Times Square Shopping Centre had its first ever Technology & Lifestyle Fair 2012 on Thursday, 3rd May and ended on Sunday, 6th May 2012.

During the four day event, PEMKAR organized an RC Racing Competition, generating much interest and attention from the public. There were two types of races: Mini- Chassis 3HR Endurance Race and RC Drift Challenge. The first place of the Mini-Chassis 3HR Endurance Race went to Team Penyangat Purple with 1102 laps at a total time of 3:00:16.575 with a best time of 7.714 while second place went to Team XXL with 1059 laps at a total time of 3:00:23.173 and a best time of 7.949. Third place went to Team Sbbb Alfa with 1055lapsat a total time of 3:00:19.175 and a best time of 7.483. For the RC Drift Challenge, first place went to Hj Birin while second and third went to Patt and Fathul respectively. The top qualifier went to Hj Birin while Best Body Shield went to Hasrin.

In addition to the interactive games and activities, Times Square also organized the Tag & Race Contest where contestants had to use their smart phones and search for Tags placed around Times Square, and the one who finds all 30 tags first will be the winner. The first place went to Teddy Ahmad, who won himself an MP3 Headset Player and $50 cash voucher- both from Current Enterprise, while second place went to Azri Al-Rashid, winning himself a Laser Light and $80 cash voucher from Current Enterprise while third place went to Nur Halijah Bte Md Alidin, winning herself a $50 cash voucher from Current Enterprise.

First place for Mini-Chassis 3HR Endurance Race goes to Team Penyangat Purple

First place for RC Drift Challenge Hj Birin

Group photo with the participants and organisers

There was a Lucky Draw with fabulous prizes up for grabs. Prizes included Hua Wei Ideos S7 Slim, Ideos U8500, Ideos U8150 sponsored by Ten Ten Communications, and other prizes sponsored by TelBru, Current Enterprise and WR Electronics. 8 Lucky winners were called up to determine which prize they have won for themselves by playing a short game. The winner of the first prize, which is a Hua Wei Ideos S7 Slim was Lau Kong Chiong, while Dk Aaliyah Hannah won herself an Ideos U8500 and the 3rd prize, Ideos U8150 went to Ibrahim Hj Bakir.

The activity partners of the Times Square Technology & Lifestyle Fair were University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Pemkar, AIA Insurance, LiveWIRE Brunei, while Activity sponsors were Ten Ten Telecommunications, Current Enterprise, Ezy Printing, WR Electronics and T.H.A. Enterprise. The Official Social Media Partner of the event is Brunika and the Official Instagramers Community of Brunei Darussalam. Text and images of courtesy of Times Square Brunei.

First place for the lucky draw was Lau Kong Chiong

Group photo with the lucky prize winners

One of the funniest moments in The Avengers. Image taken from Behance.net

I’m always hyped up about box office performance and how well the movies performed in the box office especially in North America. Any blockbuster movie that made less than $100 million is considered a flop or a movie that didn’t cover its costs is also a flop.

One of the most expensive movies ever made in the 90s was Titanic but the budget paid off handsomely and it held the record for the biggest box office earnings with $600 million alone in North America, only to be beaten by Avatar ($760 million).

The Avengers was recently released in the States a week after Brunei premiered it. The production budget for the movie was $220 million and guess what… the superhero movie broke the record for having the biggest box office weekend opening with an outstanding $200 million in the first three days. It bettered Harry Potter, Death Hallows 2 by $30 million. Internationally, The Avengers scored huge earnings with $441 million in just 10 days. Phenomenal. Do expect The Avengers to break the $1 billion mark worldwide in the next few weeks or so.

I recently watched The Avengers again for the second time but in 3D. This is still a great watch and if you haven’t seen this, by all means please do.

Top Opening Weekends of All-Time
1. The Avengers (2012) $200.3 million
2. Harry Potter … Deathly Hallows 2 (2011) $169.2 million
3. The Dark Knight (2008) $158.4 million
4. The Hunger Games (2012) $152.5 million
5. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $151.1 million
6. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) $142.8 million
7. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 1 (2009) $138.1 million
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: DMC (2006) $135.6 million
9. Iron Man 2 (2010) $128.1 million
10. Harry Potter … Deathly Hallows 1 (2010) $125.0 million

It hasn’t gone the way for my favourite teams in Europe – Barcelona, Liverpool and AC Milan. Barcelona don’t look invincible as before though Messi can’t stop scoring but it was the points the cost them the La Liga title to bitter rivals Read Madrid. Barcelona also failed to beat Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League. The performance of Barceolna this year hasn’t been up to their best and this also has result in Pep Guardialo, Barcelona’s coach to end his reign once the season ends.

Liverpool have spent a bomb USD 100 million but only managed to squeeze in one title – the League Cup and they are also beaten finalist in the FA Cup. However, their league form haven’t improved since last year. Now they are in 9th place and they have lost 13 games which is not a familiar trend for the Reds. They are definitely one of the flops of the season, having spent millions but never reflected on the league standings.

AC Milan lost the important derby match to Inter Milan last night which gifted Juventus the Italian league title. Well done to Juventus and I know Mas Idris is a huge fan of Juventus. Did you know that Del Peiro is still playing for Juve though he’s not in the first team? Well, there is always a next season.

I can’t wait for Euro 2012 and I will talking more on the EURO 2012 Poland-Ukraine sticker album by Panini. Remember that this was a big hit during the World Cup 2010 and I still have my complete album book 😀

I shall be updating you more on this EURO 2012 sticker album soon and there will be some activities as well for sticker collectors

Real Madrid won the Spanish League Title with 3 more games to go. Finally a win for Jose Mourinho and he also won with Chelsea and Inter Milan. Awesome achievement!

I’m not much of a Dutch league supporter but Ajax won the Dutch title. Most of the top Dutch players are playing in major clubs.

Yes it’s definitely down to the wire. The final game of the season which will be this Sunday. Who would have expected this outcome where the Noisy Neighbours have matched Red Devils this season. It’s all about the mental pressure now and I hope for a new breed to win the title to bring some freshness to the competition for next season.

What can I say about this lad? He has overdone himself in the scoring charts, breaking records but his goal achievements were overshadowed by Barcelona’s failure to win the league and also reaching the Champs League final. Their only consolation could be the Spanish King’s Cup against Bilbao end of the month.

Brunei DPMM FC are enjoying the summit in the league. They have a 3 point cushion with a healthy goal difference. I’m starting to question the S-League’s competitiveness. Two nights ago DPMM FC had their biggest win of the season with 5-1 thrashing of Hougang United FC.

How did Di Matteo turn the tables for Chelsea? They had a troubled season under the leadership of AVB and now they won the FA Cup, in the finals of the Champions League and chasing fourth spot in the EPL. Last Saturday, Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup.

Well done Juventus on winning the Scudeto last night

Last week, Brunei DPMM FC beat Woodlands Wellington FC to reclaim top spot in the S-League and tonight they will face another tricky opponent Hougang United FC with a 3-2-6 record so far in the S-League.

Expectations are high on DPMM FC as they are yet to be beaten at their home ground. It’s also very rare that Brunei dropped points at home too. The only points they dropped was against Tampines Rovers where they drew 2-2 back in February. Ever since then, DPMM FC have won 5 successive matches at home.

Let’s hope for another comfortable win for DPMM FC or perhaps what is more important is the 3 points. Good luck, DPMM FC.

DPMM FC celebrated in style after their 3-0 victory over Woodlands and it was a perfect birthday gift for coach Simunic. Image courtesy of Hayatdee.

Last Thursday, Times Square Shopping Centre held its first Technology & Lifestyle Fair 2012 which ends on tomorrow (Sunday). The Guest of Honour, Datin Paduka Hajah Rokiah binti Haji Zakiah, President of Brunei Women’s Business Council officiate the event together with the Times Square Management, Ms. Amal Majidah, Properties Manager and Ms. Chiu Siew Yii, Marketing Manager during the opening ceremony.

Some of the exhibitors ranging from Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam where they will be heavily promoting their online banking. There’s also Ten Ten Communications which focusing on selling their products such as the Ideos series. For those who wants to register for “The Run” event, there will be a Pusat Ehsan Booth at the fair too.

There will be lucky prizes to be won sponsored by Ten Ten Communications, WR Electronics, Current Enterprise, Ezy Printing and TelBru.

There will also be a “Tag & Race” Contest where contestants have to utilize the art of technology and fight against time, to come out as the winner. There will be Tags hidden all over the shopping centre, and to win, contestants have to find all the tags in the shortest time span on Sunday, 6th May 2012. Registration is open to all members of public.

Activity Partners including University of Brunei Darussalam to demonstrate the brief brief process of making a basic short animation clip that involves rigging, morphing, compositing, and lip syncing and editing. AIA will give a talk about “The Importance and Benefits of Life Insurance” daily, where LiveWIRE Brunei will share some Business Talk on Saturday and Sunday. There will also be a ‘PEMKAR RC Fun Race and Drift Challenges”. In addition to that, Drift and Touring Car Demo will also be featured daily during the four days event. For those interested in participating, please call Sham at 8841299 / 8838983 or Hasrin at 8225989. Images courtesy of Times Square.

The guest of honour and representatives from Times Square cutting the ribbon to officiate the opening of the fair

The guest of honour and representatives from Times Square cutting the ribbon to officiate the opening of the fair

Datin Paduka Hajah Rokiah having a look at Ten Ten Communications

Datin Paduka Hajah Rokiah was BIBD booth where they are promoting their online banking features and registrations which include the new Department of Electrical Services top up service. BIBD will also be showcasing their new corporate internet banking where they do their banking services at their own convenience.

Representatives from “The Run” committee for the Pusah Ehsan charity run explaining to the guest of honour. You can also register yourself for “The Run” here.

The promotional poster for “The Run”

UBD lecturer Dr Hj Zahari Hamidon explaining on animation

Group photo after the tour of the exhibition

In just a matter of few days (or even hours), we made new friends and the friendship bridge was instantly built with friends coming from all parts of the world. It has been such an amazing week and a big shout to Cris who celebrated her birthday last night at Bombay Palace.

The random smiles

Cris blowing her birthday cake last night

A cake fight almost happened but it didn’t *lol*

Cheers and toasts from the guys with Sehat water

Awesome energy from these guys last night

Rano says this week has been interesting in many ways. My sense of judgment seems to get the better of me. Well, in the first place, I shouldn’t be judging anyone for that matter but I’ve slowly became more aware that I’m still judging though I thought I didn’t. I only found this through my reaction on certain things and it showed that I was having different expectations on him/her. This, for me, it’s still a growing process. We may think it that way but are we actually living it (is another question).

This was also another great few days as I saw a few familiar faces taking that extra courage to learn something new and I was in that position a few years ago and the feeling was rewarding for me though there were lots of fears feeding me prior to the course. The leadership/self development course I took opened up a whole new world and perspective for me. I also ended up finding my best friends along the way and I never felt more grateful in my years because of this.

This week, I’ve also picked up my jogging training which I’ve neglected for the past week because of my traveling period. Then again, I did promise to myself that I would jog when I was in Singapore which I ended up didn’t. Hence CR won’t believe me if I want to jog the next time I travel to Singapore :p The HSBC #walkruncycle2012 is happening in two weeks’ time and I’m getting my fitness in time for the run. I’ve yet to try the 12km training as I’m slowly building up my endurance by having 6km runs to start off with. My goal is to complete the 11.5km race that I’ve signed up and it will be the first time that I’ve entered in a longer route. My previous run was 5km at the SCB’s “Run for a Reason”.

So the latest Samsung S III was announced last night.. I couldn’t be bothered to wake up in the wee hours for it. They were rumours saying it could be the iPhone killer. But after going going through the features, specs and all, it’s merely an upgrade of the popular SII and they have also included the S Voice which is similar to the Siri. The camera boasts 8 megapixels and it uses a Quad-Core process too. The S III surprisingly have been compared to the impressive HTC One X which also have been getting rave reviews. Reading from the comments too that many weren’t happy with the design and the “plastic” feel of it. But nonetheless it’s the most power S series so far but it will be exaggerating to say the S III is the iPhone killer for now.

Before I end my post, I’ve been receiving a few inboxes on my FB with regards to a bully incident from students alike. This is not the first time such incident has happened and I remember the Chung Hwa video went viral two years ago and it created a lot of controversy among the community. Recently, a boy was attacked by a group of boys and the victim was helpless as all he could do was shielding himself with his arms from the punches and kicks. I ain’t gonna post the video on my web but this is something that needs to be addressed by schools and parents alike on bullies and what needs to be done. I’m pretty sure the related schools won’t be happy to see their names being published and I hope the MOE is aware of this situation and come up with a guideline or framework so such violence can be avoided in the future.

Anyway, have a greet weekend peeps!! I’m looking forward to it 😀

Deadline for Animasi is 21st May

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A MEMORANDUM of Understanding was signed between B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd and Fitness Zone (FZ) on Monday, at the Fitness Zone branch in Kiulap.

Signing on behalf of B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd was its Chief Executive Officer Lim Ming Soon, while signing on behalf of Fitness Zone was its Managing Director Wu Chun.

Acting General Manager of B-Mobile Hjh Nurul Haniah Hj Jaafar and GohKim Tian represented both parties as witnesses to the signing. Also present at the signing were representatives of the Health Promotion Centre (HPC), Ministry of Health.

According to a press release from B-Mobile, a collaboration is in the works for a mutual programme to be conducted by both companies on educating the public on how to live a healthy lifestyle. The joint effort is a part of both companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

The ‘b.fit’ programme, a name play of both companies’ names, will be unveiled sometime in the middle of the year, said Hjh Nurul Haniah during a press conference after the signing ceremony.

Wu Chun stated that the programme is just the start of many more projects between the two companies.

Lim Ming Soon said,”We hope the project will help inspire healthy living by making health a paramount factor in our everyday life.” Text and images courtesy of Anway Rosly of The Brunei Times.

Wu Chun, Managing Director of Fitness Zone, Lim Ming Soon, CEO of B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd and Hjh Nurul Haniah Hj Jaafar, Acting General Manager of B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd

The exchange of documents between B-Mobile and Fitness Zone

The workout session with Fitness Zone and B-Mobile

Ok guys.. I highly recommended you this drink “Pop Juice” from Country Patch (free publicity here *lol*) and I’ve posted this on Instagram twice because I just enjoy this drink. SY introduced me to this drink 3 years ago and this is just awesome!! The content inside is fresh orange juice with fresh polemo. However, I always asked the waitress to crush or blend the ice and add extra pomelo to have a better drinking experience. My last dosage was 2 Wednesdays ago.. I’m getting this later for breakie 😀

It has been a while since I hiked at Tasek Lama. My previous hike was with @cuterabbit84 a few months ago and she was fitter than me *lol* Lately I’ve been jogging but hiking is a different ball game. It was a good hike with Amalina and she’s a frequent visitor to Tasek Lama and Bukit Shahbandar.

Last week I watched Cabin in the Hills (Verdict 9/10) and I was deciding whether to buy Silent Hill or Mass Effect 3 at ETA Games before the movie. After watching the movie, I straight away purchased Silent Hill *lol* and the game is pretty good too

Finally I caught up with @cuterabbit84 who’s currently working for Mint in Singapore. I was in Singapore for the weekend for an assignment. Thanks babe for the company and truly inspired by your commitment in your volunteerism role on weekends.

I’m a regular visitor to Doc John’s shop at Lucky Plaza, Singapore, where he’s quite known for altering pants and jeans. I kept sending my pants here for altering and the price is quite competitive too. I love his workmanship.

I made a visit to Kinokoniya at Taka and this is one of the places that I never miss whenever in Singapore. However, I forgot to bring my privilege card. I also ended up buying this book.

While I was in Singapore, my friend Jowyne launched her new shop Laqvin, a boutique bag shop located at The Mall. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your opening and her shop carries Zkin bags.

As I said before that I was on an assignment before and my assignment was hotel hopping where I will be doing reviews on the hotels under the Far East Hospitality group and the hotels I stayed are pretty good. Ok, this was my vain moment at Oasia Hotel and the timer apps on the iPhone did wonders to make this shot possible.

I ended up buying this running shoes for two reasons. Not because it’s Adidas but the reason it’s black and orange, my current favouriate combination and secondly this will be my running shoes for HSBC’s #walkruncycle2012 and I didn’t realise these new Climacool pairs are slightly expensive

Great discounts and promotion at Adidas store in Singapore. I ended up applying for a new Adidas privilege card because I couldn’t find mine in my room. Now I have one for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

When I walked out of Wheelock Place, I saw this view of the ION and the suite apartments and it reminded me of Titanic #justsaying

Debbie Too was on the same assignment as well as Jan Shim. Thanks guys for the enjoyable company and let’s for more trips to Singapore in the future *cough cough to Far East Hospitality group*

I’m proud of my buddy and LFHW partner Mr. Kurapak for winning one of the categories in “I Love Brunei” photography competition organised by The Brunei Times. This is the winning picture as it was announced last weekend. Last year, he also bagged a few prizes in the photography competiiton organised by TBT too.

Alex Chan (right) of Far East Hospitality was the host of our trip and thank you very much for taking care of us during our 3 night stay in Singapore. I hope you have recovered from your flu and catch up soon.

I met up with my mirror in Singapore. This is @superadrianme and the best description is that Adrian is the RA of Singapore and vice-versa. A truly dedicated lifestyle blogger and his readers are very international too. It was a great catch up and I shall see you perhaps in May or June.

13 years and going strong. I remember the stories that Vincent Pao, General Manager of Concepts Computer, shared on how it all began and the history was pretty interesting too. What I am amazed is how their company is one of the most successful in the IT field.

From what I can see, Concepts Computer’s competitive edge lis on the demand driven by consumer, government spending as well as capital spending by businesses. With the right market products and innovations such as Acer, Epson (printers), Microsoft, TechOneGlobal and Timetech, it has positioned Concepts Computer as one of the IT market leaders in Brunei Darussalam.

Vincent Pao is very thankful to his customers for being supportive of Concepts Computer. Congratulations buddy on being the driving force behind Concepts Computer and keep it going :)) Sorry about the Manchester United’s recent drop of form though *lol* Images below courtesy of Concepts Computer.

Vincent Pao delivering his speech during the 13th year anniversary

The cake cutting ceremony

The door gifts for the invited guests

The mingling session with the invited guests, media and staff of Concepts Computer

The group photo of the team of Concepts Computer

Here are some of the products that made Concepts Computer the one that people sought for

Delicious, freshly made, and oh so satisfying. Double the taste. Double the enjoyment.

Be dazzled by the two patties of golden and juicy chicken housed on a perfectly tasted bun and dressed to thrill your taste buds is the Double McChicken.

Dive into two golden flakey, fish fillets and tasty cheese which is topped with tangy sauce in a lightly steamed bun. A favourite amongst others is the Double Fillet-o-Fish.

McDonald’s Brunei is bringing back the doubles favourite to satisfy your every craving. Meal prices range from B$6.00 onwards or hurry down to McDonald’s for your next scrumptious meal or call 2449669 for deliveries. Text courtesy of McDonald’s (Brunei).

McDonald’s Doubles are back!!

“Creativity amongst individual is always encouraged by McDonald’s” said Dk Kemariah Pg Hj Duraman, General Manager of McDonald’s Brunei. “Activities like art and photography will encourage them be innovative and creative, and give the local artists a chance to express their feelings through their work”.

As the main supporter of the “Spirit of the Games” Art Competition which is organised by the British High Commission in Brunei Darussalam and the Brunei Art Forum, McDonald’s Brunei will be contributing food vouchers to lucky participants who joined in the competition, whereby they can either dine in or takeaway.

McDonald’s commitment to the Olympic Movement began since 1968 and this year marks the ninth consecutive Games for McDonald’s as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games.

The “Spirit of the Games” Art Competition is open to all citizens and residents, and is divided into three categories, Art, Photography and Sculpture. Deadline for all art submission is 15th May 2012.For more information please visitwww.bruneions.com or the British High Commission. Text courtesy of McDonald’s (Brunei).

Azimah of McDonald’s with the Art Forum poster

The caption says it all. Image taken from Soccernet.

The header that separated both sides. Image taken from Soccernet.

It wasn’t a classic but it was a good professional win for Manchester City as they have leveled on points with their better rivals Manchester United. It was quite a surprise to see MU dropping points unnecessary and we are talking of 7 points which is unlikely of Manchester United. For the past few seasons, they would finished better in the final third of the season.

So what went wrong? Was it Sir Alex’ formation and choice of players? Are the players to be blamed? Was it the Cardiff break trip that backfired before the derby match? Looking at the stats, MU didn’t muster any shots on target at all which is very rare coming from the defending champions. A win for United would have virtually handed United the title or even a draw at Etihad Stadium. So what gives??

The title race is definitely not over and Manchester City have Newcastle to play against which will be a tricky tie. MU will be hoping for the results to be in their favour. Will City win their first title since 1968 or the experience of MU will haunt City as a title pretenders? Interesting final games to watch and also for the neutrals :))

I was invited to the official launch of Butra Home Concept (BHC) launch last week. I remembered Shaun Hoon, Growth Engineer of Catalyst (under Mixmediagroup) ever spoke off creating a magazine of some sort and now his baby project was made possible. He presented the idea and the vision of BHC for the benefits of the sponsors and the readers in front of a packed audience at the Brunei Hotel.

In my opinion, this is the right track for Catalyst to launch a home, lifestyle magazine as the demand for housing is increasing especially for the young generation. For your info, the BHC magazine was made possible by Butra HeidelbergCement (or where we are familiar with the name Brunei Cement) and the magazine is also free with contents relating to home improvement and lifestyle and also future businesses that relates to home and living.

I browsed through the magazine and I’m very impressed with the layout and the content though I thought the pictures could have been sharper on some of the pages. Other that that, this magazine has the appropriate content and highly recommended for those interested in buying a home or looking for ideas.

“The project has been around for six months and it was Stuart Lee’s idea (from Butra HeidelbergCement). One of the challenging part is to get consent for taking photos of people’s houses for the magazine’s content, ” said Shaun of Catalyst. “But I’m quite fortunate that most are willing to agree for their interior to be featured in BHC. Another challenge is to get advertisers on board in the beginning.”

Shaun is thankful to Butra HeidelbergCement for entrusting Catalyst to execute the delivery of the magazine. The cement company also have worked with Mixmediagroup on previous CSR projects and the relationship between the two have soared to new heights and prompted to engage their services on new projects.

For those who wants a digital copy, you can actually download the PDF file on www.ButraHome.com :))

Shaun Hoon of Catalyst explained the objectives and vision of Butra Home Concept magazine during the launch

The invited guests at BHC launch at the Brunei Hotel last Thursday

One of the guests flicking through the home lifestyle magazine

Guest of honour Hjh Normah, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), handed the certificate to HSBC

Hjh Normah handed the certificate to Valor Property

Hjh Normah handed the certificate to MaxTrack Company

Shaun was much relieved after the launch of the magazine

Marcelino Ugarte, Managing Director of Butra HeidelbergCement, spoke to the media on BHC’s vision and their reason for BHC’s existence.

“We realised we (Brunei cement) is the foundation of the home. We want to get involved in building and helping customers and end users to complete their homes. We feel that there is a need to consolidate the ideas of the architects, constructors, end users and others and collaborate with each other to build a perfect home, ” said Marcelino.

“It’s exciting time now for home owners and most of them want to have nice home or stylish one and of course, a functional home. There’s also a gap that we feel the magazine will help to bridge that gap in creating a home.”

Marcelino also revealed that he doesn’t want the BHC magazine to end up with too many advertisers with lesser content especially articles on home. The content is very important to draw in more readers. As for now, BHC have 5,000 prints which is being circulated. He’s very confident that the magazine will be sustainable.

It’s pretty interesting to see a cement company launching a home lifestyle magazine and this shows how diversify Butra HeidelbergCement as they are not just focusing on producing and supplying cement. When asked, Marcelino won’t revealed just yet on their other ideas or projects for the community but there will be more coming from Butra HeidelbergCement in the near future.

Butra HeidelbergCement have worked with the Ministry of Health (on their diabetes campaign) and Ministry of Development under JASTRE (on their No Plastic Bag weekend initiative). They have also sponsored international events such as Tour de Brunei. So do look out for Butra HeidelbergCement for updates and they surely have contributed positively to the Brunei community. Two thumbs up!!

Deno Goh of The Brunei Times interviewing Marcelino Ugarte, Managing Director of Butra HeidelbergCement

Shaun posing with the first edition of Butra Home Concept magazine

The Brunei-Australia Association (B-AA) held the “Brustralia3: Foodie Challenge” last Sunday. The event was held at the residence of the Australian High Commissioner Mark Sawers. Also present were representatives from Royal Brunei Airlines, Schlumberger, HRD Global Education Services, as well as members of B-AA.

Members of B-AA prepared 12 dishes, which guests of the event got to taste. The guests were then asked to vote for their favourite dish. The winner of the challenge was Thanis Lim for his Sour Plum Lamb Stew with Rice. Lim won a return air ticket to Melbourne sponsored by Royal Brunei Airlines.

Member of the B-AA Reeda Malik said, “It’s a pretty informal thing as members just turn up and bring a dish to participate. It’s good fun and quite a number of the members are very good at cooking.”

The association has more events in the pipeline this year, which includes its annual gala dinner. The B-AA consists of Bruneians that have studied or worked in Australia and Australians who are currently in Brunei. Events such as Brustralia3 were organised to rekindle old friendships as well as providing an opportunity to make new ones. Text courtesy of Zatty Joanda of The Brunei Times. Images courtesy of SocMedBN.

Thanis Lim won a return ticket to Melbourne for his popular dish sour plum lamb stew

Australian High Commissioner Mark Sawers welcoming his guests to his residence

Some of the guests who showed up at Brustralia 3

Guests had the chance to try all the food that were brought for the event

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Do you know we are always busy but sometimes we never take notice of our well being? Well, another fact is that everybody ages and sometimes the ageing process depends how fast each individual ages. Bring in other factors such as unhealthy lifestyle habits, insufficient sleep, irregular meals, stress etc, these can contribute to a faster ageing process.

Hence, to rejuvenate myself, I have been consuming Zell-V tablets for the past two months and hoping for a positive result.

So why Zell-V? This is because they have a cellular therapy. It is used as complementary medicine as well as preventive medicine. So it rejuvenates the body systems to optimum working conditions and as a result allows them to work synergistically to combat premature ageing. In other words, this is anti-ageing.

Did you know that normal Western medicine generally treats the symptoms but occasionally, not the problem itself? Let’s say you have a headache, you will take aspirin or pain killers to relieve it but the underlying problem is still not addressed.

Hence the cell therapy is not about treating the disease but instead rejuvenate the system and allowing it to heal itself. Mind you, it takes a longer time to achieve results since restoration does not occur overnight.

So any improvement so far from my side? Well, my energy level has surely improved for one. I won’t say it has a “Red Bull” effect but overtime I don’t feel burnt out as I used to before. So that’s pretty cool considering the field that I’m in. I’m sure there are a few things that I might not be aware of but this one was pretty obvious.

I’ve been jogging as well and I could last 6km or more though it wasn’t my personal best. You know lah.. that I don’t work out that much before but because I’m now preparing for HSBC #walkruncycle2012. I shall be continuing my dosage of ZELL-V till the 6th month and check up with my blood cells too.

You can get them boxes that will last your for a month

This was the topic that we brought up during our dinner conversation last night while enjoying the Penang Food promotion at Goldiana Cafe at OGH (You should try it.. not bad). It was kinda nostalgic to bring back the past of the mIRC days where it was one of the main channels where strangers will chat with one another where we all think back then was “safe” and it was also the era where broadband haven’t existed yet.

I signed up for mIRC back in the year 1997 and wow, I was so addicted to it and I could spent hours in front of the screen, connecting with strangers whom later became my friends. I have to say honestly that mIRC opened doors for me in terms of my circle of friends and it expanded from there. Well, to be more specific the people that I know most from mIRC was from #JISCAFE channel.

Little did I know that the founder and the manager of #brunei channel is @BKiD who is no other than our prominent blogger @anakbrunei and there were many regulators or what we call “Ops” who will monitor the brunei channels in case any chatter would abuse or create unnecessary incidents in the said channels.

For your info, my old nicks were “slothnezz” (because I happened to love the movie se7en back then) and [HHH] because Triple H of WWF then was my favourite wrestler. Lame right if you ask me *lol* Oh yeah, most of us chatters will always request to be “voiced” where you will be given the + on your nick so you will be positioned below the “Ops” Well, it’s more like a status and privilege haha and we all fell for that.

How the channel looks like on mIRC

The familiar names of the Ops that I could remember from the top of my head are @simontemp @gatorz @D’Anarchy @BKiD @Apachez @WaRLoRD @Beowulf.

For now, I’m not too sure how active are the “Ops” or how happening the #brunei channel is as of now. @BKiD is now operating as a bot and he said it has been a while since he entered mIRC. I’ve stopped mIRC ever since I signed up for Microsoft MSN Messenger and chat with my familiar friends that I made on mIRC.

I did try to download mIRC but apparently it only works on Windows.. Or perhaps I didn’t explore further if it is also compatible with Mac. Thank you anyway to mIRC for creating new opportunities and friendship then. Now with MSN, skype, whatsapp, twitter, the interest of mIRC has faded long ago unless the new breed of youngsters continue the legacy…. which is unlikely.

This was the latest information that I received from @BKiD though it’s back dated 2007

Wanna catch four superstar icons from Malaysia – Zainal Abidin, Sheila Majid, Jamal Abdillah and Amy at KK in a few days’ time? Well, it’s just 30 minutes away (by air) and S-Team, the Brunei Sole Ticketing Agent, have created a package for the Brunei market. Further more, if you can check out their Fanpage for more details. 

The venue will be at UMS, Chancellor Hall, on the 5th May 2012. For more info, you can click on the link – http://legendary.gbs2u.com – or call 2345 999 or 2342 999 for more details.

Catch all the legendary singers in one night. Click image to see more details

Last weekend, Zainal Abidin did some voluntering work with the Beach Bunch for the Jerudong Beach Clean up.. Awesome lad 😀

Zainal Abidin was recently in Brunei to promote the Legendary Concert and also met some fans along the way. Image by Muiz Matdani.

Zainal Abidin with some Bruneian fans. Image by Muiz Matdani.

It’s pretty scary yet amusing to know that Brunei ranked the highest in terms of usage of Facebook according to the population ratio in Asia. This shows the high level of internet penetration in Brunei due to the accessibility of technology to almost all age group. Well, let’s not count baby infants. Now you can see two year olds playing with iPad or other tablets and they become their new toys as they grow up.

According to statistics by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United States, 79% of Brunei can be categorised as active online this year alone. Though these numbers look promising, this also can create possible dangers on children that fall in the hands of online sexual predators.

Recently AITI organised a two-day workshop, Child Online Protection (COP), at the Rizqun International Hotel. As of now, there is no existing framework which concerns this issue and the workshop is the first step in better understanding the underlying problem that can help the community to tackle sexual online predators. The good side is that there are educational material on tackling this issue but lack of distribution of the said materials to schools.

Representative from ITU was in Brunei for the two day workshop. Carla Licciardell, an expert and moderator from the ITU, gave a quick presentation on how Child Online Protection was carried out and she was aware that Brunei has started creating awareness programme for schools.

Another expert was also brought in for the workshop. Marco Gercke – a Child Online Protection expert who is also the Director of the Cybercrime Research Institute, said that Brunei is on the right track and taking this matter seriously to the national level. He also said that it’s difficult to create a standard legislative framework because of the emergence of different platforms of social media. However, the main focus should be on COP and Brunei agencies are studying ways for the benefit of children and parents.

The Minister of Communications delivering his keynote address during the Child Online Protection workshop

The stakeholders and invited guests listening to the key note address and presentations by the speakers from ITU and Ministry of Health

The Minister of Communications said that development of the COP framework comes at the right time when we need to address the importance of safeguarding our children’s online experience and activities.

The minister also hopes to see a strong collaboration between all the stakeholders involved and come up with their own key initiatives, programmes and measures to tackle online risks for children and young people and protecting them from accessing risky contents as well as engaging in negative online behaviour.

He highlighted that have an obligation to protect our children and online safety for children must be given a priority.

Let’s hope for the COP framework to be ready and enforced in the near future. I’m not quite sure how long the process will take. AITI hosting this workshop is already a great start and hopefully the framework can help to educate both children and parents on Internet usage.

Carla Licciardell, an expert and moderator from the ITU

Dr Marwani from Ministry of Health presented her slides

Group photo with the Minister and the participants of the workshop

The committee for the COP 2-day workshop

Some of the participants during the workshop

Stay connected with your family during Family Day through bmobile

The FACESHOP Brunei expanded its presence here with the opening of its fifth branch last weekend.

The new branch at Mabohai Shopping Complex is the latest addition to complement a store in Kuala Belait and three stores in Bandar Seri Begawan situated at The Mall, Gadong, Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex and Times Square in Berakas.

What’s special about this branch is that they have a new range of Club 20 that offers skincare and beauty products, catering to 20 years olds (or younger), offering everything from skincare, beauty to nail care.

Last weekend, the FACESHOP also had 25% discount on their products in conjunction with the launch of their 5th outlet.

The new outlet at Mabohai Shopping Complex

The new Club 20 range that was recently introduced

Loving the colours here

The FACESHOP had special promotions last weekend

There was also some free makeover and skin analysis

The fire affected 5 families. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

SWIFT action and immediate response from the Fire and Rescue department successfully managed to douse the flames of a burning house in Kg Kiarong in six minutes yesterday.

Unfortunately for tenants, the six minutes were more than enough to destroy what little they had.

On-the-scene interviews with victims and eyewitnesses say that the fire begun shortly around 4.30 yesterday afternoon. Albert, a tennant of the house for more than a year, said he was shocked to find his house in flames when he came home yesterday.

According to Albert, a Filipino national, the house was rented out to several families by the local home owner Hj Yakup Hj Ludin. A nearby neighbour, Hjh Fatimah, said she was resting quietly after Asar prayers when suddenly she heard loud noises and screams from outside.

Situated right next to the burning structure, Hjh Fatimah was alerted of the fire by her children who were fuelled by fear of the fire spreading over to their house. Click here for more details. Courtesy of Syed Rory Malai Hassan of The Brunei Times.

The fire took place late afternoon. Image courtesy of @snrpablo

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After HSBC announced its latest figures of close to 6,000 registered participation last Thursday and the moving of its closing date to April 28, there was an even larger number of enthusiastic sign-ups in the last two days at all of HSBC’s branches in the country.

With the registration for the HSBC Walk Run Cycle 2012 closed as of last Saturday, there are now altogether more than 9,000 registered sign-ups for this charity event, a record-breaking participation since the WRC’s inception, the bank said in a statement.

This is the number of participants of the Walk Run Cycle 2012

“I am in awe of the support that the Bruneian community has given for the HSBC Walk Run Cycle 2012. This indeed shows the generosity and the enthusiasm to give and be part of the largest charity event held in Brunei Darusslam. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who made the enormous effort to sign up. Both our sponsors and the HSBC team are extremely excited and are busy with the necessary preparation to ensure the safety and security of all the participants in the walk, run or cycle as well as in the carnival itself,” stated Lim Boon Teck, Manager Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Brunei.

As preparations are in place, further announcement on the progress of the event will be made through the media from time to time.

HSBC Walk Run Cycle will be held at Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) on Saturday, 19th May 2012 at night starting at 8.00pm.

If you are wondering, I’m referring to a hotel in Singapore during my recent hotel hopping adventure. Albert Court Village Hotel is one hotel that I quite enjoy and it’s located at Little India. The rooms are spacious … Well, we were staying at club level rooms as we could enjoy extra service and amenities.

What I love about Albert Court Village Hotel is how they maintain the vintage feel and the culture of the past and yet have that modern feel atmosphere. It has 210 rooms and suites which offer modern facilities and amenities valued by today’s contemporary business and leisure traveller.

You can catch the MRT at Little India if you plan to make your journey to other places such as Orchard or Bugis and it’s walking distance too. What I enjoy also is the Trishaw Tour where you can booked from the hotel itself and you will enjoy the 20 minute ride around Little India. Sometimes I wonder where they (old men) get their energy from. They even play old school music to the delight of my ears.

The published price for the normal packages starts from $215++ and thank you to Albert Court Village Hotel, they are willing to give a 10% discount to my readers if you book online through this link [click here].

On trip advisor, it’s ranked pretty high with many votes on “Excellent” and “Very Good”. You can view all the comments on Trip Advisor by clicking here. Though it’s a bit far off from Orchard (where most Bruneians are aware of), I wouldn’t mind staying here and it’s pretty cozy and it’s good to be away from the busy life of Orchard too.

This is the logo of Albert Court Village Hotel. Apparently a few Bruneians have stayed here too

The landmark of Albert Court at the courtyard where the taxi drop off is

The nostalgia feeling at the dining area

I saw Steve Lai on appearing on Channel News Asia upon checking in. I hope to catch you on my next trip buddy :))

Another plus: They have iMacs for in-house guests at the lobby area

Alex and Jan Shim enjoying the ride on the Trishaw

Debbie Too also had fun during the ride

For club patrons, you need the room key to enter the club area

My room at Albert Court Village Hotel as I was taking my power nap

The room is pretty spacious and I would recommend you to try Albert Court Village Hotel

New shoes at Charles & Keith

New shoes at Charles & Keith

New shoes at Charles & Keith

New shoes at Charles & Keith

A great watch.. I don’t mind watching this again

It’s kinda off odd that Singapore hasn’t released Avengers yet. The blockbuster movie is set to be released in Singapore tomorrow 1st May whereas Brunei was fortunate to have a release last Thursday midnight. The sessions were already packed in Brunei since the weekend and it was tough to get tickets since many corporate companies booked the screens and this shows how much Avengers lived up to its hype.

So did the movie live up to its hype? Overall, it did.. The build up scenario is a must because we as the audience must know how the Avengers assembled in the first place. It’s not an easy task to have many individual super heroes in one movie or in this case a 150 minute movie. I’m quite impressed with the direction it took and what amazes me how both the human characters and their super hero personas have some degree of strong presence. For instance, I would enjoy the character of Bruce Banner and also Tony Stark. However, I couldn’t feel the difference for Black Widow/Nastasha Romanoff who is played by my favourite actor Scarlett Johanson and she does kick ass in the movie.

This is definitely a crowd pleaser but not as classy as X-Men: First Class which for me is the bench mark of Super Heroes movies. Well, Dark Knight is still top for me. I wonder if a cross over of X-Men and Avengers would come true. Anyway, enjoy the movie and don’t forget to vote your favourite Avenger on the poll (right hand side of my website). Verdict: 8/10

Finally I’m back in Singapore after a few months being there. This time it’s an assignment where I will be focusing more on the hotels under the Far East Organiazation. Hence, we (Debbie Too, Jan Shim and I) are hotel hopping every day to check out the facilities and the rooms and share with you guys..

Sorry for the lack of updates especially yesterday. Schedule was pretty tight on Friday and yesterday was not bad actually but I spent my time on power naps and some quick shopping errands and catching up with friends..

I won’t go far into details jus as yet on the hotel coverage. So far we visited three hotels and today will be the final hotel (Oasia Hotel) that we are gonna experience. Enjoy the pictures and the captions. By the way, these hotels have their own benefits and I do hope that you pay a visit to these said hotels as they are giving exclusive discounts to my readers. Awesome aye?

And a big thanks to Alex Chan, Management Associate, Far East Hospitality, for arranging this trip as well as taking care of us during the weekend trip.

Debbie and I had salmon scrabble at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf before taking off at Brunei International Airport

Debbie playing with her IOS game at @royalbruneiair bound for Singapore

Our first pitstop was at Landmark Village Hotel and this hotel is situated next to Raffles Hospital. Yeah, it’s a bit further out from the typical Orchard area where Bruneians love to flock. Hotel price it’s pretty reasonable and for a weekend package, it’s from $165+ and for my readers, you will get a 10% discount if you click on this image and make a reservation

Cheryl Tong, Rooms Division Manager, Landmark Village Hotel with myself, Debbie Too and Jan Shim

We had a quick pitstop at Mooi Chin hosted by Far East Organization and Landmark Village Hotel. Diana Lim (center) monitors the social media aspect of the hotels under Far East Organization. She was a former active blogger from Singapore and now her experience comes in handy.

We had this dessert which is Yam pudding of some sort. Inside it’s mashed up yam with pumpkin mixed with coconut milk. One awesome dessert that I highly recommended

We had a quick walk near by the hotel and this is apparently the narrowest road in Singapore called Haji Lane and they have many interesting shops along the stretch. Here we see how convenient it is for a mini cooper to drive here.

At the end of Haji Lane, there’s a special wall near a prawn noodle shop where you can scribble or post up graffiti without being fined or told off *lol*

I think a lot of ladies would enjoy the shops along Haji Lane as they have many lifestyle shops

So apparently this lady bought two bikes at a bike shop along Haji Lane and she managed to fit in two bikes too.

This is a popular restaurant next to the hotel and it’s highly recommended you try the chicken rice here

This is one of the best Swedish restaurant in Singapore and it’s halal too I heard.. Located along Arab Street.

Thank you Andrew (left) for hosting us lunch and bringing us around the area. It’s good to explore other parts of Singapore.

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Awesome show… More of it soon. Verdict: 8/10

A sneak preview of what’s to come for the Spark

Close to 750 volunteers turned up for the Beach Bunch’s third consecutive clean-up in conjunction with Earth Day, despite the heavy rain last Sunday morning at Jerudong Beach.

More than one billion people participated in Earth Day globally, with people of all nationalities and from different backgrounds voicing their appreciation for the planet and demanding its protection. Brunei Darussalam was no exception. Present to support the event was Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, the Minister of Development, and Village Head of Jerudong, Awang Haji Mohammad Rais bin Haji Ishak.

The volunteers were divided into groups and assigned to five different zones. Each zone was covered by approximately 100 volunteers, led by five Beach Bunch members and volunteers from Sultan Saiful Rijal Technical College (MTSSR). The rubbish collected in each zone was dropped off at the designated collection point. An estimated 80 per cent of the volunteers were from schools and clubs from all over Brunei, including STPRI, Maktab Duli, Telisai Tutong Primary School, Seri Mulia Sarjana School, Brunei Polytechnic School, Maktab Sains, MD Crescent Club, MTSSR, PTE Tutong, International School Brunei and Jerudong International School.

A total of four truckloads of waste were collected by the volunteers during the clean-up.

Malaysian artiste Zainal Abidin, who flew over from Kuala Lumpur to join Brunei’s efforts to save the environment, was also at the clean-up to show his full support and passion for the environment.

“Today is a very special day for me, and I came to Jerudong Beach with all the volunteers from Brunei because we are having a clean-up day,” the singer told the Bulletin.

“Today is Earth Day, and I feel that a small country like Brunei is an outstanding example for the whole world with volunteers ranging from the young to the old, from the corporate and government sectors, working together to clean-up Jerudong Beach, which is at the heart of their city. This is a good example. Way to go Brunei! Everybody else, let’s follow Brunei Darussalam,” added Zainal Abidin.

The Minister of Development Pehin Dato Awg Hj Suyoi was pleased by the turnout and hopeful for more events, such as yesterday’s clean-up by the Beach Bunch, to take place in the future.

“I’m very happy with the turnout, despite the rain. It shows how committed our people are to looking after the environment,” the minister told the Bulletin. “We need to do it (clean-up) from time to time, and not only that, but I hope that people will stop littering once we have cleaned up our beaches. Everyone has a role to play in helping to keep the environment clean. Today’s turnout is very encouraging and we hope we can have more clean-ups like this and we hope more people will turn up.

“We hope more schools will be involved. Seeing all the students participating in today’s clean-up is a good sign,” he remarked.

“We have done clean-ups elsewhere and we hope other beaches will be treated the same way. We see rubbish being thrown everywhere at all the beaches, so we hope an event like this will not only preserve our beaches, but help instil awareness among our people as well. That is the idea, and I thank the Beach Bunch for taking the initiative in this matter.” Text courtesy of Jake Ten of Borneo Bulletin.

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Borneo Villas is an exciting and unique project undertaken in Sungai Liang. After its launch on 24th March 2012, the Borneo Villas has had an overwhelming response from the public with the complete booking of Phase One and partial booking of Phase Two. The Borneo Villas website, www.borneovillas.info, has also had over 50 000 views in the period of these three weeks.

Rumahku Real Estate is proud to announce that it will be opening Phase Two for bookings to investors and home-owners at a Borneo Villas Expo on the 28th and 29th April at the Empire hotel & Country Club from 10am to 7pm. This expo will present a great opportunity for people who reside in Bandar to take a look at the Borneo Villa as a future residence or investment.

For the potential home-owners, Borneo Villas is strategically positioned between Bandar Seri Begawan and Kuala Belait. Young executives will have a great chance to settle down in a home close to work and other amenities.

For the prospective investors, they can take advantage of the Oil & Gas industry. This industry is currently looking for a large number of properties within Mukim Liang which offer clean and safe environments to fulfill their employee housing requirements. A Borneo Villa will yield positive rental returns for these investors. The Borneo Villas project is one of the largest private developments in Mukim Liang, some 37 acres. This project has large freehold plots with high quality housing, as well as a very competitive pricing structure.

The coming expo at the Empire Hotel & Country Club offers the best opportunity to save thousands of dollars when purchasing a Borneo Villa. There will also be other great expo deals on offer over the weekend. In order to secure these great deals you will have to register yourselves with Rumahku on the day at expo. Rumahku Real Estate would like to take this time to say thank you to all the home-owners that have booked a Borneo Villa and to everybody that has been involved with this project. Thank you.

For more information, visit www.borneovillas.info or contact Yusuf Flynn on +673 875 3330

Click image to group page of Facebook

Click image to group page of Facebook

Click image to group page of Facebook

Well, you can try tomorrow morning and who knows you might get the bibs 😀

Ok, yesterday I really had trouble registering for HSBC’s Walk Run Cycle 2012 (#walkruncycle2012) as the registration is almost at its maximum capacity. I was driving to two HSBC branches but with a little luck, I went to one where I managed to squeeze in for my own registration *lol*

Yes, the closing date was supposedly in early May but who would have expected that the numbers to be escalating like no one’s business. As of now, #walkruncycle2012 have reached almost or probably over 6,000 participants. This is perhaps the highest I’ve seen by any organisation in terms of numbers in Brunei.

I did receive a press release from HSBC this evening stating that individuals who are still interested in supporting the HSBC Walk Run Cycle charity event, you can submit the registration form to any HSBC branch before the NEW CLOSING DATE 28th April 2012 (not 5th May 2012 as previously stated).

Individuals who come dressed up in costumes will stand a chance to win the latest iPad, while families who dress up in costumes will stand a chance of winning an exclusive hamper.

Those who are not participating in the HSBC Walk Run Cycle event will still get to enjoy the night carnival with stall games, bouncers and many more exciting activities.

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A sneak preview of what’s to come for the Spark

Wanna catch four superstar icons from Malaysia – Zainal Abidin, Sheila Majid, Jamal Abdillah and Amy at KK in one weeks’ time? Well, it’s just 30 minutes away (by air) and S-Team, the Brunei Sole Ticketing Agent, have created a package for the Brunei market. Further more, if you happen to “like” this Fanpage, the organiser will be giving away two tickets to two lucky winner and it will be announced this coming Monday.

The venue will be at UMS, Chancellor Hall, on the 5th May 2012. For more info, you can click on the link – http://legendary.gbs2u.com – or call 2345 999 or 2342 999 for more details.

Catch all the legendary singers in one night. Click image to see more details

Last weekend, Zainal Abidin did some voluntering work with the Beach Bunch for the Jerudong Beach Clean up.. Awesome lad 😀

So I’ve heard so much about Boracay which is one of the best beaches in the world!!!! Did you know that it is voted as one of the world’s best beach by the Sun Herald, Australia. It’s a good getaway island located in Aklan provence, 345km south of Manila. It is accessible by air from Manila through two principal gateways: Caticlan Airport or Kalibo Airport.

Reading from the articles, there are tons of things you can do at Boracay Island. Of course, some of the things you can do are diving, snorkeling and windsurfing. You can also sail around the island or kayaking, paddle boat, speed boating and many more.

It’s a norm that most travelers love to lie under the sun or under the shade of coconut trees. The sunset is something to be amazed of from the view of the beach. And when the night hits, there will be more exciting activities in store for tourists.

Now doesn’t the beach look awesome??

You can get massages on the beach too

There’s also under water activity

Another great view of the beach… Don’t you just want to relax here?

Lots of tourists on the beach

Wanna do parasailing?

Boracay Beach also known for its seafood

There’s a huge chance that I will be flying over there to feel the “Boracay Experience” so that would be an excellent coverage for my readers. I’m pretty sure a few Bruneians have ventured here after hearing rave reviews of the island.. Forget Bali, Kosamoi, Pulau Redang for the moment.. Boracay is the in-thing in terms of beach experience.

So the question is how do you get there? Easy peasy… Now Anthony Tours have launched a special package where you can go to Boracay for a 4 days 3 nights holiday package (31st May to 3rd June) and this is considered a long weekend because of the Army Day in Brunei.

The package is as low as BND 999 and you will be catching two flights (RBA and Cebu Pacific) and it includes Hotel Twin Share room only, return transfer Airport-Hotel. You can book online or call Anthony Tours 222 2666, 222 8668 or 222 7965.

Check out the great deal on

The Face Shop is finally opened at Mabohai

DST yesterday announced its first Instagram Challenge where contestants will stand a chance to win Samsung Galaxy Note, Professional Photograph Accessories, an IPOD Nano and more attractive prizes. The Instagram Challenge, is one of the many exciting activities organised by DST to celebrate DST’s 17th Anniversary with the public.DST has partnered up with BRUNIKA, Brunei’s official Instagram network association, to run the challenge through the popular social media platform Instagram, a popular photo-sharing site in Brunei and in the world.

The theme of the challenge is ‘The Future. Now.’ where photos submitted must capture a world of possibilities and progressiveness for the future. It is not limited to photos of technology, allowing for photos such as scenery, human relationships and emotion.

The Instagram challenge is open to two categories. The first category is for DSLR photography and second category is for mobile phone photography. All photographs will be uploaded to Instagram linked to the hashtag communities #dst_thefuturenow_dslr and #brunika for DSLR photography, and #dst_thefuturenow and #brunika for mobile phone photography.

Melina Jaini, Assistant Manager of DST’s Group Corporate Communications said, “We have decided to run two categories because we would like to include as much as possible the Brunei population in our activities. We would also like to recognize the diversity of photography from two popular platforms, DSLR and mobile. At the same time, we hope the competition will create greater awareness for DST celebrating 17 years of our company’s development.”

The challenge is set to close on two different dates depending on category. For mobile phone photography, the closing date will be on Friday 20 May 2012, while for the DSLR category, the closing date will be on Friday 20 July 2012. Photo entries per participants are unlimited and all original photos must be e-mailed to BRUNIKA upon submission. To show your talent and creativity, visit simpur.net.bn/instagram or find BRUNIKA on instagram for more details.

Are you ready for this challenge?

I fell in love with this move especially the final third. It’s something refreshing, unique, daring too and not many director or producer would take the risk to produce this masterpiece. It’s really hard to sum up this movie as a whole and I could go on and on and on because there are many talking points that I really wanted to share without spoiling the moments.

This is definitely not for those who can’t handle horror movies or let alone watching alone which one of my friends did a few nights ago *lol* (and my friend survived the whole ordeal by the way). There are still some minor questions that made me wonder but it really didn’t bother me in terms of influencing my level of entertainment of this horror genre.

If you love horror flicks and craving for something that’s out of the ordinary, this movie has the whole package. I know not all would agree with my rating but this is one movie that I truly enjoy. I also love the ending (and again not many would agree with me) because it’s unique in its way. Solid stuff. Verdict: 9/10.

The Nikon WalkAbout or the outing will take place on Friday 27 April 2012 at Kampung Ayer. This outing is also co-organising by GemilangFoto. Meeting point will be at The Waterfront at 8am. All NikonClub members are advised to wear “I AM NIKON” t-shirts. Those who haven’t got it, just wear black t-shirt. Members who participated in this outing would get the chances their photos to be featured on NikonClub website and can win attracted prizes from Nikon if their photos been selected as the best pictures overall.

Secondly, Nikon will be organizing the Nikon Basic Photo 1 Workshop on Sunday 29 April 2012 at SEAMEO Voctech, Jalan Pasar Gadong. Registration fee is only at B$20.00, refreshments and lunch is included. “I AM NIKON” t-shirt and Nikon Guidebook will also be given only to registered participants. To register for this workshop, please go to NikonClub website (http://www.nikonclub.com.my/pages/EventDetails.aspx?id=131) And deadline is on Friday 27 April 2012 at 12noon. Make sure you register as NikonClub members first, before you register for this workshop. To register as member, please go to this link.