His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam during the meet-and-greet at the get together celebration with the people of Brunei

The celebration for the Bersama Rakyat in conjunction with His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s 70th Birthday ended at the Brunei-Muara District which took place at Taman SOAS yesterday. Normally it’s meant to be the biggest of all celebration among all the districts in Brunei. Last year the celebration coincided with my sister’s wedding in August.

Most of the pictures you will see below are the pictures behind the scenes and they contributed to the celebration at Taman SOAS. I would have to say that the crowd weren’t as much compared to last year. Nonetheless the mood was still high as ever. All the royalties spent quite some time with the public, taking photos and selfies. Well, it’s the best time to do so and come to think of it, I haven’t taken one with His Majesty the Sultan. Perhaps, one day InsyaAllah.

As usual, I caught the boat from Kg Tamoi and dropped at Yayasan as I don’t have to worry too much about road closure and the trouble of finding parking. This allows me a better time management too.

Oh yea, I didn’t apply for the media pass for many years though I’m a collector of passes. One reason being is that I hardly cover the official program but more of behind-the-scene pictures. I should also remind myself not to sport a bag pack while covering a Royalty event as a media. My bad.

I didn’t take much pictures as I would like to but focused on more videos. Here you go.

My boat trip to town while having O3 green tea #yummy

The Guling Tangan band livening up the mood during the celebration

With a United Daily (Miri News) reporter who has only been in Brunei for a few months and she likes working in Brunei so far

The portable steps do come in handy if you want better shots of the Royalties

A sea of people taking opportunity to take greet our ruler and also taking photos

Jackson Ting, Managing Director of D’Sunlit, has been attending the event every year and one of the biggest contributor to the celebration. In other news, he voiced out on the unprofessional behaviour of the umpires during the semifinals of the SpeedSend Cup which happened last Saturday.

Sally Pri and Vincent Hong mingling behind the scenes. These are the usual reporters I bumped into once in a while.

Taking photo with Yang Berhormat Dato Hj Mustappa, the Minister of Communications

The Minister of Communications talking to Pierre Imhof, the CEO of Baiduri Bank. Interestingly enough the Minister called for local ITs to help with the logistics (Uber like concept) to improve the transportation in Brunei. Click image to read more from the interview in The Brunei Times.

Progresif team had a special memento to His Masjety yesterday

Some of the booths that were not taken.

The public waiting for the opportunity to greet His Majesty and other members of the Royal Family

The students singing a birthday to His Majesty

The school band

The performers on the field

 

Special promotion at At-Taqwa Travel & Tour

 

The BB Trail Challenge. It’s happening at the end of February, the first ever Trail Challenge Run organised by The Beach Bunch. There will be two categories – 21km and 42km. Registration has been closed and The Beach Bunch have been conducting practice runs from Tungku Beach to Berakas Forest Reserve Beach. This is to prep up the registrants before the actual Beach Bunch’s Trail Challenge. If you want to follow updates, you can check out their website beachbunch.net or follow them on IG @thebeachbunch #bbtc2016 #beachbunchbrunei and one more thing, Happy Birthday Rizan Latif, the man behind The Beach Bunch 😀

Last Sunday, 50 runners turned up for the practice session for the upcoming Beach Bunch’s Trial Challenge 2016. Image courtesy of @thebeachbunch

There will be free Yoga during the Beach Bunch’s Trial Challenge on 28th February

The 2nd manhunt. Here it is. The second manhunt, happening today at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Justin Hong was the winner a few weeks’ ago where he won a pair of tickets to Taiwan to visit Mr. Brown’s Castle (factory) at Gadong. Today will be a special occasion as it is only opened for UBD students and the manhunt will be in the vicinity of UBD. Collection of bibs starts at 1pm and make sure you register yourself at mrbrownbrunei.com to be eligible. There will also be consolation prizes in a form of lucky draw. Good luck, UBD-ians. So who will be the next contestant to join Justin this March to Taiwan? Results to be revealed this afternoon.

The game area for this afternoon

5th time. Well deserved. He was snubbed twice in the past two years and it has always been between Leo Messi and Cristian Ronaldo. Both are such great talents but if I were to chose, it will be Messi for many reasons. He’s a clinical finisher, a monster of a dribbler, a great team player and humble off the field. He is even in a dream team with Neymar and Suarez as his attacking partners. The only trophy that has been eluding him is the World Cup trophy. 2018 will be his final chance. Let’s see if he has got what is left by then.

Congratulations Messi

LOL. I love this caption 😀

RIP Bowie. Such a tragedy that David Bowie has passed away due to cancer. A very talented individual and out-of-the-box artist when it comes to music and his attire. My favourite single of Bowie is Let’s Dance. Not many of my friends would have heard of David Bowie because he was popular back in the 70s and 80s. My first recollection of him was when I watch the movie Labyrinth when I was a kid. Now his latest album – Blackstar – has topped the iTunes Chart and I’ve heard some of his songs. It was stated that the album he made was experimental and this genre is not for everyone but its artistic value is very much appreciated. Rest in peace, Bowie.

My first viewing of David Bowie in a movie

Audi Q7. Something for Audi fans to look forward to – the awesome Q. Coming soon to Brunei will be the all new Audi Q7. I just read some news online and apparently the 2017 Audi Q7 3.0T is ranked the top in the Three-row Luxury Crossovers and SUVs and the market price is pretty reasonable and affordable too. I’m not sure when it will be making its way to Brunei but T.C.Y. Motors have already teased the fans with a brief look of the Audi Q7. Then again, I’m also not sure if it will be the 2017 Audi Q7 that will be released in Brunei. For now, I know it’s the newer version of the Q7. We shall wait and see.

Coming soon. The Audi Q7

Check out the A4lution – the versatile Audi A4 model range, starting from BND 49,000

Triple CL. After a year and a half, I have reached a milestone that I thought I couldn’t even be bothered to achieve. I was a member of Brunei Speakers’ Club back in 2011 but contribution was very minimal. Perhaps I didn’t see the value back then and plus I wasn’t even being present and focus. Today, I am very grateful and proud of how far I’ve been as a member of Brunei Speakers’ Club. I have just achieved my Competent Communicator and Competent Leader pins last night. Hence I will have the title of CC and CL as a toastmaster.

After delivering my 10th speech (inspirational objective based speech) last night, I was just mentally drained after hours of refining and practising my speech. Was I happy with my delivery? Well, it could have been better and I knew the moment I finished my speech, something was just amiss. Was I happy with my progress? 110% yes. I’m beginning to learn to advice on my friends on how to improve, the dos and the donts and don’t let my ego get in the way. A big shout out to my friends who came last night – Sophia, Abby, Hui Chiet, Ming Rui, Huaida and Faten. Not forgetting Gary (who hardly comes to BSC meetings) and members of OTTERS. Thank you to my mentors – Shawn, Allen, Reuben, Pranika, Clovis, Ling Ling and those have helped me along the way and my partner in crime, Ciara. Now I’m ready for the next level – Advanced speeches.

My previous mentor and my speech evaluator, Lai Ling Ling, who pinned me for completing my first 10 projects as a Competent Communicator

The toastmasters badge collection

Fancy a haircut. It’s the time of the year before Chinese New Year that you will want to beautify your hair. Do check out Inspiration Alan Salon at their relocated outlet at Seri Q-Lap Mall. One of the top stylist, Michelle, will be in Brunei on the 20th January to 26th January 2016. She has 18 years experience in hair dressing and she has been a regular visiting hair stylist in Brunei. With many accolades under her belt, you will be in for a treat and hopefully you will like the end result. So do make your bookings at Inspiration Alan Salon during Michelle’s visit next week.

Michelle, the experienced hair stylist, will be in Brunei from 20th to 26th January. Do visit Inspiration Alan Salon at Seri Q-Lap Mall for appointments and her service.

Relationship problems. I received this on the whatsapp group and it’s something for us to ponder upon. This could not just apply on lovers but also to close friends to certain extent, families and even colleagues. It’s never easy if you have someone close to you because there’s a level of expectation, be it small or big. Practising unconditional love or care has been my priority but I don’t expect the other party to do the same. It’s important for me to focus on my well being, otherwise I will spend more time pleasing others and draining my energy at the same time. I’m pretty sure many of us can relate to the items below. It’s how you rise from it is what matters.

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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.

 

My friends call me the King of Powerbanks because I carry at least 3 with me at all times. As you know I’m addicted to my smartphone and so I would need tons of juice for my phone. Now it’s a great time to get yourself another set of power banks because as you know that these battery packs have a life cycle.

If you are hunting for one, I suggest you head off to Concepts Computer and try out their APC Power Packs. Now power banks have become more affordable as compared to previous years. Concepts Computer will be doing an APC promotion where with every purchase of the APC Power Pack, either the APC M5 5000mAH power pack ($38) or the APC M10 10,000mAH power pack ($58), are entitled to a free charger cable worth $12. This is just not any cable as it has a special adapter that can support Android and IOS smartphones.

It also has two USB ports on the 2.4A charging port ideal for tablets and the 1A charging port ideal for smartphones.

If you are worried about over charging or short circuit, not to worry since the APC ones are able to prevent that from happening. Cool, huh?

The APC M-series Power Pack comes with a free cable in-box but does not provide choice for connectibility, the add-on free USB cable (worth $8) provided by Concepts Computer with every purchase of the APC Power Pack, will offer a choice of either micro USB for most Android devices or iPhone’s proprietary connection for the latest iOS devices. For more information on APC and their full-range of power-based solutions, please visit your nearest Concepts Computer showroom or call 2233551/2/3.

APC Power Banks at Concepts Computer now comes with the dual adapter socket for Android and IOS smartphones

On another note, Concepts Computer achieved a new milestone for being awarded a Top Achiever by APC for 2014-2015. Hats off to Ryan Lieu, sales executive and person-in-charge of APC products in Concepts Computer. He was rewarded with a trip to Taiwan for an APC Partner Incentive Trip two weeks ago to celebrate Concepts Computer’s achievement.

Zul And Rahman, Marketing Executive of Concepts Computer with Ryan Liew, sales executive and person-in-charge of APC products

Ryan Liew flew to Taiwan recently to celebrate Concepts Computer success

Concepts Computer also have been active in sports activity such as basketball. They were recently involved in Sukan Ria last month and almost made it to the quarter finals. Now Concepts Computer will be holding a basketball competition for the veterans and seniors slated for this month. It will be called Concepts Veterans Cup 2015.

Kingston Beverage & Creamery Sdn Bhd will be their official sponsor for the Concepts Veterans Cup 2015. the Concepts Veterans Cup 2015 basketball tournament is a way to promote a healthier lifestyle among those aged 40 years old and above, and create awareness for the love of basketball among the public. The matches will be played at Batu Bersurat basketball court.

Kingston Beverage & Creamery the official sponsors for Concepts Veterans Cup 2015

The handing over of jerseys for Concepts Computer basketball team

Recently the man behind Concepts Computer celebrated his birthday at the outlet. In conjunction with his 60th birthday, he held a Sungkai outing for his staff, dealers and also members of the media. Too bad I wasn’t able to taste the catering from Seri Kandi but the food looked really tasty. Thank you again to Mr. Vincent Pao for all the support you have given this past year or so and I wish you happy belated and have a wonderful year ahead.

Happy Birthday Mr. Vincent Pao

Vincent Pao and Alice Chan with the members of the media

Vincent Pao and Alice Chan with the associates of Concepts Computer

Food ready to be served

 

I’m in love again with Mr. Brown 😀 Loving the fact they have offering more content. It was a bit weird holding a different size can of Mr. Brown but man, it does taste good. Now available at selected stores – Jaya Hypermart Gadong, Orbit (Jln Muara), Utama Grand, Hong Bee, Adri (Mata-Mata), Jaya (KB) and Aprina (Jerudong) and all Raimmar Mini Marts.

For those who want no sugar and no milk, this is the one. Now available in your local stores.