When the temperature reaches over 30 degrees in Thailand, the song “do they know it’s Christmas time at all?” gets a new meaning.
But for the Danes in Bangkok, on Friday 27 November, the answer was a clear “Yes, we do!”
More than 200 Danes gathered for a traditional Danish Christmas Lunch in the garden of the Danish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. The annual event by Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce awakens the Christmas spirit with live music, Christmas games, loads of Danish Christmas delicacies and not to forget; Aalborg Akvavit!
A Danish Christmas Lunch is all about spending time with loved ones and eating, drinking and having fun. This Christmas Lunch was no excuse, and beside the hot weather, the summer outfits and the fact that a Christmas Lunch was held outdoor, it was almost like being in Denmark.
Especially because of the food; the enormous Christmas buffet contained no less than 33 dishes, with everything from homemade liverpaté, smoked salmon, tartelets, “karrysild”, roasted pork, and ris a la mande. This is one of the only events hosted in Thailand where the table not offers plain rice.
During the day a Christmas quiz began, and each table was handed a paper of 13 questions, and had to clear their mind off Akvavit and focus on the game. Unfortunately, a rumour said google was appeared to be the most clear-headed competitor for this game. Therefore Asbjorn Overgaard Christiansen, Head of trade Department, took the job as watchdog and kept an eye on people’s smartphones. It has still not been confirmed if the winner table knew all the answers by themselves, but the Christmas spirit and peace reigned, and there were no hard feelings this day.
The many sponsors of this event had donated huge prizes for the Christmas Lottery. Lucky Danes won luxury hotel stays, a weekend getaway, beautiful china from Royal Copenhagen and even a table set among many other lovely gifts!
For the rest of the guests, the Christmas Lunch was a present itself. The Danish ambassador Mikael Hemniti Winther had kindly offered his garden as location for this event, but unfortunately he could not participate himself.
Both Thais and Danes had a blast, and regardless of the tropical surroundings, the Danish Christmas spirit was born on 27 November 2015.
