Royal India opens with fanfare of trumpets

All of Pattaya’s leading Indian groups were represented at the Grand Opening of the Royal India Restaurant. Located on Second Road in front of the Grand Sole Hotel, the owners, Amrik Singh Kalra and his son Jay, welcomed everyone as they received congratulatory gifts and bouquets, with the guests staying on for a buffet evening meal.

Lovers of Indian food praised the opening of the Royal Indian Restaurant last week.

The guests and well-wishers were not restricted to the Indian community however, with many nationalities, all lovers of Indian and Mughlai cuisine, Tandoori’s and curries flowing out onto the outside area of the restaurant to mix together around the tables, united by the universal love of the Indian food.

The Royal India Restaurant was reviewed last week in the Dining Out section of the Pattaya Mail and received a Highly Recommended rating. The guests at the grand opening all agreed with the review and the future of Royal India seems assured.

Hash Social Saturday

7th April - A Day at the beach

by CF

Sign up at the Scandi Bar 1300 hrs for a 1330 bus departure to the beach some 18 km south of Pattaya. I arrived ahead of the beer truck where Spaghetti Head was waiting to guide me in reverse down the near vertical entrance to the beach (I spent the rest of the day wondering if myself and Rottweiler would be spending a romantic night on the beach if I couldn’t get back up the hill).

Enjoying life during a “Day on the Beach”

Flying Frog with his girls had the food stall set up and ready to fire up the BBQ. The beer truck arrived next with the eagerly awaited cold refreshments for those of us who had made our own way out to the beach. But where was the bus? Surely our Grand Master Boy George hadn’t got the bus lost?

Then hashers started appearing, walking down the beach from the Pattaya direction; apparently Boy George had missed the HHH sign at the top of the intended soi so they drove down the next soi, but this kind of thing does not bother the Pattaya Hasher when they are out to enjoy themselves.

Karamba and Fossil appeared with their black canine friends who immediately took to the water and then decided to spray everybody with water and sand. Boy George soon got the dogs under control by taking them into the water for a little cuddle or two. I am not certain who enjoyed this most, George or the dogs.

Anyway, enough about Boy George’s fetish. The weather was beautiful, the only problem being the shortage of shade. The umbrellas we had were a great help but there weren’t enough of them so the village people decided to do a round trip to Lotus to purchase some extra umbrellas. But considering the time they took I’m sure they got diverted whilst in the vicinity of the rifle range!

Sir Airhead appeared a good hour or so after the bus and speedily recruited the ladies to blow up his own personal yellow rubber doll floating support, though in time too much weight took it’s toll on the floater and it eventually went down on him! (Isn’t this the deluxe model?).

Most people, now full of the amber nectar, took to the water and there were quite some amazing sights, the girls in their bikinis and the men in whatever they were wearing at the time. Fossil was proving that the Theory of Relativity was really true, Ewok proving for once and for all that the earth is not flat.

I was a founder member of “The Flat Earth Society” - it costs 10 dollars to join and you got your money back if you fell off the end of the earth! Anyway, I thought the girls all looked great. Boy George didn’t take much notice, though, as he was training his canine friends.

A Breadfruit did a good job of fetching the beer if you needed one. It was a great relief when the sun started to go down, myself and Seagull S could finally come out from under the towels.

I decided to join Streaker, Airhead and the village people who were chewing the fat in the water, but I floated out past them against the tide and was renamed Moby C for the day.

The food stall was kept busy because of the excellent BBQ provided by Flying Frog and his staff. Chicken Fellow had made sure there was plenty of liquid refreshment available, so all in all it turned out to be an excellent day out for the 60 or so hashers who had turned up for this first social event. Lets have many more I say!

Ten of the best reasons to enjoy a glass of wine

by Ranjith Chandrasiri

The Thai government has again increased the excise tax on wine. Wine branded as a non-essential beverage and a health hazard, was especially targeted. I would like to request decision makers in the government to gets their facts correct and following are some findings.

The next time you raise a glass of wine to toast a friend’s health, you may be doing more than expressing goodwill. A great number of studies have been done to determine the therapeutic and disease-fighting powers of wine, both red and white. While some of the studies cited below are more conclusive than others, each of them offers a good reason to make wine part of daily life. Here are 10 of the most compelling findings.

1. Wine may prolong your life. In 1997 Michael Thun, M.D., and his colleagues at the American Cancer Society found that one or two drinks a day over a nine-year period reduced a person’s risk of death by 20 percent. Moreover, in a French study published in 1998 involving more than 34,000 middle-aged men, the group that consumed a generous two to five glasses of wine a day had a 24 to 31 percent reduction in the overall death rate during the 10 and 15 year follow-up periods.

2. Wine decreases your risk of heart disease. In the past decade, more than a dozen studies have indicated that the consumption of up to one glass of wine or beer or one mixed drink a day for women and up to two a day for men may reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 50 percent. Researchers found that this level of wine consumption raises HDL cholesterol (the good kind, which prevents fatty deposits from building up in artery walls) and inhibits the formation of blood clots. It also enhances the factors that help break up blood clots when they form, according to Mary Ann Malloy, M.D., a cardiologist at Loyola University and spokesperson for the American Heart Association.

3. Wine can improve your blood-cholesterol level. A 1998 Finnish study of 300 middle-aged men suggests that social drinking (defined here as one to four glasses of wine a week) may also reduce blood concentrations of Lp(a) lipoprotein. This protein appears to play a role similar to that of harmful LDL cholesterol, leading to the deposit of fat in blood vessels.

4. Wine may reduce your risk of arterial disease in the legs. In a 1997 study researchers discovered that men who drink one or two alcoholic beverages a day have a 32 percent lower risk of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), or hardening of the arteries in the legs.

5. Wine might decrease your risk of blindness. In a 1998 study of more than 3,000 adults 45 to 74 years old, researchers found that those who consume moderate amounts of wine have a significantly lower risk of developing macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among men and women over 65. Reasons may include wine’s antioxidants (substances that prevent free radicals from causing cellular damage), tannins (astringent compounds) and flavonoids (substances in plants that have anti-inflammatory properties and other benefits).

6. Wine may lower your chances of getting kidney stones. According to a 1998 report women who drink a glass of wine a day boast a 59 percent reduction in the risk of getting their first kidney stone. (Researchers there found similar benefits for men.)

7. Wine could improve your psychological outlook. Any oenophile can attest to the relaxing powers of a glass of fine wine. According to a study published in the September 1998 issue of The Lancet, adults (surveyed at ages 23 and 33) who drink moderately demonstrate a lower risk of poor physical health and of psychological distress than teetotallers or heavy drinkers.

8. Wine may prevent food poisoning. In a 1995 laboratory study, researchers found that red and white wine killed off colonies of such bacteria as E. coli, salmonella and shigella. Their conclusion: red and white wine may protect against bacterial diarrhoea.

9. Wine may protect you against Alzheimer’s disease. In a 1997 study of more than 2,000 people 65 and over, researchers at the University of Bordeaux in France found that subjects who consumed a glass or two of wine a day had a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists attributed this finding to the beneficial effects of the antioxidants found in wine.

10. Wine won’t make you fat. It has long been assumed that drinking alcohol - often referred to by nutritionists as empty calories - can make you gain weight. Recent research, however, suggests that moderate amounts of wine won’t have that effect.

Ranjith Chandrasiri is the resident manager of Royal Cliff Grand, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Pattaya, Thailand. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Antiques, Are They Genuine? : Marker’s and other marks

by Apichart Panyadee

Few copper, brass, or bronze objects, other than the mass-produced items of the 19th and 20th centuries are marked by their makers. Therefore, it is little help to rely on maker’s marks alone, although the makers of some objects have been identified and recorded. Some late 18th century brass workers and a number of 17th and 18th century skillet and mortar makers are known.

Hand made wrought iron candle holder

As with pewter, some help may be offered by inscriptions, owner’s initials, and house marks. But care must be taken with inscriptions found on copper and brass. Reproduction makers made their products more interesting by adding inscriptions and false owner’s names to many objects. A good example of this are the many tobacco and snuff boxes with dated inscriptions to be found - all modern. You must look at the nature of the lettering and try to compare it with genuine inscriptions on objects found in museums. Modern letters appear thin and scratchy and often far too sharp.

The condition of old metal ware

Take an object and run your fingers over all its surfaces. Is it smooth where it would naturally have worn? Are there clear signs of wear and are they where they ought to logically be? Your fingers can often tell you more than your eyes. Where there are repairs, try and work out how the damage took place. Is it plausible?

By and large, people prefer their copper and brass polished, so some evidence of age, offered by the patina which is so helpful in identifying genuinely old articles of pewter, is not always available for copper and brass. Some late 17th century and early 18th century brass and copper pieces of high quality were originally silvered. It is wise to check al the crannies of a piece for evidence of this as it confirms an early manufacture, even though it means that the object is now not as it was originally made. Later brass and copper items were sometimes silver plated and still later, they were electroplated. Again, it is worthwhile looking for evidence of this type of treatment.

Iron and steel

Until the 19th century steel was hard to make. Its use was limited to cutting tools, weapons, and some jewellery. Gradually, improved manufacturing techniques led to the more efficient combination of carbon with iron. From the Victorian period and onwards, steel was easily made and extensively used. It quickly drove out wrought iron as the principal iron metal. Iron has been used in both its cast and wrought forms from the earliest times, but until the late 18th century iron for casting tended to be brittle because of an excess of carbon and other impurities in the alloy. Although cast iron objects were made, their purpose was limited. Museums display a few French cast iron mortars, and in the 17th and 18th centuries fine decorated firebacks were cast in the Sussex and Kentish Weald.

Cast iron fire back from 1920’s

The invention by Abraham Darby early in the 18th century of blast furnaces able to use coke rather than charcoal lead to a rapid improvement in the quality of iron. Production expanded dramatically. Cast iron was widely used in industry and construction and many domestic tools and objects were cast in ironworks that developed in British coalfields. Until the mid-18th century it is true that most ironworks were local, small in scale and in the hands of blacksmiths. The ability to use coke for smelting opened the door to large scale factory production.

Until the industrial revolution, the most widespread use of iron was in its wrought form. Every town had its blacksmiths, who, by heating, hammering, re-heating, and shaping, made a range of useful domestic items and tools. Candle holders, grease pans, cutting tools, ladles, forks, jacks and chimney cranes are amongst the objects most frequently found in wrought iron. Large quantities of gates, fences and decorative ironwork were also created.

Excellent fakes of lighting devices have been made in Spain in recent years, and even better copies are now coming from Asia. These include copies of designs illustrated in standard reference works. The reproduction industry did not focus attention on wrought iron as it did on pewter, brass and copper. But individual copies were made by blacksmiths everywhere throughout the 19th century, and even right up to the 1940s. It was possible to buy cast firebacks in the 1920s and 30s. These were made in the same manner as the originals with similar ore and the same skills. These are difficult to detect.

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