Hello peeps!!! I’m currently in Singapore and yes, I’m braving the haze here. It seems that Singapore and Malaysia are really affected and perhaps the worst affected area will be around Sumatra. I’m pretty sure it has a slight detrimental effect on the Singapore economy as people tend to stay indoors. Last week, the PSI reading was over 300 (hazardous), the government declared that all schools in Singapore to shut down for that particular day.

Brunei do get hazy every now and then but it’s not as bad as Singapore or Malaysia. I could smell the haze when I was paying a visit to Vivo City last Monday. The good thing is that the masks are in stock as compared to 2013 where the masks were high in demand but low on supply. So I suggest to Bruneians who are visiting Singapore to put on a mask if possible.

Last night’s match between DPMM FC and Home United for the Singapore Cup was also postponed due to the haze. However, the fans were not pleased as the organisers delayed the match for an hour plus before calling the game off and postponed it to tonight. It’s a tricky situation where organisers have to make a brave decision to proceed with the match or take precaution of the players’ body condition. This has not play quite well with the supporters and the fans have been vetting out their frustrations on the S•League Facebook Page too. Well, from the looks of it, the haze today doesn’t look any better and what will be the fate of the match which supposedly taking place tonight… hmmmm.. We shall wait and see.

This is my view right now while blogging this entry. What a hazy day in Singapore. Taken at the Club Lounge of Hotel Jen Orchardgateway.

My recent visit to Universal Studios for the Halloween Horror Nights 5. More on this soon.

Now why I am in Singapore is for a few reasons – 1) Do my visa for Denmark 2) get a pair of Adidas Barricade shoes for tennis 3) catching up with friends/bloggers (Tiffany, Frances, J.T) 4) catching Black Mass – verdict: 7/10 5) a special invite for the Halloween Horror Night 5 #HHN5 at Universal Studios 6) my stay experience at Hotel Jen Orchardgateway.

From the looks of it, it ain’t a bad itinerary. The only miracle I hope for now is making sure I get on my flight to Copenhagen by Monday latest. It’s gonna slightly tough but I’m glad the Singapore team (from Bang & Olufsen), the Brunei team too and the Denmark Embassy in Singapore are doing the best they can to make sure my visa gets approved as soon as possible.

Apparently I found out that my passport is slightly trickier than the Brunei passport. I’m a permanent resident of Brunei Darussalam and we don’t use passports like Brunei citizens would. We have what we call Certificate of Identification of Brunei Darussalam printed on the brown colour passport look-a-like. Hence the Royal Danish Embassy in Singapore shared that my particular passport will take at least 7 working days and not 5 day or less for others. This is the fact that I’m holding a CI document (the PR passport) and it will take longer to process the visa application.

So what I learnt from this lesson (trip) is that we Brunei PR will spend more money (flying and staying in Singapore just for a 60 euro Visa) and the second most important thing is you have to apply at least 3 weeks before (to be safe) to Schengen countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway to name a few. I never expected it to be this difficult but all I have to do now is just wait from the Royal Danish Embassy to give me the green light by Friday or latest by Monday.

If you ask me personally if there’s any perks of holding a CI document/passbook, nah, there’s not much improvement as not many countries recognizes this particular travel document. Do we permanent residents deserve a travel document that’s called a Passport? Yes, we do.. I do hope the “Yang Berhormats” take notice of this issue as this motion has not been approved after countless attempts at the Legislative Council. We need the convenience and assurance especially when we travel to certain countries. For me, it’s the costs and inconvenience that I have to experience during my travel journey. Let’s bring this matter urgently in the next LegCo meeting. Some improvements are needed at least.

Oh man, I’ve been ranting here on the 19th floor of Hotel Jen with the view of the haze in front of me. Let’s hope for brighting things to come and I want to get my butt on the plane to Denmark. I’m signing off for now.. Have a wonderful week ahead..

 

Press release from Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam. Have you heard of financial scams? They are scams involving deposits, money transfers and credit card transactions. Although some financial scams are too good to be true, there are many people that still become victims.

These are the common financial scams in Brunei:

1. Get-rich-quick scheme: a plan, which offers high returns or dividends not usually available through traditional investments. The focus of such schemes would be to obtain deposits without a valid product or services which will be used to pay returns or dividends to earlier investors. The scheme may take the following forms:

  Ponzi scheme

  Pyramid scheme

  Gold investment

  Land-banking investment

  Forex trading

2. Credit card scam: Scammers calling victim’s phone pretending to be a bank officer informing that the victim’s credit card is suspected of crime. For verification purpose, the victims will be deceived into providing their credit card details.

3. Job scam: Scammers pretending to offer a job in their organisation. However, in order to secure the job offer, the victim must pay an upfront fee.

4. Lottery and competition scam: Scammers send out an SMS blast to would-be victims informing them of prizes they have won in competitions organised by some big companies and are advised to pay an entrance fee.

5. Inheritance Scams: Scammers assume the role of lawyers or representatives for a recently deceased distant relative or wealthy benefactor leaving a large inheritance usually in cash of which is to be distributed amongst them at an agreed percentage.

6. Internet love scam: (LOL, never been duped by this before) By creating fake profiles, fraudsters have managed to exploit the other users by pretending to develop an intimate and personal relationship with their victims.

The grand prize for the Open Category to top off with the BND 1,200 cash prize

AMBD believe that it is important to educate the public and raise their awareness to protect innocent people from becoming unfortunate victims. Show your support and creativity by creating a short video on financial scams awareness!

Well, there’s a good incentive for you to join!! Because the winners will win awesome prizes. For the Open Category, first place will win BND 1,200 cash prize with a GoPro Hero 4 Silver Edition, second place will win BND 900 cash prize with Sony Handycam while third place will win BND 600 with Sony HDR. There will also be student category with cash prizes for top three winners – BND 1,000, BND 750 and BND 500 respectively.

I won’t spare much details here but you can download the PDF form for eligibility and other information. Good luck and the deadline for submission is 30th October 2015.

Halloween Horror Night 2014 at Universal Studios

Report from Tiffany from Singapore: Halloweeeeen from Singapore! The month of October means exams for most students, but to the rest, it means Halloween! Last year, I did a review on the Sentosa Spooktacular and many asked me to compare it with Universal Studios Singapore’s Halloween Nights. So this year, thanks to Resort World Sentosa, I managed to meet the Minister of Evil who has taken over the Halloweens Horror Nights 4 providing all horror fans with the most number of event nights, most number of haunted houses and most number of scare zones since its launch in 2011.

The official promotional video

Universal Studios Singapore will be transform on those nights into city centres, schools, arm barracks and demonic circuses to scare the hell out of everyone.

Know Thy Enemy: Plan Your Escape Route

The Map

4 Haunted Houses

1.The Lab

The Lab

This is the Secret Site of Alien Experiment on the Homo Sapien that you will see after passing through the Scary Tale zone. In the L.A.B (Laboratory of Alien Breeding], evil aliens designed to extinguish the human race are born and breed in the test tubes. Although I didn’t manage to witness the scariness, according to my other blogger friends, this is the scariest of the 4 houses with the human-alien hybrid and lab haunted-ness!

2.Mati Camp

Minister of Evil has put the sergeant Major in charge, and he takes torturing of recruits very seriously. Here, you will get to witness soldiers put through sadistic training, as well as gross cannibalism and mutilation. Are you having some lamp chops or steak for supper?

6.Jing’s Revenge

Revisiting Hua Xing Secondary School, you will get to witness how a bully victim called Jing hung herself 10 years ago, and as the horrors of the past is reenacted, you might be involved as a witness or a victim.

P.S. Beware of serious bullying case (like being splashed with water in the face)

8.Jack’s 3-Dementia

Entering the house with a paper 3D glass, you will find yourself surrounded by demonic clowns hidden in the distorting and disorientating illusions. If you are afraid of clowns, this might give you nightmares and put you to tears. If not, the illusions might make you giddy and make you walk out wondering where you are.

4 Scare Zones

A. Scary Tales

This is my favourite part of the HHN4 where well known fairy tales become scary. Besides the big bad wolf, and the evil queen, characters such as Dorothy from wizard of Oz had also become bad!

Well, do try to interact with Magic Mirror from Snow White and he might tell you who’s the fairest of you all!

B. Canyon of the Cursed

Here, the cowboys from the wild west have all transformed at night and as you walk through the cursed canyon, you might see the many dead men and women who had once rode into this land lured by the gold of the Nevuro Tribe.
P.S. They love still do love taking pictures

C. Demoncracy

Tiffany Yong with a demon

Here, you will get to meet Succubus, a demon in the form of a voluptuous women who drives her victims wild with desire while sucking out their life force. Also, look for Abaddon, the Destroyer with his bunch of demons and fallen angels released from the Abyss roaming the Earth.

D. Bogeyman

In this dark playground, be wary of the children you come across. They have long forgotten what it means to be human and will do the bidding of the Bogeyman. Relive some of your childhood horrors here and just be careful of what’s in the closet.

Recommended: Jack’s Nightmare Circus

Held at the Pantages Hollywood Theater, resident serial killer, Jack the Clown, introduces a series of aerial acrobats, contortionists and other freaky friends at his Nightmare Circus. Initially, I was amused by how un-nightmarish the whole performance was. But as the show goes on, I was wowed by how the performers go to extremes to terrify and even disgust the audience with their feats of daring and acts of torture.

My friend said that this was his favourite part of Halloween Horror Nights 4, as it was very cool to be able to watch gross sword swallowing and tongue-poking stuff taking place right in your face. An additional show at 1.15am was even added by popular demand, so I guess that says it all!

Survival Tips

A word of advice for everyone, if you are not planning to get the Express Pass (additional $50), be at Universal Studios Singapore on time (7.30pm) and plan your survival trails well! There’s simply too many fun (or scary) stuff to complete within one night. As I was trying to aim for the last train back home (at 11.50pm at Harbourfront MRT Station), I had to give some of the haunted houses and scare zones a miss!

Get yourself hydrated with some shots or brain juice! It’s available everywhere!

No Want Horror? Go For a Night Ride Then!

Besides the haunted houses and scare zones, there are still some parts of the Universal Studios untouched by the Minister of Evil such as the Far Far Away land where it is still protected by the Fair Godmother’s magical powers.

Rides/ Performances that are available are the:

3. Revenge of the Mummy

4. Accelerator

5. Transformers The Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle

10. Madagascar: A Crate Adventure

11. Enchanted Airways

12. Shrek 4-D Adventure

13. Canopy Flyer

*Lights, Camera, Action! hosted by Steven Spielberg is not available

*Numbers as seen on the USS map

Halloween Horror Nights 4 Dates:

October: 3, 4, 5 | 10, 11 | 17, 18 | 22, 23, 24, 25 | 31

November: 1

Time 7.30pm – 1.30am

Ticket Prices

General Admission Ticket: $68/ticket

Buy 3 and more (Web Special): $61/ticket

Buy 3 Get 1 Free (RWS Special) $204

Express Pass: Additional $50 (Skip queues for all haunted houses and selected attractions)
*Valid for use in combination with any Halloween Horror Nights admission tickets Frequent Fear Pass

*Halloween Horror Nights is a separately ticketed event and not included with regular day admission to the theme park. But you may upgrade your admission tickets at an additional SGD$50 to “Stay & Scream)
For more information about the promotion prices, check out the #HHN4 Website (http://halloweenhorrornights.com.sg/).
xoxo