CNY Gathering with His Majesty

 L-R: Chris, James & Tay

 L-R: Ling, SL & Azlan

 Chris Ng with the Perm Sec of MIPR

 PWM Advisor, Mr Jackson Ting & spouse

Ken, James & Chris with Pehin Badaruddin, Minister of Home Affairs

This morning, the various Chinese Associations of Brunei held a CNY gathering at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall of the Empire Hotel and Country Club with His Majesty, the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam as the Guest of Honour. From where we were seated, we could only catch a glimpse of the Royal entourage and the performances on the big screens. We had a feeling that it's no expense spared from the decorations that adorned the Grand Hall and the nearly 2000 guests invited for this function! This is the first year I was able to attend as in the past few years I was still outstation when the event was being held!

PWM CNY Gala Dinner 2013

Tay with Raymond dressed as "Chai Sen Yeh"

 Ken with Ling dressed as "Chai Sen Yeh"

 OC, Mr. Tiong delivering his welcome speech

 Pei Pei

 Philip Lau

 A student representative delivering his speech

 And the grand prize goes to... 3021! Datin's lucky number!

Persatuan Warganegara Malaysia (PWM) has once again pulled off another tremendous feat in organizing the annual Chinese New Year Gala Dinner last night at the Ballroom of Hua Ho Manggis Mall. The main aim of this function was to reward deserving Malaysian students residing in Brunei Darussalam with "Academic Excellence Certificates" and "ang pows". A total of 284 students, ranging from Year 1 to Year 13, were selected for the awards based on their academic achievements. Our Guest-of-Honour, Dato' Abdullah Sani Omar, the Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei, presented the certificates. Two renowned local singers also entertained the guests with their strong and powerful rendition of Chinese New Year songs. Students from Chung Hwa Middle School were also on hand to perform a couple of cultural dances. The final program was a lucky draw which culminated in the grand prize of an iPhone5 being won by Datin, the wife of the GOH! What a fitting ending to a fantastic function. Lastly, congratulations to His Majesty on Brunei's 29th National Day which coincided with our function last night. For more photos, click this link.

S.E.A. Aquarium @ Resorts World

S.E.A. Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world and this morning, I visited this aquarium with my wife and daughter. Entrance fee to the aquarium is SGD29-00 per adult. Before entering the aquarium, you have to pass through the Marine Experimental Museum which showcased cargoes and products from the Far East during Admiral Zheng He's time. With over 800 species of marine life, this aquarium did not disappoint; you can see that Resorts World had invested a lot of money and time into this project. I was hoping to see the dolphins but that was not open yet, I wonder if the dolphins are still in the Philippines! For more photos of the marine life, click here.

Premium Outlet Ayutthaya

We came by the Premium Outlet Ayutthaya by chance and since my brother-in-law has not visited it as well, we turned back (quite a huge distance looking for a U-turn) to see what it has to offer. Almost all the big brand names are here but not many shoppers around despite it being a Sunday! The concept and architecture are very similar to the Johor Premium Outlets which I last visited on 20 January 2012. Anyway, I find the prices here not really cheap and I don't  think the residents of Ayutthaya will find it cheap either! Bangkok (where there are more tourists) would be a better location. 

BBQ & Tea Ceremony

My brother-in-law adopted Felicia as his god-daughter

Jackie, my 2nd godson

John, my first godson

After our prayers at the Monkey Temple in the morning, we held a small gathering for our neighbours in the afternoon to celebrate the adoption of my godsons. We had a BBQ by the river and a tea ceremony to formalize the adoption. My brother-in-law also adopted my daughter, Felicia as his god-daughter. Now I must remember to sent them gifts on their birthdays!