One of the latest promotions to come out of the very active mind of Kim Fletcher from Delaney’s Irish Pub is the Tuesday Spaghetti Night. However, as the Dining Out Team discovered, Tuesday night at Delaney’s is much more than spaghetti.

The basic concept is an “all you can eat” evening for 150 baht. However, this was not a big steaming pot of spaghetti and another big pot of Bolognaise sauce, as we first imagined. Instead we were greeted by the smiling face of Sunny, standing behind a huge selection of pastas and intriguing bowls of interesting food. The idea is basically that you choose the type of pasta you want, then you build your own sauce from the ingredients on display and it is then cooked fresh, right in front of you, to take to your table. Choosing the pasta first, it goes into the boiling water, while you then deliberate on your sauce.

For first timers, such as we were, the important point to note is to take your time. There is just so much choice on offer that if you rush, you might miss some of the really good things. To begin with, there were five choices of pasta - spaghetti ordinaire, Tagliatele, Macaroni, Fusilli and Penne.

Then there are four sauce bases - chicken, fish, beef and tomato. One of these you use as your base, upon which you build your own, very special, individual sauce. This is where you can show your creative culinary art, or just display your own brand of gluttony. In retrospect, Madame showed the former, while I fell more or less into the latter category.

There were seventeen additional items you could add to your sauce on the Tuesday the Team visited. These included containers of prawns, mussels, clams, bacon, capsicum (both red and green), cauliflower, champignons, onion, carrot, peas plus more. Then there were four sauce boats with chillies and black and green olives. Of course there were also bowls with garlic and Parmesan and additional shakers of Parmesan. If that is not enough, there is a vegetarian lasagne, cut into hefty slices, that you can carry off as well.

Madame chose carefully, selecting a Penne pasta with a fish base for the sauce. To this she added some mussels, prawns and clams, a little garlic and champignons. Sunny smiled appreciatively, obviously impressed with Madame’s choice of ingredients. With a flourish, the second chef stirred in her choices, added in the now cooked pasta, a dash of parmesan and Madame had a “marinara” to be proud of.

For myself, I chose a Penne pasta, but then went a little amok with the sauce. With delicate finger pointing wildly, I selected a beef and tomato base, to which was added bacon, cauliflower, onion, peas and garlic - and then I spotted the prawns and mussels, so a goodly helping of those went in as well. “And some Parmesan, please.”

So we both retired to our comfortable Chesterfields with loaded plates. Mine was great, but I must admit that Madame’s more selective approach produced a better one. I will modify my “kid in the candy shop” approach the next time we go on a Tuesday night. I think I will have one small plate of a seafood based one and then another with a meat base.

For 150 baht and all you can eat, this is a great bargain fun night out, and as Kim explained, “The good thing is, if you don’t like the sauce, don’t blame us, because all we did was cook it to your recipe!” Thanks, Kim, great idea and we’ll be back. There will definitely be a next time.

Makha is the ancient Indian name for the third lunar month, and Bucha means worship. Makha Bucha Day or “Worship in the month of Makha” falls on the full moon towards the end of February. Buddhists everywhere flock to the temples (or Wats in Thailand) to listen to a sermon by the Abbot, be given the five precepts, serve food for the monks, meditate and do other merit making activities. In the evening they make a candlelit procession three times around the Wat or Buddha image as a gesture of faith in the Holy triple Gem.

Lesley’s tent

I was vaguely aware of what was involved, having been a Buddhist of sorts for a few years, and even taken part in various holy day celebrations. Slow candlelit processions on beautiful full moon nights could only be magical surely? Not for a second did it occur to me what physical and mental impact three days of this merit making up-country in a Wat would have on my tired body.

My friend Lesley and I were invited by a Thai teacher, Khun Wanna, to accompany her for the three day weekend on Makha Bucha and were still enthusiastic, despite the ‘unholy’ predawn start. Worse was to follow.

We had been warned to wear white, nobody said anything about no see-through (my sin) or sleeveless (Lesley’s) or about my white fishermen’s trousers falling down at breakfast.

If it were possible to die of embarrassment perhaps both of us should have. Being the only two farangs there, we were totally conspicuous every time we fell asleep on our knees or did something yet again more unacceptable. Poor Wanna, I think all the merit she may have achieved was cancelled out by her two students lack of grace! Although on the last morning the Venerable Luang Poo did say to the assembly that the two Farangs were “Phra dee dee,” or “Good little monks” and everyone laughed except us. I think by that stage both of us were too mortified to see the funny side at all.

Stunned and exhausted after the first day we then realized that Wanna was deadly serious about supervising us. Disbelieving that we were really expected to kneel on a marble floor for hours of chanting, starting when it was still dark before breakfast and then hours more after lunch and hours again in the evening instead of dinner. Oh yes, there was walking or sitting meditation in between times and glasses of iced herbal drinks and large doses of serenity and welcoming friendliness from the Thais, to counter balance our protesting bones.

We made our beds on top of pebbles under mosquito nets and the full moon, and were too tired to care. We slept the sleep of the just. The boom of the bell and the drum calling everyone to pray at 4.30 in the morning had a powerful sonorous sound with an eerie mystical feel that was palpable, not imagined.

Nevertheless, over breakfast, passing on the dried fish and the curry, both of us plotted our afternoon escape like wayward school children. We took sanctuary in the “hong nam” and poured buckets of cold water over our heads. Never were cold showers more appreciated, but I had forgotten about my newly dyed red hair. By the time I was finished the “hong nam” looked like a chicken slaughterhouse.

But one of the most stirring parts of the weekend was the Abbot himself. Mere words cannot describe the presence of this man. ‘Tremendous, awesome, magic, teacher, saint’ are a few words that occur. His photographs certainly show his Messiah like aura. Perhaps his title says more. He is called Luang Poo Buddha Isara. Luang Poo translates as Grandfather monk (A term of deep respect in view of his sainted status at so young an age). Buddha Isara is his name, and calling an abbot ‘Buddha’ is akin to calling a spiritual leader the “Pope” or “Dalai Lama”.

My moment of truth came on the last morning. Being given the 5 precepts by a revered monk or even making a personal resolution is not the same as adhering to the 10 commandments of Christianity. It is more encompassing, more involved. Devotees undertake to refrain from (1) Killing any living thing, (2) Stealing, (3) Adultery, (4) Lying and (5) Mind Altering Intoxicants.

These precepts are meant to be lived within the society. They do have social implications, for example, the “First precept implies the rights of all living beings to protect and preserve their life. It also implies the importance of love and compassion for all.” (“Basic Buddhism Course,” by Phra Sunthorn Plamintr, Ph.D.)

If you think about it at any length it is not all that difficult to resolve to refrain from killing anything or anyone, even the odd cockroach or mosquito, but how easy is it to refrain from anger at all times and bite back that furious response and reflect loving kindness in the face of aggression? Somewhat an impossible task for this Farang “phra dee dee”.

Perhaps hypnotized by the solemnity and over optimistic about my strength of character, I undertook to attempt to accept the Five Precepts for three months. I am still suffering withdrawals, though I expect it could save my life or perhaps my non-soul? For this westerner, Makha Bucha has had an enormous impact on my life. Now, perhaps, I understand just a little more. Thank you, Khun Wanna.

The Locomotive the ‘Flying Scotsman’ is by common consent the most famous steam locomotive ever to run. But the name is far older, being used unofficially by two trains which connected the cities of London and Edinburgh, each starting at 10.00 a.m. Eventually the name was recognised and the time was not to change for many years.

The ‘Flying Scotsman’ locomotive was the third of Nigel Gresley’s big ‘Pacific’ locomotives, designed to haul the heaviest expresses of the then Great Northern Railway. Two had been built for the Great Northern, but by the time the next appeared, the 1923 ‘Grouping’ had taken place and the Great Northern had become part of London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). These were the prototypes for the many ‘Pacific’ locomotives by this designer, which culminated in the notable ‘A4’ Class - see my previous note on the record-breaking ‘Mallard’. The early locomotives had a serious design fault which made it impossible to work them economically or at the high speeds they needed to achieve, but Gresley was reluctant for a time to correct it.

‘Flying Scotsman’ in preservation, restored to near-original appearance and LNER livery and number. At York 9/5/1964

At the Wembley Exhibition of 1924, ‘Flying Scotsman’ stood end-to-end with a Great Western locomotive ‘Pendennis Castle’ 12 feet shorter and far less bulky, but which had a notice claiming it to be ‘Britain’s most powerful locomotive’. How could this be, against Gresley’s monster! Secretly, in back offices, an exchange was fixed, whereby a locomotive from each company would work trams on the lines of the other for a two week period. ‘Pendennis Castle’ went to work on the LNER between London and Leeds, whilst an un-named Gresley locomotive went to work out of Paddington on the tricky West of England route of the Great Western. The big Gresley locomotive was in each case totally out-classed; it was inferior for time-keeping and coal and water consumption and there was even a comment that the track to Plymouth was too sharply curved. This design fault, of short travel valves, was the key to much of this, but Gresley still hesitated, eventually agreeing to a modification to one engine only. By chance, a little later, the chief found this engine at the head of his train to London one morning, so rode with the driver. He was totally convinced, and the order came that all were to be altered when they came in for repair. Soon, things began to happen, first non-stop running between London and Newcastle, and starting from 1st May 1928, through to Edinburgh in both directions without a stop over the 393 miles - then the longest non-stop run in the world. The 10.00am ‘Flying Scotsman’ train, with, very aptly, No. 4472 ‘Flying Scotsman’ at the head, inaugurated this spectacular event, which was continued up to the Summer of 1939 after which war intervened.

The 393 mile, 8 1/2 hours run would be too much for one engine crew, so a special ‘corridor tender’ was designed with a narrow passageway through which the relief crew could gain access to the locomotive and take over. So long a run could not have been achieved before modification of the valve gear, as the high coal consumption would have emptied the tender of fuel far from ‘home’. Even so, it was sometimes touch-and-go.

Unexpectedly, No. 4472 was the choice for a test run in November 1934, in the run-up to the introduction in 1935 of Britain’s first high-speed lightweight train, the ‘Silver Jubilee’. Where, in 1938, the ‘A4’ locomotive ‘Mallard’ was to claim for all time the speed record for steam on rail, ‘Flying Scotsman’ was the first to claim 100 m.p.h. under test conditions. Such conditions certainly did not aptly apply to ‘City of Truro’ in 1904!

Post-war conditions called for some alterations to the Gresley ‘Pacific’s’; these included ‘Klychap’ double exhausts, and to lift the smoke clear of the driver’s view, German type smoke deflecting screens. It was in this condition that ‘Flying Scotsman’ - now with a British Railways number, 60103, left King’s Cross for the last time in B.R. service, on 14th January, 1964. It escaped the torch, however, as businessman Alan Pegler had secretly bought it and had it returned to something like its original appearance. In this condition it was a favourite for use on special train duties, visiting many parts of Britain where it had not been seen before. Just fifty years after its debut on the ‘Edinburgh Non-stop’, it was carefully arranged to do it again! B.R. was by then deep in the change-over from steam to diesel traction, and many facilities had been taken away, such as vital water troughs between the rails from which water supplies could be lifted by a scoop - I believe there was just one of these left on the whole 393 mile run. But a second tender was taken, altered to carry water only including the space once occupied by ten tons of coal. It was done-just - but was a close run thing indeed!

In 1968 the locomotive took some LNER coaches, specially fitted, on a trade mission to tour the U.S.A. I confess to knowing little about the mission, but it seems to have failed, and there was no money to bring the locomotive home. It was ‘stored’ in the open for some time, and the Southern Railway (not Railroad in this case), but eventually two British businessman with a feeling for locomotives put up the money and it came back home to Liverpool. Examined there it was found to be in a fit condition to be steamed and run to Derby, where it had a general overhaul.

The continuing demand for the locomotive had to be interrupted when it was invited to visit Australia in connection with that nation’s bicentennial celebrations. It became known later that even this famous engine was not the first choice - but the owners of a well-known ‘A4’ streamliner preferred to keep it nearer home. A careful overhaul was carried out, the valves being set, unusually, by a lady; she did the work to perfection. What had been planned as a modest tour of the populated east of the country caused such an outcry from such places as Perth, that it had to be extended greatly to make visits to the west. And what could have been more unexpected than a meeting between ‘Flying Scotsman’ and the Great Western locomotive, ‘Pendennis Castle’; they had last been seen together in 1924 at the Wembley Exhibition! The ‘Castle’ locomotive had been withdrawn in 1964, and after some uncertainties was bought by the Hamersley Iron Ore Railway, one of the heavy-haul iron ore railways of Western Australia; they had used it occasionally, but now it was arranged that ‘Pendennis Castle’ and ‘Flying Scotsman’ should work together on a special train!

In due course ‘Flying Scotsman’ returned to Britain and carried on with the occasional run on the main line, but mainly on the shorter, previously B.R. lines that have been bought to run as private concerns. Another overhaul was badly needed, but again there was no money and the future was in doubt. Once again a buyer with money has been found, a long and very expensive job at ฃ2 1/2 million has been completed. It appears to be again in first class condition despite its 77 years of service.

This weekend coin collectors and dealers from all over the world meet in Singapore for some exciting days. One of the reasons is that the Singapore Coin Auction takes place, the other is that the 14th Singapore International Coin Show is taking place the same weekend.

Not only coin-collectors will be present at the Raffles City Convention Center, but collectors of phone-cards, pins, autographs, old toys, dolls, postcards and other collectibles will have their Singapore Collectibles Fair 2000 next door to the Coin Show.

Napoleon III granting an audience to the Thai Ambassadors 27th June 1861.

The coin auction has 1423 lots, which includes not only coins, but tokens, medals, bank notes, a few postcards, some bonds and even food vouchers. One lot does not necessarily consist of only one object, but several, like lot no. 1134. This lot starts off with Chinese Imperial Railway Bond, Pound 100, 5% Tientsin-Pukow Railway loan no. 35716, seals and facsimile signatures of the Chinese Minister in London and the Director General of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway, 1st September 1908.

There are 18 more objects in the lot, among them: City of Szechuan Province: Specimen Food Vouchers (6), issued by the Food Department in 1976. The estimate for the lot is US$180-220. But before you start considering buying, I do not believe the present Chinese government will pay you back the Pound 100 for the railway loan, and since the Food Vouchers are Specimens, it is not likely something will be served.

Malaysia- British North Borneo, $10,000 estimated at US$38,000-40,000.

There are a few Thai coins in the auction. The most expensive is an ESSAI, one baht, from RS127 (1908) in very nice condition. The coin was struck during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. Here the estimate is US$10,000-12,000. In VOL.VII No.4, I wrote about this coin, and I estimated the value to be 200,000 baht for a nice coin. The reason why the one in the auction is estimated so high, is that it is an ESSAI or Pattern. Next week I will write about this subject.

There are some interesting Thai medals in the auction. One is actually a French medal, but it is so interesting for Thai collectors that the cataloguers have chosen to include it with the Thai medals. It is a medal with Napoleon III on the obverse, and the reverse shows Napoleon III receiving the Thai Ambassadors on 27th June 1861. The medal is 71 mm, and struck in silver. The catalogers have seen the medal in copper before, but never in silver. It is a rare medal both in copper and silver, but so far I have handled two pieces in silver. The estimation, in my opinion, is reasonable, US$2,000-3,000.

Also being offered are some Thai banknotes, including some one Ticals/Baht printed around 1920, which are in very nice condition. If they could be bought for the estimated price of US$500-1,000, this might be a good buy.

One of the more expensive items on the auction is from Malaysia - British North Borneo. The lot no is 1212 and is a $10,000 issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency. Queen Elisabeth II is to the right on the banknote. Written in small letters, “SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE” is printed up in the right corner. This can not be quite true because the estimated price is US$38,000-40,000, and remember that the auctioneer will charge the lucky buyer an extra fee of 15%.

They say that elephants never forget. Well there is a bird that is long on the memory too and that is the hornbill. (This may be one reason why the female cements herself into a tree hollow for up to 4 months to hatch her chicks. She remembers too vividly what the last time was like?)

A hornbill is rather a bright bird and never forgets anyone who has thrown a pebble at it or tossed it a piece of fruit. They have an uncanny ability to recognise people, hopping enthusiastically to greet the generous and lunging in to attack the mean.

One of our local “characters” was given hornbill “Gang” five years ago when it was a not fully feathered baby chick. He raised Gang by hand feeding it bananas. Since then the pair have bonded and Gang has developed into a real character like his owner, having become obviously imprinted, and the bird is now positive that he is a hard drinking, hard playing, Dane.

When Gang eats he throws the piece of fruit up in the air and catches it with his beak then tosses it down his throat and often he will pass the fruit to his owner or a friend. “He doesn’t like to eat alone,” said the owner. Gang is endearing to watch sharing grapes with him, biting him affectionately on the fingers, chortling and siphoning his beer. What more could you ask from a pet bird?

These birds belong in the tropical rain forests and are spectacular in the wild. Because of their huge wing structure they make a sound like a train passing when flying through the forest canopy and a group of hornbills sounds like an ominously approaching storm. Being birds of the rainforests the majority of hornbills cannot survive strong unremitting sunlight for too long. The patient bird watcher at Khao Yai National Park can spot most of Thailand’s hornbill population where two species of hornbill practice co-operative breeding, where the father has up to five younger helpers to help feed the imprisoned female and brood.

“A Great Hornbill family begins the day with a morning duet by the male and the female. The call is believed by some local people in Thailand to wake up the Buddhist monks for their morning prayers,” so says Atsuo Tsuji in Hornbills Masters of Tropical Forests, A Photographic History in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand. Thailand is fortunate it still has some rainforests standing for these magnificent creatures.

Hornbills are often confused with the South American Toucans because of their massive beaks. However, toucans are generally more colourful and live “over there”, not here in South East Asia like the hornbills. Primarily fruit eaters they dine on a variety of figs and over sixty varieties of non-fig fruits. Not to mention the odd lizard or two when breeding.