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Home and Decor Exhibition on display at Carrefour as part
of Valentines Day festivities
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Valentines Day celebrates love and as with many couples
around the world who choose to spend their life together the home, or love
nest, is a vital factor in the lives of modern day society. With this in
mind, the Super Progressive Company (2002) Ltd recently opened their Home
& Decor Exhibition and Valentine with Love on the 2nd floor of the
Carrefour shopping center on Pattaya Central Road.
 Chanyuth
Hengtrakul, advisor to the minister of sports and tourism presided over the
opening of the exhibition.
The exhibit displaying home decoration ideas and selling
products for the home will wind up on February 15.
The company, which has approximately 20 housing projects
in the region, is marketing home and interior design products from the ultra
modern to traditional Thai and oriental as well as offering free
consultations.
The Valentines with Love section offers a photo and
wardrobe facility for couples wishing to get married or just having their
picture taken in wedding attire. A number of products are also on offer from
wedding dresses, jewelry - including the all important wedding ring - to
fortune telling and consultation services.
Chanyuth Hengtrakul, advisor to the minister of sports
and tourism presided over the opening of the exhibition.
Centara Spa introduces ‘Chocolate Spa treatment’
Suchada Tupchai
Good news for spa lovers! A new idea for body skin and
health treatment was recently introduced. Tim Bray, Group Spa operations
manager of Central Hotel & Resort recently launched a new natural way to
take care of human body skin and an essence that provides a mind-soothing
therapy.
 The
beautiful young model said that her skin became much smoother and softer
after her whipped cocoa bath in a Jacuzzi bathtub filled with cocoa powder
and warm milk.
Tim said cocoa in chocolate consists of nutrition that
has a characteristic similar to body hormones that are released when he or
she is in a romantic mood. Tim said it also contains magnesium which helps
to relax muscles and heart. He added that chocolate is full of vitamin A
that restructures body cells, slows down aging process, and improves blood.
According to Tim, French and Canadian scientists found in
their research that chocolate contains a substance known as pelophynol that
aids the body in the de-toxic process, strengthens body cells and prevents
heart ailment. After chocolate was tested on every kind of human skin, it
showed positive results and acts as a moisturizer.
On the day of the launch, Tim guided a group of reporters
through every treatment that Centara Spa offers, starting with a skin scrub
with orange peal that takes about 30 minutes. Orange peal has proved to
effectively clear dead cells away and allows new cells to grow.
The highlight of the day was the dark chocolate body
wrap. The ingredients included in the formula were cocoa powder, cinnamon,
body mud, and water. The treatment takes 60 minutes.
Then Tim led the group to watch the oil massage that has
an extract from a mint leaf called after dinner mint, and a whipped cocoa
bath in a Jacuzzi bathtub that consisted of cocoa powder and warm milk. The
process takes about 30 minutes.
The female representative (model) that went through the
treatment told the group of reporters that her skin became much smoother and
softer. She felt fresh and very much relaxed. At the end of the tour Tim
provided the group with chocolate cakes and wine.
Centara Spa’s special promotion runs from February 14th
until April 30th, 2004. Centara Spa is situated in Central Wongamat Beach
Resort. Call Tim at 038-426990 ext. 8706 for bookings and further inquiries.
‘Baan Sabaijai’ - a long-stay place for the handicapped in Pattaya
Suchada Tupchai
Last week, Oskar Jorgensen, a well-known communal
activity initiator and chairman of many charitable projects in Pattaya
including Project for a Common Future Together (PROFF), PROFF travel, and
Norwegian Communities Action against Social Neglect (NORSK SAMSON)
introduced a new home for the disabled in Pattaya called Baan Sabaijai.
 Oskar
Jorgensen and Bjorn Bjerkass, Norwegian Consul, officially opened the Baan
Sabaijai project, Thappraya Soi 15, which caters to disabled guests.
Guest of honor, Norwegian Consul Bjorn Bjerkoas, declared
the home open amidst many witnesses from different social sectors and
project members.
Nong Dream, daughter of Supaporn Yindeemark, the manager
of the home, performed a traditional dance on stage before the consul cut
the ribbon to embark on the official opening ceremony. Many performances
followed including “Sawasdee Muang Thai” and “Welcome to Thailand”,
performed by Siam Bayview Hotel staff, and an enchanting dance was presented
by members of Baan Jing Jai Children’s Home.
The Baan Sabaijai project was initiated in July 2003 on a
piece of land in Soi Thappraya 15, Thappraya Road, Jomtien. At the time of
its birth, it was just a little resort with not many rooms.
Baan Sabaijai has been completely renovated and expanded
and can now accommodate more members. The lobby area reflects its
Scandinavian style. Nine separate rooms have been decorated in four
different styles representing traditions of the four regions of Thailand,
and some have decor in the islander style. The home is also equipped with a
physical therapy room for the disabled to receive proper treatment.
Some of the project members requested long-stay rehabilitation and
physical treatment. The home’s manager hopes that the physical treatment
provided in a quiet and relaxing environment will help them recover their
ability in the near future.
Pattaya City Expats Club holds meeting for upcoming Cross Cultural Conference
Government officials to clarify foreigners’ confusion on vital issues
Suchada Tupchai
The second meeting of the steering committee for a Cross
Cultural Conference scheduled for March was recently held between members of
the expat community and representatives from various local authorities. Thai
governmental and administrative organizations were present along with
representatives from the foreign resident population.
 Drew
Noyes and Bruce Hoppe (back row center and left) and the steering committee
for a Cross Cultural Conference scheduled for March met with local officials
to plan the agenda of the meeting.
The Cross Cultural Conference will aim at improving
mutual understanding between Western and Thai culture as they pertain to
everyday life, business and how different nationalities deal with emotions.
Those attending will include department heads and elected
officials who will help foreign residents to better understand the new
changes in regulations for visas, the new privilege cards for VIPs, legal
requirements for construction, and land ownership.
Chairmen of the Pattaya City Expats Club Drew Noyes
expressed the desire to form an official Expat Association in April in order
to provide a greater base for interactivity and cooperation between the
foreign community and government departments as well as Thai society at
large.
The March conference will include representatives from the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs, Transportation, Commerce, Labor, Justice, Culture and
Public Health, the Royal Thai Police, Immigration, Department of Labor,
Intellectual Property, Business Development and the Board of Investment who
will give first hand information about various issues pertaining to
foreigners and reduce confusion about hearing it second-hand.
Regent’s scholars win places at Cambridge and Stanford
Following the replacement of A Level courses for senior
students with the International Baccalaureate Diploma at The Regent’s
School, Pattaya, enrolment in the Sixth Form increased fivefold in two
years. Any doubts about the currency of the IB qualification have been
dispelled with news that two of the current Y13 students have won places at
Cambridge and Stanford Universities.
 Principal
Patricia Metham congratulated Morten and Quincy for their great achievements
of being accepted into prestigious universities.
Morten Ritso has been offered a place at Cambridge to
study Natural Sciences. Morten, from Estonia, is part of the school’s
unique Global Connect program which brings scholars from all over Europe to
study in Thailand.
The program started in August 1999 and twenty four top
scholars from five countries are currently attending this program.
Morten’s achievements bear testimony to the academic strength of the
program – not to mention his own CV, which charts personal qualities
inside and outside of the classroom and helped him secure the position of
Head Boy at The Regent’s.
When Californian Quincy Tanner received his IGCSE exam
results he immediately formulated a plan; with 5A*s, 2As and 2Bs registered
and the IB Diploma in prospect, he could aim high. Using the Early Action
Program, Quincy set out to compete with 4,100 of the world’s top scholars
to gain entrance to this year’s most competitive and prestigious Stanford
University in the USA.
Imagine his delight this week when Stanford informed him
that, not only had he won a place for 2004, but that he had also won a full
scholarship. The acceptance citation makes clear the strength of his
application …“Your thoughtful application and remarkable accomplishments
convinced us that you have the intellectual energy, imagination and talent
to flourish at Stanford…” And this was from the university rated most
difficult to get into in the USA!
Quincy has gone from strength to strength during his four
years at The Regent’s. Last year he was president of the Student Guild and
continues to play a very active role at the school, including involvement in
music and leading the students’ work for Amnesty International.
Principal Patricia Metham warmly congratulated Morten and Quincy, saying,
“These two students most effectively represent the aims and the ethos of
The Regent’s School. We encourage students to be ambitious, to have
confidence in themselves, to recognize the importance of breadth as well as
depth of achievement – and to work hard to fulfill their dreams. We are
all very proud of them both.”
Valentine Scenarios
The Urban Peasant
Scene in a department store: red and pink decorations and
all kinds of love messages in flowers, cards, dolls and everything they can
think of to make extra loving and passionate money on this vulnerable day.
Red roses: worth one baht per piece sold at 10 baht per
stem shoots up to 15 baht per petal selling out to screaming teenagers who
act like they had never seen roses in their lives before.
Valentine’s card: The wording must have at least 7
‘Loves’ and some hearts in it:
“My love for you is endless and as immeasurable as
infinity
We have bonded our love jointly so it will be
togetherness from now on
You are my inspiration, aspiration, perspiration, and I
will cherish and sacredly worship our love
You are my heart’s innermost passion that is profound
and very internally deep
I love you today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow as
well as the day that follows and eternally
My dear, you are my sun, sky, stars, meteorites,
particle, and satellite
You are the air that I breathe, the oxygen in my lungs
and the H2O in my veins
My love is as wide as the ocean in perimeter and
circumference
I will love you as long as the longest length ever
measured vertically and horizontally
As fair art thou I will love eh thee and thy heart
forever-eth….blah, blah, blah-eth.”
Sleepy cupid: wakes up to work one day a year shooting
his arrows randomly, creating havoc and babies.
Husband: cancels outing with friends and mistresses to go
home half a minute earlier than the usual 2 hours late with a bunch of roses
that his jealous secretary bought for him to take home to his (…).
Wife: waits at home in a supposedly sexy dress to be
taken out to a dinner for two so that they can eat in a romantic atmosphere,
in silence.
Mistress: goes berserk on a shopping spree with her
boyfriend with money that the ‘manstress’ gave her as a Valentine
consolation because he has to be with his wife.
Lovers: Now they are different. Valentine’s Day is
something of a sacred mission for them.
The V Girl: 364 days before the ‘day’, she has her
dress designed, her hairdo chosen, perfumes tested and smelled. There will
be 7 new pairs of shoes to choose from for the ‘day’, and she will still
say, “I have nothing to wear!”
Right after Christmas she window-shops for the right gift
for ‘him’. Two days after National Children’s Day she starts hunting
for the most romantic Valentine’s card. Then she shares all her plans with
seven girlfriends for several months. Two of them are also in love and they
go. “awwwww ... look at this card, how cute ... and what are you going to
wear? Really? Awwwww ... how cute. You know, I’m wearing blah blah blah,
and my shoes will be blah blah blah. I’m having an AHA facial and a body
scrub and soak in mineral water and milk bath and fruity yogurt mask.”
The rest of her friends who will spend Valentine’s Day
alone go, “Uh-uh. Sure. Yea, yea, it’s cute. Whatever. Just buy it.”
(Yaaawn).
V boy is just as excited. For 364 days before the
‘day’, he talks to his friends about football and the stock market and
carries on real conversation like, “Man, just look at the legs on that
receptionist.”
On Valentine’s Day at 5.30 p.m. right after work he
rushes to buy a rose and a box of chocolates. He finds a great card for her
on the way out of the mall. It says:
“Roses are Red,
Violets are Blue,
If I can take you to bed
Then I love you.”
He goes home and pulls out a wrinkly shirt from the
laundry basket. He is not sure whether to shower or not. He decides to just
Listerine his mouth and dashes out.
Dog: stays home and waits for the V girl to come home and
throw the heart shaped chocolate box at it because her Valentine was
‘insensitive’ and ‘unromantic’ and didn’t buy her a diamond ring.
Then she asks the dog how his day without a Valentine was. Dog licks the
last piece of chocolate off the floor and answers, “Rough! Rough!” And
dozes off again.
Happy Valentine’s Y’all!
The Wife
Dougal
The wife, “God bless her”, say some; “The devil
take her,” say others. One who can inspire man to the most heroic of deeds
and actions or the most heinous crimes of passion. A paradox of human
emotions. Wedded bliss that lasts a lifetime is a desirable state of being,
yet is achieved by few.
Many wives become mothers, although not all mothers are
wives, and if they are lucky live in contentment with their spouse and their
offspring. Regrettably of course, they may also become widows; such is the
nature of life and one must bear with it.
The contract of marriage is one of the more onerous in
existence, one vows to take one’s spouse and to keep her, to feed her and
clothe her, whether in sickness and in health, until death do you part.
Quite some undertaking, yet many men take more time choosing a car than they
do in selecting a wife and entering into such a binding agreement; of course
you do have to consider the resale value of a vehicle.
In most societies monogamy is the condition of man, in
some polygamy. Thus a good Muslim, in a country where sharia law prevails,
is allowed four wives; if he can maintain and treat them in an equal manner.
He is also considered fortunate by some, that should he wish to dispose of
one of his quartet, he merely has to select the one to be dismissed and in
front of witnesses state that, “I divorce thee”, three times and the act
is considered accomplished. He is then free to recruit a replacement, should
he so desire.
There is also the polyandrous society where a wife can
legally have several husbands, although I cannot name one off hand. Maybe
it’s a sign of male chauvinism that such societies are rare; however,
‘where the needs must’ as they say, maybe they will prevail; after all
the alternative is distasteful to most of us.
In western society wives are prominent both socially and
in business. However, they are frequently introduced in a disparaging
manner. How often does one hear, “Meet Mr. John and his Thai wife,” or
alternatively, “This is Lek, my Thai wife”. Is there another wife tucked
away somewhere? An Ancient Brit in the Chiltern Hundreds perhaps or maybe a
Susie-Wong in a condo in Kowloon. It is a turn of phrase that should be
discouraged.
Many men have had a number of wives, as indeed some women
have husbands; one only has to think of Elizabeth Taylor for example. I once
met such a man who claimed to have been married five times. He was somewhat
of a braggart and extrovert and once he got my ear, detailed their merits
and demerits, their sexual accomplishments and attributes and the reasons
they fell into disfavour and ultimate dismissal.
Upon completion of this somewhat distasteful monologue,
he looked at me with a superior smile as if to say, “Beat that if you can
lad” and asked, “How many wives have you had”. I thought for a while
before replying and then said, “Oh, several”. He stared me in disbelief
and with a sneer said, “Oh yeah”, I let it rest for a moment, and then
said, “Yes, of course only two were mine, the rest were other peoples.”
Pattaya Food & Beverage Association marks 20th anniversary
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The increase in tourism over the many years has sprouted
many hotels in the region and with hotels come hospitality professionals, of
which, food & beverage plays a major factor in the success of a
property. The need for professionals in the industry to converse with their
peers led to the formation of the F & B Association and they just
celebrated their 20th anniversary.
 Prayoon
Chaitosa (right), newly elected F & B Association president for
2004-2005, presents flowers to outgoing president Somkiat Drunaithorn.
The festivities kicked off at the Town in Town Hotel with
Chatchawal Supachayanont, president of the Thai Hotels Association-Eastern
chapter leading the way through the evening.
The party included many of the city’s influential and
well-known hoteliers as well as the election of a new association president
for the following year.
The evening featured lively entertainment including
cheerleaders from the Pattaya Business Administration College (PBAC), an
Elvis Presley show, performance from Nong Nooch Gardens and Fun Dance
Cabaret show, enjoyed by all attending the party.
The Pattaya F & B Association was initially formed by Anusak
Rodboonmee and included only Pattaya hotels. However, as the region grew so
too did the hotel industry. The association now has members from hotels
throughout the Eastern Region. The goal was to further develop staff and
quality of service in the food and beverage industry to meet international
standards. Now in their 20th year, this aim has achieved great success and
has contributed much to making accommodations in the region world-class.
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