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Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya celebrates 20 years of community service
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DGN Peter
Malhotra “Rotary’s work is never ending. There’s still so much
to do.” |
President
elect Jan Abbink, “looking forward to many fruitful years.” |
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President
Max Rommel, “It’s an honour to serve you as president.” |
Past
District Governor Premprecha Dibbayawan, “You must truly love
Rotary to appreciate the goodness of the movement”.
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Peter Cummins receives his Paul Harris pin
and regalia from PDG Premprecha Dibbayawan.
Steve Graham holds his breadth as PDG
Premprecha Dibbayawan presents him with the Paul Harris Fellow award.
Peter and Steve, two deserving Paul Harris
Fellows.
Charter President Sumon Jaikid (RC of
Phlutaluang), Ronakit Ekasingh, Deputy Mayor, Dr. Iain Corness, former
MP Lion Chanyuth Hengtrakul, and Jintana Wejchote bring greetings to the
celebrating Rotarians.
Pattaya Mail Reporters
It was, indeed, a night to remember, when almost 200 at tendees
packed the splendid Royal Cliff Grand Ballroom, to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the charter of the Jomtien-Pattaya Rotary Club, Club #
24331, founded on 12 February, 1987.
Members and guests of Rotary Clubs, both near and far came to enjoy a
night of fellowship, camaraderie and, in true Rotary style, great food,
wine and entertainment.
MC of the evening, District Governor Nominee Peter Malhotra welcomed the
gathering, comprising many members of our Rotary fraternities from close
by and as far away as the USA, establishing an international milieu,
which is quintessentially the Rotary spirit.
 The
Ballroom rapidly filled to the strains of two little violinists and the
ambience was one of extreme warmth, as Rotarians, guests and friends
greeted each other – some after long absences.
A sumptuous buffet and steady flow of vintage wines, spirits, beer and
soft drinks soon put an already-relaxed crowd into a state verging on
euphoria.
A delightful dance troupe from the Dance Studio School comprising of
angelic little girls the in white ballet costumes regaled the room,
followed by a slightly different rendition of modern dance with – again
– beautiful girls - this time in red outfits.
DGN Peter offered a most enlightening discourse on the formation of
Rotary more than a century ago and the chartering of our own club, the
Jomtien-Pattaya after which he called on Past District Governor
Premprecha Dibbayawan to bestow Paul Harris Fellow awards on Rotarian
Peter Cummins and Steve Graham. As was explained by DGN Peter, these
awards are Rotary’s way of saying thank you to Rotarians or any
individual for their sacrifices and dedication to betterment of humanity
as a whole and more especially to those who contribute generously in any
form to improve the lot of all mankind. Thus helping the Rotary movement
and the more than 1.2 million Rotarians around the world do the things
that they do best and that is ‘to serve’.
Both men were highly delighted with their awards, as were the onlookers
and all there that night.
A humongous birthday cake was rolled out to the floor and as the crowd
sang Happy birthday, President Max Rommell surrounded by members of the
Rotary club cut it, auguring in another 20 hopeful years of service to
the community.
The entertainment rolled on, with a good band and spread of romantic,
swing and dance music which had many of the younger – and not-so-younger
– Rotarians voting their approval of a memorable evening – with their
feet!
President Max Rommel and President-Elect Jan Abbink added their presence
to the evening and a happy crowd dispersed nursing the splendid
commemorative mug designed for the occasion.
Members of the Rotary Club of
Jomtien-Pattaya gather around for the cake cutting ceremony.
The ambience was one of extreme warmth, as
Rotarians, guests and friends greeted each other.
Christopher G. Moore livens up PCEC meeting
Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) was pleased to welcome back Christopher
G. Moore to the Sunday, September 25th meeting at Henry J. Beans.
The week’s MC, Roger Fox, introduced Christopher, who is originally from
Canada. He is a prolific author having produced 18 books since his
arrival in Thailand in 1985. Previous books have been translated into 10
different languages.
 Christopher
G. Moore shares some insight into his writing at the PCEC on Sunday,
Feb. 25.
Christopher provided an overview of his latest book entitled ‘The Risk
Of Infidelity Index’, which is again based in Bangkok. The infidelity
index relates to the risk of ‘cheating’ by expat husbands as applied by
their wives and subsequently the risk of fidelity index must be
considered to be high!
The book is the latest to feature the character Vincent Calvino.
Christopher described the background to the Calvino character as being
provided when he had the opportunity to gain an insight into the
policing of New York during the 1980s. The character has been further
developed in subsequent books. Christopher was then available for book
signings.
As is always the case, there were a large number of Forthcoming Events
announced. The PCEC actively encourages ladies to participate in the
Sunday meetings and this week welcomed Marjorie Blisset who made the
announcements.
A strength of the PCEC is the number of Special Interest Groups which
meet during the week and Marjorie was pleased to announce the ‘Granny
Group’, primarily a discussion groups for ladies but to which men were
most welcome! The group meets each Wednesday at 10.30 at the Oliver
Twist pub in Central Pattaya Road.
Club Secretary David Meador announced that the ‘How Do They Do It’
Special Interest Group was hoping to arrange a visit to the Ford Motor
assembly plant in the near future.
The regular Open Forum was then underway led by Gary Brown and this
proved to be the usual lively and entertaining session.
PCEC meeting
A busy programme was presented at the Pattaya City Expats
Club (PCEC) meeting on Sunday February 18 at Henry J. Bean’s.
The morning got underway with the week’s MC Gary Brown introducing Dr
Manoon Somrathin, who is the head of the cardiology department at the
Pattaya Hospital Bangkok. The PCEC regularly welcomes medical
specialists from the hospital and this week was no exception.
 Dr
Manoon talks about heart disease during the PCEC on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Previously a free cholesterol checkup programme had been underway from
the 12th - 17th February. The theme of Dr Manoon’s talk was concerning
the effects of cholesterol on the body and the action which could be
taken to avoid heart disease that would ultimately occur if a high
cholesterol level was not reduced and controlled.
Dr Manoon described cholesterol as a fat like substance which deposits
itself on the artery walls which can eventually block the free flow of
blood to the heart and other essential organs. He stated that the prime
heart attack risk factors were being a male, over 35, having
hypertension, hyper cholesterol, smoking, obesity and stress.
 Marjorie
Blisset makes announcements at the PCEC on Sunday, Feb. 25.
Dr Manoon invited those PCEC members who had a high level of cholesterol
to participate in a new course of medication, Vytorin, which was showing
good results.
The PCEC then welcomed back Barry Kenyon, the Honorary Consul (Pattaya)
of the British Embassy. Barry provided up to date information regarding
the latest visa rules which were now in place. He also provided some
useful guidelines which can help speed an application; for example, when
applying for a retirement visa. A large number of questions were put to
Barry regarding visas in general.
Chairman Andre Machielsen then provided a report of the PCEC trip to
Chantaburi which had just taken place. He remarked that this latest trip
was considered to be the most successful so far. The destination,
accommodation and food were all considered to be extremely good. The
next trip would be during the annual Songkran Festival when a trip to
discover the ‘real’ Songkran would be organized.
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 pattayacity expatsclub.com
Barry Kenyon shed some light on visa
subjects at the PCEC on Sunday, Feb. 18.
A long and lazy Sunday brunch
New concept from Benihana Japanese-American steakhouse
Benihana cooks somehow manage
to combine the arts of cooking and juggling, much to the delight of the
customers.
Pattaya Mail Reporters
Benihana, the Japanese-American steakhouse located on the third floor of
Royal Garden Plaza and operated by Pattaya Marriott Resort and Spa, has
launched a new style of brunch that is available every Sunday from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m., and as soon as we entered the premises we knew it had been right
not to have breakfast before leaving home. Our eyes lit up at the sight of
the huge buffet.
 The
in-house band plays gentle jazz throughout brunch.
Marriott’s resident manager, Lars Kerfin, food and beverage manager, Dylan
Paul Counsel, and head chef, Andy Hameder gave us a warm welcome and led us
to a snug corner where we sat down at one of the teppanyaki tables where the
cooks somehow manage to combine the arts of cooking and juggling, much to
the delight of the customers.
Armed with plates we set out to explore the buffet. At the Kabuki sushi bar
we pondered over our appetizers, with many different kinds of sushi and
sashimi and a choice of fresh salads available.
Central to the restaurant there is one of the main attractions, the Siam
seafood grill station. From the Gulf of Thailand and prepared fresh by the
Benihana chefs for your dining pleasure are dishes such as skewers of sea
bass with kaffir lime leaves, squid marinated in garlic with fresh herbs,
and tuna seared and crusted with pistachio and peppercorn. I ordered tiger
prawn wrapped in pancetta on a skewer with a wasabi dip, and I enjoyed every
single bite of it.
You can order fresh egg dishes of all kinds. Our chef, Sumrueng “Steve”
Suwat not only prepared delicious scrambled eggs with truffles and green
asparagus, egg spaghetti carbonara, and Spanish omelet with smoked bacon and
onions, he casually juggled with the ingredients, ladles and cruets. We
gazed in awe as all this flipped through the air, always landing exactly
where and how Steve wanted.
Brunch isn’t brunch without desserts, and here you have a complete buffet
table of sweets, puddings, pastries, pancakes and fruit. We hesitated over
the ice cream teppanyaki, the pancakes stuffed with cashew nuts, banana, or
passion fruit, the strawberry tiramisu, and the apple strudel with vanilla
sauce, and eventually compromised with small helpings of several of the
dishes.
Half a bottle of red or white wine is included in the 1,100 baht ++ per
person price. Unlimited cold water may be taken from the ice bar, which is
another eye catcher. Benihana is founder of the Bloody Good Mary cocktail
that can be drunk in great quantities. The in-house band plays gentle jazz
throughout brunch.
For a long and lazy Sunday meal, Benihana’s new brunch is a real experience.
Do yourself, your partner, your family, or your friends a favor and pop in.
Have fun and bon appétit!
Reservations: 038 412 120 ext 1395.
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