Abacus Holiday Travel Fair

All I can say Bruneian do love to travel!  This is always the situation for every travel fair.  It was jam packed.  We managed to capture some images of the latest fair held at Rizqun International Hotel.  We reached there around 10.30am and the place was in full swing.  I think the whole fair started at 10am but people already arrived early and busy booking their tickets. 

But I must say the venue this time was not very favourable though, it was a bit hard to find, luckily there were others who looked for the same venue at the same time, so we tend to follow them and ended up at the correct place.

We were looking if we could get a better deal for our holiday in December but we found out the whole month of December was close - out, at least for Singapore.  So we didnt pursue any further..

Look! The whole place was packed.



On another part of the fair.

I was queueing up at Darussalam Holding booth, Darussalam is one of our favourite travel agent, they usually offer good travel package.  We booked our China holiday through them and it was awesome!

I was looking at some of the packages on offer.

One of the local packages to Temburong.  I wonder if there are people interested to do this, instead of scrambling to go overseas for their holidays.  Temburong is still a great place to visit and wind down.  And the prices were not too better either.  If you look carefully the package price was cut for about 50%!

There was some sort of price presentation going on.

One of the odd booth where nobody bothered to go, hahaha.  Telbru!  Why do people want to register for e-speed during travel fair promotion?

Then off to buy some groceries hahaha.

Leaked questions?

There was some commotions for the past few days on what happened during the GCE O level Chemistry exam in Brunei. I didn’t really know what was going on since I didn’t really pay any attention to it but from what I read on our local newspaper, some schools had the exam earlier than scheduled. And the students being a “loyal friends” after having the exam texted their friends and told them about the questions, but I am not so sure if its from the same school or not. Looked like the was a leaked questions on Chemistry and the whole country now know about it. I mean whats going on here? Whats up with the affected school? Didnt they know about the actual schedule from the MOE?

I’ve informed Ayang about it and she was really nervous about that, for the fact that they may have to resit the exam which is not so favourable at all. She said she did well on that paper and happy with what she did. And to resit is not really an option. What if things turned for the worst and its going to be a different set of questions? Its not fair for those students who did not cheat and tried their best.

For them it was such a long day.  They sat for 3 papers on that particular day.  And what was even unfortunate is that, in the afternoon, two papers clashed.  Both POA and Chemistry papers started at 2pm.  But MOE advised most schools to set Chemistry later after POA for those students taking both papers, therefore Chemistry after POA and Chemistry paper started later at around 4.30pm and finished at 6pm.  This included my daughter, she stayed at school until about 6.15pm when it was already dark. Its been a long day for her and I could see how tired she was.

I am not really sure what happened on the affected schools where the question leaked though.  But the most unfortunate thing will be if the rest of the students had to resit the exam.  Imagine what they have to go through.

We’ll have to wait and see what MOE going to do. There sure will be some sort of investigations and we really want for them to be open with what they found. And I hope they will consider those innocent students who did well and think of a reasonable and sensible course of action.

Malam Silatulrahim Baiduri Bank

Its Arabian night theme, although I dont think anybody wore any Arabian attire!  Except for some of the songs and the dancers who supported the theme.  The venue was the Grand Hall (Indera Samudera) of The Empire Hotel and Country Club.  Similar to where the launching of BMW 5 series a few months back.  It was a great night, amid too much chaos and so many people around.  Good food all around although we didnt get the chance to eat alot of them. 

We were caught by surprise when there was a long jam towards the Empire.  The jam even started from the highway until right to the venue.  But we managed to get a good spot at the Grand Hall parking lot.

Similar concept as the previous Baiduri event we attended, getting our pictures taken on the wall of fame!

Behind me was the main stage where live entertainment was conducted.

Hubby thinking what to eat.

Its an Arabian night so it seems very limited chairs were provided.  Most guests just sat on the floor and enjoyed the show.

We met some of hubby friends.

On the stage were the guest of honour with her families.

We only ate this and a little bit of others.

One of the performances from the local artistes, those were Maria, Fakrul Razi, and.... I forgot the name of the other girl.

A guitarist accompanying the performance.

I forgot this girl's name, haha... sorry.



Fakrul Razi performing,  I didnt know he could sing.



The MC of the night - Tina and Fakrul Razi from Kristal FM.

One of the invited singer from Malaysia - Nassir Wahab.  He still looked the same as he was 20 years ago.

Nassir Wahab with Batavia dancers from Indonesia.

Some of the excited fans.



And look who is coming to town!  Its Maher Zain!




Look how close we were to him, lol.  He sang his 5 beautiful songs and all my favourite.



With a little girl he invited on stage while singing "Insya Allah".

Maher Zain mismerising the audience.  He said he wanted to have a proper concert in Brunei and made everyone promised to attend the concert, lol.

The audience went berserk!

The lucky draw session which I dont want to talk about since I am so jealous!

Mission Accomplished - Chile

I've been watching the rescue operations in Chile for the 33 trapped miners on CNN.  I was really impressed with the Chilean government for spending so much money on equipments, time, energy and other expenses to rescue these men.  What an amazing job.  I felt like the whole country stand still to observe the whole ordeal and celebrated jubilantly when it was successful.

I came to know about this story when hubby told me about them and showed me some of their earlier vidoes.  It was really scary, the mine looked chilling, dark with confined spaces.  But they looked happy, resilient and strong willed.  I guessed this made them survive the ordeal.  It was 17 days before they were able to make contact with the outside world.  They were trapped 700 metres underground when the tunnel collapsed and the men trapped inside.  At first, they didnt know when they would be rescued and only ate once every 48hours.  They did have a good supervisor though who took charge and guided the men for their survival.  Although it must be very horrowing to be in that situation and some lost more than 15 kg from the ordeal.

I can only imagine how the families must have felt.  To think their husbands were buried alive underground and at first didnt know when they would see them again.  It must be a traumatic experience for both the men and their wives and families.

But I cant help but feelin impress how the world reacted when something of this magnitude happened.  How everyone started to contribute and gave a helping hand.  From the news there were some big companies who helped, like UPS who helped to ship the heavy equipments from certain places to Chile, Oakley the sunglasses giant helped to provide the dark sunglasses the men wore when they came out from the earth, and so many others.  I am glad to know about this, at least I know the world is not a bad place after all.

Second week

I am into my 2nd week of doing handover task in my new department, learning all the new things and all are quiet challenging.  Its even harder when I can only come here every thursday and friday, since we are still looking for my replacement in my old department.  By last weekend I almost forgot everything that I learnt on the first week, which was quiet scary, lol. 

Its looks like I need to learn all over again.  This job is totally different from my previous ones, amid its so very interesting and good to know whats going on.  But still, learning new things are not as easy as it seems!  Especially at my age lol.  I am determined to learn, because when this guy left, I will be on my own.  There are so many reports to master, so many ad-hoc requests and I need to get everything sorted out at the most quickest time.  Scary!  Like today, after work, I brought home some notes and try to recall what I have learnt, and Ayang was surprise to see me studying my file in bed, hehe.  She commented that she hasnt seen me studying for something for a long time, lol.

But I will get there, I am sure.  I just need some practice and so far so good.  I am begining to grasp on what I am suppose to do here.  What my roles and responsibilites are.  And it is really interesting.

Its going to be alright.  I am enjoying the new job.  My desk is nice.  The new office is  nice too.  Small department.  Did I mention about the view?  Well, I am on the 12th floor and the view from up there is so breath taking.  On one side, there is this beautiful view of the Masjid Omar Ali Saifuddin, and the padang.  And on the other side, its Kampong Air.  I just need to bring my camera next time and take some pictures!

Another interesting aspect, well... not sure if its interesting but these two ladies are one of a kind.  I never met anybody, ok... 2 people who so dislike each other and talk behind each other back most of the time.  I didnt know what the problem is, but they are just not too friendly people, to each other, its so funny.  I've been warned about them, and I kind of knew what to expect.  But still to encounter such a situation really taken me back.

I just dont know what to do with these two ladies.  Maybe I just keep quiet, I dont think its a good idea to support either one, I might as well be "naturale", and not to get too involved.  I've experienced it today, and last week too.  Both ladies tried to bad mouthed each other to me, behind each other's back.  And I almost laughed out loud when they did this.  What some people said about them was indeed true.

Sigh... difficult to comprehend but I am not going to ponder on this.  I just go there to work, do my job and earn a living.  Whatever happen between them are none of my business and I would like it to stay that way.  End of story. 

GCE O Level Exam

Our daughter started her big exam today.  Its a big deal and its real.  Wish you all the best.  I will always pray for your success.  I know you can do it, I can see how hard you've been studying.  Just try your best and you'll get there! 

Ayang, good luck on your O Level Exam!



10/10/10

Another intriguing date today – 10/10/10.  I heard the date inspired so many people to get married since everyone must have thought its a good idea to do just that, thinking its a auspicious date to begin a life together.  But for me, its just an easy date to remember and looks good on paper too lol.

The Time Square Brunei

We dropped by the newly opened Time Square in Berakas while waiting for our daughter to be back from her tuition.  It was opened about one month ago with soft opening.  We havent been here and this was our first time.  As usual there were lots of people with long queue of cars trying to get in. 

We didnt know what to expect although we heard from people, there was actually not much to be expected.  But then again, no harm for us to check it out ourselves.  Em... nothing much, thats very true!  Dont expect to see something like Time Square in KL, this Time Square is about 4 or 5 times smaller!  Anyway, I dont expect to see much, I know how small Brunei population is.  But at least I would like to see some branded goods on sale, some well-known chain stores opened up their branch here, but nothing could be found.

A bit dissapointed but I guess this is all we gonna get.  Let the pictures do the talking...

At the main entrace of Time Square Brunei

At the main entrace - very dull looking, could do with more with decorations and nice lighting.  Amid its new, so I am sure good decorations will do the trick!

There was a holiday package exhibitions by RBA - hubby trying out booking on line to KL, RBA did similar concept as AirAsia where by pure luck you may get cheap airfare to KL for B$282 return.

Another dull area of Time Square, nothing to see actually

View taken from 1st floor, there was a wedding exhibitions going on when we were there. I guess most people especially couples throng here to see the exhibitions, some  offered good package for the newly wed couples.

Some of the wedding gowns on display, I didnt really like this blue dress, but I liked those at the back in grey colour.  Very nice

Food court at the 1st floor, quiet small and dismay looking.

We didnt know the Time Square was only 2 stories,  the 3rd floor was a car park, which we didnt know about since there was no directory to tell people what each floor consisted of.  We thought ther were still some shops on this 3rd floor.

Typical items on sale, catered mostly for local ladies, tudongs and other materials.

The ever growing Giant, which grew as fast as mushrooms these days.

The holiday exhibitions at the main entrance.

TV Shows..

I am officially a tv junky.  I have some shows lined up every week nights.  I love all these shows, a good relaxing dose after a hard and tiring day at work.  These shows occupy most of my down time and my nights these days.  I like to watch all the dramas (although I am sure most of them were staged!) but still they are easy to watch and what makes it even better, they are all a reality shows.  And its real!!!

Monday - The Amazing race season 16

Tuesday - The Biggest Loser Asia Season 2

Wednesday - America's Next Top Model

Thursday - The Amazing Race Asia

No weekend favourite shows for me though.

A new era and new beginning

A very important and historic moment for me today.  The day was well spent doing handover job for the new department I am about to join.  Really excited for the prospect although at the same time a bit weary of the new things that I need to learn, fast!  Its a fast pace job, and very critical for the whole income of Brunei.

The job requires precision and accuracy to the highest degree, and not even a slightest mistake is allowed.  Very scary but at the same time I know its so very important to get everything right.  I am looking forward to the new challenge, which I am sure going to be plenty. 

The best part of this job is the vicinity, in the middle of BSB, and I dont have to travel to KB anymore once I am on full time basis here.  No more those tiring commutes, no more worries about traffic jam in Sungai Liang if we are late.  And no more excruciating pain of looking for a parking space in the HQ.  Well.. there are traffic jam in BSB but the journey didnt take me 1 1/2hrs to reach office and that is such a relief.  But the only downside is, hubby is not here with me.  He still has to commute and once I am here we no longer be able to have lunch together, as we always do.  I already miss not having him with me today for lunch.  Sigh...  And I am gonna miss my friends in Seria, although not so much, hehehe.

Anyway, its a good day today and I am hoping I will cope well in this new job.

D's Wedding Day

We attended our young and pretty colleague’s wedding yesterday. It was awesome, due to the fact that it was not held under the hot sun hehe. It was held at Royal Berkshire Hall, Jerudong Polo Club. The weather was really horrendous, I couldn’t even describe how hot it was outside! Even walking from where we parked to the building was torture. I was drenched with sweat just for that few minutes walk.

Once inside, it was great. As everyone knows, the hall was really beautiful, sparkling with marbles and chandeliers. And the airconditioning made it really nice place to be. I saw most of my office mates were there. We were seated quiet far from the stage but it was good seat anyway since there were already too many people arrived.

Before entering the main hall, we got to write on the Guest Book. I had no idea what to write so I ended up writing this, which I think was not so bad, lol.

Hi D.. Congratulations. Enjoy your wedding day and all the days ahead. (Not bad for spontaneity! hehe)

As usual, there was the waiting, waiting for other guests to arrive. Then the bride’s family came and greeted all the guests. A short speech from the family, Thanksgiving prayers and the feast. I loved the food, it was not too bad.

 

Then the bride and groom arrived! Together. Which was really nice and out of the norm. Traditionally and in most weddings, the bride usually arrive first, seated on the Pelamin then the groom arrived. But I like this one better, where they arrived together and everyone was there to observe the special occasions. One thing I noticed also, people didn’t leave until the bride and grooms made their grand entrance. My best bet was, its because of the venue where the guests were really comfortable and leaving as soon as they finished eating was not really on their first priority. If we were under the tents, I am sure most people would leave already haha.

We left soon after that, and wishing D & A, congratulations. May your life together will be full of happiness and bliss.



Venue of the Wedding - Royal Berkshire, Jerudong Polo Club



Me signing the Guests Book





Some of the guests (Bride's side)




The flower girls





The bride and groom making their grand entrance




Bride and groom on the stage




Cute couple!




Me and Ayang




Me and hubby




Me, Ayang and the bride's mom



One of the biggest chandeliers, hanging from the ceiling right above me!