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A smooth light now shines in Pattaya - The Candle Shop
Elfi Seitz
Apart from temple candles, Pattaya’s residents don’t
really have a ‘candle-culture’. Mostly a candle is only lit when a
thunderstorm triggers a power failure, and people here rarely light a candle
simply to enjoy a romantic atmosphere during dinner.
Pitak
specializes in candles and offers them for sale at his special Candle Shop.
Sure, it has a lot to do with the material of the wax,
because Thai-made candles often burn down quickly, and are messy since they
drip and lose their shape in the tropical climate.
This all is going to change now, because a tiny shop on
Second Road opened just a few weeks ago called The Candle Shop.
A young Thai man from the northeast named Pitak Saikeow
runs the Candle Shop. With the help of like-minded friends he wants to bring
the candle culture - usually known by the Westerners, to whom candles are a
part of the civilized life - to Pattaya. He knows the taste of foreigners,
residents and tourists alike, and rather than mixing the candles with other
merchandise he decided to concentrate exclusively on candles. The Candle
Shop is now the first specialty candle outlet in this area.
The candles in The Candle Shop are distinguished by their
beauty, especially when lit. The warm glow of these candles is conductive to
togetherness, friendship or quiet contemplation, and adds elegance to a
sophisticated lifestyle.
Since every single candle is handmade, no two candles
look exactly the same. All are made with high-quality ingredients; wax,
wicks and fine scents.
Well
made candles come in all sizes, shapes, colors and aromas.
Upon entering the shop the pleasant smell of Jasmine
mixed with sandalwood gives you a calm and good feeling. The wide range of
differently shaped candles, a multitude of colors, shapes and sizes makes it
hard to choose because they are all so beautiful. A small team of devoted
and highly skilled young artists produce the candles.
Pitak promises that the candles, depending on the size
(diameter, height), if properly taken care of, can burn a long time. The big
ones will burin for up to 72 hours. With each sale Pitak even gives tips on
how to treat a candle.
The price of the candles depends on size, color and
decoration, starting from 40 baht up to 2,000 baht and more. Pitak accepts
bigger orders with a special design or logo.
Finally Pattaya has entered a more sophisticated
lifestyle. For the cost of a good meal or two or three drinks, consumed
within an hour or so, candles, Pitak’s candles as a gift, are an
expression of love and romance, companionship and contentment.
The Candle Shop has a special New Year’s offer for
discriminating costumers. Just go there and ask for it.
The Candle Shop is located right at the corner of the traffic light South
Pattaya Road - Second Road.
Scottish family donates clothing and organizes fun activities
for kids at the Redemptorist School in Pattaya
Akshay Singh and Suchada Tupchai
A Scottish family recently presented donations of
clothing and other daily necessities to the Redemptorist School of Pattaya.
Led by Tracy Cosgrove, the group was welcomed by the manager of the center,
Suppakorn Noja. Tracy, a working mum from Scotland, has spent the last 7
years of her life helping children in need around the world. Traveling with
her two children, Paul and Melissa, Tracy has not only provided thousands of
children with clothing and toys, but also offered the love and care all
children deserve.
Tracy
Cosgrove (right) led her friends and family in a visit to the Redemptorist
School of Pattaya to donate clothing, a free lunch, and to play games with
the children.
The Cosgroves recently visited the Redemptorist School in
Pattaya and provided the 108 children residing there with a brand new set of
clothes each, a free lunch, and played games with them. Tracy also took 50
children to Safari World in Bangkok on Sunday December 15. Hard Rock Hotel
provided transportation, and the kids were treated to lunch at KFC.
The school provides the kids with education and
guidelines for good behaviour, self-discipline and self-esteem. These
homeless children are also given additional education according to their
interests and abilities. Children with good academic scores will be funded
until graduation. Kids who show promise in other fields will be encouraged
to undergo vocational training so when they grow up they can find suitable
jobs, be self-reliant and become productive members of society.
The Cosgroves left for Chiang Mai earlier this week and
are visiting a number of homes and orphanages there. In total, new clothes
and toys will be provided to 1,200 children in Pattaya, Chiang Mai, and
Chiang Rai. This is an astonishing figure and it just shows how much a
family can generously provide for a good cause.
Tracy has been working on a number of projects recently,
in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand. Her
kindness and generosity has now received a lot of publicity, with BBC also
planning on doing a documentary about her efforts. Tracy feels that this
extra exposure will spread her message to others, and create awareness about
the children in need. “There are people out there who really want to help,
but don’t know how to,” she said.
In recent weeks, Tracy has received tremendous support from people back
home in Scotland and in England. People now want to help her make a
difference.
The Lions Club of Jomtien Pattaya roars Merry Christmas!
Members of the Lions Club of Jomtien Pattaya and their
guests roared a very “Merry Christmas” at Captain’s Corner last Friday
evening, when the newly chartered club held their first Christmas party.
Graeme
‘Raffleman’ Meredith and Krisana getting everything ready for the
evening’s raffle
The poolside terrace was packed with diners and people
enjoying an evening amongst friends in fun and fellowship. Whilst the
evening was not a fundraiser there was a raffle held to raise a little bit
of cash for the club’s activities and projects in the community.
Graham Meredith changed into one of his alternative
personalities from mild mannered school principal to ‘raffle man’ as he
sold and drew tickets through the evening while cracking the odd joke or
three.
A lucky
guest takes home the first prize Christmas Hamper.
C.J. (aka
Chris Jerome) pleased as punch with his raffle prize
The
Lions Club Jomtien Pattaya Christmas get together wouldn’t have been
complete withouth members and organisers (l-r) Paul Davies, Roy Harris, who
was the main organiser, Graeme Meredith and Peter Smith.
Most were content to sit back and relax and partake in
the delicious buffet on offer, while those a little more active chose to
display their musical talents and have a go at singing with the band.
Lion’s Club President Paul said the Christmas party was just a fun
evening where everyone got to know each other a little better and relax
after a hard first year of getting the club off the ground and organizing so
many successful activities.
Pattaya International Ladies Club volunteers take children shopping
Suchada Tupchai
On December 13 volunteers from the Pattaya International
Ladies Club, led by Ms. Bronwyn Little-Carey, took 20 children from the
Redemptorist School of Pattaya shopping at Tesco Lotus in South Pattaya. The
group was warmly welcomed by Pornchai Jungbanjerdsak, the director of the
department store.
School
kids and volunteers pick out something good.
Through the project, volunteers hoped to return love and
care to the children during this Christmas season. All together, 108
children from the center were divided into 5 groups and were brought to the
shopping market on 5 consecutive days. Each younger child was given 500 baht,
and each older child 600 baht to buy whatever they wanted or needed: shoes,
shirts, socks, even snacks.
A PILC
volunteer gives a young shopper some advice.
Pornchai
Jungbanjerdsak, director of Tesco Lotus in South Pattaya, welcomes the
benevolent group and gave a souvenir to representative of the Redemptorist
School of Pattaya.
On the way back home, the PILC volunteers were given tokens of
appreciation to remember their good deeds for society.
Skål takes to the high seas!
Or was it just high spirits?
by Miss Terry Diner
The local chapter of Skål International, still
fresh from the excitement of winning the vote to host the world congress of
the world-wide tourism and hospitality group, celebrated on board the Royal
Cliff Beach Resort’s (RCBR) Island Dream catamaran. On embarkation they
were met by the GM of the resort, Andrew Wood, and presented with a glass of
champagne, courtesy of Ambrose Wines (thank you Ron Batori).
Numismatist
Jan Olav Aamlid donated some very special prizes from the Thailand mint.
The
sublime sounds of Lamyai Meyer and her chorus of larks waft gently over calm
seas and excited passengers.
Large plastic dustbins were strategically placed on the
top deck of the vessel, emblazoned with the sign “Free”. Certain members
had to be appraised of the fact that it was not the container that was free,
but rather the ice cold contents which were tins of the liquid consumption
variety.
The Skålleagues and their friends ate and drank
their way around Pattaya Bay, stopping for a while close to the Sanctuary of
Truth in Naklua, where Rotarian Gary Bruton spoke on the continuing building
project and of how it is not expected to be finished for yet another ten
years.
Gary
Bruton (back, fourth right) explains the history and mystery of the
Sanctuary of Truth.
Jan
Olav hands over his fabulous and unique collection to lucky bidders Norman
and Eileen Denning. Auctioneer Doc, President Murray and Admiral Andrew
congratulate the couple on their acquisition.
Murray
Hertz and Fred Huff talk about old times.
An
unlikely bunch ... Chitra, Elfi, Jan (in the back), Dieter, Stefan, Marlowe
and Ranjith make the best of the cool afternoon breeze.
Nick,
Dieter, Murray and Ingo chat after dinner.
After the sit-down buffet dinner (the salmon was superb,
thank you RCBR) the revelers were entertained by the resident boat band, to
be closely followed by several members who “performed” with varying
degrees of tunefulness. However, mention should be made of one of the guests
at the RCBR, the big fellow from Edinburgh, Brian Skinner, who actually
“could” sing!
The finale of the evening was the auction, with members
(and some guests - thank you Archie Dunlop) donating some excellent items.
With so many members being hoteliers, luxury resort packages were some of
the items on offer, including special rejuvenating treatments in the Dusit
Resort’s new Deverana Spa. Resident Manager Ingo Rauber has invited Miss
Terry to drop in for treatment soon (my wrinkles must be starting to show
again) and I will report on the experience afterwards.
The Pattaya Mail’s Dr. Iain performed the
auction, alternately cajoling and then dragging money from some reluctant
wallets, but the major item of the evening, a large book and souvenirs of
the release of the first Thai banknotes 100 years ago saw some spirited
bidding, with the top bidder being Norman Denning from Yorkies Restaurant in
Jomtien (great British grub if you haven’t tried it).
Admiral
Andrew Wood partakes in fruit of the vine with guests Pranuta and Tony,
whilst all displayed their singing talents.
Star
gazers for the evening, or was it too much liquid refreshment?
Setting
sail into the sunset (almost), everyone hopped into a long boat to reach the
Island Dream. Going was the easy part, coming back was a completely
different story.
The
Sanctuary of Truth was viewed in awe from the Royal Cliff’s Island Dream
catamaran.
The auction raised 52,400 baht, and there will be many
folk dining out at fine Pattaya establishments like Cafe New Orleans (thank
you President Murray Hertz and Clarisse Brundo), Auguste Renoir (Tony Coolen)
and Paradise Restaurant (Hans Banziger), waving the vouchers they won on the
Skål cruise.
Interested parties who would like further information on Skål can
contact the secretary, Andrew Wood, email [email protected]
Future journalists visit Pattaya Mail
Early this month, Surin Plaengprasopchoke, director of
Public Relations Institute and Damrong Jullawattaka, director of the Radio
Thailand led a team of 58 scholars who are training for a career in public
relations, on a educational visit to the offices of the Pattaya Mail
and Pattaya Blatt newspapers.
Khun
Surin Plaengprasopchoke and Pratheep Malhotra exchange souvenirs as other
officials and teachers look on.
Pratheep Malhotra, managing director of Pattaya Mail
and our staff welcomed the visitors and executive personal led the visitors
on a tour of the offices and various departments. They were shown the
different aspects of operations from start to finish and what it takes to
get the news to the public. As a bonus, the youngsters also were shown our
modest Pattaya Mail TV operations.
These tours are organized to give interested people a
look at the publishing business which are PR related before they actually
start studying or working in that sector.
The offices of the English language Pattaya Mail
and its new German language edition Pattaya Blatt is a very good
example for visitors to study, because even though the two newspapers are
still modest by international standards they have a very large readership
and the area’s largest distribution which plays an important part in the
daily lives of people in Pattaya and the eastern seaboard.
The
visitors are shown the heart of the computer graphics operations by Khun
Primpao Somsri (right) and Boonsiri Suansri (at computer).
Happy
smiles all around. At the end of the group study, all gather for a group
photograph.
Guests were allowed to see the whole process of the
newspaper, from sales and marketing, reporting news, editing, page layout,
computer graphics, right through to the final stages of when it goes to
print.
The day was very eventful and educational for the
participants and gave them some insight into the publishing business, which
will surely help them in their knowledge and decisions in choosing their
future studies and careers.
Before departure souvenirs were exchanged with a promise that we would
meet again someday.
Bubbling beauties for the festive season
By Ranjith Chandrasiri
As simple as that sounds, sparkling wine is anything but
uncomplicated. From the cheapest, artificially carbonated “bicycle pump”
fizzies, through to the super-expensive, luxury cuv้es from Champagne,
sparkling wines bubble in a myriad of styles throughout the world. These
come in various shades of white, pink and red, in both vintage and
non-vintage versions, any of which can be made from either single varietals
or multi-grape blends. A universe unto themselves, sparkling wines must be
approached and understood on their own terms.
So what makes a good sparkling wine? It comes down to the
bubbles, the wine and how they interact. Basically, the smaller, tighter and
more persistent the bead or bubble size, the better the wine. Quality is
defined by how all this fizziness, called mousse in French,
collectively feels in the mouth. A wine that creates this feeling can be
described as having “finesse”.
Over time, sparkling wines have amassed a broad range of
aromatic and flavor descriptors: citrus fruit, pineapple, apple, peach, fig,
strawberry, raspberry, nutty (hazelnuts, almonds), toast, yeast, mushroom,
soy, butter, cream, honey, baked pie crust, biscuit, caramel, malt and
cocoa.
For most of the last century, all sparkling wines were
called “champagne” regardless of their provenance. Eventually, the
inaccuracy and unfairness of using this term were recognized and now, only
wine from the French region of Champagne has the right to use that name.
Subsequently, other terms were adopted to describe similarly styled wine.
The finest of these are now labeled M้thode Traditionnelle, Cava
(of Spain) or “Fermented in this Bottle”.
Champagne styles
Champagne provides the model for the vast majority of the
world’s sparkling wine styles. Two red grapes, pinot noir and pinot
meunier, and one white, chardonnay, provide the complementary raw material
blended into the non-vintage styles associated with each major Champagne
house. White wine from the pinot noir grape is fuller bodied, providing
structure and depth of fruit, in contrast to the richness, fruitiness,
breadth and softness imparted by pinot meunier. Chardonnay adds a delicate
fruitiness, austerity, elegance, and ages well. Not unlike multi-grape
Bordeaux blends, the predominant variety in the blend strongly determines
house style.
All Champagnes are made in a range of styles, from
extremely dry to ultra-sweet: extra brut (less than 6g of residual sugar),
brut (less than 15g), extra dry (12-20g), sec (17-35g), demi-sec (33-50g),
rich or doux (more than 50g).
Non-Champagne styles
Other European regions also produce m้thode
traditionnelle sparkling wines. In France, such wines are referred to as cr้mant
followed by the region’s name. France’s Alsace makes these from pinot
noir, pinot gris and pinot blanc, together with the related auxerrois,
riesling and chardonnay that have been planted in Alsace. All grape
varieties grown in Burgundy are allowed into cr้mant, although gamay
may not constitute more than one-fifth of the blend. In the Loire Valley, cr้mant
has the native, lemony, waxy chenin blanc as its most dominant component,
but it is forbidden for sauvignon blanc to be included in the blend. The
Spanish call their m้thode traditionnelle sparkling wines cava and use
completely different grapes: xarel-lo for weight, parellada for creamy base
notes and macabeo (pronounced mass-say-bow) for acidity and freshness.
Italians employ spicy, grapey moscato bianco for their spumante and
the Germans mostly draw on riesling for their crisp, clean sparkling sekt.
Elsewhere in the world, sparkling wines are made from all
manner of local grapes. The finest examples are generally grown in cool
climates that equate to those of Champagne’s and mostly rely on the same
grapes: chardonnay, pinot noir and, to a lesser degree, pinot meunier. Not
unsurprisingly, California’s Anderson Valley and Russian River, New
Zealand’s South Island, and Australia’s Tasmania and Yarra Valley all
fit this bill and are among the regions most likely to approach Champagne
quality.
But the vast majority of the world’s inexpensive,
volume-oriented sparkling wine comes from relatively warmer climates within
Australia, Argentina and California. The best of these will also draw on
chardonnay and pinot noir, but high-acid chenin blanc and semillon are
commonly used as well. Quirky m้thodes traditionelles have also been
produced from merlot, gewrztraminer, sauvignon blanc and other
varietals.
While Italians have long produced a slightly fizzy red
from the lambrusco grape, Australia’s sparkling red is one of the most
unusual wine styles to capture the imagination. Although the vast majority
of Australia’s sparkling reds are made from shiraz, intriguing
alternatives are made from malbec, merlot or durif.
Food for sparkling wine
Many claim that Champagne goes with everything, including
chocolate and asparagus, which are deadly to all other wines. This claim may
be somewhat shaded psychologically by the nature of celebratory occasions
and the unlikelihood that anyone would turn down the offer of a glass of
champers.
Certainly, the Champenois take utilitarianism to an
extreme, serving sparkling wines with every course. Following their
progression, blanc de blancs are served with starters, non-vintage with
fish, vintages with meat, ros้s with local cheeses (brie, Chaource,
cendr้) and doux with dessert.
Traditional pairings often find chardonnay-dominant wines
with oysters, caviar, lobster, shellfish, smoked salmon, sashimi/sushi and
Thai cuisine. Fuller pinot styles go well with poached or grilled salmon,
foie gras, charcuterie, rabbit, hare, boar and ham.
When you think of sparkling reds, think red lager.
Australia’s rich, frothy, berry-sweet mouthwash will happily chase away a
furious curry or chili con carne. These wines have a flair with Asian food
flavored by hoisin or black bean sauce, and naturally pair with duck,
turkey, pโt้ and goat’s cheese.
Top sparkling wines
Top Champagne houses
Light-bodied
Taittinger
Billecart-Salmon
Perrier-Jou๋t
Medium-bodied
Pol Roger
Laurent-Perrier
Mo๋t & Chandon
Full-bodied
Bollinger
Louis Roederer
Veuve Clicquot
Well-priced Champagne houses
Cattier
Drappier
Sparkling red
Rockford of Australia
Hardys of Australia
Top sparkling producers of the world
Argyle (Oregon)
Hardys (Australia)
Domaine Chandon (Australia and California)
Iron Horse Vineyards (California)
Pongrแcz (South Africa)
Cloudy Bay Pelorus (New Zealand)
Ranjith Chandrasiri is the resident manager of Royal Cliff Grand and the
founder the of the Royal Cliff Wine Club, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Pattaya,
Thailand. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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