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Pattaya Beach Buffet: A Resounding Success

Pattaya Beach Buffet: A Resounding Success

by Peter Cummins

The stage was set - literally - for the splendid Pattaya City and business community-sponsored buffet dinner at Pattaya Beach. There has never been anything like it - even the annual Pattaya Festival pales by comparison.

Chonburi and Pattaya dignitaries applaud the opening of the “Beach Buffet”. (Photo by Peter Cummins)

It was an 800 metre long wall-to-wall row of food stalls provided by the city’s leading hotels, drink stands providing Singha, Red Bull and Coca Cola and ongoing entertainment up on the beautifully-decorated stage: Thai boxing courtesy of Pattaya School #4, the world-renowned Tiffany Cabaret and displays by Nong Nooch Village, the One Million Years Stone Park and the Crocodile Farm.

MCs Peter Malhotra and Wannapa Wannasri (Ju) address the huge crowd at the “Beach Buffet”. (Photo by Peter Cummins)

The huge crowds strolling along the beachfront boulevard were also regaled by the Pattaya Music Club and the sight of a sparklingly clean floodlit Pattaya Beach, with the lights of the southern end of the city shimmering on the waters of the Bay.

The Pattaya Beach Buffet was the third big evening in the four-day Thailand Travel Mart 2001 - the first event of such magnitude ever held, opening on 17 September at the Royal Cliff’s Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH).

Traditional Thai dance regaled the crowd.

Pattaya Mail’s Peter Malhotra and the charming Wannapa Wannasri (Ju) did a superb job as co-MC’s of the evening and Peter, in his inimitable style, paid tribute to and conveyed our collective deepest sympathies to the victims of the terrorist attacks in the United States the previous week. Pattaya mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat welcomed Chonburi governor Sujarit Pachimnan, who pushed the button to inaugurate the festivities, as well as Travel Mart participants and a huge number of “strollers” who happened along.

Peter thanked Supaporn Rerng-Ron-Asa, director of marketing and promotion for the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Pattaya City officials, the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter, the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association and the Pattaya Hotel Chapter who all contributed so much to the success of not just the particular evening, but also to the Thailand Travel Mart 2001.

Thai food was plentiful on the beach.

During the evening, recognition was made of Pattaya City’s Windsurfing Club which scored brilliantly at the recently completed SEA Games in Malaysia, winning two gold medals and one silver.

A spectacular fireworks display took off just as a strong westerly blew in from the Gulf, causing the news-hounds, photographers and not a few spectators, to run for cover from the fall-out. But it was all done in the highest spirits and not even the rain that followed the wind could ‘dampen’ the enthusiasm of the crowds. The dancers danced on, the band played on and everyone was happy - if a little wet. Actually, I overheard one spectator who “welcomed the rain” which washed the fireworks’ fall-out off her face.

Thailand’s culture and history, which plays a major role in attracting tourism, was prominently on display at the Carnival.

What to do for an encore? Of course, the ‘soft’ opening of the ‘Hard’ Rock where the cast of revellers numbered in the hundreds. The beer, wine and spirits flowed - even as the spirits soared. The dancing was exactly what one could expect - was a hyperactive display of kinetic energy gyrating to the sounds of “hard rock”!

At the end of it all, everyone was a winner - particularly Pattaya which, no doubt, will be the object of far-reaching advances in tourism.

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Copyright 2001  Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
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Updated by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
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