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Travel
26 / 11 / 2004
I spent the day training kitchen staff and doing mise en place for the Australian Cuisine Promotion at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket. In the early evening I was invited to the Sheraton’s Loi Krathong Festival Dinner in the grounds of the resort. Loi Krathong is performed on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month, which is usually in November.
The buffet include a wide range of traditional Thai dishes including a suckling pig Thai style, green papaya salad, yum talay and sweet banana roti to name just a few. There was also a number of live cooking stations with wok tossed Pad Thai and BBQ fresh Phuket seafood. During the dinner guests were entertained by the Sheraton’s 2004 Miss Nopphamat Pageant.
The evening concluded by guests and staff floating their Krathong’s. The floating of a ‘Krathong’ – a banana–leaf cup – is intended to float away ill fortune as well as to express apologies to Khongkha or Ganga, the River Goddess. Some believe that the ritual is meant to worship the Buddha’s footprint on the bank of the Narmada River, while others say that it is to pay respect to Phra Uppakhut, one of the Lord Buddha’s great disciples.
Above is Glen Roberts, Executive Chef of the Sheraton and the crowned Miss Nopphamat for 2004.
