Nabilah Hamid as Belle. Yes, Brunei has got talent 😀

Kevin Lo pulling off the Gaston’s character to full effect

Cheeky, cheeky Gaston

Belle Preview: I have to admit that Relentless Entertainment have upped their game after two successful musical play production of The Enchanted Forest and Poppins. This year, they stepped up their game with better stage setting and props for their musical adaptation play taken from “Beauty and the Beast” entitled Belle.

It was also the first time I saw Nabilah Hamid performed on the big stage and her performance took me by surprise. She plays the role of Belle. Great job, Nabilah. As for Gaston role, Kevin Lo pulled it off smoothly, showing the cheekiness side of him too.

Overall, I’m entertained and proud of what was being delivered. For such limited resources, Relentless Entertainment was able to pull off more than what was expected. This is definitely money worth spending and sadly, the shows are pretty limited too. There’s still shows for tonight (Saturday) 7:45pm and Sunday 3rd April at 1:30pm. Tickets are available at the door at Jerudong International School’s Arts Centre. You can also whatsapp or text at 824 3222

You can also view more pictures from Faiq Airudin’s blog.

Comments from peers:

Pranika: It was an overall good performance. I enjoyed Gaston’s performance (Kevin Lo) but not as buff as Gaston’s supposed to be.

Gary Goh: Well done, guys! I’m quite impressed especially that Zainal and Kevin can sing.

Caroline: I went with no expectations and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed Belle the musical. Loved the voices, the dancing, the props and costumes.

Let’s not forget the amazing dancers and other role players that made the performance more colourful

Now Gaston reminds me of Robin (from Batman)

 

The speakers for Volume 7 with the organisers and volunteers of Pechakucha Brunei

The host of the night – Farhan Jaafar Ali

What a wonderful session of Volume 7 of Brunei’s Pechakucha! I still remember the first one back in 2014 at Tru Synergy’s office. Now it seems the organisers have found a better venue at The Energy Kitchen and I feel the ambience suits the theme for Pechakucha.

Last Saturday, it featured eight presenters and all them have interesting stories to share. I was amazed by my new discoveries of my mutual friends, thinking that I know so much about them but no, I don’t.

Sophia Siu revealed of her new project app on events which should be released in mid year. Good job, mate 😀 Another one was Wina Hafiza who share about her passion on custom bikes and wow, that was some girl power sharing, mate. Perhaps the most inspiring among the lot.

Teah Abdullah, the final speaker, encourages everyone to share their story through writing or blogs because it defines who you are. She’s also the Editor-in-Chief of Songket Alliance and there are tons of stories from different writers there. Check it out!!

I was intrigued by Zainidi’s small box that was as interesting as Zainal Bostaman’s peanut butter sandwich. Both Zs were quite entertaining too but I have to admit that Zainal has brushed up his delivery from previous ones. Salutes..

Rasyidah Samah is a strong advocate in helping individuals in areas of mental health, community, empowerment and youth empowerment. We do need people like her indeed. For coffee lovers, we were in for a treat and discover Desmond Tan’s taste in coffee. It made me feel that coffee is also an art.

One of the main draw for Volume 7 is a very knowledgeable historian no other than Rozan Yunos, a civil servant and I am always amazed with his deep knowledge about the Brunei. Yes, I would label him the Google of Brunei. He shared the collections of antiques that he brought and its origin. It makes me feel that how one item can tell so much history.

Thank you, Pechakucha, on another fabulous session.

Desmond Tan

Sophia Siu

Rasyidah Samah

Abdul Zainidi

Zainal Bostaman

Wina Hafiza

Rozan Yunos

Teah Abdullah

Sophia Siu with her friends

Yvonne, Sophia and Adella

Rozan and Zainidi

Sandy loves historical things

Posing for the camera

 

BIBD held a prize presentation ceremony today for its monthly “Top Up Tia” campaign winners recently.

The prize ceremony was held at the BIBD Rimba Branch. On hand to give away the prizes was Jeffri Ahmad Said, Head of Transaction & Support Services from BIBD’s Corporate Banking Group.

All the respective winners were in an ecstatic mood as they all were presented with their respective prizes ranging from the latest Apple gadgets such as iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus or iPad Pro. The monthly promotional campaign will be running until the 30th of April 2016.

The winners of the BIBD Top Up Tia campaign

The BIBD Top Up Tia campaign encourages its customers to use either the BIBD Mobile or BIBD Online channels to perform ‘top-ups’ on their DES electricity, DST’s Easi or GO!broadband and Progresif Cellular’s mobile and broadband. The service provides the perfect solution of having speed and convenience for the top-up of these utilities mentioned. Users of the service do not need to make any extra effort to purchase physical top up cards at vendors as they can just log on to BIBD Mobile or BIBD Online and top up all these utilities directly. These conveniences become extra useful in times of need, during off business hours or shortages of physical top-up cards in, especially the denominations you want.

For more information on any BIBD services, products and promotions, please follow the BIBD Instagram account at @BIBDBRUNEI; Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bibdbrunei; get in touch with BIBD Contact Centre at 2238181 or visit the nearest BIBD Branch. Also, don’t forget to download the popular BIBD Mobile App to get the latest BIBD offers and promotions under “What’s New” feature.

 

The winners of Baiduri and Hua Ho’s ‘The Big Shopping Win’ promotion were awarded their prizes in a ceremony held at the department store held at Hua Ho Kiulap on Sunday.

Mah Wai Keun was delighted as she opened her envelope and realised that she had won the Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 Auto grand prize. Headillah Zainuddin and his happy family took home the second prize of a Mitsubishi Attrage 1.2 Auto while Md Norizam Hj Md Zain won a $1,000 shopping voucher from Hua Ho.

Director of Hua Ho, Lau Soon Lin and Manager of Card Brand Relationship & Business Banking Support, Baiduri Michelle Lo together with Manager of Business Banking, Baiduri Davern Lim presented the keys to the grand winners.

Mah Wai Keun (left), the winner of the Mitsubishi Lancer 1.6 Auto grand prize with Michelle Lo, Manager of Card Brand Relationship & Business Banking Support and Lau Soon Lin, Director of Hua Ho

The second prize winner of the Mitsubishi Attrage 1.2 Auto

Md Norizam Hj Md Zain won a $1,000 shopping voucher from Hua Ho

During the final draw

The names of the 10 finalists were drawn last Friday, and the winners were determined through a number of rounds using envelopes – containing information that indicate whether they were able to pass to the next round or not – which were given randomly.

During the final round, the three finalists were asked to pick from a set of envelopes containing information on the order in which they get to pick the final set of envelopes, which contained the grand prizes of the day.

The other seven finalists received consolation prizes in the form of $300 and $500 Hua Ho shopping vouchers, presented by Branch Manager of Hua Ho Mulaut Alex Lim and Manager of Hua Ho Kiulap respectively.

 

Click image to book your tickets

It’s happening soon. The 7th edition of the PechaKucha series from Brunei Darussalam. I’m excited because of the line up of speakers especially Hj Rozan Yunos and my good friend Sophia Siu. I have attended a few sessions and they have been awesome because I learnt more about individuals and their ideas where some I could relate to.

Similar to a TEDx concept on sharing your thoughts, the only difference is that the presentation of ideas and thoughts are delivered through public speaking with 20 slides where it changes every 20 seconds.

So far the presentations have been successful and wonderful to learn at the same time. I just booked my tickets for the event and I highly recommend you to catch at least one PechaKucha and this edition is not the one to be missed. You can visit their website to book your attendance and do refer to the poster for more details.

Hj Rozan Yunos, a role model for me, is one of the listed speakers for PechaKucha next weekend. I can’t wait.

Finally she is one of the speakers for PechaKucha. Good luck, Sophia aka @lilmopiko

Abdul Zainidi, another local talent, who made his name internationally. Image from his Facebook.

A comedian, an actor, a public speaker, ah the list goes on.. I admire his journey to pursue his dreams. There’s only one Zainal Bostaman. Good luck next week.

The 6th edition of PechaKucha last December at Energy Kitchen. It will be the same venue again.

I was inspired by Josephine’s journey as an entrepreneur. I had the fire feeling inside when I saw her presentation at PechaKucha last December. Now reflecting back, I should have taken advantage of that fire in me. Click image to listen to Josephine’s story.

Amir Noor shared his passion on long board in the 6th edition of PechaKucha and how it has been gaining popularity in Brunei.

 

Podcast review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens with special guests Nur Iskandar and Pranika Lama

The Progresif Cellular management all geared up for Episode VII

Progresif team showing their force at Times Cineplex

The US Ambassador to Brunei Craig Allen (5th L) with his family in a group photo with the characters of Star Wars at the Fanboys Infinite movie screening of Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens at Times Cineplex last Friday. Image courtesy of Khaliq Roziman of The Brunei Times.

It was good to see movie goers dressing up. Image courtesy of Khaliq Roziman of The Brunei Times.

I see familiar faces. Image courtesy of Khaliq Roziman of The Brunei Times.

Darth Vader taking a sip of the Red Velvet ice blended drink

The Managing Director of PAR Food & Beverages, YAM Pg Anak Abdul Mun’im (R), presents a mock cheque to a member of Pusat Ehsan Board of Trustee Hj Ahmad Hj Abd Rahman at The Coffee Bean’s outlet in Supasave Beribi yesterday. At the same time, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf also launched two new drinks in conjunction with the Star Wars movie – White Chocolate Peppermint Ice Blended and Double Chocolate Peppermint Ice Blended available until mid January. Image courtesy of Analisa Amu of The Brunei Times.

I recently saw many merchandise being sold at Mall of Asia, Manila.

I watched both movies and both are awesome and are in my 10 ten movies of 2015

 

Alan Inspiration Salon reopens and it is now located at Seri Q-Lap Mall

Alan, the man behind Alan Inspiration Salon and he will be available from 23rd to 25th December. Highly recommended 😀

Alan Inspiration Salon is relocated in Brunei and it’s located on the 1st floor at Seri Q-Lap Mall. They provide a one-stop service for men and women hair design/cut/wash and they just started operations quite recently. I met up with Alan the man behind the successful outlet & academy and he’s happy to be back, catering to the Brunei market.

The genius behind Inspiration Alan Salon, has been a hair champion of Malaysia and Singapore and he has trained in London, Europe, USA, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Along the way he has won numerous awards and accolades which makes him one of the sought hairstylists in the region.

Surprisingly he still has his regular customers from Brunei and alan will make himself available from time to time as he is based in Miri too.

This time round one of his hair stylist is in Brunei from 18th December to 23rd December and his name is Wilson Lee (7 years experience in Kota Kinabalu). Alan himself will be in Brunei from 23rd to 25th December and followed by Michelle from 26th December to 31st December. So do make your appointments at Alan Inspiration Salon at Seri Q-Lap Mall because they have a special promotion of 20% discount (wash & cut) for the first ever client of Alan Inspiration Salon.

For now, the hair wash services for wash and blow is only BND 10. Wash and treatment (using Korea crystal shine products) is only BND 25 and Wash and Treatment (using L’Oreal or Schwarzkopf product) is only BND 50. 

The comfy chairs for the patrons

The hair wash section – separately from men and women. For the time being, hair wash and blow is only BND 10.

Some solutions for your hair

Great promotion especially for first time customer.

The schedules of the hair stylists from Alan Inspiration Salon

Alan was the hair stylist during one of the fashion show. He has many accolades under his belt as a hair stylist

Another highly recommended hair stylist – available from 26th December to 31st December at Alan Inspiration Salon

 

Alvina Ching Sei Ing, the winner of the ‘Baiduri fabulous Promotion @ Mabohai Shopping Complex’ promotion, receiving the a mock key from Pierre Imho, the CEO of Baiduri Bank

Group photo with the winners and finalists with Baiduri Bank management

18 finalists but only one walked away with the Mini Cooper. The campaign lasted for six months at the Mabohai Shopping Complex where all you need to do is swipe ur Baiduri Credit Card and Debit Card while shopping at their premise. The responses have been overwhelming and it was a win-win situation for the retailers and the consumers.

Presenting the prizes was Pierre Imho, the CEO of Baiduri Bank and the grand winner belonged to Alvina Ching Sei Ing who won herself a brand new Mini car.

There were also top three consolation prizes with $300 gift hamper sponsored by L’Occitane and $300 Flexa voucher won by Goh Chee Ming and Victor Edgar Keasberry respectively.

For more updates, you can visit their social media IG at @baiduribank.

One of the consolation winners

During the draw process

Alvina in great joy after winning the Mini

PechaKucha Volume 6 is happening tonight. Not sure if the tickets are sold out but I’m looking forward to this event and I hope I managed to catch all of them as I have another event to attend. Amazing that the team have reached the 6th volume of the PechaKuchaNight BSB. Tonight it will take place at The Energy Kitchen.

Happening tonight at Energy Kitchen

All the seven speakers to share their personal experiences for your interest

Finah Yusof was supposed to travel for only about 2 months. But things got topsy turvy as that extended to a life-gripping adventure of 32 months. In 2012, Finah went to many different places on the face of the globe witnessing what most of us now might never ever be able to someday. She returned just this year to tell you all of that very journey.

Josephine On is also a business entrepreneur. Her entrepreneurship journey was full of doubts and even fears. She found comfort in discomfort. Without overcoming those doubts, she would never have found Hoko Creative.

Next up, he is the youngest of the bunch. Malik Som is 17 years old and will tell you his story of his nostalgic camping experience in Ulu-Ulu Temburong. He discovered more than just a great experience, he discovered a lifetime of valuable lessons.

The business world is more than just earning money as easy as you want. There are loads of hard work, struggles and behind the scenes that many might never witness. Fatin Arifin will give an insight on the challenges that the business world could throw at you.

Hilman Omar had an unexpected reaction from his circle of friends when he drew illustrations of them. They loved it! It was gratifying to see that. And it was the first time ever showing his art towards his group of friends. *Hint* an artwork on the event/venue will be drawn by him. Wonder where that will be drawn?

Another presenter Nitisha Kashyap has lived in Brunei for about 3 years. It was challenging for her at first to adapt. Where to find friends? What activities were there to do to fill time?

Lastly, one of the speakers, Amir Noor who is rocking that Star Wars shirt. Amir is a geek at heart and loves, and we mean LOVES longboarding. Will he talk about longboarding? We shall see.

 

Get Connected through ICONIA

BIBD’s latest promotion

Top up tia. Click image to enter website.

 

Click image to enter ICON Design Store website

 

Click image to enter Citroën Brunei 

 

Click image to enter

 

Speakers: Reuben Chin, Pat Lee, Shinny Chia, Fitri Ali, Huifong Ng, Florina Tan, Delwin Keasberry and little Aman Izad-Ryan

The title says it all. This is a world wide event where it is known as PechaKucha and all the presenters have to do is a simple presentation with 20 images, each for 20 seconds while they talk about each of the images. They won’t have control of the flow of the images and you will just have to talk along to the images. All in all, the presentation is supposed to last exactly 6 minutes 40 seconds.

Brunei made history last Saturday when they organised their first PechaKucha which was held at TruSynergy office at Telanai. The responses were quite overwhelming and I’m impressed with the organisers for making this event possible. I’m a regular member of toastmasters and this is kinda similar but with imagery and of course, using your presentation skills with nice pacing.

There were 8 speakers last weekend to showcase their presentations and I was quite entertained because of the variety of knowledge that I learnt from their presentation. I learnt about how we shouldn’t trust the doctors just easily or learnt being inspired to be a traveller and the list could just go on.

I’m looking forward for the next PechaKucha and I’m eyeing myself to present one by 2015. The best presenter for me that night was Huifong Ng because of her great pacing and she hardly looked at the slides which made her presentation more effective. The most charming presenter went to the youngest presenter Aman Izad-Ryan who shared her hobbies on Minecraft and online games.

This is another creative avenue for the public to showcase their experiences and of course, bring back that message that will have an impact in our lives. Thank for making this possible 😀

Such a great crowd last Saturday

I was so intrigued by Huifong Ng’s presentation. The best speaker of the night.

I learnt so much from Florina’s experience and makes me mindful and aware next time

The most charming speaker of the night – 7 year old Aman Izad-Ryan

Isn’t she such a charmer?

Fitri Ali makes me want to just take that extra step to be more adventurous

Pat Lee shared her personal journey in helping the community and I was really touched with her commitment

Delwin Keasberry @bruneitweet shared the dangers of social media

Shinny Chia’s vision of bringing more creativity to Brunei and you have my support 😀

Amazing perspective of Reuben Chin’s account with his photography

Huwaida Ishaaq brought PechaKucha to Brunei and I am thankful towards her and the volunteers that made it all possible. The team behind deserves much appreciation as well.

 

Crowds thronged Paloma Home and Living store at The Mall last week for a partnership soft launch event between Royal Brunei Airlines’ (RB) loyalty programme Royal Skies and Paloma.

Aside from launch, members of the public as well as the media witnessed a MakeOver Contest where winners walked away with $120 Paloma Shopping Vouchers inclusive of the products that were used during the contest as well as a Bed Makeover contest where the winner also took home a $120 Paloma shopping voucher while others received consolation prizes of $20 vouchers.

Managing Partner of Paloma Julian Wee said the company strives to continuously develop itself as a brand that is synonymous with quality and value for money. “Paloma is very proud indeed to become the first retail brand to partner with Royal Skies,” she said.

Meanwhile RB Manager Yasmin Abdullah said that the national carrier is excited to introduce Paloma as its new partner.

“We are always looking for ways to provide our frequent flyers with new benefits and ways of redeeming their air miles,” she said.

Among the things that the company carries under the Paloma Perfumes & Cosmetics are a wide selection of cosmetics and well-being products from countries including the United States, Europe, Australia, Taiwan and Malaysia while at Paloma’s Home & Living Store, customers will be able to find a wide range of bed and bath products imported from United Kingdom.

Customers spending a minimum of $30 at participating Paloma outlets (Paloma Home & Living store, Paloma Perfumes & Cosmetics, Paloma Electronics Store and Paloma Duty Free Shops) will earn double RB miles.

The first 50 customers will also receive RB merchandise and Paloma shopping vouchers. Text and images courtesy of Rebecca Oi of The Brunei Times.

RB Manager Yasmin Abdullah (L) ,Managing Partner of Paloma Julian Wee (2nd L) with the winner of the MakeOver contest

 

Abacus and its partners concluded the final lucky draw for the 11th Abacus Holiday Travel Fair followed by the prize presentation today at the Emperor’s Court Restaurant, Manggis Mall last week.

“The annual 11th Abacus Holiday Travel Fair was held recently with a very encouraging turnout of visitors from across the state. The booking was increased by over 8% compared to last year, mainly due to the positive customer reviews of the annual fair.” Said Ms Irene Soon, General Manager, Abacus Brunei.

“Abacus would like to thank our partners: Royal Brunei Airlines, Baiduri Bank Berhad, Cityneon Brunei, Cathay Pacific, Dragonair, Malaysia Airlines, MasWings, Royal Brunei Catering, Singapore Airlines and Tourism Malaysia as well as the participating travel agents: Anthony Tours & Travel Agency, Century Travel Centre, Darussalam Holdings, Freme Travel Services, Pan Bright Travel, Southern Cross Travel and Straits Central Agencies for their continuous support and participation.” Irene added.

All the winners with representatives from Abacus Brunei, Baiduri Bank Berhad, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines and Royal Brunei Catering

The winners of air tickets to Melbourne with representatives from Abacus Brunei and Royal Brunei

Tajuddin Hj Saban receiving on behalf of his daughter Nur Nasuha a return air ticket to Paris from Irene Soon

The Winners of the prizes sponsored by Abacus Brunei and Baiduri Bank

There were four promotion categories during the travel fair. The first category was for travellers who had purchased tickets on Cathay Pacific or Dragonair. The winner is entitled to win one economy class return air ticket from Hong Kong to Beijing sponsored by Dragonair.

Travellers who had purchased Malaysia Airlines tickets during travel fair stood a chance to win return economy class air tickets to Bangkok and Krabi sponsored by Malaysia Airlines in the second category.

The third category was for travellers who had purchased tickets on Royal Brunei Airlines. Two winners are entitled to one return economy class air ticket to Melbourne sponsored by Royal Brunei Airlines.

The fourth and final category was for all visitors who had purchased tickets during the travel fair. They were entitled to win one economy class air ticket to Paris, GoPro Hero3 and Momax iPower S2C (2 sets) in the lucky draw. The prizes sponsored by Abacus.

A lucky draw was conducted last Friday to pick the winners for all the categories. The draw was witnessed by representatives of Malaysia Airlines and travel agents.

On hand to present the prizes were Ms Irene Soon, General Manager, Abacus Brunei, Ms Lee Ai Cheng, Senior Manager – Sales & Service, Card Centre, Baiduri Bank, , Encik Zainal Abidin Sulaiman, District Manager, Malaysia Airlines and Ms Evelyn Ang, Country Manager Brunei Commercial Services, Royal Brunei Airlines.