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Thank you Mother Earth and Mother Rice
8th Naklua Rice-harvest
Suchada Tupchai
Residents of Naklua district held their 8th annual
rice-harvest festival at Naklua Public Park towards the end of last month.
Many tourists and residents attended the event.
The festival has taken place in Chonburi for many
generations. It aims to apologize to Mother Earth and Mother Rice in order
to bring good luck and prosperity to agriculturists. It also helps
establish good relations within the community.
In the past, the festival was usually held at the old
Naklua cemetery, but it changed venues several times until, recently, it
has been set at the Bodhi Tree court in Naklua Public Park.
The festival this year was different from previous
years as many new activities were arranged - including slingshot
competitions, a marine boxing contest and a wood pole climbing race. In
the afternoon, there were also traditional Thai games and activities for
children.
At 6 p.m. the rice-harvest ceremony started with a
local-belief parade, imitating the images of three worlds - Heaven, Earth,
and the Underworld.
At the close, participants gathered to have dinner together, reflecting
the unity of the community.
Niran
Wattanasartsathorn, the mayor elect, tests his aim during the slingshot
competition.
Eager
children wait for the wild ghosts and angels to appear.
Shimmy
up the pole and grab the prize.
A pair
of youngsters take part in the marine boxing contest, a “striking”
symbol of Naklua.
Having
dinner together reflected community unity.
It
appears the whisky may have tasted better than the food.
I want
to be a ghost when I grow up.
Wild
ghosts in the rice-harvest festival wait to receive food from the people.
Young
wild ghosts ham it up for the crowd.
Aussies host business people with fun and sundowners
by Brendan Richards
Photos by Tony Malhotra
The Australian Chamber of Commerce Thailand finally
held its Seaboard Sundowners Networking evening last Friday. The event had
been previously postponed due to a clash of dates with the British
Chamber’s (Thailand) gathering and the Pattaya municipal election.
Sponsors
and AustCham committee members, Urs ‘Mee’ Mosimann (front left),
executive assistant manager, Hard Rock Hotel, Rod Skinner (front centre
left), Transcraft Boats, and Roland Nicolich (centre right), F & B
director, Hard Rock Hotel flanked by two lovely ladies accompanying Rod.
Back Row (l-r) Rob Bridge, AustCham executive director, Gary Woollacott,
AustCham committee member for communications, Julianne Rogers, AustCham
Programme, Functions and Associations, Andrew Heycott, AustCham Industry
Focus Groups and Ian Davey, Australian Embassy trade consul.
Local and Bangkok-based business people gathered at the
Sky Bar above the Hard Rock Cafe for the evening that was sponsored by
Transit Maintenance, aka Transcraft Boats, headed by Rod Skinner, and the
Hard Rock Hotel.
For the thirsty, there was plenty of good Aussie wine
and beer and a vast array of food laid on by the Hard Rock team.
 An
all-Aussie affair (L to R) John Richards, Premier Land & Development,
Ian Davey, Australian Embassy trade consul and Peter Cummins, yachtsman
extraordinaire and special correspondent for the Pattaya Mail.
Rob Bridge, Australian Chamber of Commerce Thailand
(AustCham) executive director, headed the chamber team, with the lovely
Chanakarn Peeratantikun, Austcham office manager, greeting everyone as
they joined the event.
 (L
to R) Julianne Rogers and Pat Dickson enjoying the night at the Hard
Rock’s Sky Bar.
Among the notable present was Julianne Roger, Thailand
manager for Qantas and British Airways. Julianne revealed that the number
of passengers flying into Thailand was up. The downside, though, is that
the Airports Authority of Thailand has increased landing fees for major
airlines.
 PC
used his microphone time well, telling everyone about the upcoming PC
Classic.
Ian Davey, Australian embassy trade consul, was
relaxed, wisely ditching his suit. He said the discussions for
Australia’s Free Trade Agreement with Thailand were progressing well and
could very well come into effect by January next year.
Rob Bridge welcomed a mixed crowd to the networking
night, promising more events on the Eastern Seaboard throughout the year.
He also thanked the sponsors for their support.
 One
of the first vessels off the Transcraft Boats production line. This
3-meter dinghy was built locally by Rod and his team.
Rod Skinner said since the start of the new venture a
great deal of interest had been shown by the boating community and that
business was promising. He proudly pointed out one the first products to
roll off the production line, floating the hotel’s huge swimming pool.
Hotel heavies Roland Nicolich, F & B director and
Urs “Mee” Mosimann, executive assistant manager, entertained the
guests and kept a close watch on operations through the night.
(L
to R) Julianne Rogers, Thailand manager for Qantas and British Airways,
Rob Bridge, AustCham executive director and Gary Woollacott, Kapient
Recruitment CEO taking a break before attempting to resolve audio visual
difficulties for a presentation.
The crowd of regulars were in attendance - Ian and Pat
Dickson, Pat Gosset. Even PC (Peter Cummins) was promoting the upcoming
regatta, and the Lambrino crew from Kirwan Industries was floating about.
It was a great social-business event put on by the Aussies, with more
promised through the year. The next one will be held at the Marriott
Resort & Spa in June.
Hundreds turn up to sing “Happy Birthday” to Chanyuth Hengtrakul
Suchada Tupchai
Chanyuth Hengtrakul, adviser to the minister of
tourism and sport and managing director of Sophon Cable TV Co Ltd
held his 51st birthday party at his North Pattaya home on April 26.
Chanyuth
and Wilawan gather around the Birthday cakes with their relatives.
Many people from all walks of life attended the
party. The atmosphere was relaxed, with various kinds of food
provided for the guests. Moreover, a fabulous show by “Sansern
Normaitong” and his dancers impressed everyone.
 Rewat
Pon-lukin,
vice-president of Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization,
wishes Chanyuth and Wilawan well.
During the party, the guests arrived and
presented gifts and bouquets of flowers to the host and his wife,
Wilawan.
The toasting ceremony started at 9 p.m. Many
guests of honor took turns wishing a happy birthday to Chanyuth,
including Rewat Pollukin, Chonburi Provincial Administrative
Organization vice-president, and Farook Wongborisut, representative
of the Pattaya Muslim Club.
 Rattanachai
Suthidechanai presents an emerald Buddha image to Chanyuth on behalf
of Santsak Ngamphiches.
All of them mentioned the birthday man’s
integrity and the devotion he has always had for the community, and
wished him good luck in becoming an M.P.
Two cakes were provided, one was his birthday
cake and the other was a surprise for his mother and father-in-law,
Bundit and Sermthong Pornkijprasarn, who also celebrated their 52nd
wedding anniversary.
The climate was full with family warmth and love.
Farook
Wongborisut (2nd from left), representative of the Pattaya Muslim
Club, presents a bouquet of flowers to Chanyuth.
Pratheep
Malhotra, managing director of Pattaya Mail Publishing Co Ltd gives
a present to Chanyuth.
Thanet
Supornsaharungsi, president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism
Association, presents a gift to Chanyuth.
Premrudee
Jittiwuttikarn, King Seafood restaurateur, with Chanyuth and his
wife, Wilawan.
Sophon
Cable TV’s staff presents a bouquet of flowers to say happy
birthday to their big boss.
Guests
of honor take a moment from the fun to pose with the birthday guy.
Siam Winery, pok dum and poo jaa
By Miss Terry Diner
An invitation to lunch came from the effervescent young
Kim Wachtveitl from Siam Winery, home to the Monsoon Valley wine label.
“Can you recommend a good Thai restaurant in Pattaya, because I have
some wines I would like you to try which go with Thai food,” he asked. I
replied that we should perhaps look at the Larn Thong Terrace at the Royal
Cliff Beach Resort, or if not there, the noodle cart at the end of my
street did a reasonable kwiteo nam moo daeng. Fortunately the ‘Cliff’
won out and we arranged to meet there!
There was a method to all this, as I knew the high
standard of the food from Larn Thong would not disappoint, and I also knew
that the captain of the Royal Cliff Wine Club, Ranjith Chandrasiri, could
be prevailed upon to join in this wine tasting. It always is comforting to
have someone with me of the stature of Ranjith Chandrasiri, an accredited
wine judge, whilst I freely admit that I am just someone who knows what I
like! I have many friends in the same situation!
The important reviewing factor with these Monsoon
Valley wines was that they had to be judged relative to the Thai food we
were about to eat. Kim Wachtveitl explained that there was a difference
between drinking wine, for the wine’s sake, and drinking wine to go with
certain foods, to heighten the enjoyment of the food, and the wine. Both
Ranjith and myself were au fait with the concept, and we began with spicy
eggplant salad (yam makeua yao), deep-fried crabmeat in the crab shell
(poo jaa) and a most interesting dried shrimps and herbs on kale leaf,
topped with molasses dressing (meang kana), and thank you again, Kim, for
showing me how to put this one together!
The wine chosen to go with these was the Monsoon Valley
Malaga Blanc. The first impression was the lack of colour in the glass,
this is not a heavily wooded wine or one left to age in wood casks. The
second impression was the very aromatic nose. Lots of it. The third
impression was that this wine did indeed go well with our first courses,
for me the poo jaa being exceptional and complemented by the Monsoon
Valley Malaga Blanc.
The next courses included a stir-fried morning glory in
oyster sauce (pad pakboong nam man hoy), deep-fried garoupa with saam rod
sauce (pla kao tod krob saam rod) and red curry with roasted duck (kaeng
ped ped yang). To go with these we had the Monsoon Valley Red and the
Monsoon Valley Shiraz to try. The Monsoon Valley Red is made from the
local pok dum grape (70 percent) and syrah (30 percent) and for me was the
more suitable to go with the red curry duck in particular. In fact I kept
returning to this combination of red curry and Monsoon Valley Red. Whilst
the Shiraz seemed better to quaff, for my palate the Red seemed better
suited to the spicy food.
Both the Malaga Blanc and the Red are available from
better wine distributors, and the even better news is the price, with both
under B. 400 a bottle. At those prices it is not a risky undertaking. I
would suggest that you try combining Thai food and Thai wine next dinner
party. It sort of makes sense!
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