Bernard Vinso, Ligne Roset’s Export Director, Loan Forgeron, the French Ambassador to Brunei and Loft & Co’s Managing Director, Kheng Yeoh for the ribbon cutting to officiate the opening

Interested and intrigued visitors filled Loft and Co, a local furniture store in Batu Besurat during their Grand Opening recently.

The main feature of it was to showcase their Ligne Roset collections to the public which can be found on the second floor of the store. Ligne Roset is a French brand selling contemporary high-end furniture for homes. In the past, Bruneians who wish to own any of their pieces have to order through one of their stores in Singapore but with Loft and Co, people can now make their way there to have a look at the collections available locally and make a purchase if they wish.

During the event, a ribbon cutting ceremony was initiated by the Guest of Honour, Loan Forgeron, the French Ambassador to Brunei, Bernard Vinso, Ligne Roset’s Export Director and Loft & Co’s Managing Director, Kheng Yeoh.

I would say that furniture from Ligne Roset are masterpieces. I realised how much of a name Ligne Roset is and they over 200 stores and more than 1,000 retail distributors worldwide. As it was being quoted, the brand “offers consumers an entire lifestyle in which to live both boldly and beautifully via its furniture collections and complimentary decorative accessories, lighting, rugs, textiles and occasional items”. Mind you that the brand began way back in the 1860s. Amazing!!

My personal favourite furniture piece is the Ploum. I experienced it at the show room and I know when I have this in my living room, this will be my personal space be it my bed or my working station. Oh my, I’m just hooked.. I found out that the Ploum is a special combination of two materials – a stretchable covering and ultra-soft foam. Now this combo provides extreme comfort and accommodates different ways of sitting and of course, for my benefit, lying down. It’s so comfy that it’s able to accommodate all types of positions and body shape.

The invited guests during the launch

Bernard Vinso saying a few words before the launch

At Ligne Roset

At Ligne Roset

At Ligne Roset

This is the Fifty chair

At Ligne Roset

At Ligne Roset

At Ligne Roset

At Ligne Roset located on the 1st floor

This is an interesting table

In addition, the store has another collection on their Ground Floor from Red Apple Furniture Co., Ltd. from Hong Kong. The furniture is located on the first floor at Loft & Co and they have plentiful of choices to tailor your needs for your living room or dining room or study/bedroom. Quite a few of my social media followers visited the store a few months ago and purchased furniture for their homes. So it’s good to see that Loft & Co are bringing their items that suit the local taste and their items are quite contemporary and of high quality.

At the end of the launch of Loft & Co, Yeoh shared that some of the pieces caught the eye of some designers who viewed their Ligne Roset collection and expressed desire in possibly working together in the future. I’m pretty sure that both brands will do

Present throughout the opening as well was the Ambassador of Laos to Brunei, His Excellency Amphay Kindavong.

At Red Apple collection at Loft & Co

At Red Apple collection at Loft & Co

At Red Apple collection at Loft & Co

At Red Apple collection at Loft & Co

At Red Apple collection at Loft & Co

My second periscope live feed and it was a quick review of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Download Periscope app on your smartphone and add me username Ranoadidas and replay my latest video feed 😀

I was checking out the office furniture at Loft and Co the other day

It has been around for a few weeks or so. A new furniture shop in town and it’s picking up pace despite the recent decline in consumer spending. Perhaps it was a timely manner when I ran an Instagram competition where the lucky winner will be walking away with a coffee table worth BND 380 from Loft and Co and their sales picked up just before Hari Raya. Even my future bro-in-law bought some items there 🙂

If you are hunting for home modern-high quality furniture, Loft and Co has it all and they will be bringing in more stock and new batches of furniture. I will talk more in details in my future post on their furniture.

You can check them out at Unit 6 to 9, Ground Floor, Little Soho at Batu Bersurat (the building after Shabulicious up the hill). You can also contact or whatsapp them at 8908778 and even follow them on instagram @loftandcobsb

From dining area to bed space at Loft and Co

Some of the customers that dropped by and bought some furniture at Loft and Co

Modern looking feel sofa for your home

This was taken a few weeks’ ago where I drew the lucky winner with Nicole from Loft and Co for the coffee table prize

And the winner was @el.23 and congratulations

Another winner from @thanislim competition with a voucher worth BND 150

Happening this Saturday until Wednesday next week at Times Square Shopping Centre

Times Square Shopping Centre will be hosting a Korean Food and Art Festival this Saturday, 1st August 2015 until Wednesday, 5th August 2015. The festival which will be held at Times Square’s atrium is organized by Times Square Shopping Centre and co-organized by Embassy of Republic Korea, Korea Argo Fisheries and Food Trade Corp, Korean Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs and Gallery DM.

The Korean Food and Art Festival will feature fun activities for the public including; Cooking Demonstration, Eating Competition, Learning Traditional Mask Painting, Face Painting by Korean Artist, Guess the ingredient, Learning Korean Fan Calligraphy, Learning Traditional Wrapping cloth (bojagi), Dress-Up & Photo Booth and activities by ITB KCC.

Times Square Shopping Centre also has several upcoming events which include “Times Square 3rd Lucky Draw Campaign” which will take place on Sunday, 9th August 2015. Moreover, on Tuesday 11th August 2015, Times Square will be holding an Open House for the public to celebrate Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. There will be fun activities and games from Dress-Up Competition to Lip Sync Battle during the annual Open House. Registrations are free and forms can be obtained at the lucky draw counter. Let’s have an unforgettable experience at Times Square Shopping Centre; a place for everyone.

For further information, please call 2338208 or 2338006 during office hours.

Food demonstration from Silla Restaurant

 

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