Drive safe peeps!!

Promotion at Tasek Brasserie

Telaga Dewata Rafting

This was truly amazing!! I’ve always love water rafting but then again, you will need a lot of people or perhaps a group of 3 or 4 so it would be more fun to raft. Last Monday, we had the opportunity to do so and there were 40 of us who chose to give it a go and it was great learning experience for me because I kinda learned my strengths about my well being and it’s not just purely fun. I learned about my leadership and also bringing laughter to people. I’ve hardly acknowledged my strengths and that experience during the rafting journey made me realised that I’m capable leader and I also learn about my other rafting buddies – Alvin, Lona and Grace 😀

If you happened to be in Bali, I highly recommened you the Dewata Rafting and it was quite a long ride to the area as it’s not far from the mountains. The Telaga Waja River is one of the best place for water rafting and it has a stretch of 14 km from start to finish which took us about 2 hours and lunch is also served right after you finish you session.

That time, grade of the river flow is 3 which is safe for rafting. I enjoyed the scenic view especially the tropical forst adn the water falls along the river side. There were many water falls to be impressed with and we had a pitstop and enjoy the fresh water fall. Each raft will have a professional river guide and we had one named MaDe who has been rafting for over 15 years. He took care of us well and we just have to listen to his instructions otherwise our raft can get stuck between the rocks. Our group did amazing and we showed great teamwork and we only got stuck just because we got distracted by this lady who was wearing a bikini in the other raft *lol*

The costs of the water rafting is USD 75 per adult, USD 55 Child or USD 215 (2 adult + 2 child). Telaga Dewata Rafting is located Sanur, Bali and you can call their hotline +62 361 289467 or you can visit their website for more details.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah (4th-L) the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, with HRH Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah (3rd L) the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at Prime Minister’s Office, HRH Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah (6th L), HRH Prince ‘Abdul ‘Azim (2nd L), HRH Prince ‘Abdul ‘Malik (L), and HRH Prince ‘Abdul Wakeel (5th L), attend the `Majlis Sambutan Awal Tahun Hijrah 1434H’ held at Jame’ ‘Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. Picture by Saiful Omar of The Brunei Times. Click image to see more

Exclusively for beauty enthusiasts, SocialDeal made a comeback deal with Dermalogist Beauty Therapy from Serusop on their popular Diamond Dermabrasion deal. This time around, you save B$45 out of the normal price of B$135. Which means you only pay B$90! quite a good deal for the ladies!!

Dermalogist is located at Blk B, Unit 26, 1st Floor, Serusop Complex Kg Delima Satu BB4713 Jln Muara (Opposite Secret Recipe) – but you’ll have to GRAB the deal at SocialDeal.com.bn to get the savings before dropping by tho.

www.SocialDeal.com.bn has been storming through various businesses in Brunei for the past 1 and a half years with their jaw-dropping savings on great stuffs to see, do and taste in the country. Throughout 2012, SocialDeal’s concept skyrockets to a 50,000 peeps following on their Facebook page with almost B$300,000 saved. That’s real cash money saved for Bruneians online!

Aside from beauty, wellness, products & spa deals – SocialDeal is also popularly known for their food deals from restaurants all around the country. We saw exclusive deals from interesting places recently especially Au Lait Cafe’s western deal, DreamCone’s Gelato deal, Little Hot Pot’s Steamboat deal among others which saw local netizens nabbing the coupons wildly within 7 days.

If you haven’t registered with them, I’d advice you do so for FREE here: http://socialdeal.com.bn/customer/account/create/ and start experiencing the best Brunei has to offer via the one-stop discount portal loved by so many!

Click image to enter Facebook page event

I just found out about the event yesterday through my friend Yaty who’s all the way from Canberra. This is an event which will take place this Sunday 18th November 2012 which is a cycling event roughly 77.0 km where it will start and finish at Tanah Perkuburan Jame Al-Asr’ in the loving memory of Allahyarham Captain Ismael bin Dato Seri Setia Hj Samid also popularly known as JJ who was passed away last July.

Here are the schedules as follow:

0630H : Attendance of cyclists
0645H : Surah Yassin & Tahlil Recital
0715H : Expected to start the ride
1030H – 1100H : Expected to finish

The meeting point will be at Jame Al-Asr’ at 6:30am. The distance 77.0km ride is also in commemorating JJ’s badge number which was 770. Do take note that there will be the recital of Surah Yassin & Tahlil so it’s advisable that the participants do wear appropriate clothing such as long pants, songkok or topi haji.

Refreshments will be provided by Hayati Restaurant (Late JJ’s favourite post training recovery area) which will be prepared by Liyana Latiff (JJ’s wife) and restaurant owner, Colonel (U) Dato Paduka Hj Ibrahim. For more info, you can click here to find out more details.

There’s no registration required for this event so do come as you please. A big shout out to the organisers, contributors and volunteers on this event. I shall be arriving late in the morning as I have prior commitments with the Road Safety Awareness Campaign on the same time.

JJ, you have touched many hearts and you are sorely missed. Al-Fatihah.

The late JJ samid with his passion – Cycling

Sharifah Czarena upon her completion of her task last week

Yess… More girl power… This year, Maziah Mahusin, our Brunei Olympian, created history for Brunei in the summer and yesterday was also another milestone for Brunei when Royal Brunei (RB) becomes the the first national flag carrier in the region to appoint a female captain and she is no other than our own 31 year old Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy Syed Hashim. It was her flight from Melbourne back in 6th November 2012 where she completed the final stage in commanding training process with the guidance and supervision of Deputy Chief Operating Officer Captain Khalidkhan Hj Asmakhan.

Yesterday a reception was held in her honour and present during the event was Datin Hjh Adina Othman, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, who delivered a heart warming speech as she praised Captain Czarena on her achievements. She even praised on how women are getting more recognised over the years especially in Brunei. She said that there are at least 50% women in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Attorney General’s Chamber and Datin hopes that there will be more women taking bigger role by 2013.

RB Deputy Chairman, Dermot Mannion, who was not present during the reception, said that RB is delighted to acknowledge this great achievement by Captain Sharifah Czarena in becoming not only the first female captain in RB but also in any flag carrier airline in South East Asia.

Guest of honour Datin Paduka Hjh Adina was overwhelmed with her niece’s achievement

Some of the invited guests during the lunch reception

The official ceremony in conferring Czarena’s rank as Captain

“Believe in your dreams, they will come true. Believe in yourself and your dreams will come true” – Captain Czarena’s final remarks

A quick history background on Captain Sharifah Czarena. began her aviation career as a cadet pilot in 2003 when she was sent to the UK for intensive initial pilot training at the Cabair Flying School, Cranfield. After graduating in 2004 she was sent on secondment to Loganair as a junior First Officer on the Saab 340 turbo prop aircraft before returning to Brunei in 2006 to join RB as a First Officer on the B767-300ER. She gained promotion to Senior First Officer shortly thereafter and in 2010 underwent training to fly the B777-200ER.

In order for a pilot to be considered for command in RB, the candidate is expected to have completed 5,000 flying hours together with having consistently high assessment grades obtained throughout their career as a Senior First Officer.

Once selected, the candidate is required to undergo an intensive three month command training program. The program includes classroom, simulator and aircraft training as well as regular progress tests, assessments and checks, all conducted by members of RB’s experienced team of flight training personnel.

Flight number BI 054 was the final check flight for Captain Sharifah Czarena in the command process which she has passed with flying colours.

For your info, RB has six female pilots in active service; five on the Boeing fleet and one on its Airbus fleet. In addition, RB has recently welcomed Dayangku Nurul Hidayah bte Pengiran Hj Abd Wahab as its latest female cadet pilot recruit and to mark that event she was also a guest at yesterday’s reception together with very proud members of her family.

Datin received a memento from Royal Brunei

Group photo with invited guests and family

Group photo with the other captains and female pilots

Group photo with Czarena’s family and friends

It’s not easy to earn this.. Congratulations Czarena on your milestone.