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Hong Kong pulchritude smitten by Pattaya magic
Their hair flew in the wind leaving trails of broken hearts
Miss Hong Kong 2002 Tiffany
Lam (right) and 1st Runner-up Victoria Jolly (left) looking good at the
Horseshoe Point Resort and Country Club.
Mayor Pairat presents the key
to Pattaya City to Miss Hong Kong 2002 Tiffany Lam at City Hall.
Above: Miss Hong Kong 2002
Tiffany Lam (right) and 1st Runner-up Victoria Jolly check out what’s going
on around town by reading the Pattaya Mail during their meeting at City
Hall. By the looks of what’s going on in the background, Pattaya Mail might
have been just a tad more interesting than the meeting.
World class equestrians
Chainarin and Chaikiri Srifuengfung performed the internationally renowned
‘Dancing with Horses’ show, which thrilled the beautiful young women and
other guests.
(L to R) Horse (of course, but
not Mr. Ed), Cerina DaGraca (Miss Photogenic, Miss Total Beauty and Most
Natural Skin), Miss Hong Kong 2002 Tiffany Lam, and Ruby-Anne Choi (Most
Talented) enjoy getting back to nature at Horseshoe Point.
So that’s how they get the
little shoes on their not-so-little feet.
Hong Kong’s Miss Most Talented
Ruby-Anne Choi made some news friends at the Horseshoe Point.
Riding off into the sunset,
leaving a trail of broken hearts.
by Suwanthep Malhotra
Miss Hong Kong 2002, Tiffany Lam and her court of beauty queens, Victoria
Jolly, Cathy Wu, Cerina DaGraca and Ruby-Anne Choi arrived in Pattaya last
week with their entourage of Hong Kong media on a goodwill tour of the
region. Grinning from ear to ear, Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat
and members of the local business community gave Hong Kong’s finest a very
warm welcome at Pattaya City Hall.
Peter Malhotra, managing director of the Pattaya Mail, who was also “in his
element”, was on hand to welcome the 5 pageant winners plus Charlie Lok,
representing the Hong Thai Travel company and members of the Hong Kong
press, including the Oriental Daily, the Sun, Apple Daily, Ming Pao, Sing
Tao Daily, Hongkong Daily News, Sing Pao and TVB Magazines.
In his welcoming speech, the mayor expressed a strong desire to foster
stronger relationships between Pattaya and Hong Kong. He said, “This is an
excellent opportunity to promote Pattaya City to the citizens of Hong Kong
and the whole world. I hope we are able to impress you with our hospitality
and friendship, and on your departure, we hope you take back home with you
happy memories of our city and our people.”
After the formal speeches the mayor presented Miss Hong Kong with the golden
key to Pattaya City and wished them well on their travels through Pattaya.
Later that afternoon the group traveled to the Horseshoe Point Resort &
Country Club where they were welcomed by a parade of horses led by owners
Chainarin and Chaikiri Srifuengfung, world class equestrians in their own
right. A demonstration of riding skills was followed by the internationally
renowned ‘Dancing with Horses’ show, which thrilled the beautiful young
women and other guests.
And the end of the show the visitors received flowers, whose beauty and
color were matched only by the charm and sweetness of the stunningly
beautiful recipients. This abundance of beauty drove all the photographers
into a mad frenzy of picture taking. As the thunderous sounds of the
clicking of shutters and the lightning blitz of flashing bulbs eased, the
girls leaped onto the horses and happily galloped off around the vast
expanse of fields at the resort. They rode into the Three Kingdoms Park
where they dismounted and strolled around taking in the splendor of the
magnificent structures. The girls then proceeded to the stables and
witnessed various activities such as shodding, bathing, feeding and even
health check ups for the horses and ponies.
Miss Hong Kong Tiffany Lam Man-Lee said that she and her friends were
overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity afforded them on their visit to
Pattaya and especially to the Horse Shoe Point, in particular the thrill of
riding these magnificent steeds. “I love horses” Tiffany exclaimed. These
sentiments were echoed by one and all as they rode off into the sunset,
leaving trails of broken but happy hearts.
Rotary Club of Jomtien Pattaya holds a fellowship of condoms
Fortunately it did not rain
President Bruno Keller (l) presents
Past President Peter with the priceless picture. Past President Dennis Stark
looks his happy self.
‘My heart is as pure as gold,’
Deborah of the Rabbit Resort seems to be telling Marion Vogt. Michael seems
utterly amused.
Is that Babe Ruth? Not hardly, it’s
past president Kees Peperkamp thrilled with his newly won Rotary baseball
cap.
The Rotary Club of Jomtien Pattaya
held one of its famous fellowship parties at the Cabbages & Condoms Resort
and Restaurant last week. As usual, many Rotarians attended bringing along
their spouses and friends to join the fun. One guest had even
flown all the way up from ‘down
under’.
Past President Susiree Chanchailert (left) of the Rotary Club of Pattaya
claims her very own G. Sport scooter from Past President Erika Keller
(right).
Cabbages & Condoms Restaurant served a
variety of Thai foods and plenty of wine and beer was available as well. But
that was not all, this unique locale with an even more distinctive name also
serves condoms, and one can get them as bouquets or just simply as a flower.
Past President Erika Keller merrily carried around a huge basket full of the
colourful prophylactics and gave them out for free to each of the guests.
Some were seen to have taken more than a handful. Was it showing off or just
keeping them handy for a rainy day?
The mood of the evening reached its peak when raffle tickets were drawn and
prizes were given away. The piece de resistance, an exquisite picture
depicting the world famous Thai Benjarong pottery was put up for auction to
raise funds for the club’s many charity projects. The club’s president Bruno
Keller and past president Dennis Stark played auctioneers raising the
bidding frenzy to a fevered pitch. Not to be besieged, past president Peter
Malhotra threw in the gauntlet (empty of course) and outbid everyone taking
home the esteemed reward.
Altogether more than 20,000 baht was raised that evening adding a little
more to the club’s charity coffers. The evening found its end in peace and
harmony as a fellowship party is meant to be.
NFO (Thailand) hosts another successful BCCT networking evening
(from left) Kim Fletcher, landlord
of Shenanigans Pattaya; Chris Langford, Laem Chabang Port; Somsak
Tanreungsri, CM Marriott Resort & Spa, and Jutamas Plengratsamee.
(from left) Trevor Allen, MD of Shenanigans, Stewart
Morris, Jerry Carpenter, Neils Smith and Graham McDonald, chairman BCCT
Eastern Seaboard.
Chris Maxwell (2nd left), MD NFO (Thailand), with Greg
Watkins (left), Director of BCCT; NFO colleagues Suchin Itthiphongmatee,
Todd Wilkie, Bill Pritchard, Andy Gower; Kim Fletcher and Graham McDonald.
Karyn Walton (2nd left), Head of
Junior School at the International School of Pattaya, and her team of
teachers and school administrators.
The BCCT hosted yet another vibrant
networking evening at Shenanigans on Friday September 6th. NFO, who
specialize in market research and consumer strategy and planning, were
sponsors of the evening and had obviously done their homework for this event
as most in attendance were well lubricated by the end of the night.
Max Maxwell welcomed everyone to the networking evening saying he is a
Banglamung resident and the decision was easy to sponsor the evening in
Pattaya as the Eastern Seaboard people are a lot more fun than Bangkok folk.
Maxwell explained what the company was about: researching how consumers
relate to brands, as well as getting involved with promotions, packaging,
marketing by finding out the real motivation behind why people buy brands.
In short, “It’s about brand management,” Max said.
The next British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand function will be the long
awaited dinner on September 27th at the Royal Cliff with special guest
speaker Senator Mechai Viravaidya.
Chaine des Rotisscurs and Bruno’s “unchain” Thai wines
The international food and wine gourmet group, the
Chaine des Rotisseurs, has a very active chapter in Pattaya, under the
leadership of their Bailli, Marion Vogt. This could be seen from the last
event which was held at the renowned Bruno’s Restaurant, with partners
Bruno and Fredi on hand to welcome the diners. And they turned out in
force, with 38 people attending to experience the opportunity to sample
some of Fredi’s more creative cooking, and the chance to try some wines
which would probably normally be passed over - Thai wines from the Khao
Yai winery.
Members of
the Chaine show their affection to Bruno Forrer (seated center) the patron
prince of the house.
Being such an august group, there were many of the top chefs,
such as Pascal Schnyder (Casa Pascal) and Louis Noll (Mata Hari) in attendance
as well as wine connoisseurs such as Ranjith Chandrasiri, the captain of the
Royal Cliff Wine Club, Hans and Dickie Frei (Little Hill Restaurant) and Tony
Coolen (August Renoir Restaurant in the Flamingo Hotel).
Bailli
Marion flanked by Katharina, Alexander, Wolfgang Hieronimi, past Bailli National
Allemagne, Stefan and Tony.
Bailli Marion Vogt welcomed everyone to the last
“regular” meeting of the year, as the final 2002 event, the
“Intronisation” Dinner, is one full of pomp and even more circumstance;
however, this evening was a very relaxed affair, helped by the easy wit and
charm of the MC for the evening, Marion’s husband Michael.
Chef
extraordinaire Fredi Schaub, Michael and Marion Vogt greet Ranjith and Chitra
Chandrasiri of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort.
The Thai wines were a red and a white with a Chenin Blanc
1999 and a Shiraz of the same vintage. The results from such a critical group
were interesting. 80% were very positive and the Chenin Blanc was very well
accepted, though some felt that the Shiraz needed a little more time to breathe,
but was still eminently drinkable.
But as well as the chance to try the Thai wines, most of the
diners were there to sample Fredi’s cuisine. You must appreciate that at
dinners such as these, an opportunity is presented for the individual chefs to
show off their skills and imagination.
Douglas,
Pascal, Louis, Hugh and John prepare for the culinary journey around Thailand.
Fredi’s first presentation in the six course dinner was an
Autumn salad, “Sweet and Sour” with slices of grilled duckling breast. This
was most succulent and one marvelled at how Fredi could oven bake the duckling,
yet still retain the moist texture.
This was followed by an herb cream soup with saut้ed
frog legs which had been previously pan-fried before adding to the soup just
before serving. After the soup came a fish dish with layers of pan-fried
parrotfish with zucchini and roesti potatoes served with a light saffron sauce.
The potatoes were the subject of much comment, being crisp and not at all
‘mushy’ as is often the case in some of the European restaurants.
Bailli
Marion presents certificates of appreciation to Chef Fredi Schaub and Virapong
Kamsiri who received them on behalf of the whole team.
At this juncture, a palate refreshing passion fruit sorbet
was served on a dry ice bed of frozen peel, with guests such as Graeme and Sam
Moore and Jan and Mio Aamlid already enjoying the evening, even though there was
still much to go.
After the sorbet and the change to the red wine, chef Fredi
produced an oven roasted veal loin, using a local veal. Tasting notes indicated
that this was again a tender dish, despite the origins of the meat. The
potato-onion dumplings were another hit, with a different texture to offset the
veal.
A cheese plate was next, done as a terrine, flavoured with
herbs and accompanied by a basil-pesto and tomato concasse. This was followed by
an amazing coconut parfait with contrasting flavours from the mango fritters
done in a strawberry sauce.
Deborah and
Paisan of the Rabbit Resort with Elfi Seitz.
All were in agreement with the accolades given to Bruno’s
team, under chef Fredi, for another masterful culinary display. It is not often
that one can experience such an evening, and try some new and very different
(and local) wines at the same time. The Chaine des Rotisseurs is to be
congratulated, once again for a memorable evening of dining in the grand manner,
but yet in a very relaxed way.
Information on the Chaine des Rotisseurs may be received by
email from the Bailli, [email protected]
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