Today Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar Minister of Communications graced the Brunei Travel Fair. This morning was totally packed and I’m beginning to wonder if RBRC was enough to cater the hundreds that throng into the venue today. It was jam packed like a can of sardines.

Today’s the final day of the Brunei Travel Fair and let’s hope there are still special fares up for grabs. I managed to get some good fares today. So peeps. Just bring yourself to the Royal Brunei Recreational Club and make you sure that you come as early as possible.

I won’t saying much because I’ve mentioned it in my previous post. Let the pictures tell you the story.

The Minister with one of the icons from Republic of Indonesia

The Minister at Baiduri Bank booth

Want a massage?

At the Tourism Malaysia booth

Presence of BIBD

Strong crowd here at Darussalam Holdings. They will give you double points on Royal Skies during the Travel Fair

Hello Gek (of Darussalam Holdings)

Long queue at Pan Bright

Chance to win a car from Pan Bright

The Minister with Richard from Tourism Authority of Thailand

Check out the new Vento

Another colour to look at

You have heard of the Vento before and it’s from Volkswagen. Surprisingly it was the top 10 selling car in Brunei last year. Now the Vento has an upgrade – it has a combination of high performance, low fuel consumption and class-leading safety as well. The difference with the older model is that it looks slightly longer and stronger appeal definitely.

Let’s quickly go with the exterior features. It has redesigned front end with fog lamps and even the tail lamps have a 3D effect. The side mirrors now have a signal indicator. The other new feature is the Park Distance control (using censor) and it sports a 15” alloy wheels.

The interior has a revamped feel with trim materials and colours and new look of the arm rest. It is powered by a 1.6L petrol engine as well.

The Vento also has an anti-lock braking system and four airbags to protect the occupants during side-on impacts along with the three-point seat belts.

What’s not to like about the car? This is another good contender against the Japanese brand that’s also a hot seller but losing a little steam. Maybe because of the introduction of the the affordable Vento last year. The price this time starts at $21,800 and for the early bird bookings, you will get a $1,000 discount. Awesome. So do check the new Vento at the Maju Motors Showroom. Images courtesy of Vincent Hong.

Bernd Siffling, General Manager of Maju Motors Sdn Bhd during the launch of the Vento at Maju Motors showroom

Chan Key Hong, Managing Director of Maju Motors

Unveiling the new Vento

I guess many of you have heard about the recent scandal that rocked Volkswagen worldwide. Despite the major setback, the brand has to rebuilt the trust with the customers and it’s a plus that Volkswagen owners in Brunei needn’t to worry as the Volkswagen cars supplied to Brunei Darussalam are originated from a completely different production line as addressed by Bernd Siffling, General Manager of Maju Motors Sdn Bhd.

Now with the new direction of the CEO of Volkswagen, Matthias Mueller, let’s hope for better things in the world of Volkswagen. As you know that Volkswagen is a world leader in car making and the scandal will cost them billions. It’s good to know that local customers said that their trust in their Volkswagens has not changed, making the launch of new Vento a much-anticipated event.

A great turn out last night

The winners with the organizers and judges at the Adult Colouring contest last weekend

Alisa Denis the grand winner last weekend

I did it. I officially entered my first ever colour contest at the Mabohai Shopping Complex last weekend. Well, it was for adults too and it was the first of its kind (in a colouring competition). It was organised by Mabohai Shopping Complex and Best Eastern. I have to say that I really had fun that time though I was one of the 5 men among the 78 contestants as the rest were female participants.

So why did I finally get involved with colouring? It was because of the management of Best Eastern as they showed me one of the colouring books meant for adults and from that moment, I was telling myself that maybe.. just maybe, I should get one for myself. A few days later, I officially bought my first colouring book 😀 I guess it’s true that they say such book can make you feel calm when you get the groove of colouring. And yes, it can be therapeutic. Meaning if you have stressful day at work (or even at home), start colouring away.

So if you are wondering which book I am referring to, it’s either Johanna Bamford or Millie Marotta colouring book. It’s selling for $19.90 now at Best Eastern bookstores.

Anyway, back to the contest I was talking about. It was a pretty long judging session to say the least. It took almost two hours to determine the winners of the contest. I never knew judging can be challenging task and furthermore, the organisers didn’t expect a high entry of contestants. The judging process was based on the participants’ creativity in using the colours, shading, tone and presentation.

Nina Zainal coming strong in 2nd place

Robert John with his 3rd place effort

Beautiful penciled by Alisa Denis

Loving the colours toned by Nina Zainal

The winners with the judges

It was quite a great turn out last Sunday

One of the consolation winners with Yolly

It was good to see my cousin (right) participating

The winner of the contest was Alisa Denis with her beautiful colourful effect and she brought home $200 worth of prizes. Second place went to Nina Zainal who’s no stranger in the art scene. She won $150 worth while Robert John won $100 after coming third. There were five other consolation prizes – Jennie, Hilyati, Hannie, Fen Yee and Irene.

According to Yolly Celeridad, Operations Manager of Best Eastern, that the colouring competition aims at bringing creativity from the adults and the most important thing is that this activity is actually fun, fun, fun. I certainly had fun. She hinted that there will be another Adult colouring competition in October but it has yet to be confirmed.

Don’t forget to get a copy of the colouring books by for adults by Johanna Basford and Millie Marotta – The Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest and Animal Kingdom. The new ones that just arrived are 1) Tropical Wonderful (Millie Marotta) and Mindfulness (Holly McDonald). For enquiries or more information, please call 2337196 or 7137839. You can also check out its Facebook page at ‘Best Eastern’ and Instagram @besteastern_bookstore

Look at me.. At full concentration. Thanks Ridwan for the shot and thanks for the support.

Another supporter who came down surprisingly was SY and yes, she had this sinister look too :p Thanks for coming though it was momentary.

You can buy the adult colouring books at Best Eastern outlets and also the colour pencils

I bought myself the Enchanted Forest two weeks ago

I even invested in the Derwent colour pencils. Pretty good.

Even my toastmaster friends are into colouring

Ok, Iskandar is a good in shading with pencils

The latest book I bought off Best Eastern