Posts Tagged ‘RAtravels’
Hello March
I didn’t expect the long break from blogging but I’m back again. You can still stalk me on @ranoadidas instagram for updates though. I have been away and was in the Philippines for the weekend for a FitFlop event. Yes, you heard me right, a FitFlop occasion. I’m actually quite honoured to be part of the media list for FitFlop and it’s slowly to show its promise in Brunei Darussalam, after Hua Ho managed to bring in the brand to the Sultanate last year.
My mom is such a huge fan of FitFlop too especially when she shops at Metro in Paragon, Singapore. The only problem is that Fitflops are catered to females. Literally 98% of their collections are for the ladies. I was giving a few pairs courtesy of FitFlop Philippines during their recent SS15 media launch and I have to admit FitFlop are pretty comfortable sandals. For those who know me, I hardly were sandals for a “reason”. I shall be posting more stories on FitFlop SS15 latest collection in my future post.
I was in Bohol, the Philippines for the launch of the FitFlop SS15 Spring collection. More updates soon.
I missed two big events, well, one was bigger than the other which was the Regata Brunei Darussalam which took place yesterday at the Royal Wharf. It is a yearly event and I covered it for the past three years. It is always great to know His Majesty the Sultan is a regular participant of the Regata Brunei Darussalam. His Majesty was in the boat Rajawali which won the 500m special race, compromising of the Regata Brunei Darussalam Committee Team A.
Another event was DPMM FC’s opening seasoner game against Harimau Muda B where new import Rafael Ramazotti bagged a hat-trick with a 3-1 victory at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium. The new looked DPMM FC retained the services of foreign imports Joe Gamble and Boris Raspudic but it was Rafael (Rafa) that stole the limelight. It could have been a clean sheet for DPMM FC but there were unlucky with the deflection late in the game. Nonetheless a deserving victory for DPMM FC but it is still early days.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam (3rd L), followed by HRH Prince ‘Abdul Wakeel (2nd L) and HRH Princess Ameerah Wardatul Bolkiah (2nd R), walking with Sarawak’s Minister of Resource Planning Datuk Amar Haji Awang Tengah Ali Hasan (L) to the jetty during the Brunei Regatta yesterday. Image taken by Ridhwan Kamarulzaman of The Brunei Times.
Rafael “Rafa” Ramazotti points to the sky after scoring for DPMM FC. Image by PG Khairil Sapyri of S•League Facebook Page
This morning, I attended a press conference held by AITI and it was regards to the official announcement of the FREE incoming calls for both mobile operators – DST and Progresif Cellular. Before the announcement came, both the local mobile operators have taken quick steps to implement the new move of removing the charges for incoming calls. Awesome!! I shall go more into details in my next post. Finally after 20 years, DST has officially removed charges for incoming call and Progesif Cellular have also made it a win-win situation for their customers. This initiative was from AITI for your information to benefit the end users of mobile users in Brunei Darussalam.
My Chinese year celebration has been slightly muted and that’s how I wanted it to be anyway. I’ve been feeling the pinch in terms of my sleeping patterns but it should re-adjust to its usual timing …. in a few weeks’ time 😀 My apologies for those invitations that I wasn’t able to make it. There were simply too many invitations to entertain. I have a few more before the end of CNY which falls this Thursday. This year, I only managed to catch two lion dance performance. It must have been tough for the other associations with the newer laws on lion dance in Brunei.
At Chin Wei’s open house last night
A quick catch up with Lily Chiam over her small CNY lunch invitation
Ok, about time for me to sign off first and blend into my social world of visiting friends (open house). I’m craving for maggi curry but I don’t want to burden our home chef 😀 I’ll just wait an extra hour before I eat at my friend’s open house tonight. Thank you for reading and thank you for your patience. You can always stalk my IG aka instagram for updates 😀 and Happy Birthday to my sister, Muji, and love you loads 😀
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Wu Chun still has the pull
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Wu Chun with some VIPs during the official launch of Centrepoint’s Burger King last night at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Wu Chun will also be Wu Chun. People always say how popular I am just because I’m a social blogger. But if you are an entertainer or a celebrity, it’s a different ball game. I caught a flight through Royal Brunei to Kota Kinabalu and wow, the flight was packed with Wu Chun’s fan. This is no surprise that Wu Chun is the Royal Brunei Airlines Brand Ambassador, able to draw fans from all around the world with his presence. If I was not mistaken, some of the passengers were Wu Chun’s fans. Amazing!!
Anyway, my trip to Kota Kinabalu was by invitation to cover Wu Chun’s event and one of them is the opening of the Burger King outlet at Centrepoint, Kota Kinabalu. He was one of the special guest to officiate the opening of Burger King’s outlet at Centrepoint. To update you, the centrepoint outlet is owned by Brunei shareholders. Congratulations on the milestone and this is such a great opportunity to expand their business outside Brunei and furthermore, it’s in KK market which is bigger than Brunei definitely.
As for Wu Chun’s fans who came over for the opening night, wow, wow and wow… I have never seen such a huge crowd and I remembered the crowd in Brunei for Wu Chun’s movie Saving General Yang and that was already considered hectic. But last night at Burger King’s opening, it was very tricky to handle the crowd. Perhaps there weren’t enough security available and even Burger King’s staff had to help control the young crowd. I was surprised there were also male fans.
Before I end this post, thank you Royal Brunei for making this coverage possible and thank you Burger King for the hospitality.
Wu Chun took out his phone to take a picture of his fans
I was pretending to be a big fan of Wu Chun but actually I was asking for help to get away from the crowd
Wu Chun taking a selfie with me and his fans.. Woohoo #winall
Members of the media preparing for the arrival of the superstar
Deno Goh ushering Wu Chun
I took a selfie but no one noticed *Sad* LOL
Wu Chun posing with a burger on his hand
What a crowd last night at Centrepoint
Now a permanent menu on Burger King
To celebrate the success of BK Mushroom Swiss Burgers as well as reminding everyone our signature product has grown to become one of Brunei’s favourite burger, Sinofood Express, the franchisee of the BURGER KING ® franchise will officially launch the new BK Mushroom Swiss Tendergrill Chicken Burger under its permanent menu.
What makes the Mushroom Swiss Tendergrill Chicken Burger? The succulent and tender 100% flame-grilled premium chicken thigh meat patty is enveloped in the full-bodied flavor of melted Swiss cheese; the all-time favourite silky mushroom sauce unique only to BK with fresh lettuce and a generous spread of creamy mayonnaise. Succumb to the seduction of Mushroom Swiss Tendergrill Chicken Burger… you will surely come back for more!
The BK Mushroom Swiss Tendergrill Chicken Burger is available at only $8.00 for the Meal and $6.50 for the sandwich only.
To complete your meal with a tasty treat, we are also offering a buy 1 free 1 soft serve promo for a limited time only for our guest to share with a loved one.
As for all our guests who are curious about the opening for our upcoming branches, we just opened our fourth branch in Belait Town,
For further updates on Burger King® Brunei, visits our Instagram page @burgerkingbrunei and Facebook at www.facebook.com/bkbrunei.
BK Mushroom Swiss Tendergrill Chicken Burger
Had mine during the break of a toastmasters meeting 😀
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RA does Labuan
My first trip to Labuan for toastmasters and a wedding. Have a great weekend, peeps!!
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Loving Malacca
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This is my second time in Melaka but my second time experience was better because I really enjoyed the surroundings around the hotel I was staying. The name of the hotel was Casa Del Rio and truly enjoyed my stay there. I highly recommend to those visiting to give this hotel a shot.
The view from my balcony. Awesome sight especially when night falls.
How it looks during the day
I love the room at Casa Del Rio. It’s bigger and super cosy too.
The pool is smaller though but I truly enjoy just lying down and appreciating the surroundings and you can get the view of the river from the top.
The most well known Baba Cendol. Highly recommended in Malacca.
The laksa is also not bad as well
Another popular thing in Malacca is the rickshaw
The riders will design their rickshaws with Frozen or Hello Kitty items to attract attention. This is one case that I thought was Frozen over-kikk
Posing with Tungie. He’s such an amazing friend.
You will be amazed how beautiful Malacca is. I don’t mind coming back here again next year.
Malacca was also known for its hub in the olden days when they had European colonies then who used Malacca as a center for trade through shipping
I recognized our family number car in Malacca
Another amazing crazy buddy, Seigo, who I insist in purchasing a Mac-Air because he keeps using his old notebook that needs a powerpoint to boot up his computer. Tsk Tsk.
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I love Siem Reap
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Add fashion’s finishing touches to your outfit with statement jewelry from Malppy’s Elegant Short Necklace this weekend! Only $14.90 this weekend instead of its usual $25.90, beautifully designed to set the tone of your whole outfit, whether you are getting ready for that party or stepping out on the high street, this elegant vibrant necklace can complete your look.
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As the yearly happy holiday season is closing in, Malppy has selected a whole new range of beautiful and latest fashion accessories design from Korea with their Silver Series for this special month. Should it be a yearly self reward for yourself or a great seasonal gift of love for your loved ones, either way it is affordable yet looking all classy. So head up to http://www.malppy.com/index.php?route=product/latest now to browse through the varieties they have in store. Also keep your eyes on our facebook page as we are preparing something extra for those who celebrate Christmas & the upcoming New Year.
At the last note, for those who simply want to grab a BIG bargain particularly with our fashion accessories, you MUST NOT miss out on our latest launch, the 2nd Basket Program. 2nd Basket stands for purchase with purchase just like how it was practiced in departmental stores or supermarkets. Simply choose one main product and you can get up to 3 discounted item at a grab. The program had only been launched last week and we are already seeing massive savings done by some very fast shoppers. No joke! Have a browse at their 2nd Basket section at http://www.malppy.com/second-basket and if you want to know more on how to use it, you can also go to http://www.malppy.com/pavblog/blog&id=41 for further information.
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I haven’t been consistent in my updates on RA and the reason being is that I’m currently outstation and in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is my third trip back to Siem Reap and it has been awesome apart from the slight showers. We were supposed to visit the temple with a bunch of friends but the weather wasn’t favourable. Today we will have another opportunity again to visit Angkor Wat during the day. Let’s hope for some good weather.
So peeps. I won’t be updating my blog for some time now so I can allow myself to enjoy the moments in Siem Reap which I have a few days left. Oh by the way, there will be a few Bruneians coming in to Siem Reap for the upcoming Angkor Wat Marathon. I do hope I have time to drop by and take some pictures. We shall see.
I would have thought my luggage would have been lower than 20K but no…. it hit the right spot 😀
For many years, we have been traveling buddies and truly appreciate the friendship that we have.
I’m actually quite impressed with the infrastructure of KLIA 2 (low cost terminal for AirAsia) because it seems to be more happening with tons of food & beverage outlets and shops around. It’s like millions way better than their older airport (LCCT).
This outlet, Hometown, is better than Old Town actually. Do try the steamed roti kawin.
Quite an affordable hotel at Tunes Hotel and I was skeptical in the beginning but the energy was quite welcoming and judging from the reception and the interior design at the lobby, I could tell the rooms would be just perfect for a short stay in KL.
Even the key slot for the room at Tunes Hotel look very savvy
The room is quite spacious and it costs below USD 60 per night
Arrived at Siem Reap last Monday and it seems the airport has not changed from the exterior bit. My last visit was back in 2011 and I was impressed that even my PR status passport didn’t require Visa unless you are staying more than 14 days.. Awesome!!! Thank you to the government of Cambodia for this.
Once you at the arrival hall, you will come across these kiosks and just look at the prices they offer. It’s quite competitive in Siem Reap where they have 5 telcos selling sim cards with data at very dirt cheap price. For USD 5, I could get a sim card and 3.5 GIGA data. Awesome!!! The line I chose was Cellcard (orange company)
A warm soothing welcome at Angkor Palace Resort & Spa. Actually, it doesn’t feel like a resort because there’s no beach around the hotel.
This is my current room and I will be staying here a few more nights. Pleasure to have Vincent Goh of Netcom Computer House as my roommate
We came to this desert place in city and wow, we were impressed with all the desserts. Highly recommended at L’Anexxe. Do google in and for those Bruneians coming down here for the Angkor Wat marathon, do try out this French cafe. There was also a small pool table for us to play.
Catching up with friends for dinner at Madam Butterfly.
One thing I like about Angkor Palace is the huge pool
Another amazing friend who I truly appreciate and thank you for believing, Pat!
The tuk-tuk ride to the city of Siem Reap and the riders are much more gentle compared to the ones in Bangkok. Make sure you don’t pay more than USD 3 per trip 😀
Few days ago this happened to my left eye and my eyes were pretty itchy too. I’m not sure if it’s the antibiotics that I have been taking because it stopped itchy after I stopped taking them.
The DST Carnival 2014 launches today, Friday 5th December 2014 at DST Headquarters in Tungku Link and will end on Sunday 7th December 2014. DST will also launch the new “Redemption Feature” as part of the Easi Loyalty Program along with Kristal Astro’s new MyKA account payment portal!
The official launch is set to take place today at 3.45PM and DST invites the public to witness the event and to enjoy the attractions offered at the DST Carnival this year which include exciting activities, games and special promotions on DST products and services exclusive for visitors!
Customers can take advantage on the various product and services promotions and offers by DST exclusively launched for visitors to the DST Carnival.
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DST’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, “Future Series”, is an initiative to create platforms to nurture promising Bruneian ICT companies through investing in the companies to generate business opportunities aimed to drive innovation and creativity in Brunei. DST also has a community program, “Ihsan Kasih” aimed to gather DSTians for voluntary work and to do beautiful things out of love, to help the less fortunate Bruneian, orphans and special needs community.
With both continuous commitments in our products and services and also to the Bruneian community, DST works to our main purpose of catalysing Brunei’s economic diversification via ICT, whilst investing in human capital development and nurturing domestic entrepreneurship.
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Catch Liyana Yus and Nadiah on stage on 6th December at DST Carnival. Image courtesy of @liyanaus
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The Russian Experience
Things I learnt about Russia during my short visit. I still can’t believe that I made it to Russia despite holding an ICI document (my passport as a PR of Brunei). Knowing that countries like Dubai and Vietnam don’t recognize our ICI document, I was worried if I would trouble in Russia. It’s a great thing that there’s a Brunei Embassy in Moscow which helped us in a lot of ways. My only regret is not staying a few days longer in Moscow after my work duty. I would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for my upcoming Cambodia trip this weekend.
Anyway, below are just some short pointers during my 5 days experience in Sochi and Moscow but more in Sochi, Russia. I shall be updating and editing this content from time to time.
The Brunei delegates representing at the World Robot Olympiad 2014 led by Satinah binti Hj Abang, Student Officer of Science Technology and Environment Partnership (STEP) Centre. This photo was taken at Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia.
• It’s a freaking huge country that you will need to take nine hours to fly from Moscow to Vladivostok (furthest end of Russia) according to His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to the Russian Federation. It has a population of 144 million and it is the largest country in the world though China still holds the biggest population in the world.
• Moscow, the capital city of Russia but I spent more of my time in Sochi which is two hours away by flight. Moscow is way more happening than Sochi.
• The area we stayed in near Olympic Park is where the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 took place as well as the Russian F1 Grand Prix. However, after the big events, the Olympic Park area is like a ghost town which reminds me of BSB after business working hours.
• Not many of them speak the English language so communication can be very difficult. We were lucky that the Brunei Embassy has Natasha/Natalia who is the Embassy’s translator and she does help a lot especially when it comes to checking in the hotel as well as at the airport.
• Do watch for fraudulent taxis and we tourists are already being warned with signages at the baggage claim area of the Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow. For instance, the taxi driver will give you a flat rate then upon arrival of your destination (hotel), you will be charged extra because of the number of luggages you bring or the type of taxi you used or the distanced traveled. Just do look out for the official taxi driver tags that they wear.
• You are not allowed to sit down on the floor at the airport. That’s understandable. But I was told off even when I was just sitting down on my luggage. The security told me to find a proper seating area to sit down.
• It’s encouraged to pay with their local currency, Rubles, and not in Euro or USD. Unless you are at the airport area, they accept both Euro and USD. Apparently, there is an ATM machine that helps to change your Euro or USD notes to Rubles. If you look out for the green coloured machines, that’s the one and it has English instructions.
• The drivers are pretty aggressive in terms of speed. I came across a few ones that would simply drive fast in the hotel area and brake promptly at the entrance of the hotel.
• Though I didn’t get to venture out at Moscow, the traffic congestion is one of the worst according to Hanafi. The peak hours starts from 7am to ……. 10pm *lol* Apparently, for the Russians, the traffic flow currently is considered a huge improvement from many years. So I can’t imagine how it was like back then.
• The magazines and books are all in Russian language. I couldn’t find anything written in English.
• Sochi Town is slightly backwards compared to Moscow. I ventured around and most of the shops reminds me of the early 90s era in terms of clothing and infrastructure of the shops. Yes, they are slightly old school stuff. I couldn’t even find an international brand and closest one I came across is the McDonald’s brand.
• My train experience was interesting. I caught the train from Olympic Park (Sochi) to Sochi City which was an hour’s ride. The train doesn’t go as fast as SMRT (Singapore). I’m surprised the train is pretty well maintained and clean too surprisingly. In the train, there was this person pushing a drinking trolley where you can buy canned drinks or hot ones. Interesting. Oh, at each stop of the journey, there will have announcements of the particular stop in English which I truly appreciate.
• They have many roundabouts at Olympic Park area (Sochi). Apparently, instead of having junctions, they use roundabouts. I remembered, during one of our bus trips, the driver didn’t go across the road to enter our destination but instead making one big round just to go to the other side of the road because that particular road has a double line.
• The roadblocks are carried out at the exit of the roadblocks. The policemen don’t use cones or signs like we do in Brunei. The policemen will use their batons to signal the drivers to pull over. I just find it weird they carry out their duties at the roundabout.
• I mentioned before that the drivers are aggressive. Well, that’s one reason why accidents are quite a norm in Moscow and plus they can claim their insurance within a week. This is also another reason why the roads are congested causing long traffic jams.
• The immigration does take a long time sometimes. If you are lucky, it won’t have to wait. The immigration officers will check your passport thoroughly. I’m always the worried type since I’m holding an ICI document (like a passport) since I’m a PR of Brunei Darussalam. So if you bumped into a rookie or newbie immigration officer, do have some patience. We are fortunate that we have a Brunei Embassy in Russia and the Russian Federation does recognized our ICI document as means of passport.
• The time difference between Moscow/Sochi and Brunei is 5 hours. I would have thought it will be similar to the UK (8 hours). So Moscow is 5 hours behind Brunei.
• You can get a simcard for Data which I did – Megafon. It costs about 300 Rubles ($10) which comes together with the sim card and 5 gig of data. The only set back is that when I bought my sim card at Sochi, it doesn’t seem to work universally when I reached Moscow. Maybe it’s the settings. I’m not pretty sure.
• The airports in Moscow and Sochi provide free Wifi unlike the ones in Dubai International Airport unless you go to McDonald’s to get free Wifi.
• The popular souvenirs are the doll known as Matryoshka and also Sochi Winter Olympics merchandises.
• I never tried bargaining because 1) the language barrier 2) the Russians have this uninviting presence that you will think twice about bargaining *lol*
• Their trademark car is Lada, a local car in Russia which is like their Proton version. I still saw some Japanese and Korean cars too on the road. I even come across a silver Santa Fe, just like mine 😀
• The Russians use more iPhones as compared to Samsung.
• Though Whatsapp is common everywhere else in the world but not for the Russians. Instead they use Viber to text and they only check Whatsapp once in a while.
• In terms of social networking, Russia have two popular local ones – Odnoklassniki and VK (originally known as VKontakte). Facebook is still huge but it’s losing traction against VK as of late. Instagram is also huge in Russia and thanks to the fashion bloggers, and public personalities. The only difficulty for me is understanding the Russian written language on their social network.
Zaitun binti Mohidin, spouse to the Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, Brunei Ambassador to the Russian Federation, receiving a memento from Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School as a token of appreciation to the Ambassador for the hospitality provided during our stay in Moscow and Sochi, Russia. She’s a former geography teacher in STPRI and also had a short teaching stint in SMJA. She welcomes any Bruneian to pay a visit in Moscow and she will show you all the places of interest too. Thank you for hosting us breakfast and you are down-to-earth person.
I was told off not to sit on the luggage by the airport personnel on duty. Interesting.
This was the furthest I set my foot in Moscow…. outside the Domodedovo International Airport… boohoo.. Maybe on my next trip to Russia.
This is the Burger King in Russia. Too bad they don’t serve taro pie at all.
Their flagship car is Lada. This is the older model and it is still prominent in Russia. Of course, they have much more modern types but still have that classic feel.
The road blocks are conducted at the roundabout area
This is a typical Russian souvenir, a Matryoshka doll
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The Sochi Experience
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Representing the team from Brunei from Sungai Tali Primary School and Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School with their coaches and Satinah binti Hj Abang, Student Officer of Science Technology and Environment Partnership (STEP) Centre.
After entering the competition for the sixth time, Brunei finally made it to the Top 10 of the Open Category for Secondary Level. That team is a group of students from Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School with their team project “Robotlifter”.
Though Brunei went back empty handed, the spirit of the students were not dampened. They really had a great time and all of them didn’t expect to fly all the way to Russia to represent Brunei in the World Robot Olympiad in Sochi, Russia. They braved the cold (of Russia), the jet lag from flying and they did the best they could do with the resources given.
Brunei definitely has potential to break into the Top 3 with more competition and exposure such as participation in WRO. The next event will be hosted in Qatar in 2015 and funnily enough, they didn’t announce the following host for the year 2016.
Brunei’s participation in Qatar 2015 looks promising and I do hope this can spur more schools and students to join the Brunei Robotics Olympiad next year and you can stand a chance to represent your school in Qatar WRO 2015. The idea here is not just to represent Brunei but learn and gain more exposure and with this repeating behaviour, everything will come naturally for Bruneians and a bigger chance to break the Top 3 benchmark.
When I saw the students from Brunei did their presentation and Q&A sessions, I believe we can actually go pretty far with more resources and proper training. I salute the kids for their courage and able to speak to the public while showcasing their project.
It was also my first time experiencing how WRO was bring run and this event was no easy feat. The organisers had mixed feedback with regards to the handling issues and our LO for the Brunei team kept on changing and their English wasn’t that bad.
Hence, it made me realised how much effort the Brunei Embassy to the Russian Federation they offered to the Brunei delegate so everything would be smooth sailing. On behalf of the Brunei delegates, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Brunei Embassy especially His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Russian Federation, for continuously giving us support in terms of logistics and hospitality. It was also nice of him to drop the Olympic Park every day to give moral support to the kids at their booths.
A big thank you also to the Hanafi, Pg Madihi and Natalia for helping us during our stay in Moscow and especially Sochi in the past few days. It really made our trip less of a burden and I truly appreciate the kindness and dedication from the Brunei Embassy there. Thumbs up!!
As for the students, don’t be disappointed by the result and I’m very proud that all of you made it to Russia and gave your best against 49 countries. I’m pretty sure the Ministry of Education will be pleased with Brunei’s effort for making it to the Top 10 in WRO’s history. I also hope that sponsors will come along as well to help potential students for next year’s WRO in Qatar 2015.
His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Russian Federation watching the Regular competition at the World Robot Olympiad 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Thank you so much for your support and the hospitality to the Brunei delegates.
The students also managed to get their jacket signed by the Russian volunteers. All of them wore orange sweaters uniform.
Selfies with the Russians
Political move by China as they wanted Taiwan to lower down their flag and the Chinese team withdraw from the competition.
The robot made of orange.
The Gen II Robot finals between Thailand and …. Thailandd
His Excellency attending the closing ceremony which was slightly disorganised in my opinion especially coming from Russia
The Russian in green is bilingual
The Brunei Team waiting for the closing ceremony and the results
I shall see you next time, Rosmanov (Well, that’s not her name but I just feel like calling her that)
The Russian tradition with the weight bars
Host nation Russia didn’t manage to win any category but made the podium on some categories
Team Malaysia, Team Thailand and Team Taiwan dominated the World Robot Olympiad 2014 with a few gold and silver medals
The Century Run
Baiduri Bank introduced a new campaign to celebrate with their customers and educate them on how their products and services revolve around them and everything they do at every stage and step of the way – whether it’s getting his or her first car or setting up their own businesses or building their first home or planning their wedding or their first job or first child or even when u are just enjoying everyday life.
It’s U at the centre of Baiduri Bank because U are the centre of everything we do.
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Sochi Day 3
His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to the Russian Federation with the delegates from Brunei for the World Robot Olympiad 2014 at the Olympic Park, Sochi, Russia on the 21st November evening.
His Excellency as one of the special guests during the opening ceremony of WRO 2014
The first day of the World Robot Olympiad 2014 was mostly setting up and gearing for the judging day which fell on the second day. The opening ceremony was also held on the evening of the first day at the Sochi Olympic Park.
It was also a privilege that His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Russian Federation was invited as one of the special guests for the opening ceremony.
I’m pretty amazed with this event and it was my first time witnessing a world wide scale as I was already familiar with Brunei Robotics Olympic competition. This kinda reminds me of the World Cup where you compete among the best and to have Brunei to be part of this event alone is very encouraging and I do hope the students did their best and have fun at the same time.
Judging from their props and set up, it was nice to see students and coaches taking this competition very, very seriously. Well, sometimes, overdoing something might not be an ideal formula to win just as long your ideas and prototype do make sense. And yes, I notice the different judges have different opinions and perceptions on things and they can simply ask questions that are too complex for the students to understand.
Yesterday was already the presentation and judging period but the final day will determine who have the higher chances of winning as the shortlisted ones will be asked to carry out another presentation to the judges for the final assessment.
All the best to the Brunei team and I do hope we can bring more teams from Brunei Darussalam because this program is not just educational but also brings out a more positive character from the individual.
It was a full house affair using an open space concept
Students from Sungai Tali holding the Brunei flag on stage
What supposed to be a half an hour opening turned out to be longer but the opening didn’t look that grand but just nice. I kinda expected more coming from Russia.
The lady usher for the VIP that evening and I managed to take a selfie with her #score
This is the following day (2nd day of the event) which is the crucial part of WRO 2014 as the presentation and judging took place and it will determine who will be shortlisted for the finals.
I have to salute to many of the students as they are really full on gear for the presentation of their respective projects
Students from Thailand using their traditional clothes
Team Brunei with its project “Robotlifter” from Sayyidina Umar Al-Khattab Secondary School getting ready for their project
Nina explaining to the judge of their project
I’m proud of the students from Brunei. We do have potential and let’s start working for next year’s WRO in Qatar 2015 😀
Good to see kids taking photos with one another
The Japanese have great vocal for their presentation
Somehow the guy on the right reminds me of Scott Cassell
Interesting chair
These kids are really determined
Brunei didn’t send anyone for this particular category. Hopefully by next year or so.
The huddle from the Philippines. This project must have meant a lot to them.
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