The Palazzo de Qaseh Service Apartment at Plaza Athirah

Late post: Last weekend was the official launch of The Palazzo de Qaseh Service Apartment and Qasehmaisara Cafe House by Her Royal Highness Princess Hjh Amal Jefriah. Apparently the business has been ongoing since last year but only started full operation after the launch.

Also in attendance was Datin Paduka Hajah Adina Othman, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, YAM Pg Anak Haffiz, YAM Pg Anak Qayyum and YAM Pg Anak Razaaq.

I was quite impressed with the apartment and it boasts a total of 34 fully furnished units – 26 of them are two bedroom apartments while the remaining 8 are three bedroom apartments. The kitchen area is quite spacious, newly furnished sofas and spacious living room and of course, WIFI ready.

There will be a weekend promotional price in conjunction with their opening. It applies on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the promotional price will be ongoing every weekend until 30th April 2014. The rates for the units are $128 for the two-bedroom apartment and $228 for the three-bedroom apartment.

For more information on Palazzo de Qaseh Service Apartment, contact them at 2459898 or 2469898 or 2479898. The service apartments are located at 4th and 5th floor of Plaza Athirah, Jalan Kubah Makam Diraja, Mile 1, Jalan Tutong. The reception area is on the 2nd floor.

The do a selamat before cutting the ribbon to officiate the launch

HRH Princess Hjh Amal Jefriah with Datin Paduka Hjh Adina and YAM Pg Anak Qayyum

Her Royal Highness with her sons

Her Royal Highness with her children

The rooms at the apartments

The living area at the apartment

Qasehmaisara Cafe House

Datin Paduka Hjh Adina signing the plaque

Celebrity Keith Foo signing the plaque

Another celebrity Nabilah Suhaimi receiving token from Her Royal Highness

Group photo outside the cafe

The interior of Qasehmaisara Cafe House<

Nadz pulling some magic tricks for the kids

With celebrity Keith Foo

 

Group photo before the motorcade rally. Click image to enlarge

Last Saturday, Pizza Hut Brunei made an interesting excursion when they organised a motorcade rally led by the outlet’s team of 70 staff in delivery bikes and cars and this is to launch their new pizza flavour – “Texas Crown Pizza”. So the journey took place early morning Saturday from Gadong to Sengkurong and Kiulap. The latest innovative product from Pizza Hut Brunei, it is an indulgent crust pizza filled with delicious sausages topped with 100 per cent Mozzarella cheese and perfectly seasoned corned beef topping.

For pizza lovers out there , there will be a photo contest being held in conjunction with the launch. Until March 31, interested members of the public can join the contest and stand a chance to win the grand prize of a 16GB iPad Mini. The top 10 pictures, on the other hand, will receive consolation prizes.

To join, just visit to any Pizza Hut Brunei’s branches at Airport Mall, The Mall, Gadong or Kuala Belait and look for the Texas Crown Pizza Fun Booth and take a snap shot.

Send the pictures to https://www.facebook.com/PizzaHutBrunei/inbox, together with personal details such as name, IC numbers, contact numbers and email address. The picture with the most likes, wins. There are already a few entries so the earlier, the better so you can get your friends to vote for you.

The new Texas Crown Pizza is now available nationwide and can be ordered through 2226111 for delivery or visit any Pizza Hut Brunei’s store for dine in or take-away.

Getting ready to ride

All set to go 😀

..and off they went… 70 of them

The riders were full of energy even early in the morning

This looked pretty cool on the road

Check out the competition Pizza Hut Brunei is organising

HSBC Personal Internet Banking

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BIBD – Let’s Go Mobile!

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Icon Design Store

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You will be surprised that volunteering doesn’t really equate to a good thing unless you are aware if it leads to a good outcome. I do agree of d’ Arcy Lunn’s sharing about volunteering and he gives us a different perspective about volunteering and I would like to share with you guys.

But first, I would like to thank the Australian High Commission to Brunei Darussalam for the invitation yesterday at their residence where I had the opportunity to catch and understand d’ Arcy Lunn’s vision which is to see the world without extreme property “for everyone, everywhere and forever”. He is a teacher by profession from Australia. The best gift I’ve see in him is his passion to volunteer and he has been traveling to different countries (more than 60 countries) – including Krygyzstan, Arctic Canada and Africa.

So it’s good to him making his presence felt in Brunei especially to educational institution such as International School of Brunei where he had talks there yesterday. One of the reasons for his presence in Brunei is the current project initiated by ISB on Polio Points project. In a nutshell, this is a student rewards system supported by Standard Chartered Bank which translates effort and achievement into Polio vaccines for Pakistan.

The project was launched and patronized by Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Sarah binti Pengiran Salleh Ab Rahaman in October 2012. ISB’s house points system encourages staff and students to be caring global citizens: every good deed and positive contribution by ISB primary and secondary students during lessons, sports competitions and various school events go towards vaccinating children in Lahore, Pakistan against contracting the polio virus in their lifetime.

This project is also not possible without the support of Global Poverty Project, the partnership between ISB, SCB and UNICEF Pakistan, UNICEF HQ in New York, the Gates Foundation, High Commissions of Pakistan, the United Kingdom and Australia in Brunei Darussalam and of course, the endorsement of Her Royal Highness.

As of now, ISB Polio Project has collected enough points which will be redeemed by Standard Chartered Bank (Brunei) equivalent to BND 10,000 which will then translated to Polio points for the benefit of the children in Pakistan. The project has been ongoing since last year and I really want to applaud ISB and SCB for making this possible and it’s good to see a school like ISB to get involved in Social Responsibility programs because this kind of education is important especially if it’s coming from the younger generation and this kind of contribution programs will raise more awareness among their age group which will be more effective.

d’ Arcy Lunn speaks to the audience at the Australian High Commission’s residence yesterday

His Excellency Todd Mercer, High Commissioner of Australia to Brunei Darussalam welcoming the invited speaker

NGOs, volunteers and representatives from SCB attended the session

The heads of the ISB student councils sharing updates on the ISB Polio Project

I could just go on and on about this project but I shall talked more in depth about ISB’s Polio Project on another day. For now, I want to focus on Mr. Lunn who is an iconic figure for volunteerism. Like I have said mentioned before, not all volunteerism can translate to a good outcome. So we have to take into accounts of a few things before getting excited to volunteer.

Mr. Lunn shared some interesting good pointers that will lead to “good aid and volunteering”. We have to be aware that when we show the passion to volunteer, it doesn’t mean that we are the expert if we are dealing with something unfamiliar. It’s important to speak to the relevant agencies and see what role you will be able to play as a volunteer.

The other habit which I feel that I have some weakness when it comes to volunteering is “Listening and Learning”. Sometimes we fail to pay attention to what is required. For instance, we keep donating clothes only to know that they needed more school bags for the under privilege students.

We have to make sure if we volunteer that it’s appropriate and collaborated with relevant agencies or organizations or non-government organisations. We also have to make sure that we volunteer, it is empowering for the country, community and the people.

Lastly, it’s also important to make the volunteerism programs have sustainable. It doesn’t just happens just once or twice. It has to be ongoing with great support from the sponsors and the community involvement to keep the momentum going and going. A good example here is Beach Bunch Brunei and they have been running volunteering campaigns on clean beaches for many years and they have bigger plans because their campaigns have been successful.

Mr. Lunn did leave some inspiring impression on me on what volunteering is. Volunteering is a rich thing to do and you don’t have to be rich in fortune. He also highlighted that you may have the best intention for volunteering but make sure the outcome is good and relevant to the receiving end. Yes, I also do agree with Mr. Lunn that volunteering is the best entry to achieve your dreams and of course, you will have to take a leap of faith and the inner courage to begin with. I believe there are many Bruneians who have those dreams.

You can check out d’ Arcy Lunn’s blog for updates and you can also follow him on twitter @darcylunn and you also can reach at darcy(a)global povertyproject.com

Pg Aki Ismasufian Pg Hj Ibrahim, SCB Head of Corporate Strategic Initiatives and Iswandy Ahmad, President of Brunei Darussalam Aids Council also attended the talk

JIS students talking about volunteerism with d’ Arcy

Pg Aki Ismasufian sharing with Adam of ISB on SCB’s involvement with ISB Polio Project

Students from Maktab Sains with the Australian High Commissioner and d’ Arcy

Photo opportunity with representatives from HEART

The stakeholders involved in the ISB Polio Project. Click image to enter website.

A great way to increase awareness on Polio. This is called the Purple Pinkie. When a child is vaccinated, they have a purple stamp put on their little finger. This is an ideal way to raise awareness. Image courtesy of Pulitzer Center.

 

As the largest and most influential hair salon in Brunei Darussalam, the IA Salon creates a much needed arena for professionals and consumers to come together to learn and exchange information about natural hair care, health and beauty products, and techniques.

IA Salon Brunei had launched series of workshops for both hair and makeup with the support of MAC cosmetics and L’Oreal hair industry. Cecilia Lee, director of IA Salon invited the ambassadors of both line to conduct in-house trainings for salon hair stylists and makeup artists, photo filming of fresh models, customer services, and makeup tutorial classes.

L’Oreal artistic ambassador Simon Koh from Malaysia has been consistently nominated to its title since 2000. He had hosted numberless hair seminars, hair talks, workshops, demonstrations, hair shows, and so forth, both within Malaysia and overseas. Established in 1986, ELLE Hair salon and academy was founded by him. With his 30 years of hairdressing experiences, Simon is leading a troop of experience leading stylists all over Malaysia. Koh is bringing his lady assistant who has been working with him for the past 7 years and graduated at Elle Academy.

MAC cosmetics leading makeup creative artist Lim Kok Leong from Malaysia has been 9 years in makeup industry. He had tied up to work with famous magazines such as Herworld, Female, Cittabella, Malaysia Tatler, Men’s UNO, Sister, and more. Lim graduated makeup art course in Tokyo Designer Gakuin, a technical school in Tokyo, Japan. He is a leading artist for Salabianca & Philosophy fashion show such as @increafible India 2007, @ China Champ 2008, @360* Melbourne 2009 and forth. He has been the personal makeup artist of Pussycat Dolls in MTV Asian awards. He has various distinctions not only in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, and even in New Zealand.

Anna from FunBeePark, Simon Koh , L’Oreal artistic ambassador in KL, Ramlah Binti Laipu, owner and creative designer of ELLA Botique in Sabah and Lim Kok Leong, MAC cosmetics leading makeup creative artist from KL

Simon Koh , L’Oreal artistic ambassador in KL, showing the disconnect cuts and the new fashion

The before and after

Lim Kok Leong, MAC cosmetics leading makeup creative artist from KL explaining the different types of make up application

Ramlah Binti Laipu, owner and creative designer of ELLA Boutique in Sabah has been developing an image of beauty and fashion. She created her own conceptual designs and she called it “EL TUDUNG PESTA”. Mostly of her designs have the concept of tudung exclusive that is suitable to any occasions. She has been invited to do fashion shows in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

Cecilia Lee of IA Salon is inviting the public of Brunei Darussalam to experience this once in a lifetime chance to explore the world of beauty and furthermore gain much confidence and outshine. Makeup classes for Mr Lim will be conducted at IA Salon, The Mall, Gadong, on (today) 12th March 2014. Morning and afternoon classes will be available for registration. For reservation and more inquiries, call IA Salon customer service at 2423232 or 8738232.

There will be customer services conducted by Mr Koh to interested clients and hair enthusiasts on 12th March 2014 at IA Salon, The Mall, Gadong. Services such as hair cutting, hair design, hair colouring, perming, or rebonding are available for booking now. Appointments are limited to six customers only. Have a chance to beautify yourself with internationally distinguished L’Oreal ambassador. There will be free of charge consultation on Tudong designs and fashion with Ramlah. Special handmade tudong scarves for sale too. For reservation and more inquiries, call IA Salon customer service at 2423232 or 8738232.

New and artistic MAC cosmetics and L’Oreal Hair care products will be available for purchase at IA Salon, The Mall, Gadong with proper consultation by hair and makeup specialists.

Cecilia Lee of IA Salon explaining the “EL Tudung Pesta” while Ramlah demos on how to apply them

“EL Tudung Pesta” being demoed by the models

Ramlah with the models wearing “EL Tudung Pesta”

Group photo