HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

PCEC enjoys meeting a speaker with a difference

La Chaine changes hands

Obituary: Steve Blumenthal

Obituary: Noel Dewi Thomas

PCEC enjoys meeting a speaker with a difference

This week’s meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) on Sunday December 10th at Henry J. Bean’s continued the trend of recent meetings with a speaker with a difference.

A Tae Kwon Do demonstration highlights a recent PCEC meeting at Henry J. Bean’s.

MC Gary Brown introduced Jean-Pierre Berrie who is a 5th Dan black belt exponent of Tae Kwon Do. Interviewed by Chairman Andre Machielsen, Jean-Pierre explained that he had been a member of the French National Team for 4 years and had become the French champion, participating in the World Tae Kwon Do championship. He explained that Tae Kwon Do was categorised as a martial art rather than a sport and that he had spent the previous 10 years teaching the art in Thailand.
Jean-Pierre was accompanied by two students of the martial art who provided an energetic demonstration of some of the basic moves.
Jean-Pierre was asked if Tae Kwon Do could be of benefit to older people, such as those who attend PCEC meetings! He answered that age was not important and that instruction and training sessions could be easily adapted. It is hoped that a Tae Kwon Do group may be added to the PCEC mid week activities already in existence.
Gary Brown then reminded the attendees that the closing date of the club’s annual Christmas gift appeal for the Redemptorist Centre was approaching and he asked that toys and articles suitable for 2 to 14 year olds should be brought into the club before the 24th December.
The popular visits to the driving license centre, when both motor bike and car licences can be obtained, are to be resumed. Hans Stroosnuder will be organising regular group trips.
David Meador, PCEC secretary, provided an update on the proposed short tours to local manufacturing plants and factories. Various club members have contacts at some of the major manufacturing facilities in the vicinity of Pattaya and visits are expected to be organised soon.
The regular Open Forum was then underway, led by John Lynham, and this proved to be the usual lively and entertaining session.
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

La Chaine changes hands

by Miss Terry Diner
The Chaine des Rotisseurs, the oldest gourmet group in the world, is very well represented in Pattaya and the Eastern Seaboard. Up till the end of 2006, the Chaine had been steered by well known restaurateur Louis Noll, from the Mata Hari restaurant, and the gourmet group has seen steady growth under his stewardship.

Well-known and highly successful Louis Noll (right) is “passing the Chaine” to the capable hands of Ranjith Chandrasiri (left).

With the burgeoning attendances at Mata Hari, since its move to Nirvana Place, Louis has found that time constraints have forced him to relinquish his Bailli’s (French for president) chain of office, and look for someone to take over the reins.
Fortunately we have in Pattaya, at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, one of the most qualified wine judges in Thailand, the assistant GM Ranjith Chandrasiri. Ranjith has agreed to take on the Chaine des Rotisseurs, as well as his other onerous duties, and last weekend a cocktail party was held to thank Louis and welcome Ranjith.
In an interview with the Pattaya Mail TV, the outgoing Louis (in more ways than one) admitted that even though he had been a restaurateur involved with food all his life, he had also been drinking wine for as long as he could remember! Ranjith, on the other hand came from the other side of the spectrum, being a qualified wine judge, but also admitted that his first job was as a breakfast chef when he was 15 years old.
When Ranjith was finally allowed near the kitchen on his own, he fancied himself cooking everything with wine, and undoubtedly at an age when he was not allowed to drink in pubs, he was able to sample the sherries in the kitchen.
However, it soon became apparent that Ranjith’s interest was much more than teenage tippling. By the time he was 18 years old he had begun to look at specialized wine training. “I had a good palate at the time,” he said. He was also working part-time in restaurants at night, where his knowledge of wines was starting to pay off, and many diners would leave a little in the bottle for their wine waiter to experience. He kept notes on the various wines, and still has those notes to this day. One of his catch-cries to his students over the years has been, “Write it down, jot it down. You will appreciate that wine many years later.”
The Chaine des Rotisseurs members at the cocktail party in the Royal Cliff Beach Resort’s Promenade Lounge could see that the future of the Chaine des Rotisseurs on the Eastern Seaboard is in safe hands, and they look forward to some interesting events in 2007.

Obituary: Steve Blumenthal

Steve Blumenthal
1965-2006

It seems that some people are put on this earth for the sole purpose of improving the lives of other people. We lost one such person this week, when Steve Blumenthal died suddenly at the age of 41.
Steve was a dynamic presence. When he was around, things changed. They became lighter, more fun. Peoples’ moods improved. If he was at work, what seemed like intractable problems became easily solved. If he was out with friends, people became happier, more relaxed, more comfortable.
Steve was also a “go-to guy”. If you needed something, you had a problem or what have you, you took it to Steve. It seemed he always had a take on your situation which was slightly different from yours, but one that was equally valid and also contained the possibility of a solution you hadn’t considered yet.
As a friend, Steve was beyond compare. If you wanted to talk about something, a simple SMS message would cause him to take the next possible opportunity to be with you. When he was with you he was a great listener, giving you plenty of space to talk, asking questions, nodding thoughtfully. If you just wanted to socialize, Steve was the ultimate companion, funny and flexible and willing to do things on a whim. Since Steve’s passing, the number of people who are saying they lost their best friend is astonishing.
One of the things Steve enjoyed the most was socializing with Thai people, which his proficiency in Thai allowed him to do with ease. He often said how much he enjoyed talking to the Thai people he met in his travels up-country. When in Pattaya, it was fun to watch him chatting and kidding around with the Thai people he worked with or knew, often delighting them by speaking with them in their home dialect or even in Lao.
In the end, it was Steve’s heart that failed him. This man, who seemed to have a heart as big as all outdoors, was felled without warning while playing squash with a friend. His opponent was his long-time friend Don, who was a certified CPR instructor. In one of those ironic twists of fate, it was Steve who had trained Don in CPR and CPR training. Despite Don’s 45 minutes of heroism, while a hotel courtesy van crawled agonizingly through Pattaya’s congestion, Steve left us, and the world became a slightly smaller, colder and darker place.
Don says that, based on his experience and training, CPR would not have saved Steve anyway. Here is why this is true: To every person Steve met, he gave a piece of his heart. He gave it freely, without hesitation, and without any thought to himself. It seems he did this one time too many, and finally gave so much of his heart away he didn’t have enough left for himself.

Obituary: Noel Dewi Thomas

Noel Thomas, or “Dewi” as he was known to his friends and family in the UK, passed away on 18th November 2006 whilst undergoing surgery at Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital.

Noel Dewi Thomas

He was born and educated in Newbury England attending St Bart’s School. The family moved to Dolman Road where he lived for much of his childhood with father Mike, mother Audrey, brother Wyn and sister Mair.
On leaving school he joined Prestcold as a trainee accountant and studied in the evenings to obtain his professional qualifications. In 1981 he made the move to Rank Xerox working at their offices in Uxbridge and Marlow and after several promotions achieved the position of Leasing Manager. The company deployed him in this capacity in Zurich where he worked for 18 months and then in Hong Kong on an assignment setting up a leasing division.
The recession of the early 90s brought an end to his career at Rank Xerox. During his working career he had been financially astute, a trait inherited from his mother Audrey, and he made the decision to move abroad permanently and make Thailand his home.
Noel had a particular affection for the people and the country having enjoyed holidays in the Kingdom. He bought a house in Pattaya on the Eastern Seaboard of this tropical country and chose to live his life effectively in early retirement from the age of 39. He quickly integrated with the expatriate community and built a network of friends many of whom attended his funeral last month.
He was active as a journalist in Pattaya. He would contribute humorous articles describing his take on Thai society to local publications and was a prolific contributor to Internet Discussion boards with local interest. Above all he gained a great deal of respect for his tireless charity work raising funds for the Camillian Centre in Rayong, a hospice for sufferers of HIV / AIDS. Such is the respect shown to him for his work the appeal has now been renamed “The Noel Thomas Jaidee Appeal”.
Appropriately it was the principle of the Camillian Centre, Noel’s good friend Father Giovanni Contarin, who conducted the Christian part of the service on 25th November in Wat Bunjantanaram a Thai Temple in Pattaya, Thailand, the country he had made his home for the last 13 years of his life.
Noel was survived by his fiancée Wan, Audrey, Wyn and Mair.
Bob Tomlinson, Newbury, Berkshire, England

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