PERCHED elegantly on the 32nd floor of Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse, the restaurant boasts stunning views of Bangkok and Chao Praya River via a large floor-to-ceiling window. The décor combines vintage Chinese style with metropolitan sophistication.

Yào Restaurant impresses with the tantalizing flavors of its outstanding food and beverage. Its diverse menus feature authentic Shanghainese and Cantonese cuisines plus newly created contemporary dishes, delivered to the table by food carts adding to the meal’s special touch, whether it be lunch, dinner or supper.

In designing the menu, the Chinese head chef Bruce Hui has taken his inspiration from indigenous Shanghai food culture that evokes his childhood memories of homemade dishes back in China. He’s adapted these classic recipes in simple yet sophisticated presentation.
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Watch out for 9 Elements of Shanghai Platter featuring nine of Shanghai’s best loved flavors, served as hors d’oeuvre. Follow up with Flower Shaped Bean Curd with Morel Mushroom Soup to ready your appetite for the main course. 

Oduya played two games on both February 7th and 10th showing little signs of rust although he has not played competitively in six months.

Last season in the National Hockey League he teamed up with superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson on the Ottawa Senators blue line to form an elite defending duo.
 
In Oduya’s first SHL game he helped the Novotel Spitfires beat AWARE 4-2, a team that the Spitfires have not beaten all year. In his second match, Oduya joined TRUE and helped that team to a 7-3 win over Hertz.
 
The drama came in his third appearance, the first game on February 10, when he played for TRUE again, this time against the Novotel Spitfires. The teams were tied at three after regulation time, and then after a 3-on-3 four-minute overtime session they were still tied, so they went to a shoot-out.
 
Both teams first two shootout attempts failed and Novotel’s Michael White failed to win the game on Novotel’s third attempt. This sent Oduya in alone on Spitfire keeper Yves Gaboriault and he blasted it by Yves to give TRUE the dramatic victory. Gaboriault had make two spectacular shootout saves prior to Oduya’s game-winning goal.

In an amazing example of globalization, a Thai interior design and architecture studio based in Bangkok and managed by a Canadian expat is playing a key role in a massive retail and leisure development called Giants on the Quayside, now taking shape in Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England.
 
Concept i - an international design studio specializing in high profile retail/commercial, leisure and entertainment projects - won the contract to master plan and design the development last year. The site will include Europe’s tallest observation wheel dubbed ‘Whey Aye’, a phonetic rendition of the phrase ‘why aye’ in the local Geordie dialect meaning ‘yes, of course’.
 
Principal and MD of Concept i is Geoff Morrison, originally from Canada, who founded the company in 1996. With offices in Bangkok and Shanghai, Concept i has worked on over 150 projects in 19 countries. Geoff is clearly extremely pleased by his company’s latest success. “We are very proud to play such an important role in this huge development in Newcastle,” he said from his busy offices in Convent Road.
 
“It’s a wonderful project that will inspire people, create local jobs and boost the regional economy. The project touches a personal nerve – having studied and worked in the UK for almost 10 years, I was proud to take a lead role in such an innovative development from so far away. It’s a real testament to our Bangkok team that we win and take a lead position on this international design stage. It doesn’t get better than that.” 

Located on the banks of the River Tyne and standing 16ft higher than the London Eye, the Whey Aye wheel is the anchor component of the ambitious, 50,000 sq m, UKP 100 million development, which will also feature a 39ft statue named The Geordie Giant, and riverside food and drinks promenade called The Giant’s Quay.
 
Other facilities include The Giant Sport Warehouse, comprising the newest active play, climbing and trampoline facilities, e-sports complex and a Quayside Golf Club, where golfers can compete internationally in virtual cyber space, at over 300 famous courses worldwide. The roof terrace is dedicated to competition footsal, tennis and basketball courts.
 
The Wheel ‘Terminus’, a five-story high entrance complex, immerses visitors in stories of Newcastle’s past, present and future as they move up to the Wheel launch deck. Following the Wheel sky voyage, visitors return to earth via a 20 m speed slide tower, or gently float down a suspended, gravity ‘roll glider’ track!
 
The company’s senior architect for the Giants on the Quayside is Francesc Domingo, a Spanish national and long-term resident of Bangkok. “All the buildings have been designed so visitors can ‘Feel the Wheel’ from wherever they happen to be,” explained Francesc. 

Chef Jakub grew up in Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany where he learned at an early age that quality foods are an essential factor in preparation of a good meal.

​He is a third generation chef in a culinary centric family so it was a natural choice to pursue a professional career in the culinary arts. As a child, he watched his father prepare culinary masterpieces around Europe. His parents were avid travelers and instilled in Jakub the importance of experiencing the many diverse cuisines from around the globe. In 1998, at the tender age of 16, Jakub decided to begin his culinary journey by studying at The Grand Hotel Pupp in Carlsbad where he spent 3 years and obtained a Culinary Diploma.

​Cozy Coffee Corner
Founded by coffee addict Mr Sakda Boonkittiporn, this specialty coffee shop in Yenakart offers its own blends (Sunny and Cloudy) to suit your mood with accompanying breakfast or irresistable homemade pastries in classic Victorian architectural surroundings which will lift your spirits and zap your tastebuds. Open daily from 7am to 7pm at 30 Yenakart Rd, Sathorn with parking available.

Coming  later this month, the week-long Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes, one of the largest and long-lasting amateur cricket tournaments in the world, having been played every year since 1988.
 
The 31st tournament brings hundreds of people to visit the historic city of Chiang Mai each year for seven days of partying and cricket.
 
The 2019 Sixes will run from Sunday, March 31 to Saturday, April 6 at the Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club, where 30 men’s teams will be competing for five trophies.The ladies competition involves six teams.
 
The 2018 champions, NCL Dynamites, will be returning from Bangladesh to defend their title, while local favourites Lanna CC are tipped to win the Bowl again.
 
New entrants, the RUC Rascals, a gold mining team from Indonesia captained by Colin Harlow, are also expected to field a strong unit, while old favourites including Blythswood CC of the UK, the Tokyo Dingbats, Ios Malakas and the Beijing Ducks all return for another year.

The Philippines Ambassador to Thailand, Her Excellency Mary Jo A. Bernardo-Aragon, began her assignment in Bangkok in July 2015. She has since established a well-deserved reputation in the local diplomatic corps as a highly experienced career diplomat who is also open, sincere and down-to-earth. During our conversation at the Philippine embassy on Sukhumvit Road she revealed a passion for work in the foreign service that began well before she joined the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in June 1979. She also revealed that her assignment in Bangkok is the final chapter of a distinguished career. “This is my first and also my last ambassadorial appointment,” said the ambassador.
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“I am already 64 years old and our mandatory retirement age is 65.”

Background
I was born and raised in Manila and went to a Catholic school run by nuns– Saint Rita College for elementary and part of high school. My father, who worked for the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, was seconded by the Philippine government in 1969 to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, where I finished high school at the American International School. My parents, older sister and I were all in Vienna. I am the youngest in the family. My elder brother was at that time studying in the United Kingdom. After high school I continued my studies in Germany and the UK. Having lived in Austria and Germany, I had the opportunity to learn the German language. Regrettably, I have not spoken the language for so long, but I hope to pick it up again,” said the ambassador.
 
“In those years abroad I was exposed to many new things. While studying at the international school I became interested in meeting people from different backgrounds and in international organizations. At the university, I took courses in international relations to prepare myself for a career where I could be of service to my country and our people, and at the same time have the opportunity to meet people from different countries.”
 
After passing the Foreign Service Officers’ Examinations, Ms Bernardo-Aragon joined the Department of Foreign
Affairs in Manila in 1979, where over the years she held a number of important positions. As she had hoped, her profession has also allowed her to spend a lot of time abroad. She represented her country for a number of years in Brussels and also saw extensive duty on the other side of the Atlantic, first in New York City with the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and then in Los Angeles with the Philippine General Consulate there.
 
“My very first posting abroad was as Third Secretary and Vice-Consul at the Philippine Embassy in Brussels in 1982, dealing with our bilateral relations with Belgium and Luxembourg. In 1985, the Philippine embassy and Philippine Mission to the Commission of the European Community were merged. At that time, our overseas postings were for eight years, which were reduced to six years by the Philippine Foreign Service Act in 1991. Then we return to Manila to serve in the Home Office for two or three years before we become eligible for another posting abroad,” said the ambassador. Her last position before coming to Thailand was in Manila for three years as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Internal Audit Services.
 
“I am not an accountant, nor a lawyer, so I had to have some training for that job. Establishing offices of internal audit in different government agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, was a part of the government’s anti-corruption measures. My office reported directly to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs.”
 
When she became eligible for a new overseas posting in 2015 and expressed interest in the Bangkok post, she was greatly honored when the President of the Philippines appointed her to her current position. “All ambassadorial appointments need to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, which is made up of members from both houses of Congress, 12 from the Senate and 12 from the House of Representatives. The Commission is chaired by the President of the Senate. There are hearings and then they vote on confirmation. This is a part of the constitution that was put in place in 1987 when we returned to democracy.”
 
While Ms Bernardo-Aragon was elated with her eventual confirmation, she had to deal with a great personal loss at that time. “I had planned to bring my mother with me here. But unfortunately, before I could do so, she passed away in September 2015. My father passed away in 2003.”