This is it!!! The battle to represent Brunei, Area K6 in this year’s Humourous Speech and Evaluation Contests. We have passed the club level where three clubs in contested to be selected in this edition of the competition.

In Otters Club, they will be represented by Allen Ang and Shih Ching Yong. In Brunei Speakers’ Club, they will be represented by Zainal Bostaman and Reubin Chin. In Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club, they will be represented by Hazwan Kamarulzaman and Elizabeth Sim. All the six contestants will be vying for the Humourous Speech Contest title. I believe the winner of the each category will represent our Area K6 for the Division K level in Kota Kinabalu in mid-October 2014.

As for the Speech Evaluation Contest, Allen Ang, Melati Yussof (both Otters), Zainal Bostaman, Reuben Chin (Brunei Speakers’ Club) and Hazwan Kamarulzaman and Elizabeth Sim (Brunei Advanced Speakers Club) will be competing for the Area K6 title.

This event will take place for the first time ever at the iCentre at the auditorium and a big shout out to iCentre (BEDB) for lending the venue for toastmasters purposes. It take place tomorrow (Sunday) 28th September and I advise all of you who are interested to witness a spectacle to come by 1:15pm before the competition kicks off. There will be a $5 entrance fee and refreshments will be provided as well.

I will be the Contest Chair for the event (more like an emcee) and good luck to all the contestants and I can guarantee you that you will be entertained by their humourous speech.

Reuben Chin competing in both humourous and speech evaluation

Allen Ang competing in both humourous and speech evaluation

Shih Ching Yong competing in humourous contest

Melati Yussof competing in speech evaluation contest

Zainal Bostaman competing in both humourous and speech evaluation

Hazwan Kamarulzaman competing in both humourous and speech evaluation

Elizabeth Sim competing in both humourous and speech evaluation

Rano Iskandar (myself) as the Contest Chair which is more like the host/emcee for the event

Ruey Narcis the Area Governor (Brunei) for Toastmasters International

 

The event was officially opened this morning by Mr. Dermot Mannion, Chairman of Abacus. Yes, the fair is only for two days and it’s organised by Abacus Brunei and they have done a tremendous job in partnering with various airlines, National Tourist offices, hotels and of course, the biggest pie of all, the travel agents. This is always an important calendar especially for travelers even like myself and I managed to make three bookings this morning before the human traffic got higher.

It was definitely a crowded affair and Abacus Brunei have achieved their objective in stimulating the demand for travel with great packages offered by travel agents, airlines and hotels.

I could see that Mr. Dermot was pleased with what he saw earlier this morning and he thanked the organiser and the partners for making this event a possibility. He shared how the travel fair went far back as 2004 and this platform has proven to be a success in attracting the public to get special offers for their travels and vacation.

Of course, there is a lucky draw gimmick for passengers who booked their tickets during the travel fair. They can win attractive prizes such as return air tickets to London, Bali and Ho Chi Minh City (a route that will be added by 17th October) which are sponsored by Royal Brunei Airlines (RB), 1 return air ticket from Hong Kong to Beijing sponsored by Cathay Pacific and 1 return air ticket each to Bangkok and Krabi sponsored by Malaysia Airlines.

So drop down to the 11th Abacus Holiday Travel Fair, located at the Goldstone Ballroom, Centrepoint Hotel and tomorrow’s the final day. And for a little plug, I chose to buy my ticket at Darussalam Holdings because of their great incentive of double Royal Skies Miles for every transaction you make during the travel fair. I believe you need to spend at least BND 300 to entitled for the double Royal Skies Miles. Awesome, right? Thank you, Darussalam Holdings for that special incentive. As you know, I’m just a newbie for Royal Skies but I’ve been accumulating tons of points ever since Day 1. My target is to reach Silver in a few months’ time 😀

Mr. Dermot Mannion, Chairman of Abacus, officiating the event with Irene Soon, General Manager of Abacus Brunei at the 11th Abacus Holiday Travel Fair

Mr. Dermot Mannion visiting Royal Brunei Airlines booth

My preferred choice for bookings, thanks to their great incentives and service

At the Amazing Thailand booth

Mr. Dermot Mannion and management and associates of Royal Brunei Airlines

Pan Bright Travel is also aggressive in their marketing campaign and they are also having a special lucky draw which is a car

Tourism Malaysia has a separate hall so I do hope you guys don’t miss out their great offers from Malaysia

You can take a selfie with their instagram props 😀

Baiduri Bank is the official bank and I managed to get some deals from it too

Siaw Ling (in white) of Singapore Airlines (Brunei) with her colleagues

Another popular travel agent in Brunei and I like their queueing system

Guest of honour visiting the Taiwan Tourism Bureau booth

Mr. Dermot with Halim Abd Rahman, Sales and Marketing Manager of Abacus Brunei

 

Check them out in two weeks’ time

 

The launch is tonight. Brace yourself!!

It’s always great to see retail shops bringing in genuine products and goods to Brunei and we need more of this. I remember buying my first Snapbacks cap back in the UK in 2006 and even until now the cap is still in good condition. Snapbacks have been very popular in the US and most baseball teams have their own prints of New Era Snapbacks versions and they were hot sellers, even to this present day.

So it’s good to have a genuine store that sells New Era caps that comes in fitted, snapback and strapback version and they will be available at the first store in Brunei called The Cap City, located 2nd floor (arcade area) of The Mall, Gadong. The shop has been opened for a month or two and it has been receiving positive responses from the public and not many people especially the youngsters are aware of the existence of The Cap City. They will also Malaysia’s brand apparel – Negative Clothing.

The Cap City is a popular store in Kuala Lumpur and it is great that the owners are willing to set up its store in Brunei for the first time. You can check out their instagram @thecapcity which updates regularly on their stores in KL and Brunei and of course, the latest focus on their updates are on Brunei’s newly opened store The Cap City.

Today will be a special one because the Brunei store will be closed for today but it will opened its door at 8pm to 10pm tonight for a grand launch. There will be a special gimmick where customers will get a 20% discount on ALL their caps only for that two hour window tonight. Another awesome gimmick is that the first 20 customers will get A CAP for FREE. Yea, it did mentioned on their IG and poster that it was only for the 1st 10 customers but the owners from KL are kind enough to sponsor a few more items for the Brunei grand launch.

Also in the country is Nigel Sparks @nigelsparks the man behind The Cap City and he is here with @tristweiliang to give support for the grand launch for the Brunei store.

So pen this down on your calendar to check out the grand launch for The Cap City at The Mall, Gadong, tonight. For more updates, check out on their hashtag #thecapcity_brunei on instagram 😀

The New Era caps now available in The Cap City, The Mall, Gadong

The New Era caps now available in The Cap City, The Mall, Gadong

NY Yankees Snapback caps

@nigelsparks and @tristweiliang at Brunei’s The Cap City store and they will be at the grand launch too

Purchase any 3 New Era caps & get the 2 pack cap carrier for FREE or purchase any 4 New Era caps & get the 6 pack for FREE!

The long awaited New Era Tropical Minimalism snapbacks finally arrived

Negative Clothing apparel also available

The look of The Cap City store in Brunei

My first Snapback New Era customized cap. Yea, it looks a bit dusty :p

 

Starting today and tomorrow only

The great thing about Darussalam Holdings is that for every transaction you make from them, you can earn double Royal Skies Miles regardless of different airlines you choose. This deal only applies during the Abacus Holiday Travel Fair. I’m making three bookings under Darussalam Holdings just to enjoy this special offer 😀