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Northshore Condominium launched in grand style
Last approved project overlooking Pattaya Bay
Suchada Tupchai
Raimon Land Plc. just opened its latest project, the
Northshore Condominium, which overlooks the spectacular setting of Pattaya
Bay. According to executives in the company, this high-rise residence is
an unprecedented success, with Thai and foreign customers reserving more
than 60 units on the first day.
 Northshore
Condominium destined to become another landmark in Pattaya.
Raimon Land Plc., headed by company CEO Nigel Cornick;
Rajneeporn Vanijankul the company’s sales and marketing manager, and
David Gray, director of East Coast Real Estate, declared the Northshore
Condominium open to the public on September 26.
The launch was held in the evening at the Fillmore Room
in the Hard Rock Hotel in Pattaya where Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn
presided over the ribbon cutting, along with company executives. A scale
model of the project was on display so that prospective clients could view
the finished product. At the construction site, special shows were
presented and a mini concert was performed by popular Thai singer
Christina Akeela. A grand display of fireworks rounded off the evening’s
festivities.
Mayor
Niran and the executives of Northshore cut the ribbon to officially launch
the Northshore Condominium project.
Rajneeporn Vanijankul said, “The Northshore
Condominiums are in a luxurious building. We have 187 units with 1, 2 and
3 bedrooms. They have an approximate area of 64-268 square meters and
prices start from 58,000-79,500 baht per square meter. The project is
situated along Pattaya’s beach, and is conveniently located to shopping
centers and entertainment venues. The project is expected to be completed
during the 4th quarter of 2005.”
 Nigel
Cornick, Rajneeporn Vanijankul and David Gray speak to the press and
visitors about the remarkable project.
Rajneeporn said, “Raimon Land projects are well known
and provide investors and residents with first class quality. The
Northshore Condominium is one of the highest quality projects in Pattaya.
Each unit has luxury decoration in the kitchen, bedroom, and bathrooms. We
use high quality equipment and materials in construction. The security
system uses a smart card that provides safety for passing through the
building and to the parking lot. The building also includes a modern
fitness area, a sauna, and the restaurant Club Fresco.”
Nigel
Cornick and the executive team present souvenirs to the Mayor Niran.
Raimon Land’s CEO Nigel Cornick said, “Today is the official
opening of the Northshore Condominium project in which we have invested
about 400 million baht. It has great style for Pattaya and has had a very
good response from Thai and foreign investors. It is also the last
approved project to build at Pattaya Beach according to the land laws,
which is probably one of the reasons the units were so quickly reserved.
The Northshore Condominium also shows Raimon Land’s commitment to build
quality condominiums in the provinces, and not just Bangkok.
Visitors
are impressed by layout and beauty of the rooms as shown in the scale
model.
Christina
Aguilar entertains the guests with her singing and artistic moves.
The
bedrooms overlooking the Pattaya Bay as seen from the north shoreline.
The
rooms are meticulously designed to enhance beauty and luxury for future
residents.
Good food, good meat, good gosh, let’s eat!
Mike Nelson
The Thai cuisine is coveted worldwide for its exquisite
taste. But like the Thai people, it can sometimes be delicate compared to
Western meals.
 ‘And
that is how I came to be.’ Hugh Millar gestures before he blew out the
candles on the birthday cake. A brilliant finish to a dazzling evening.
For that reason, food aficionados in the Land of Smiles
sometimes hanker after what some may call “solid farang fare”.
The Chaine des Rotisseurs in Pattaya more than
satisfies any gourmet’s culinary desires.
“The Chaine des Rotisseurs is an international
gastronomic society founded in Paris in 1950. It is devoted to promoting
fine dining and preserving the camaraderie and pleasures of the table,”
says Louis Noll, head of the Pattaya chapter of the Chaine.
Noll
is owner of the Mata Hari Restaurant on Second Road, Pattaya, renowned for
serving fine European and Thai cuisine.
“The Chaine is based on the traditions and practices
of the old French royal guild of roasters of goose, birds that were
particularly appreciated in that epoch. Its authority gradually expanded
to the roasting of all poultry, meat and game,” he explains.
Today the society has members in more than 70 countries
around the world. Each chapter, called “bailliage” (English
“bailiwick”) in Chaine jargon, is headed by a “bailli”
(“bailiff”).
Pattaya boasts its own bailliage. “And we will have
the joy of celebrating our 10th anniversary next year,” says bailli
Noll. More than 50 members meet every two months at a top-class Pattaya
restaurant for an evening of fabulous wining and dining.
They consist of two ranks: professionals such as
restaurateurs, hoteliers and others in the catering industry; and
non-professionals, “people who appreciate good food,” as Noll says.
At the latest dinner, members of this prestigious
society met at the Dusit Resort.
Louis Noll, the Bailli of Bailliage de Pattaya, presents certificates of
appreciation to Jakrapong Vitayasirikul, director of F&B (above) and
Chef Hans Peter Held, who accepted them on behalf of their respective
teams.
The menu was a true culinary adventure, introduced with
relish by Hugh Millar, the Chaine’s “charg้ de mission”.
“We will be starting this evening with seared
peppered yellow fin tuna with wasabi mousse and young hydrophonic greens.
To follow this, we have beef consomm้ with chanterelle raviolis, a
very light soup with a delicious aroma. A herb crusted lamp rump on garlic
mousse and caramelized rum prunes is the next dish on the menu. This is a
beautifully tender piece of lamb with great wafts of garlic and herbs
coming at you from the plate,” Millar enthused.
He waxed lyrical about the white and red wines served
with each course. All the wines of the evening came from the Bordeaux
region of France.
Before the main course was served, a refreshing fruity
sorbet made from redcurrants and raspberries cleared the palates.
The main course was Argentinean beef tender loin on
black truffle potatoes with goose liver and white asparagus tips.
To ensure its tenderness, the loin was first seared
then cooked at a very low temperature for a couple of hours.
(Above
& below) Food lovers enjoy good company before and during the feast.
This was followed by honey thyme marinated goat cheese,
and “Sweet Dreams”, described by Millar as a “marvelous creation of
cream and rich chocolate and coffee layers topped with flavored shaved ice
with a side serving of chocolate swirls.”
The evening ended with coffee or tea, pralines and
truffles.
How do you become part of this exclusive gathering of
gourmets, I asked Louis Noll at the Mata Hari, where a framed certificate
of membership to the Chaines de Rotisseurs on the wall is a testimonial
that his restaurant offers top-class cuisine.
“You have to be proposed by an existing member as
well as be seconded by another member,” he replies. The initial joining
fee is about 11,000 baht (depending on the exchange rate with the euro),
and the annual membership fee is 4,000 baht. New members are inducted only
once a year, usually in December.
But the Chaine de Rotisseurs celebrates 30 years in
Thailand next month. The society therefore will have its ceremony for the
induction of new members and promoting existing members up the ranks in
November - “a formal occasion with dark lounge suits of tuxedos,” Noll
says.
“Mouth-watering” would be an understatement.
Dutch community celebrates 400 years of Thai-Dutch relations
Peter Cummins
 The marvellous exhibition being held at the Siam
Society is a celebration of 400 years of friendly relations between
Thailand and the Netherlands, appropriately entitled: “Tracking the
Dutch East India Company on its way to Siam”, also coincides with the
100th anniversary of the founding of the Siam Society.
It
features replicas of the incredible sailing ships of yore, built by the
Dutch at the rate of five per year - vessels which were capable of
withstanding enormous hardships as they plied the world’s seas - many
artefacts of the company, ranging over the centuries, as well as paintings
and works of art. There was even a drawing of an elephant, composed in the
mind of a Dutch painter of the time (Rembrandt, I think) and there was a
beautiful replica of the “Heemskirk”, the vessel which Dutch explorer
Abel Jans Tasman sailed to that strange land right Down Under, finally
named after him.
H.E.
Mr Gerard Kramer, the Netherlands ambassador to Thailand, in opening the
exhibition, noted that “Four Centuries is what one could call a
‘mature relationship’ and it was a celebration.” The ambassador
added, “That was highlighted last January by a state visit of H.M Queen
Beatrix and Crown Prince Willem Alexander, the Prince of Orange, as guests
of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand.”
 Visiting
Ayutthaya, the Queen and Prince Willem walked the byways of history as
they retraced the steps of the pioneers along the site of the original
Dutch trading post established by the Dutch East India Company in 1604.
His Excellency was proud to inform the huge crowd
assembled for the celebrations that “VOC was the first multinational
company in the history of the world economy to create a logo and attract
share-holders.”
My good friend Marcel Dubbelman, who had invited me to
the exhibition, patiently explained the Dutch for the acronym VOC about 10
times, but my Tasmanian brain could not grasp it. Perhaps if I had sailed
with Abel Jans Tasman on his voyages of exploration, particularly to
discover Australia’s island state in 1642, I would have absorbed it! So,
the manageable title of the Dutch East India Company will suffice for this
story.
 Upon
first contacts, a Dutch envoy met the Siamese King who then sent a team to
the Netherlands. After building offices and warehouses south of Ayutthaya,
VOC became the centre of trade relations between the two kingdoms, with
hides and skins, wood, silk and spices being major items in reciprocal
trade.
Nowadays, the ambassador noted, “Relations and trade
between our two countries have evolved; the old VOC has been replaced by
large and medium-sized multi-nationals, with the Netherlands ranking among
Thailand’s largest of the European investors and trading partners”.
Some 150 Dutch companies have offices in Thailand, with these Thai-Dutch
joint ventures employing upwards of 100,000 people.
The exhibition itself was prepared by Ruud Spruit,
Dutch VOC expert and curator of the venerable Westfries Museum in the city
of Hoorn. “This selection,” said Ruud, in his very spirited,
informative and humourous introduction, “tells the fascinating story on
why, how and under which harsh circumstances the Dutch, in the Seventeenth
Century, managed to navigate their way through the seaways and oceans to
fabled Siam, from the other side of the world.”
Twelve themes introduced the exhibition visitors to a
Holland “as it was in those days,” Ruud added, “to the Dutch drive
to explore far away markets and highlighting the enormous culture shocks
the Dutch experienced in the East.”
Seven leading Dutch companies are sponsoring the show,
which will be open until October 8: ABN-AMRO, ING-Life, KLM, Martinair
Cargo, Philips, Royal Haskoning Asia and TNT.
The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
(except Sunday, Monday) at the Siam Society, Chalerm Phra Kiat Building,
Fourth Floor, walking distance from BTS (Asoke) and MRTA (Sukhumvit)
stations.
It is well worth a visit and one can only be amazed at
the drive, building and navigational skills of the Dutch. It is no wonder
several of our Royal Varuna Dutch colleagues are top sailors: Marcel
Dubbelman, a top Laser sailor and Marijke Whitcraft, one of Varuna’s
best lady sailors and a sailing trainer of great skills for the junior
sailors are just two examples.
Further information on the exhibition is available from Khun Atie, the
Royal Netherlands Embassy, tel. 02 254 7701, ext. 207.
Best of British, best of mates
Mike Nelson
They don’t have brollies or bowler hats, but
they’re among the best of British in Thailand - British businesspeople,
that is.
The
Thai National Power team out in force led by Gus Gill (second right) Thai
National Power with Katoen Natie’s Jimmy Howard (far right).
The British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) met for
their monthly gathering of camaraderie and networking on October 1 at the
Burapha Golf Club “exquisitely located in rolling countryside near the
new Chonburi-Pattaya Highway”, about 30 minutes’ drive from Pattaya
City.
New
friendships and business relationships were formed at Burapha last Friday.
The members of the 57 companies belonging to the BCCT
meet to build personal and business relationships, exchange information
and ideas, and simply relax and have fun together, according to Graham
Macdonald, chairman of the Eastern Seaboard Committee.
 Michael
Baker, country manager and Thai National Power Co. Ltd CEO, who sponsored
the networking night spoke on the various ongoing projects that the
company is currently undertaking in the region.
BTTC member companies volunteer to sponsor the monthly
gatherings. This month Thai National Power Co., Ltd (TNP), a
power-generation company based in Rayong, sponsored the get-together. TNP
is the local subsidiary of the UK-based International Power which has
plants in 12 countries.
A busload of members and guests from Bangkok drove down
for the occasion. Some of them and local members visited the TNP plant,
while others vainly attempted to play a round of golf.
 Jimmy
Howard, Katoen Natie Sembicorp, Faizan Hussein, of the BCCT and Graham
MacDonald, BCCT Eastern Seaboard committee chairman took time out from
their duties to discuss the local business climate as well as some rugby.
“This is the second time we were washed out by the
rain,” said TNP Corporate Affairs head Peter Stirling good-naturedly in
a typical Thai “mai pen rai” attitude of accepting the inevitable.
Well, it is the rainy season, after all!
In the evening, the BCCT ended off the day with a buffet and drinks - a
relaxing way to end a perfect day of meeting their mates.
(l-r)
Peter Malhotra, Udaporn Phookduang, Tira Charuvastra and Pascal Leray
formed a formidable circle of conversation.
Peter
Stirling, Graham Macdonald and sponsors, Gus Gill and Michael Baker from
Thai National Power took the opportunity to capture the event.
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