His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim, the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to the Russian Federation (5th from left) with the Brunei delegates who will competing in the World Robot Olympiad 2014 (WRO) at Sochi International Airport, Russia. Click image to enlarge.

Finally, after 30 hours of traveling and transiting, I managed to check in to my room for the next few nights in Sochi, Russia. I didn’t expect to fly to Europe in 2014 and sometimes life is just amazing especially when you least expected it. I had mixed feelings about flying to Russia because 1) it’s just too far 2) my PR status but once I landed safely and passed the Russian immigration, my mood started to shift and appreciate the moment that I’m actually physically in Russia.

My trip is being sponsored for the coverage of Brunei’s involvement in the World Robot Olympiad 2014 which is being held in Sochi, Russia. Some of you might recall the Sochi Winter Games that took place a few months ago. Initially, the WRO event was supposed to be held at Moscow, Russia but only announced the change of venue a few months ago. Next year Qatar will be the host for WRO 2015 and we are hoping that Brunei, one day, will host this prestigious event.

A big thank you to the Brunei Embassy in Russia for helping us with the logistics especially in Moscow (transiting) and Sochi (upon arrival). It was nice to see the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to Russia, His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim who has been serving for the past two years as the Ambassador. He welcomed the Brunei delegates at Sochi International Airport (Международный Аэропорт Сочи) and thank you so much for arranging the transportation and checking in for us last night. The process would have been longer without your assistance.

For those heading to Moscow or parts of Russia, you can contact the embassy at moscow.russia(a)mfa.gov.bn or brunei.moscow(a)gmail.com or call (+7) 495 783 1926/7 and they are quite helpful too. I also realised that Russians don’t speak much English so communication can be an issue unless if it’s in the airport or hotel, then you will be fine. Once you step outside, it’s a different ball game. Even the Ambassador said that there are many steps to understand and learn the Russian language and even the Russians understanding of English is different from ours which can lead to miscommunication. We’ll see how it goes in the next few days but I’m quite excited to be in Russia and perhaps, do a bit of exploring.

The Brunei students will be preparing their respective projects this morning at the Exhibition Media Complex, Sochi which just a walking distance from the hotel we are staying (Azimut Hotel Resort & Spa). For your info, Sochi time zone is only 5 hours behind from Brunei time.

I shall update the progress on my instagram @ranoadidas and that’s a faster way for parents/families and their friends to keep up to date on the happenings of our Brunei representatives in the World Robot Olympiad 2014. I wish the students the best and a big shoutout to one of the students, Nur Amni Amanina binti Hj Narudin, who celebrated her birthday yesterday (by flying for 27 hours huhu).

Thank you once again, His Excellency Haji Haini bin Haji Hashim and his team from the Brunei Embassy in Russia for assisting us and also to our organiser, Hjh Faridah and Satinah Hj Abg for guiding us from Brunei to Sochi.

My first selfie in Russia #priority #chanceofalifetime

Thank you, Hanafi from the Brunei Embassy for assisting us during our 3 hour transit in Moscow Domodedovo Airport. It wasn’t easy to get around due to most of the language written is in Russian.

A tip when you arrive in Moscow. Watch out for the fraudulent taxi drivers. They will give a fixed fee then later on, they will add more charges due to the number of luggage you bring or the size of the taxi and so on. So you might be paying double the amount.

The Malaysian contingent is bring quite a few participants

A tired Nina after 27 hours of flying. Happy belated, Nina 😀 She celebrated her birthday flying here and there and it was nice of the immigration officer at Sochi to greet her before chopping her passport.

Thank Natalia who helped with our checking in at Azimut Hotel Resort & Spa. More pictures of the hotel later.

Faridah and Satinah sorting out the rooms for the Brunei delegate

Azimut Hotel is a full house due to the participants for the WRO event. Awesome!!

 

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