Belgians do appear to be passionate about their country and their national cuisine, and Patrick Van Den Berghe of Patrick’s Belgian Restaurant is no exception. Open the menu and the first page is Mannikin Pis and the Belgian flag!

This was the first visit for the Dining Out Team, though we were well acquainted with the “Bavaria House” arcade where the restaurant is situated. There is an outside dining area, or air-conditioned inside. The restaurant is well set up, with tablecloths and padded chairs and the whole place has a “cosy” atmosphere. To add to the homeliness of the place, there are photographs and memorabilia of Patrick’s other loves on the walls - boxing and skydiving!

The menu is trilingual with Belgian at the top, French underneath and English on the last line. The English subtitles are also in blue, to make it easier!

The drinks list is comprehensive with soft drinks, a full range of juices, aperitifs, several whiskeys, the usual beers (including Singha Gold, thank you Patrick), teas and coffee and house wines, red or white, at 80 baht a glass or 380 baht for a large carafe. Further through the menu is a page with bottled wine “specials” at around 850-900 baht.

Fondues are a speciality of the house, according to Patrick, and range in price between 320-400 baht per person complete with a free glass of house wine.

Next up are light snacks, including American Breakfast, hamburgers and sandwiches and spaghetti and omelettes, around 70-90 baht in general. Salads come next with a choice of 5 for the vegetarians (B 50-120) and then entrees where the Flemish background of mine host Patrick begins to appear with Flemish meatballs and croquettes on offer, along with prawns and tomatoes filled with shrimps and mayonnaise. 70-120 baht covers that group.

Five soups are next, including a Flemish pea soup (70-85 baht) and then it is really into the Flemish kitchens with a page of Belgian specials (180-200 baht) with Flemish Goulasch, or meatballs or chicken casserole or Belgian beef stew.

From there it is into pork dishes and chicken dishes (around B 200) and then steaks - 13 of them between 220 baht to 300 baht (or the Chateaubriand for two at 600 baht). The steaks come with Belgian Fries, or fried potatoes and a mixed salad. (By the way, the Belgians are very insistent that it was they who invented “fries” - not the French or McDonalds!)

Finally (gasp!) there are seven fish choices including an Australian Salmon, Flemish style in brandy!

We began with a chicken vegetable soup for Madame and shrimps in a creamy brandy sauce for me. Both were excellent, with Madame revelling in the soup, saying she had not had a better one since her Grandmother’s on the family Sunday lunch.

We went carnivorous for mains with a filet mignon and Roquefort sauce for Madame and the 400 gram Entrecote with Bordelaise (red wine) sauce for me. Both were cooked as ordered, arriving on large wooden platters, along with the Belgian fries and mayonnaise. The sauces came separately in their own gravy boats and really elevated the steak to higher levels. The Bordelaise had that sharpness from the onion and richness from the red wine while the Roquefort was, as Madame said, to die for. The aroma through the hind palate tingled the nose delightfully. These were both excellent steaks, well presented and great eating.

While I sat back and burped after my 400 gram steak, Madame did manage to put away a Belgian chocolate mousse, to top off a very enjoyable evening.

Patrick’s Belgian Restaurant is not expensive and definitely worth a visit. The Flemish cuisine is a very welcome breath of fresh air, and if you like Roquefort - wow! Thanks, Patrick!

Khun Abhicha Chinsathapornchoke is a 38-year-old Thai businessman married with an eight-year-old son, yet he felt it was important to become a monk for three months. Abhicha was one of ninety monks who took the saffron robes recently at Wat Dhamma Isara in Nakom Pratom. For those three months he was given the given the name of Phra So Phanajitdhyo, which means, “Monk of the good clean mind.”

Like many other Thais, Abhicha chose to become a monk at that time to celebrate King Bhumibhol’s sixth cycle. “This is a great time for Thai people; it was the time our King Rama the 9th was seventy two years old. You know that first of all I needed to give. I needed to do something for our King, the greatest King, and for our parents.”

Abhicha Chinsathapornchoke

Abhicha was born into a family of six in Nakorn Sawan. His parents were rice merchants. Although sent to a Christian boarding school at an early age, he was brought up a Buddhist.

Surprisingly he found becoming a monk not all that easy. “The first ten days were very difficult, even Thais feel a lot of pain you know, from spending hours kneeling and sitting on the floor. The first and second week it was very difficult too, to cut away all thoughts of your wife and your son, your parents and your business problems. Then it was hard to get up early every morning at 4 a.m. and go to bed late, have no dinner in the evening and not kill a mosquito or an ant when they disturb you practicing meditation.”

Abhicha chose to study at Wat Dhamma Isara, “because the abbot there, Luang Poo Buddha Isara, is an advanced meditator, an aharant at the top level of meditation already. Not many monks can show you with his technique of teaching. He translates all the Dhamma and chanting from Sanskrit and Pali into Thai also.”

“I gained a lot from the three months practice. Before I was always very easily moody. Now it has taught me calm. I just think, ‘O.K., just let it go.’ I have no stress any more.”

How easy is it for farangs to learn about Buddhism?

“You need to understand about the history of our Buddha first. Then, the Buddha said there are three important things: to never kill, to make merit, and to purify your mind.

“All three are comprehensive. To never kill involves not causing injury or suffering to any living thing, people or animals, and not becoming angry. To make merit means to help yourself first so that you can help others; to donate and share with others; as a layman to keep the five precepts and to do meditation. Purifying your mind is achieved by breathing, meditation, and making every activity into a meditation of mindfulness.

“You cannot practice exactly like a monk back in everyday life. Probably you can achieve 70% back at home.” It has been a month since Abhicha disrobed and his three months as a monk have made a large impact on his life. “I think it has a great importance for my life. Before I was never one to keep money. If I had a million baht I would spend a million baht. Luang Poo taught us to help others when they have trouble, to think about the value and the usefulness of what you buy to get the most benefit. Do not waste time, money, or food. Decide if something is important to you before you buy it. You cannot live in more than one house. Give some to poor people.”

Even back amongst the distractions of workday life, Abhicha seems to have acquired an extra measure of smiling serenity. He is indeed fortunate to be able to tread the path of personal peace and calm.

For Farangs wishing to learn more on Buddhism there are several recommended books. “Buddhism Explained” by Khantipalo Bhikkhu, ISBN 974-7047-28-4. In review of this book John Blofeld wrote, “This book is readable and suitable for those wishing to learn of Buddhism in an easily understood, concise, comprehensive summary.” In it, Phra Khantipalo explains precisely what Buddhists believe, practice and realize, taking Refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma (the teachings), the Sangha (the noble community), and the Buddhist precepts or commandments. It also addresses the rules for the monkhood, the aspects of Buddhism in Thailand, including its different traditions and the joining the community for three months during the rainy season for a concentrated study of the Dhamma.

Phra Kantipalo additionally explains the essential point that many foreigners are unaware of - Buddhist teaching (Dhamma) is, “A method not a doctrine.” To put this into Farang speak, ‘Buddhism is not a religion, it is a practice, a way of life.’

Another Western viewpoint is “Phra Farang, An English Monk in Thailand”, by Phra Peter Pannapadipo, ISBN 974-202-019-1. This book is about a middle aged English businessman who became a monk in Thailand, and is again highly readable and often an amusing insight into the problems of Westerners who ordain as Buddhist monks. There is another book called, “A short course in Buddhism for the Westerner” which is a useful basic primer, like a catechism.

All of these books are recommended and each may add a different insight.

The steam turbine is not a modern invention. Hero of Alexandria had a crude one 120 years before the birth of Christ, although it doesn’t seem to be clear what he did with it.

It was not until modern metals were available that the turbine became a practical project, and the Hon. C.A. Parsons produced a small one of 6 h.p. in 1884; soon turbines were applied commonly for maritime use in preference to reciprocating engines, and later they were commonly used in power stations. In every case a condenser was provided which gave an increase in economy. Railway engineers looked on with envy at these smooth running rotative engines, which required no balancing and had no reciprocating motion to bedevil things. When they tried, in a number of countries, it was assumed that condensing would have to be a part of the system.

The very first turbine locomotive ever built was a rare exception, as were the final ones. It was a tiny machine to which an Italian engineer applied a turbine to each of its four wheels, two for forward running, two for reverse. It was not heroic but it did shunting work on its owner’s premises in Milano for twenty years. It could be called a small success. Two further attempts were made in Italy: one made a trip on a State Railway line, the other ran round the builder’s works yard but no more; both had condensers. For both, the rest is silence.

Sweden, Switzerland, France and Germany are known to have tried turbine locomotives, mostly with modest success and the savings through higher efficiency were always outweighed by the high first cost and increase maintenance. The French locomotive was a non-condenser; it suffered from being put to work in 1941 and was quickly damaged by bombing. Two German turbine locomotives ran for some years but did not survive the war period, and the Krupp works in Essen had two turbine locomotives under construction in 1941 (when the Germans actually thought the war was over!) - these never appeared; they were bombed to destruction by the R.A.F. They appear on some stock lists, but I have not been able to even discover a drawing of one.

In Britain the North British Locomotive Co. built two turbine-electric locomotives to customers’ drawings, and Armstrong Whitworth did the same with a massive machine of modest planned power, so much overweight that few lines in Britain could have accepted it. The Beyer Peacock Company of Gorton, Manchester, built as a speculation a complex Ljungstrom turbine-electric in 1926, which did some test running on passenger and freight trains between London and Manchester, and Derby and Bristol. Fairly satisfactory, the economy against the cost ratio still was not favourable.

The almost unknown Grangesberg-Oxelosund Railway in Sweden had a fleet of freight locomotives of orthodox design, but in 1932 they bought a turbine driven example with the same power rating; notably it was a non-condensing locomotive. It went into regular service after tests had showed a 6% savings in fuel and maintenance costs, and later some more were bought. They came to the notice of (later Sir Henry) Guy of Metropolitan-Vickers, who contacted William Stanier of the LMS Railway with the thought that he might be interested in going to Sweden and see it in action. They went, and Stanier was plainly impressed with the simple machine which he saw - to the extent that work on the third of the ‘Princess’ Class ‘Pacifics’ was held over, and it was not until 1935 that it duly appeared as a non-condensing turbine express engine. The drawing, by the late L. Ward, shows the appearance, although the two sides were not quite the same.

The long casing conceals the control gear and at the front end the forward turbine, rated at 2000 h.p., which drives the front axle through triple-stage gearing. A turbine is most efficient at maximum speed, but the marine practice of designing for a narrow band of constant speed cannot apply on a locomotive - the turbine on this one was planned for a speed band of 35 to 85 m.p.h. A second turbine, much smaller, was on the other side of the engine, for running in reverse, and this was disconnected when the locomotive was running forwards. Steam was admitted to the six turbine nozzles by six hand controlled valves; the usual way of operating was to clamp the main regulator wide open and open any needed number of valves according to power required. No report seems to make clear if these valves could be opened gradually or partly; if not then it seems a rather inflexible method, where, say, three valves were not enough to maintain required speed, and four would have been too much and too wasteful.

This was the most successful experimental locomotive ever built in Britain; had the war, once again, not intervened, no doubt testing and development would have continued. As it was, at that time it had to be used just as another traffic unit; maintenance standards dropped and spares from the turbine makers were badly delayed as the Company was deeply involved in munitions supply. But up to the war, although it never achieved the annual mileages of the normal ‘Pacifics’, it was remarkably good, and on tests between London and Glasgow; with very heavy loads it often out-classed the performances of the standard type. It was a dirty engine to work as there was a tendency for the exhaust smoke to drift into the driver’s cab; nevertheless it was generally well-liked, as the balancing was precise and made it comfortable to ride on. Most of its work in traffic was between London and Liverpool, one round trip per day, and after the war, in the difficult conditions then present, it was put back to this regular working.

There were some quite bad failures, the most alarming of which was the breakage of the main forward turbine spindle at 60 m.p.h., and the most persistent was the failure of the flexible drive between the slow-speed gear and the driven axle. As a turbine locomotive it ran some 440,000 miles, but when it was withdrawn the Swedish locomotives were still in traffic, and were to remain so until 1956. It is worth noting also that the Pennsylvania RR of the U.S.A. completed a turbine locomotive not unlike No.6202, but of course very much bigger. It was fast and powerful but, naturally more expensive and not so reliable. It did not last very long; America was entering the diesel age.

In 1952 No.46202, as it had become, was withdrawn and converted to a normal locomotive; early ‘blurb’ had pointed out how easily this would be as the boiler and frames were standard with those of the ‘Princess Royal’ Class. It came as a surprise to find that the original frames had not been used, and those provided were of the later ‘Duchess’ type. The double chimney of the original was also lost, but it is likely it would have been restored as steaming was said to be poor. But fate intervened, and the rebuilt engine was damaged beyond repair in the terrible collision at Harrow in October 1952. We were not to know what it could do and there are few photographs of it. It was named for this short period ‘Princess Ann’, a name not used again.

On the 23rd of March collectors and dealers from all over the world turned up at the Singapore Coin Auction. The interest for the coin from Hong Kong, now listed under China was great.

A silver dollar from 1867/6 in extremely fine condition, but with two scratches, had an estimate of US$1,250, but in the end the buyer had to pay US$6,500 for the Queen Victoria Crown.

(left) Hong Kong Silver Dollar 1867/6 estimated at US$1,250-1,500 sold for US$6,500.

The bidding for a Hong Kong 20-cent piece from 1872/1 was also keen. The estimate for the small silver coin, also struck during the reign of Queen Victoria, was US$800-1000. The coin was in un-circulated condition and superbly toned. It had been in the Heaton Mint Collection which was sold in 1977. The seller must have been happy, the price paid was about 7 times the estimate, US$7,000.

There were not that many Thai coins in the auction, but some of the coins were very interesting. A copper pattern 4-ticals with no date, but struck in 1868 was estimated at US$7000-8000. The auctioneer had to start the bidding at US$13,000 on behalf of a postal bidder. A Bangkok dealer put in a bid of US$14,000, but the postal bidder ended up buying the interesting pattern for US$15,000.

The interest for a silver medal from Napoleon III was great. The medal, struck in 1861, showing on the reverse Napoleon III’s reception with the Thai Ambassador had an estimate of US$2,000-3,000. After keen bidding a Bangkok coin dealer bought the medal for US$ 7,500 on behalf of a collector.

Not so many of the bidders seemed to be interested in the Essai or Pattern 1 Baht silver of RS127( (1908). This is one of the last coins struck during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. A Thai dealer bought the coin for US$13,500, not too far from the estimated price of US$10,000. Including the Buyer Premium of 15%, the dealer paid US$ 15,525, about Baht 590,000.

After the auction, some of the collectors realized that the value of the coin was much higher than what the dealers had paid. Comparing what the coin had been sold for previously, the baht 590,000 seemed cheap.

The dealer estimated the value of the coin at Baht 1,000,000, but when a collector offered him Baht 850,000, the offer was accepted.

A profit of Baht 260,000 is not bad, and I believe Baht 850,000 was a reasonable price for the coin.

If the dealer and collector that bought the coin in the end had been bidding against each other in the auction, the price might have been much higher.

Sitting in the shade of a parked car in the grounds of Wat Chaiyamonkul was the most pitiful little dog I have ever seen. It was only about three years old and almost totally furless with mange. “Sad”, I called her, and crouched down nearby and tried to speak to her. I was going to give her a few dog biscuits and water I had in the back of my car, but she was too wary. The Wat was her last refuge; she was still uncertain where the next kick was coming from and struggled to her feet and shuffled off.

After

Although Wats do serve as much needed homes and provide food for countless strays, no vet treatment or medication is given. I just desperately wanted to ask the monk if I could take her home. I resisted the strong temptation as I am sheltering another injured dog and bird and homeless cat and worse have been threatened with divorce if I bring more home. My husband has decided that there has to be a limit.

Before

I am not crazy though; I know certainly that we could have helped that dog. I have before and after photos to prove it. In six to eight weeks time with a mange bath once a week with Amitrax she would be a proper furry dog again instead of a bleeding mess.

Pattaya Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is trying to raise funds to set up an animal rescue shelter here that will provide temporary homes and much needed treatment for poor little dogs like Sad.

Sad

A shelter such as the one they have built in Koh Samui and where these before and after photos came from. The dog rescue centre works in Koh Samui, and after treatment, inoculations and spay/neutering, the dogs are released where they were found.

An animal shelter will work here also if we all get together to build it. Can you help poor little creatures like Sad? Would you take one in yourself and treat it for two months? Would you donate building materials for the shelter, time or expertise? Would you donate food, bedding, toys, care, anything to help Pattaya’s pitiful strays and help clean up Pattaya’s image? Do you care? Please help us to help. Pattaya Animal Welfare Society, Email<[email protected]> Automatic Fax 038-231675. Office address: 183/14 Soi Post Office, Pattaya City. If you would like to meet us, the next PAWS meeting will be held at Delaney’s Irish Pub, Pattaya 2nd Rd at 8 p.m. on Wednesday April 26, and everyone is welcome.