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Cleanliness and good taste on food festival menu
Itthipol Khunplome (center)
and Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay (2nd left)
truly enjoy the food at the festivity.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
More than 20 food booths bearing the Clean Food Good Taste stamp of
approval lined Walking Street during the period November 23 to 25 for the
Pattaya International Food Festival.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay and mayoral advisor Itthipol Khunplome led the
official opening ceremony on November 23.
Mrs Bubpha Songsakulchai, head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the
Pattaya Department of Public Health and the Environment said that the Clean
Food Good Taste signs indicated that a restaurant had achieved official
standards of health and hygiene.
A restaurant contest was held for health standards, clean food, nicely
decorated restaurants and demonstrations of Thai desserts, and the festival
also featured cultural performances by schools under Pattaya City
jurisdiction.
November 24 was the date of the Loy Krathong festival, and all the food
distributors dressed in traditional Thai style to celebrate the occasion.
Itthipol visited the booths after the opening ceremony and tasted the
different foods, complimenting the staff and saying that in particular he
enjoyed the som tam and the seafood.
Nong Nooch Loy Krathong festival a big hit with foreign tour groups
Patcharapol Panrak
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden celebrated Loy Krathong in its own way during
the night of November 23-24, staging a traditional Yipeng Krathong Sai ceremony
in which a formal pledge is offered to the goddess of water.
 Foreign
guests enjoy lighting their kom loys and setting them free into the night sky.
The lakeside ceremony started at 12:09 a.m. on November 24, with Nong Nooch
director Kampol Tansatcha presiding. In addition to Thai tourists there were
many foreign visitors attending, more so than in previous years. This was
especially so for Russian tourists; most had asked for this event to be included
on their tour itineraries.
Participants in the Noppamas parade dressed in Sukhothai era attire as a
symbolic link between past and present, and the highlight was the light and
sound show, the largest of its kind in the Eastern region.
Mrs Kwanwan Khantisuk, general manager at Nong Nooch, said that the large number
of foreign visitors was due to a marketing campaign the gardens aimed at travel
agents, and the tour groups had requested that Loy Krathong be included on
itineraries.
Kwanwan said that the foreign visitors appreciated the history of the festival,
and enjoyed floating lanterns into the sky. It was all very moving, she said,
and she is confident that next year will see another large gathering of overseas
visitors.
Bookworms prevail at PCEC meeting
The Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting on Sunday
November 25th at Henry J. Bean’s consisted of another full and varied
morning.
The week’s MC Richard Silverberg started the proceedings by welcoming back
the main speaker of the morning who was the well known author Dean Barrett.
Dean has produced a number of books, a large number of which are based in
Bangkok or Thailand in general. His latest offering is Dragon Slayer which
consists of three individual novels in one book.
 Dean
Barrett addresses the PCEC.
Dean lived in Hong Kong for 17 years before moving to Thailand and his
latest book explores the vast differences between Western and Chinese
culture, which existed particularly during the last dynasty from 1644 –
1911, and which had carried on into relatively recent times. He provided
some interesting insights such as the reaction to the lack of westerners who
visited China during such times when, whilst they were welcomed, were often
treated as we would treat aliens from another planet!
Dean provided an account of Hong Kong during the 1850s when two rigid
cultures came into direct contact with each other. One insight he provided
was the use of pigeon English by the Chinese. Whilst it may appear to be
humorous, it was created, if this is how it can be described, by the Chinese
in order to conduct business with westerners - “business” became ‘pigeon’.
Dean concluded with some advice for would be authors: remain sensitive to
current situations; read, write and travel taking in different cultures; be
specific, vividly bringing the subject matter to life; build an audience by
remaining in a specific genre; develop a thick skin in the face of
unsympathetic reviewers; remain aware that you cannot please everyone;
maintain self discipline with no distractions.
Finally Dean remarked that there were some excellent local authors whose
work should not be ignored in favour of those who are more internationally
known.
Last week’s visit to the Metalex exhibition at the BITEC centre had proved
to be a success and Stuart Saunders announced that a similar event, this
time on the subject of digital photographic equipment, was soon to take
place. A similar visit was planned.
The regular Open Forum was conducted by Bob L’Etoile whose comedy partner
Sig Sigworth was as usual on the receiving end of all jokes! As always it
provided an opportunity for questions about living in Thailand with an
emphasis on Pattaya to be asked.
Club member David Dunbar reported on a successful club trip to Chang Mai.
For more information regarding, not only PCEC Sunday meetings but also the
varied mid week activities, please see the Community Happenings section of
Pattaya Mail or, for more details, visit the Club’s website at
pattayacityexpatsclub.com.
PGF donates to Banbung
Juvenile Training Center
On November 21, the Pattaya Gay Festival group,
represented by James Lumsden, donated musical instruments including 3
guitars, 6 violins and 2 cellos to the Banbung Juvenile Training Center.
Lumsden also donated a 29" TV, a CD player and a water cooler.
The Banbung Juvenile Training Center is a home for about 260 boys who were
sentenced by the court for illegal conduct. The facilities provided by the
government do not include computers, library and music instruments, which
Rotary and friends are now helping to supply.
Sopin Thappajug, associate judge of the Chonburi Juvenile Court has
initiated this project together with the Rotary Club of Jomtien Pattaya,
Pattaya Sport Club, the YWCA, and the project is now sponsored also by a
Rotary Club in Japan and the Pattaya Gay Festival.
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