The stage was set - literally - for the splendid Pattaya
City and business community-sponsored buffet dinner at Pattaya Beach. There
has never been anything like it - even the annual Pattaya Festival pales by
comparison.
Chonburi
and Pattaya dignitaries applaud the opening of the “Beach Buffet”. (Photo
by Peter Cummins)
It was an 800 metre long wall-to-wall row of food stalls
provided by the city’s leading hotels, drink stands providing Singha, Red
Bull and Coca Cola and ongoing entertainment up on the beautifully-decorated
stage: Thai boxing courtesy of Pattaya School #4, the world-renowned Tiffany
Cabaret and displays by Nong Nooch Village, the One Million Years Stone Park
and the Crocodile Farm.
MCs
Peter Malhotra and Wannapa Wannasri (Ju) address the huge crowd at the
“Beach Buffet”. (Photo by Peter Cummins)
The huge crowds strolling along the beachfront boulevard
were also regaled by the Pattaya Music Club and the sight of a sparklingly
clean floodlit Pattaya Beach, with the lights of the southern end of the city
shimmering on the waters of the Bay.
The Pattaya Beach Buffet was the third big evening in the
four-day Thailand Travel Mart 2001 - the first event of such magnitude ever
held, opening on 17 September at the Royal Cliff’s Pattaya Exhibition and
Convention Hall (PEACH).
Traditional
Thai dance regaled the crowd.
Pattaya Mail’s Peter Malhotra and the charming Wannapa
Wannasri (Ju) did a superb job as co-MC’s of the evening and Peter, in his
inimitable style, paid tribute to and conveyed our collective deepest
sympathies to the victims of the terrorist attacks in the United States the
previous week. Pattaya mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat welcomed Chonburi
governor Sujarit Pachimnan, who pushed the button to inaugurate the
festivities, as well as Travel Mart participants and a huge number of
“strollers” who happened along.
Peter thanked Supaporn Rerng-Ron-Asa, director of marketing
and promotion for the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Pattaya City officials,
the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter, the Pattaya Business and Tourism
Association and the Pattaya Hotel Chapter who all contributed so much to the
success of not just the particular evening, but also to the Thailand Travel
Mart 2001.
Thai
food was plentiful on the beach.
During the evening, recognition was made of Pattaya
City’s Windsurfing Club which scored brilliantly at the recently completed
SEA Games in Malaysia, winning two gold medals and one silver.
A spectacular fireworks display took off just as a strong
westerly blew in from the Gulf, causing the news-hounds, photographers and not
a few spectators, to run for cover from the fall-out. But it was all done in
the highest spirits and not even the rain that followed the wind could
‘dampen’ the enthusiasm of the crowds. The dancers danced on, the band
played on and everyone was happy - if a little wet. Actually, I overheard one
spectator who “welcomed the rain” which washed the fireworks’ fall-out
off her face.
Thailand’s
culture and history, which plays a major role in attracting tourism, was
prominently on display at the Carnival.
What to do for an encore? Of course, the ‘soft’ opening
of the ‘Hard’ Rock where the cast of revellers numbered in the hundreds.
The beer, wine and spirits flowed - even as the spirits soared. The dancing
was exactly what one could expect - was a hyperactive display of kinetic
energy gyrating to the sounds of “hard rock”!
At the end of it all, everyone was a winner - particularly
Pattaya which, no doubt, will be the object of far-reaching advances in
tourism.
