almost as if Queen were there to perform. Awesome gig and thanks for the music and the tribute :D.

Gary Mullen was magnificent in his role as Freddie Mercury

Both of us had a great time during the “One Night with Queen” gig

It was so difficult to take shots because they didn’t allow SLR cameras. So it was a bit tricky using my iPhone and this was the best shot I had.

I managed to take short videos of the gig though it’s prohibited to do so. However, Gary defended the audience and told the securities not to bother of people taking photos or videos *lol*

I bumped into a Bruneian family and they enjoyed the gig as well

It was pretty crowded at the Marina Bay Sands theatre

I finally opened my 6th box before the sticker swap session at Burger King last Saturday

I was searching high and low for any sticker swap session in Singapore and I finally found a link to help me out (Thanks Shahrin). Apparently the Panini stickers are slightly more expensive in Singapore. One box can go up to $60 per box whereas in Brunei the box price ranges from $30 to $35.

According to them, the gathering swap session wasn’t as big as Brunei. They previously held one at The Coffee Bean & The Leaf with an OK turn out. This recent gathering was held at Burger King next to Sim Lee Square. Only five of us turned up but it was beneficial for me since I managed to find at least 16 out of 18 stickers to complete my album. Oh yeah, I’m a late starter too *lol*

By the way, there will be a Final Sticker Swap Meet at Foodzone this Friday 29th 4pm and there will be a lucky draw for those attending the event. It will be the final day before you can submit your Panini sticker album to be eligible for the lucky draw as well as the Free Puma jacket sponsored by the organiser. More details on that soon….

This 21 year old guy had a special sticker album and he finally finished his album on that day

She was the only lady that turned up that day

I bought an album to keep my spares in time for this Friday gathering

The guy on the right went to Johor Baru to buy his stock of boxes as it was half the price of that in Singapore

Today’s my final day in Singapore and I have a few errands to run. It has been a great week and a big thanks to AITI for giving me the opportunity to cover Brunei’s involvement in CommunicAsia 2012 and I believe the Brunei delegates did get some exposure during the exhibition.

Surprisingly I didn’t shop much apart from two apparels from Adidas *lol* and two magazines.. Well, most of my $$$ were spent on food, movies and gigs. This is the longest period I have stayed in Singapore and I can’t wait to go back to Brunei too. Thanks to my buddies for taking your time to meet up and I shall be back again in July for Dark Knight Rises IMAX, Annie Musical Show and I hope to get invited for the Singapore Blogger Awards 2012 which is happening on that weekend I arrive.

I caught up with Ai Lin and it was a great catch up session

Mr. Kurapak was also in Singapore but only for a day and this was his visit with his family to Universal Studio Singapore

It’s nice to see this kid having fun at Bugis Junction

Finally something for my iPhone home button. I got this at Suntec City but not the actual Adidas store

Last Thursday we had a mini gathering and enjoyed some Chinese tea session

It was great to see a lot of familiar faces that night and I learned something along the way

I posted this on Instagram and it brought some comments from my followers

I saw this at Bugis Junction and this is a cool gimmick

Last Thursday I had Indian cuisine at Straits Kitchen and it was awesome!!

I can’t wait to catch this on IMAX

Charles and Priscilla during our supper time at Lau Pa Sat

I had a double whopper from BK and I’m loving it… Please come to Brunei 😀

There was such high human traffic along Orchard especially during Sunday

I had my final dinner with Izzati and Tirah at Thai restaurant Sakura at Far East Plaza. Apparently, a lot of Bruneians dine here but this was my first time and it’s pretty good!!! Order the prawn and sambal kangkong and also the Kuay Teow Cockle

The recently launch Leica store made its debut at Mandarin Gallery. One of the highlights is the Leica S2 which costs more than a fortune. It’s a whooping $40,000 so this particular S2.

Pretty cool cupcakes and it was for Carol’s colleague birthday today and these are the faces of her colleagues at work. It costs about $6 per cup cake.

Maziah to burn the track in London

The Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BDNOC) yesterday announced the country will be sending at least two athletes to the 2012 London Olympics.

A press release sent by the council yesterday stated that “Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BDNOC) wishes to confirm that Brunei Darussalam will be participating in the upcoming London Olympic Games 2012 which will begin from 27 July until 12 August 2012.

“Brunei Darussalam will be represented by Ak Hafiy Tajuddin Pg Rositi and Dayang Maziah Mahusin from Athletic Sports who will compete under Universality Place in the Athletics Event. Both of these athletes have been registered with London Organizing Committee of Olympic Games (LOCOG).

“Both athletes have been undergoing intensive training with the National Coach and in order to gain more experience and exposure, they have participated in the International Association of Athletics Federation Indoor Athletics Championship in Turkey early this year and in other Regional Athletic Competitions.

“With regard to our swimming athlete, Awang Anderson Lim Chee Wei’s participation in the Swimming Event under the Universality Place is still pending on FINA’s official invitation.

“Both BDNOC and BASA had endorsed Awang Anderson Lim Chee Wei to represent Brunei Darussalam. Awang Anderson Lim Chee Wei’s name has also been registered with LOCOG. BDNOC is confident that all of them will give their best efforts and take this opportunity to its fullest.” Courtesy of The Brunei Times.