A slow rays. I have mentioned this before that Hari Raya hasn’t been all that this year. I didn’t hear any fireworks since the beginning of Raya. So things have been mellow indeed. Another surprise factor is that many Bruneians opted to fly away during the Hari Raya season. It reminds me of Chinese New Year where my Chinese friends would also choose to travel abroad. I won’t be surprised if this will be the new trend for upcoming Hari Raya seasons.

My raya marathons are over. Friends have been asking me how many houses I have been to and thinking that I would be soaring with high numbers of house visits. Well, I have remained consistent for the past few years – an average total of 10-15 houses total. That’s excluding the corporate Hari Raya open houses. Back in my younger days, I could clock at least 12-15 houses a day and my highest is still 102 visits. Those days, there weren’t even the term selfies and all the pictures I took was with my SLR *lol*

I managed to get my butt off my bed and make my rounds to most of the invites. Yes, it’s tough to get back to the groove when I’m already set in my comfort zone in my room, carrying on from the fasting period. Even my blog has been affected in terms of my updates (sorry, readers) but I feel my mojo is returning and I shall be blogging and updating from time to time.

If any of you want me to pose Hari Raya photos (especially those overseas), you can email me at ranoadidas gmail.com And for fun facts, I find this rather amusing posted on brublahblah post (refer image below) with regards to our Brunei behaviour during Hari Raya. Classic!!

Taken from brublablah.com

 

I have to salute Daryl for the commanding job as a “brother”. Now I wonder where my Liverpool bag sack is? *lol*

Yay!! I was one of the brothers for Terence Tahir Han and Melati Yussof’s second reception. Thank you, guys, for the honour and it’s my second experience as a “Heng Tai” and it’s always a pleasure to be part of wedding celebration. So Terence and Mel, you guys rocked and it looked like well smooth wedding dinner. Their first wedding reception was back in December 2014.

I knew Melati way before Terence. She was still studying in Jerudong International School and my first impression when I saw her for the first time at Coffee Zone Gadong was “Woww, she has a resemblance of Janet Jackson”. *lol* And you still do 😀 It was only whenI became familiar with her cousins (Alai and Peah) that I knew more about Melati as a person. She’s like a friend that I could text randomly and she would always reply with a positive energy. What she’s good at is empowering people and she has been quite successful in applying that in the company she’s working with. By the way, your fascination of the “chips” story still leaves a lasting impression on me. Keep on rocking, Mel.

As for Terence, I didn’t really get to know of him until our first encounter in CV a few years ago. I remember he bought my auction item back then and he was always known as “Ken’s brother” because he only entered the “Brunei Market” a few years ago after his working days in Singapore and Hong Kong. My dream one day is to get a game of him in tennis and now would be the best time since he’s recovering from a shoulder injury. He has been a great addition to the team in our project. The only difference about us is that he fell in love with the Gunners. All the best to both of you and I’m grateful for being given this opportunity to be part of your wedding memories.

The ladies did a splendid job despite a few tricks up the brothers’ sleeves

The final task for Terence

Melati with her sisters

It was fun to have little kids in the mixture

The couple with the Hans

Getting ready for dinner

With Sophia Mopiko Siu and Seng Yee Ciara

Even Gary has a nick name

Some of the guests from last Saturday

The brothers in red tie

Terence and Melati

The happy parents of the couple

We kicked off the entrance

Followed by Cheelin and Mike

Best friends of Terence – Ryan and Calvin from Hong Kong. Awesome and sporting lads too. Hope to see you in HK one day.

They have got some grooves as well

Awwwww aren’t they such sweet together?

The entertainers – Del Goh and Leo Kasim

The ASEAN handshake (Missing Siew and Daryl)

The Bersanding dinner of Terence and Melati in December 2014

 

I’m back.. That took a week!!! I’m still sorting out my computer at home. It’s difficult that my main computer the iMac 2013 is acting up. The damn “beachball” keeps appearing and it’s hard to do my work. I even reset the memory ram of my iMac.. 16 gig worth of ram to be exact and I even run a diagnosis with an MRI approach and it still didn’t work. So now most of my work is done on my Macbook Air but of course, I prefer my main desktop for convenient purposes. At this moment, I have no choice but to back up my iMac and sent it for repair.

On a brighter note, I’m back again and I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin. I know this sounds silly but a few years ago, I put inserted the word “minta” before Maaf Zahir Batin. That doesn’t sound right at all and someone did point that out a few years ago when I posted that on my website. Thank you for that.

I won’t be blogging much again until I get my computer fixed. You can stalk my social media platforms instagram twitter Snapchat at @ranaodidas and I’m quite up to date with that because almost everything is mobile now. Sometimes I gained more traction on my IG than my blog in a very short span of time.

The highlight of my Hari Raya so far is my visit to the Istana Nurul Iman to greet His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei and members of the Royal Family. My family hasn’t been around for the past few Hari Raya so it has been a mellow one for me. Invites have been dry too and quite a handful of Bruneians travel abroad too. Let’s not discount that spending hasn’t been on the high side either which means lesser open houses or smaller scale. A big thanks to my good friend Aaron Goh who was more than willing to accompany me to the Palace for the Royal greet. It was a great experience and even Aaron said that the logistics was way better than his last visit (more than 15 years ago).

Aaron and I visited Istana Nurul Iman on the fourth day of Hari Raya. More stories on that soon.

It has been a slow paced Hari Raya celebration for me

Finally I get to shed off some fats by playing tennis and powering up with my favourite drink Mr. Brown

 

Review of Ant-Man featuring Del Goh and Nee Khern

Our take on the trailer of Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice featuring Del Goh and Nee Khern

Review of Awang Semaun: Rise of the Warrior. Click play to listen to podcast review

 

Daulat Kebawah Duli Tuan Patik. Happy 69th Birthday to His Majesty the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam. A special holiday has been declared on 15th August to celebrate His Majesty’s birthday. Image courtesy of Dean Kassim.

Liverpool FC Foundation, the club’s official charity, with Standard Chartered Thailand and the students from the Bangkok School for the Blind in a group photo session yesterday. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.

It was a very interesting moment to see how a football clinic was conducted especially for the blinds. We all paid a visit to Bangkok School for the Blind and it was quite an eye opener for me. Apparently the particular school is a long-term partner of Standard Chartered in terms of their local employee volunteering programme. So far they have 193 students in the school and the school provides free education, training and materials to the visually impaired. The school is also under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen of Thailand.

So the intention for the visit was the football clinic. As you know Standard Chartered Thailand partners with Liverpool FC Foundation in organizing a simple football session with the students and for Standard Chartered Thailand, this is considered as a football clinic-cum-Financial Education workshop. For Standard Chartered, this is another way to create a meaningful life skills session where the children can at a young age and potentially prepare for the future. Hence it’s important for students at the young age to learn what they are potentially good at and that can unlock their dreams and future.

Standard Chartered has also been active in the volunteering programme where 40 of their staff from Bangkok showed up for the football clinic to dedicate their time to help the visually impaired children. Awesome!! As you know, this is part of Bank’s commitment to be “Here for Good” and sustaining the impact in the local community.

It was also the first time I was introduced to Lyn Kok, the CEO and President of Standard Chartered of Thailand and the Greater Mekong (Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Yunnan Province, China). She’s a very nice lady and she is very passionate about her vision for the Bank’s value especially in financial education and other SCR projects such as educating on AIDS awareness and Seeing is Believing. She shared how the level of awareness for “Seeing is Believing” has been very encouraging and it has been around for 10 years. They have raised as much as USD 70 million worldwide and they are not far away from their target. I was also impressed that Lyn was able to know all the terms for sight deficiency and how it can be prevented. Thank you for your time and I admire your leadership in the Bank and continuing the values that Standard Chartered believes in.

Now for the juicy part. The Liverpool FC Foundation visited the Bangkok School for the Blind and conducted a football clinic for the children. The Liverpool youth coaches came by and ran a few sessions such as shooting and dribbling. It was priceless to see the kids celebrating after scoring a goal and I’m pretty sure the coaches enjoyed the clinic too. Also present were Liverpool Legends – Ian Rush and Dietmar “Didi” Hamann.

I was a bit cheeky that I asked Didi Hamann on Raheem Sterling’s departure but a Liverpool staff was quick to shut him out from talking. I’m not sure what’s wrong with the question since Channel News Asia was able to get a quote from another Liverpool FC Legend Robbie Fowler. Nonetheless it was great to see Liverpool FC getting involved in such clinics and also for Standard Chartered for continuing their objectives on the financial education side of things.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for me was withstanding the hot weather especially since it’s Ramadhan. It was my first morning sweat of Ramadhan but I survived 😀

Bangkok School for the Blind

With Didi Hamann.. An attempted selfie 😀

Students in the group photo with Liverpool FC Foundation and Standard Chartered Thailand

A photo opportunity with Lyn Kok, the CEO and President of Standard Chartered of Thailand and the Greater Mekong

Standard Chartered employee volunteering to help the children during the football clinic

Did you know that the balls have bells inside for the benefit of the blind?

Spot the Mighty Red mascot

The coaches giving away caps to the children

Ian Rush being mobbed by fans. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.

Spot me? Image courtesy of Liverpool FC

Luis Garcia, a Liverpool Legend indeed, during the press conference with the media yesterday

A moment with Luis Garcia. We had a special press conference organised by Standard Chartered where a small group of media has a special chance to interview a Liverpool Legend Luis Garcia. I would have to say that he still looks in great shape despite being 37 years old. He is currently joining the Liverpool FC tour in the capacity as a Liverpool ambassador and it is wonderful to see that him taking that role.

When I asked him if Liverpool is good enough for a top two finish, Luis Garcia reckons that it won’t be easy because Liverpool have many new young players – hungry of games, hungry of showing things in the Premier League. This is because he felt that in the 2005-2006 season when he was still young. He believed that Jordan Ibe will be one of the promising stars for Liverpool after watching him play last season.

He was put in the spotlight on who would he picked as his first eleven and he chose the following – Didi Hamann, Stevie G, the Brazilian Ronaldo, Messi, Maldini, Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Romario, Puyol. The only one he forgotten was the goal keeper but his choice of his 11 will definitely be invincible in the Football Manager 2015 game 😀

There is just something about Luis Garcia that I like about. He’s calm and welcoming which made it easier for the media to bombard him with questions. Liverpool FC surely chose an almost perfect ambassador and I do hope that this will be an annual thing because he can create a first good impression that will last.

On the funnier side of things, David McMahon of The Straits Times, asked Luis Garcia if the “goal” was indeed a goal (referring to the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea in 2005 where Liverpool were eventual champions). He laughed it off and answered “yes” and it was his frequently asked questions by the fans.

Definitely a great short session with Luis Garcia but of high quality. Thank you once again to Standard Chartered for organizing this special press conference. We are indeed privileged and honoured.

Q&A with Luis Garcia

Chun and I were honoured to have a picture with Luis Garcia. A very humble and down to earth person.

I got them signed 😀

 

Members of the regional media with regional Head of Corporate Affairs of Standard Chartered before heading to catch Liverpool FC match

Chun smiling outside the stadium

Some games for the public to play

First time I would come across at 7-Eleven tent

Didn’t know Honda was the one of the sponsors

Promoting SCB Cashcard

The Standard Chartered Booth

Just look at the crowd. Total of roughly 35,000 fans watched the match. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.

Entering the media centre

The most sought for items were wifi password and water

Danny Ings had an alright friendly debut. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.

Chun at work. Don’t play play.

It rained in the second half.

Rained quite heavily

Yay!! Liverpool won 4-0. Image courtesy of Liverpool FC.

The guys behind Liverpool FC so internet is a must 😀

The press conference area

Our late supper after the match. Thank you Standard Chartered for this rare opportunity. Much blessed.

 

Review of Awang Semaun: Rise of the Warrior. Click play to listen to podcast review

Listen to my latest podcast on Minions with special guest Terence Han

Listen to my latest podcast on Jurassic World with special guest Jessie Tey

 

Flying off with Yee Chung Leong, sports writer from The Brunei Times and Marilyn Greame, Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered (Brunei) to Bangkok for the Liverpool FC Asia Tour

Brought me where? Bangkok 😀 I’m currently in Bangkok from a special invitation from Standard Chartered (Brunei) for the upcoming Liverpool FC Asia Tour. Their first leg will be in Bangkok before heading down to Australia and the final leg will be in Kuala Lumpur.

I flew off with Marilyn Greame, Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered (Brunei) and Yee Chung Leong, sports writer from The Brunei Times to Bangkok yesterday (and thank you Royal Brunei for taking us there too).

My previous Liverpool FC treat was back in 2012 where I also sent by Standard Chartered to Kuala Lumpur. That was fun too because I get to be up close and personal with the Liverpool FC players. I remember taking photos with Andy Carroll then.

So what privilege do both Liverpool supporters (Chun and I) have? We have our specula media passes; we had the opportunity yesterday to attend the press conference with Brendan Rodgers and Lucas Leiva; we will attending a football clinic at the Bangkok School for the Blind; we will have a special session with a former Liverpool player Luis Garcia and to cap it off, the friendly match between Liverpool FC and Thailand’s True All-Star Team. For your info, True is one of the leading telcos in Thailand.

It’s good to know that Standard Chartered continue their sponsorship with Liverpool FC as it helps them to engage with the community and especially their clients. This is a win-win situation for the Standard Chartered customers and Liverpool Football Club fans.

Woohoo.. We have a special ride from the airport transfer to Novotel Siam

Checking in.. Thank you, Standard Chartered, for accommodating us

The Liverpool fans waiting for the players

I wonder if they managed to get anything signed

Yesterday afternoon, it was a mellow down press conference for Brendan Rodgers, manager of Liverpool FC, who knew he was gonna be bombarded with questions of the Sterling saga. All he said was he wants to focus with the players that are in Thailand but he did acknowledged that Sterling had made negotiations with another club and it’s time for Liverpool to move forward. Initially Raheem Sterling was listed in the 30-man squad for the Asia tour but pulled out due to offers from Manchester City. It is reported that Sterling will be heading to Manchester City for 49 million pounds.

Now the saga is over, Liverpool FC can focus on the tour but Brendan is tight lipped on who will be the next players to sign up for Liverpool FC. It will be interesting to see who will replace Sterling but I believe Sterling is not up there with the likes of Alonso or Torres or even Suarez because he is still 20 years old and haven’t reached his world class status like the rest.

So tonight is the night. We will get to witness the first pre-season match of Liverpool against Thai True All-Stars team at Rajamangala Stadium. Woohoo.. Thank you once again Standard Chartered for this special opportunity.

For more updates, do follow me on Instagram and Snapchat @ranoadidas

TrueVisions head of commercial and business development Birathon Kasemsri Na Ayutthaya, Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers, Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva and Sports Authority of Thailand representative Sumet Akarapong during a press conference yesterday at the Athenee Tower in Bangkok

Brendan Rodgers and Lucas Levia poses before the press conference

Question from the local Thai press

One important Liverpool staff trying to upload a picture for their website

The Gala dinner that we didn’t make it at all

This is a priceless moment. Thank you, Standard Chartered.

 

I came across this advertisement on Standard Chartered recently and what caught my eye is the difference in repayments for your loans. This is interesting indeed. How can that be possible to lower the repayment amount by as much as BND400 on a monthly basis? This was from the illustration of the poster that I saw on their website recently.

So imagine that you have a few loans that you have such as personal loans, credit card payments or your other loans. You will pay the normal dues respectively to the bank as part of your commitment. The thing that struck me me was the savings that you can enjoy when you consolidate all the loan commitments into one and enjoy a lower repayment scheme as a whole.

In other words, if I were to pay individually for the loans that I have even from other banks and the total loan amounts to a total of BND 75,000, every month I would have to fork out BND 1,093. Now with Standard Chartered’s new financial package, you would only pay BND 653 as a whole. That’s like a savings of BND 400ish. Now that’s a great deal.

Better still, you only pay a flat interest rate of 3.79% (6.5% effective) per annum for 15 years tenor.

I don’t have a personal loan or car loan from a bank but this may be relevant to those who have existing multiple bank loans. I understand however, there are qualifying criteria so not everyone is eligible. If you are keen to find out more, you can reach them at 265 8000 or click on the link.

Baiduri cardholders lucky dip winners of the Hua Ho vouchers

Baiduri cardholders were in for a rewarding shopping experience when they paid for their purchases at participating Hua Ho Department Stores at Kiulap, Delima, Gadong 2, Mulaut and Tutong in the “Baiduri Bank & Hua Ho H2 Hari Raya Shopping Treats” promotion last weekend.

With a minimum spending requirement of B$100 in a single receipt, Baiduri cardholders can participate in an instant dip where they get to win Hua Ho H2 shopping vouchers. Depending on the amount on the receipt, they can earn up to 3 chances per receipt. The vouchers are in the values of B$5, B$10, B$20 or B$50 each.

The promotion will continue this weekend from 10 July to (tomorrow) 14 July 2015, to give Baiduri cardholders more opportunity to take part.

“We are very happy to reward our customers for their loyalty and we want our cardholders to benefit from our ongoing promotions. Giving a little extra support through shopping vouchers or discounts for the upcoming festivities is just one of the benefits we provide to our credit and debit cardholders,” explained Pg Azaleen Pg Dato Hj Mustapha, Head of Retail Banking and Branch Network Division at Baiduri Bank.

More promotional information can be obtained at Baiduri website www.baiduri.com or by calling Baiduri Call Centre at 244 9666. To be in the know of Baiduri Bank promotions, Baiduri cardholders can follow BaiduriBank on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get the latest updates.

Less than a week, then Hari Raya will take place and it could be either be on Friday or Saturday. How have you Ramadhan been so far? Mine has been has hectic for the past three weeks due to coverage of the endless of Sungkai buffets. Now recently it has been quite relaxing because I’m off duty on food coverage 😀

I’m wondering how is the spending power lately in Brunei. I have heard that some of the Sungkai buffet sales at some places have dropped by 20-30%. One of the reasons could be attributed to the growing number of new restaurants and also more buffer options for the consumers end. Hence the market share of the restaurant will be reduced as our population has yet to increase relatively.

The biggest draw for Sungkai outings will be the BIBD 30% promotion (by swiping their credit cards) on selected restaurants on specific dates.

Last week, I had to forgo two travel trips – one to Denmark and one to Malaysia. The Denmark trip is one of the trips that I was looking forward to because it’s Denmark and I haven’t been there. It was part of a Bang & Olufsen trip for the media. I had no choice but to let it go due to my upcoming sister’s wedding in August. The KL trip was alright to miss but I will missing all the great access to catch Big Bang live concert in KL this coming August. Despite all that, I believe that I will get new opportunities to travel somewhere in the 2nd half of 2015 😀

I caught While You’re Young flick last night and it was a better experience than that last three movies I caught. Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts starred in this movie playing a married couple that wants to revive their younger days. Interesting movie and a humourous one too. A much better outing for Ben as compared to Night of the Museum sequel. I kinda like it but won’t watch it on cinema. Definitely a list for my blu-ray collection. Verdict: 7/10

Speaking of movies, Minions ruled the box office with a mammoth USD 115 million in the opening weekend. I predicted that Minions would be a top 3 movies of the summer in box office returns. At the moment, there is a good chance of that happening but no summer movies can come close to the surprise package Jurassic World followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron. The other potential movie is Inside Out which is doing very well indeed. I wasn’t a big fan of Minions and the movie was so so, catering more to kids. The disappointments of the summer movies so far are Tomorrowland and all the sequels of Magic Mike, Ted and Terminator.

I’m off to Bangkok today for another assignment. I won’t reveal much but you will know once you follow my IG and Snapchat feeds. I should be back in time for the Hari Raya festivity. Have a great week, my readers and thank you for all your support all these years.

My super friends buddies are quite addicted to the werewolf game indeed

I know it’s not healthy but this is occasional fix for Sahur 😀

Ok, I highly recommend you the Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie at Star Box Cafe (Kiulap). Amazing!!! I let my friends tried it and they love it too.

So this particular coffee table is my pick for the competition. Check out my IG on how to win the coffee table sponsored by Loft & Co, a new modern furniture shop located at Little Soho at Batu Bersurat. This coffee table comes in wooden texture, black and white.

Thank you Vincent Goh of Netcom House Computer for hosting Sungkai for the media at Excapade Sushi last week. I’m honoured for your humble invitation.

Now among all the gadgets of Apple, this is one over-rated gadget. Would I get one? I would perhaps wait for an updated version.

This watch so far has been very appealing and suits my needs. Loving the alerts but one problem – I’m not used to wearing a watch. Thanks @aj68 for the gift 😀

Lately I’ve been helping my friends’ wedding gifts which means longer nights

I had these three times… The Lamb Mandhi from Tandoor restaurant. A must from their Sungkai buffet. I would just go for this alone and not worried about the other dishes 😀

Now this is one exclusive magazine to own. Well done to the editor 😀

Congratulations to Vincent Pao, GM of Concepts Computer who defeated the Lizards yesterday to qualify for the Concepts Computer Veteran Basketball Cup 2015

Another successful event with the collaboration of Royal Brunei Airlines and the Collective Arts Event at the Royal Brunei Recreational Club. The event was called RBRC Syawal Donation. More stories on next post

Are copies making a comeback again? The enforcers must be pretty tired, recycling their efforts

Pengiran Azaleen bin Pengiran Dato Haji Mustapha, Head of Retail Banking and Branch Network receiving both awards on behalf of Baiduri Bank in Singapore recently

Baiduri Bank has received two awards from the Asian Banking and Finance Magazine – The “Domestic Retail Bank of the Year for Brunei 2015” for the third consecutive year and “Mobile Banking Initiative of the Year for Brunei 2015” for the first time.

The awards ceremony was hosted by the publication company at the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore on 8 July 2015. Receiving the awards on behalf of the Bank was Pengiran Azaleen bin Pengiran Dato Haji Mustapha, Head of Retail Banking and Branch Network.

Commenting on the ‘Domestic Retail Bank’ award, Pg Azaleen said, “We are delighted to receive these latest awards. I take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers for their strong support which has placed us among the top 60 Asian banks who were present at the award ceremony.”

He further elaborated that despite a challenging economic environment and competitive market, the Bank has been able to sustain growth by introducing new products and services to meet the needs and demands of different customer segments. The Bank is also constantly enhancing its existing product and service offerings to serve their customers better.

Pg Azaleen addressing his award acceptance speech

On winning the ‘Mobile Banking Initiative’ award, Pg Azaleen said, “Baiduri Bank recognized that mobile technology was fast becoming the preferred method of communication and accommodated these areas of customer needs by launching two apps, namely Baiduri Personal i-Banking in June 2013 followed by Baiduri Deals in August 2013 which was later enhanced in December 2014. The Baiduri Personal i-Banking app complements the Bank’s current web-based i-Banking application which gives customers a sense of familiarity, comfort and assurance. The Baiduri Deals app is a lifestyle app and is the first marketing app in Brunei that dispenses e-coupons which are redeemable for good and services or discounts at selected merchant outlets.

Since 2007, Asian Banking and Finance (ABF) magazine have been honouring and recognizing the best of the best in the Banking and Finance industry in Asia. It focuses on commercial and retail banking and on securities market from a banking perspective.

 

Have you been Snapchatting? Catch me on my username @ranoadidas

Are you new to Snapchat? I had this social media platform for quite some time but I wasn’t active for quite a long time. So what sparked it? Two things 1) new updates made it more appealing 2) one of my favourite fashion blogger from the Philippines @itscamilleco who uses the story video effectively. Only then, I gave it another go as I know Snapchat can be another good avenue to reach my followers. I know how Snapchat is very popular among teenagers in Brunei but that could soon change once the locals get the hang of it.

I feel the interface can do a little more tweaking so it would be easier to navigate for users. The best feature for me is the “story” section where you can upload unlimited photos and videos. However, there’s a timeline for all the data you post on Snapchat and once it reaches the 24 hour mark, Snapchat will delete them. Hence this gives you the urgency to catch what your friends have posted before it disappears.

So do come on Snapchat and look for me (username: ranoadidas) and so far I have coming to 100 followers after my continuous plug on IG. I’m not too sure if Snapchat will pick up the same wave like IG and Facebook did. As for Twitter, it’s barely surviving in terms of getting the news across. I only come to Twitter once every two days. When compared to IG, Facebook and now the addictive Snapchat, Twitter is way behind the pack of the most used social media platform in Brunei.

Don’t forget to add me on Snapchat 😀

 

BIBD recently extended their support to some seventy residents and caretakers of the Kampong Belimbing welfare home complex, under the Community Development Department, at an Iftar event at the Emperor’s Court Restaurant in Manggis.

The ceremony began with the recitation of the Surah Al-Fatihah which was then followed by the handing over of donations by the guest of honor, BIBD Managing Director Yang Mulia Javed Ahmad to forty-five residents of the welfare home along with certificates of appreciation to the ALMAS volunteer group for their cooperation in the success of the recent BIBD annual charity drive “Sirah Amal”.

Also in attendance was Yang Mulia Haji Minorhadi bin Haji Mirhassan, BIBD’s Head of Institutional Banking Division along with Yang Mulia Hajah Nurul Akmar binti Haji Mohd Ja’afar, Deputy Head of Consumer Banking Division in her capacity as Head of BIBD’s Corporate Social Responsibility.

Hjh Nurul mentioned that, “Alhamdulilah, the support in donations today are an extension of BIBD’s Sirah Amal initiatives as part of being an active community partner. At the same time, these donations are hoped to contribute to the development and progress of the residents to becoming productive members of the community”.

 

Hari Raya promotion until 31st July 2015

 

The satellite view of the storm in the region

The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports with the deputy ministers and permanent secretaries inspecting the affected areas. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

It only happened for a good half an hour or so but it can be damaging. Social media became the stream of news of affected areas by the strong gusty winds. The rain wasn’t much of a problem but the wind was. I believe most of us weren’t accustomed to the fact that strong winds could actually hit Brunei and it did.

I was still indoors when it happened. Winds were as strong as almost hitting 60km/hr and the impact it had was enough to warn us to be extra alert and cautious whenever we are out. My car’s friends were damaged; I saw tents collapsing on a video that went viral; there were power cuts also along the way and some areas had to suffer without electricity for the night; my sister’s roof was damaged with a huge hole. The water village also suffered damages. The other scary part was the experience of the passengers on flight AK278 which was due to arrive 3:30pm and it took the pilot several attempts to land the aircraft due to the strong winds according to Normi’s post on her Facebook status.

Despite all the setbacks, Al-hamdullilah, that there were no casualties. The busiest of the lot will be the Fire and Rescue Department who have been working tirelessly to move the wreckage especially on the road. Also it was nice to see the citizens helping out along the way. Traffic was quite bad as well and some of the traffic lights were not functioning. I was stuck in traffic for a good half an hour.

Apparently, according to Siti Hajar’s article, the typhoon is not over yet. Yes, it’s a typhoon in the East Asia Region and apparently one will be hitting in the Pacific region. Do follow the local news or Brunei weather report.

A man helping out to cut the tree yesterday. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

I was stuck in a jam for quite some time

An image circulated on Whatsapp during the storm. Then many of the similar ones popped up. I wonder if most of them were deliberate.

Now get this, readers! The image of the tornado is fake as it didn’t happen in Brunei.

Detouring due to fallen trees. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

A tree fell along Batu Satu. Image circulated through Whatsapp.

My sister’s home was affected yesterday :/

The weather for the next few days

 

Guest of honour with Board of Directors of JPMC, the stroke patients, the cancer patients and associates of JPMC

Good job on Jerudong Park Medical Centre on another wonderful initiative to motivate and inspire the stroke and cancer patients under the Brunei Cancer Center and Brunei Neuroscience Rehabilitation Center respectively. It was one of the JPMC’s Rehabilitation Center’s programme which aims to improve their cognitive and physical abilities. It was such a great timing since most of us will be celebrating the festive season.

Present at the ceremony was the Guest of Honour, Abdul Lattif Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Haji Md Yusof, member of JPMC’s Board of Directors, Dato Dr Isham Jaafar, the Executive and Medical Director of JPMC, Dr. Kenneth Kok, the Medical Director of The Brunei Cancer Centre, Senior Management of JPMC as well as family members of the patients.

It was not a bad effort from the patients who only took 11 days to come up with the musical programme. There was a Therapeutic Group Activity performance by BNSRC’s stroke patient for TBCC cancer patients. BNSRC stroke patients who have acquired disabilities from their condition have undergone three weeks of JPMC yearly Hari Raya themed rehabilitation therapeutic group activity program with the aim to lift the spirits of the terminally ill cancer patients. The performance was specifically designed to motivate them and to also provide some therapeutic effect to these cancer patients as the Hari Raya season is nearing.

JPMC patients performing with musicians from Expression Music Academy

Vivian Suk Kee Tie explaining the model made by the patients

Check out the model made by them

The patients were full of joy as I could tell from their expression. Priceless.

They had a special collaboration with some of the musicians from Expression Music Academy featuring Kristine Clair “Kaycee” Uchi Galano, 13 yr old violinist.

Vivian Suk Kee Tie, Head of Rehabilitation Department of JPMC, said that it’s always great to see the smiles and signs of hope from the patients. She was notably touched that more cancer patients are being involved in the programme as compared to before and this is a sign of progress on what’s JPMC’s objective – to bring joy, love and care to the stroke and cancer patients.

I can say that it’s never easy running an rehabilitation programme and JPMC has been very active since 2012 and I salute for their efforts in taking an extra step to better the environment and hopes of the stroke and cancer patients.

Rehabilitation Department offers treatments available that includes Falls Prevention, Geriatric and Pediatric Rehabilitation, Back and Neck Pain, Stroke and Spinal Cord Injury, Orthopedics and Sports Injury. For more information, please visit their website at www.jpmc.cm.bn.

The energetic employees from JPMC

 

Available in original flavor (my favourite), durian and chocolate

Ok, I had a dosage of these for the past week and I’m in love with KeK Lapis once again. Kueh that I love for Hari Raya are Kek Lapis, Kueh Mor and Tapak Kuda. You can never go wrong with those delicacies. So I’m quite surprised that now Kek Lapis is packed in a box and sold in supermarkets and convenient store.

I never heard of the NiNi brand so I gave it a shot and I’ve been slicing bits and pieces continuously because it can be addictive. So I googled on Kek Lapis and found out that this cake is originally from Indonesia during the Dutch colonial times. Interesting…

I love the box package of NiNi Kek Lapis. This is very ideal for gifts during festive season and now Hari Raya is just a week away. NiNi cake is made of high-quality ingredients and hygienically vacuum-packed using the latest technology, ensuring the freshness, and of course, its deliciousness.

To serve, cut NiNi layer cake into slices of about 1.5cm thick and for best result, warm NiNi Layer Cake in a microwave for 20-25 seconds to soften the cake and enrich the aroma. I can’t wait to continue my feast on Kek Lapis later for my midnight snack 😀

I’m one quarter into my Kek Lapis. I love the packaging and very ideal for giveaways and gifts for Hari Raya.