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The guest of honour was RB Chairman and also the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Bahrin bin Abdullah cutting the cake

Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) celebrated their 38 years of serving the skies as the country’s national flag carrier with a religious celebration to send out prayers for the years to come at the Royal Brunei Surau in the RB training centre in Jalan Kustin.

To honour the 38th anniversary of the launching of RB, a blessing ceremony was held for good sanction. The guest of honour was RB Chairman and also the Deputy Minister of Finance, Dato Paduka Awang Haji Bahrin bin Abdullah.

The ceremony began with a mass Zohor prayer, followed by Sunnat Hajat prayer and concluded with recitation of prayers. The guest of honour together with invited guests then proceeded to the training centre for a cake-cutting ceremony to mark RB’s 38th anniversary celebrations.

RB’s Deputy Chairman, Dermont Mannion, thanked the government, board of directors and staff for their support over the past year. He said, “Royal Brunei has achieved many milestones this past year. We are looking forward to the years ahead as we continuously strive to provide a better service to our passengers.”

RB was established on November 18, 1974, as an independent corporation wholly owned by the Government of Brunei Darussalam. The national carrier is set to introduce the Boeing Dreamliner 787 in October 2013 which will further enhance the travel experience for passengers in visiting the Sultanate of Brunei, gateway of the island of Borneo. Text and images courtesy of Aziz Idris.

Try out the new dinner set menu at Caliente. After opening their door in April, there has been much praised about the Spanish restaurant located at Regent Square, Kiulap. Spanish cuisine has a rich and cultural history drawn from a mixture of European and North African food and even a slight greek influence.

Previously Caliente had an executive lunch promotion and now they came up with another set menu for Caliente patrons. So now you can enjoy a full course meal from soup to dessert (inclusive of drink) for only $20 which is a pretty awesome deal. You can visit their facebook for updates and follow them on instagram @calientespanishrestaurant and for your information, they close every Monday. For bookings, call 223 4529 or 7202985.

The Smart Pass do come in handy

I was introduced to this unique gadget by Aaron Sitai, the owner of GadgetPlus Store (GPS) and he showed me a quick demo on how convenient a Smart Pass can do for car owners.

Let’s give this scenario. I drive down to “kedai runcit” and I normally buy my goodies or newspaper and it’s just a 30 second pitstop. We have the tendency not to turn off the engine and just leave it on and take for granted that Brunei is a safe place. Well, you will be surprised. It happened to my friend and in a matter of seconds, he lost his valuables in the passenger seat.

So now, with Smart Pass, you can safely lock your car with your engine still running by tapping the Smart Pass on the censor of the device (Smart Pass RF Reader). Now these are pretty ideal especially those who fall in this category and also companies that does a lot of delivery services to their clients. Of course, it’s still convenient for the usual drivers like us too.

Not to worry, peeps, as it won’t harm your ECU as the fitting won’t tamper with it. The best part is that if you have your existing central locking system, it is still compatible with Smart Pass.

The Smart Pass locks the car by just tapping it on the Smart Pass RF reader

You can even put the Smart Tag in your smart phone for convenience

If you buy one, it comes with a Smart Pass RF Reader and two tags (a card and one for smartphone)

Each box set comes with the Smart Pass device and two tags – one for your smartphones and the other a credit card sized tag. For your info, each Smart Pass RF Reader unit can allow up to 7 authorized smart tags to be registered onto its system allowing multiple users with an authorized tag to access the same vehicle. Additional tags can be purchased separately.

So far that this awesome gadget works with Korean and Japanese cars. Of course, other continental cars do still work but it might need more work depending on the complexity. So far the cars that have been tested are Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and KIA to name a few. It has also been fitted to Audi, BMW and Chevrolet too.

So what’s the pricing for the Smart Pass?

Smart Pass – $399 excluding fitting fee
Additional Cell Phone Tag     $28
Additional Card Tag               $28
Waterproof Sports wristband  $48

So far the authorized fitters are Autopro Typre (behind The Arch call: 242 7242) and Fong Seng & Co (Goodwood Building, Menglait call 245 0780)

You can contact Aaron directly if you want more info about the Smart Pass at 710 9929 or add him on Facebook: Hibernator Awake. You can also view some videos for demo here here and here

Participants were divided into three categories. Upon registration in the morning, each participant was issued with a quest card which they were required to complete and hand in at the finishing line. Depending on the category, they are required to complete between 15 to 30 mind challenging questions on road regulations and safety. These questions are placed at different pit-stops located all over the playground. They can earn additional points by completing 10 special bonus challenges. These included taking a pedal boat ride, riding on the carousel, and answering questions about the month-long road safety campaign.

At the end of the two-hour long walkabout, the following were declared the winners.

Family Category
1st – Hadi family
2nd – Brilliant Ladies
3rd – The Queens

Above 18 1st – Dk Nur Sakinah Bte Pg Hj Kamaluddin
2nd – Rohani Sumin
3rd – Tashry Zariyaddy Hj Zainal Abidin

Under 18 1st – Muhd Danial Mahdi Bin Bollasan
2nd – Abdul Hafiz Bin Awg Hj Idris
3rd – Ak Muhd Haziman Bin Pg Hamdani

Prizes for the above categories were presented by YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Mu’min.

As for Best Dress, the Family Category was won by the team “The Walking Man”, headed by Md Farid Hj Matzin who came dressed as a Spartan. In the Individual Category, Md Nasuha Hariel came in first dressed as a pharaoh, followed in second place by Atiyyah Abas dressed as a pirate, and in third place was Idazaimah Zainal Abidin, dressed as a money bag.

As for the Best Workout, it was led by instructors from Studio Scene dance academy, participants were invited to show their talent in dance routines. The winners were:

Faizul Faiq won the “Nobody, nobody but you” workout.
Jeremy Ang Wei Chong won the “Gangnam Style” workout.

Prizes for the best dressed and best workout were presented by Dorothy Newn, Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing, Baiduri Bank.

This morning’s event also marks the official end to the one month long road safety awareness campaign which began on 18th October 2012. Organized by Baiduri Finance, as the lead campaigner, together with the National Road Safety Council as lead facilitator, the campaign saw a month long series of events with one common aim – to inculcate a culture of responsible driving and traffic discipline among the general public.

Prizes were also presented this morning to the winners of a Drawing and Colouring Competition among schools and an Inter-university debating completion held earlier this week. These competitions, which carried the road safety theme were organized jointly by Baiduri Finance, BNRSC and the Ministry of Education and UBD respectively.

The winners were:

Inter-Uni Debating Competition
UBD team comprising Julius Hong Yan Chin, Chang Seng Yee, Nurliza Abdul Zabar and Kamarulzaman Abdul Jalil. Kamarulzaman also also adjudged the best speaker in the competition.

Colouring Completion among Primary Schools throughout Brunei
1st – Michael Ho Yii Kiong, Sekolah Seri Mulia Sarjana
2nd – Md Al Haziq Bin Hj Zulkifli, Sekolah Rendah Jerudong
3rd – Jessie Jane Binti Nordin, Sekolah Nusa Laila Puteri Gadong

Drawing Competition among Primary Schools throughout Brunei
1st – Jackson Ho Yii Kin, Sekolah Seri Mulia Sarjana
2nd – Kelly Tee Gi En, Sekolah Seri Mulia Sarjana
3rd – Siti Nursyafiyah Binti Jefti, Sekolah Rendah Sultan Abdul Bubin Sg Besar

Prizes for the above were presented by Pierre Imhof, Director of Baiduri Finance and Hj Haliluddin Dato Talib, General Manager of Baiduri Finance, respectively.