Ministry of Interior ridding Thailand of undesirables

Editorial by Kittisak Khamthong

On December 30, 1997, the Ministry of the Interior issued a
declaration to "Arrest 34 foreign nationals who are ‘undesirables’ and should not be in the Kingdom".

These 34 people are not Thai citizens. In the Ministry’s statement, "who are undesirables" means that Thailand does not want them on Her soil anymore.

"Undesirables" means that the 34 "blacklisted" foreigners are not engaging in activities which are beneficial to the nation. They are only contributing to ruining Thailand’s image.

Thailand must take responsibility for the behavior of Her own nationals and is not saying that Thais are not engaged in the same activities. But to allow foreigners to come into the Kingdom and destroy the image of the country merely adds to the problem.

These foreigners are said to be "weighing down the country."

To prove this, investigative agencies had to find evidence of the truth to present to the authorities who would be responsible for ridding Thailand of these people. The agencies then presented the evidence to the Ministry of the Interior for its consideration.

Even though these 34 foreigners will not be tried in a court of law, it has been proven that:

They have engaged in criminal activity in the past or present.

Are helping those engaged in criminal activity.

Have become extremely wealthy without any record of from whence said wealth came.

Are acting as "Mafioso" among other foreigners and providing illegal services to them.

Are operating businesses which would be illegal, using marriages of convenience with Thai women as "fronts."

The above behaviors are being noted by authorities at all times. One mistake gives authorities the opportunity to apprehend these foreigners. If clever enough, these foreigners have built a network of connections and do not make the fatal mistake. Even so, there are still strict laws which allow the government to deal with these people who are not engaged in "gainful behavior to the Thai people or the Kingdom".

Deportation of foreigners does not happen in an easy or capricious manner. But once a foreigner has crossed the line and is engaging in behavior which Thai society and the Thai government cannot accept, and does so in a continuing manner until they become known among the Thai public, then something must be done.

Most of these people have been able to stay as long as they have due to their knowledge of officials here who are quick to accept "coin of the realm." It is not their goodness which people appreciate. This "coin of the realm" could be likened to the old Thai proverb "water covering stumps". But there comes a day when money cannot do everything and the stumps show for the whole world to see.

Stepping up the effort to entice tourists

Tourist offices lay out 7 program plan

Thirty seven tourist offices in Thailand are cooperating to set standards to increase tourism in the country. The coalition present seven programs to the Prime Minister’s Office.

1. To protect tourist’s lives and safety at all times. A plan has been worked out to achieve this goal. Tourists’ safety when engaging in water sports is of special interest. Water vehicle laws will be strictly enforced.

2. To not allow tourists to be taken advantage of and cheated. This includes the rampant double pricing and over-pricing. Guide and tour companies will be closely monitored. The airports will be monitored, so touts may not take advantage of tourists when they first enter the country. Tour companies will be closely monitored so they do not take tourists to shops at which the company receives a commission on goods.

3. To maintain a steady upkeep of tourist areas. Rubbish bins and waste baskets will be provided, trespassers who are squatting in tourists areas will be removed and the general ‘look’ of the areas will be improved.

4. To make Thailand the ‘Shopping Center of Asia’. Products quality will be improved and brought up to world standard. Shopping areas and tourist areas will be in proximity to each other and the areas will be ‘beautified.’ Tax-free shops will be set up in tourist areas and border towns. A VAT system will be set up for tourists. Tourists will learn of this through a thorough public relations campaign.

5. Tourist booklets aimed at target groups will be compiled. Booklets dealing with archeological sites, diving areas, and shopping areas will be compiled.

6. Cooperation will be encouraged to advertise ‘Amazing Thailand Years’, 1998-9. Campaigns will be stepped up and Thailand’s hosting of the Asian Games will be an important part of this.

7. A committee will be set up to encourage tourism in the provinces and rural areas.

The implementing of these seven programs will be done to:

1. Revive tourist areas, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and involved organizations.

2. Let the provinces take responsibility for organizing ‘environmental protection standards’ in a strict way. This will require the provinces to have campaigns to disseminate knowledge, improve local people’s attitudes and have demonstrations on ‘environmental conservation.’

3. Authority must be delegated to the provincial level to encourage them to help revive and conserve the tourist areas.

4. Find a budget to accomplish the above goals. Personnel involved in the tourist industry must receive proper training. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the business sector has cooperated in opening institutes which deal with tourism and offer courses in the subject.

5. To provide conveniences to tourists. This includes Tourist Police and special volunteers who will protect tourists from touts at the airport when entering and leaving the country.

6. To provide complete media coverage on tourist areas.

Thailand will also be promoted as the perfect venue for seminars, meetings and international exhibitions. This will be done by encouraging the private sector to build a large center which will be a meeting hall and also a place where main tourist destinations may be promoted.

The Customs Department will have special laws for those bringing products in for exhibitions. Customs formalities will be expedited for such exhibitions.

Thailand will also be promoted as the gateway to Southeast Asia. This will include permanent checkpoints at border areas leading to neighboring countries.

Back to the ancestral lands on the North Sea

by internationally known writer and artist, Dolf Riks

Some time ago I related the story of our return to the motherland after the Second World War. The last days of this voyage were miserable because of the bad weather in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. I was desperately seasick when we finally arrived off Hoek van Holland, the mouth of the New Waterway. During the night of the fourth and the early morning of the fifth of June 1946 we navigated up the Waterway to Rotterdam, a city badly scarred by the German bombardment during the invasion in May 1940.

Our villa Hoogh Duyne more than forty years later.

In the morning, I recall that with a great deal of misgivings I looked at the scene along the pier of the "Rotterdam Lloyd", the company that owned our ship, the Indrapura. What would be our future in this rainy and dreary land? What I could see was depressing enough. Everything was grey and colourless, including the few people who in the early misty hours went about their business on the wet quay. At eight a.m., a couple of buses arrived which had to bring us uprooted souls to our various destinations. Some had nowhere to go and were accommodated in camps all over the country. My family - my mother and her three sons, including me, were bound for a town called Beverwijk in the province of North Holland where we were invited to stay with a brother of my mother, his wife and their three daughters. My sister had arrived in Holland in January of that year and stayed with an aunt in the east of the country.

After breakfast, we disembarked and boarded the bus. The weather was cold and hostile with a strong westerly wind, which chilled us to the bones. A light driving rain made everything gleaming wet and damp. In short; it was the weather so common in the Low Countries and the British Isles. The journey went via the Hague, Leiden and Haarlem. Then we crossed the North Sea Canal into Kennemer Land, as it is called. I peered out of the wet window and saw shabbily dressed people hurrying along to get out of the wind and the rain. It was then that I decided that I had to get back to the tropics, if it was the last thing I would ever do.

Tante Ank, Oom Wim and the three daughters, of whom two were twins, received us with open arms. Their hospitality was of course extraordinary but their house was actually too small for ten people. It was built long before the war and there was no bathroom, just a toilet. When one would like a bath there was a choice of a large basin in front of the stove in the dining room or kitchen or one could go a bathhouse. I opted for the last.

The people of the Low Countries were still trying to recover from the war years and food was scarce and rationed. Most people had no money to buy new clothes, which were also rationed, and especially the last winter of the war, the so-called hunger winter, was still on everybody’s mind. In August of that year I had to go to a school in Haarlem which was especially for repatriated youngsters like me. We did not have any school for three years in the prison camps and were far behind the Dutch children. I was seventeen when I started the school, which was a kind of high school, while the Dutch children started the same at the age of 13. The "overbruggings" (overbridged) school had cut all the ballast like French, German and geography, and so we were able to do two grades in one year.

Every day I commuted with an old train, which originated in pre-war Germany, to Haarlem and back. The winters of 1946/47 and of 47/48 were very severe indeed and I learned how to skate on a little lake outside the town. The beach was not very far at a small town called Wijk aan Zee, but usually I could not find the courage to swim in the icy waters of the North Sea.

The crowded accommodation was of course not ideal and not free from tensions, but fortunately in 1947 we were allotted accommodation in Bloemendaal, a suburb of Haarlem, which in the pre-war days was known for its affluent citizens. We had to share a villa in the dunes with four other families. The surroundings were beautiful: hilly and covered with pine trees. The house was neglected, as it had housed German officers in the war, and when the second winter came and turned out to be as fierce as our first one, everything including the toilet facilities froze solid. The pipe burst and in the hallway was a large frozen yellow lake of urine from the toilet above.

We craved for rice, which was rationed, so we tried to make fried rice with barley. It was a disaster and disgusting. It was heavy, resting like a stone in the stomach and I have never eaten the grain again after that experience. That year I went to a normal high school in Haarlem but we, from Indonesia, were still put in one class together. To avoid being drafted into the army I applied for admission in the nautical academy in Amsterdam and was accepted. The merchant marine was considered so strategic that one was exempted from the military.

In 1950 I graduated and in September of that year I sailed forth to the West Coast of the United States. After suffering through a few days of the dreadful weather the North Atlantic is notorious for, the days became warmer and once we reached the Caribbean and the Panama Canal, I was comfortable again and had achieved my goal of getting back to the tropics. In 1952, after yet another exam, this time for my third mate diploma, I joined another company which sailed in the South East Asian waters and I went back to Indonesia again.

Freebies for the needy, even in hard times

by Imtiaz Muqbil,
Executive Editor,
Travel Impact Newswire

Qantas Flight 6067 is not listed on the regular schedule and cannot be located in any Global Distribution System. But on Sunday, 20th September, it left Bangkok Airport at 0630 hrs with 200 Thai orphaned, handicapped and slum-dwelling kids aged 7 to 16 for a 90-minute Charity Flight around Central Thailand and its Gulf coastlines. Freebies are commonplace in the travel & tourism industry but once in a while, it warms the heart to see them being extended to those who need them most: Underprivileged children, many of whom may never see the inside of an aircraft.

Getting ready for the ride of their lives, 200 Thai orphaned, handicapped and slum-dwelling kids aged 7 to 16 prepare to board for a 90-minute Charity Flight around Central Thailand and its Gulf coastlines. Photo Mirin MacCarthy.

The aircraft, a 230-seat Boeing 767-300, came in at 2120 hrs from Hong Kong. Its flight back was not until 0910 hrs the next day. In 1994, when QF was celebrating its 40th anniversary of flying to Thailand, the then local manager Roger Lindeman and commercial counsellor Mrs. Valerie McKenzie tossed around the idea of making good use of the parked aircraft by doing something for Thai kids. Lindeman won QF’s approval to operate the flight free if McKenzie, a Thailand resident since 1990, would raise matching sponsorship. She had no problem. QF operated its first such charity flight on 23 October 1994 and another on 17 November 1996. This year, the flight will get free air-traffic control services, free ramp-handling and push-back, and burn 6,000 kilos of free jet-fuel. The Aussie pilots and cabin crew, including two ethnic Thais, volunteered their time free. On returning, the kids were treated to a rip-roaring two-and-a-half-hour party with food, balloons and free entertainment by Bananas in Pajamas and six Thai bands.

Australian Ambassador William Fisher and his wife joined the festivities. Photo Mirin MacCarthy.

"It’s a real thrill to see these kids on the aircraft," she says. "Just seeing the happiness and excitement on their faces after they disembark makes the whole thing worthwhile." About 130 staff from the Australian embassy, Qantas / British Airways and sponsoring companies take nearly three months to put it all together. Homes and orphanages have to be contacted and explained what it is all about. This year, one child asked McKenzie if the aircraft had toilets. Yes it does, she was told. "Well, I’m not going to use them." Why not? "Because I don’t want to pollute Thailand." The young lady apparently thought the stuff exits lavatories on the planes the same way as on Thai trains - straight on to the tracks.

The operation is not new for Qantas. Pathfinders, a grouping of QF cabin crew, once voluntarily helped spastic children in Sydney. To McKenzie’s knowledge, the Bangkok flight is the only one of its kind in the QF international network. Because of the work involved, doing it biennially is considered enough. As it has become a regular event, head office and the Thai authorities readily co-operate. The night before the flight is the most hectic as the final touches are applied, leaving McKenzie and her staff time for nothing but a shower at the airport hotel. "You know what the toughest thing is?" she asks. "Blowing up 700 balloons!" This year, she had four tank inflators. Still, the balloons had to be knotted, transported to the party-room and tied to the chairs, ready for the kids when they returned from the flight. Quite a job.

Wearing T-shirts with a caricature of a kangaroo waving a Thai flag and an elephant waving an Australian one, the kids boarded the flight through the domestic terminal after passing through security, having exchanged their ‘tickets’ for real boarding passes. This year’s flight covered 12 provinces, giving the kids a glimpse from 8,000 feet of a famous Thai national park, coastal areas, the border with Burma, the industrial Eastern Seaboard, the Chao Phraya river delta and the city of Bangkok, a flight plan specially charted to illustrate the diversity of their home country.

On board, they were given the usual safety announcements in Thai and English. Later, they munched on biscuits with orange juice and water. Where the weather was good, they were rotated so that everyone got a crack at a window seat. Where it wasn’t, cartoon videos were kept ready to keep them entertained. Nick Moore, manager Thailand for QF / BA, and his staff went around to answer questions. The favourite question on previous flights has been how the plane takes off and lands. Also on board were the Australian ambassador and his wife, plus Thai aviation and airport officials, and a doctor and nurse supplied courtesy of a local hospital.

This year’s batch included 16 kids in wheelchairs and several deaf kids accompanied by a signer. Some got to visit the cockpit. Before the flight took off, four had their pictures taken sitting inside the engine mount. All left with the QF Kids Pack. They had been asked to write a few words before the flight about what they thought they were going to experience. After it, they were to write a few more words to describe what they did experience, and then compare the two. Their efforts were graded by a local school. Winners will get funds for future education.

McKenzie says getting it all together is a real experience. In the weeks before the flight, hours go in phone calls to potential sponsors, visiting the orphanages and slums, getting the various signatures and co-ordinating with head-office. But for the kids, she feels it’s worth it. McKenzie herself was in a London orphanage for 10 years after losing her French parents when an unexploded bomb blew up several years after World War II had ended. Australia was the home of her foster parents. "I was given a chance in life," she says. "I like to do the same for others. Kids like to be spoilt and for one day in their life, we want to give them that pleasure."

This year’s batch of 42 sponsors is the largest ever, many of whom came in unapproached. Together they have supplied nearly three million baht (about US$75,000) worth of stationery, books, ice-cream, soap, canned fish, face towels, toothpaste, pencils, snack-boxes, shampoo, cooking oil, milk, chili sauce and much more. All these will go back to the slums for distribution to kids who did not get to fly. McKenzie says it is important for none of the kids to feel left out, or for any one child to feel superior to another. It is also important for them to feel ‘normal.’ She remembers that the 1994 flight carried a handicapped journalist from the Bangkok Post who gave the kids an in-flight talk on how they could grow up to be perfectly normal human beings.

McKenzie has kept a whole stack of memorabilia, pictures and logs from her previous flights. In one, she recalls being asked how high the aircraft was going to fly. Curious as to why the question was being asked, she was told, "Because I’m not yet ready to go to heaven and meet the angels." The classic one, she says, was when she was asked if the windows could be opened during the flight. Why do you want to open the windows? Well, came the answer, "You all are really nice people and if we feel sick, we don’t want to make a mess of the plane."

(Writer’s note: This article illustrates the creativity the Travel & Tourism industry can rise to in pursuit of a wider community good. I thank the many sponsors of the event and apologise for being unable to list them all. Their names, along with full details of the project can be got from Mrs. Valerie McKenzie at fax: 66-2-2316230, or email: [email protected]).

The Dusit does it!

by John Revolting

The Official Opening of the new Dusit Resort Fitness Club will be held on Saturday the 26th of September. Their pre-event publicity flyers promise that you can get "Pinched, Pulled, Stretched and Hot" at this new club.

Based on the first floor of the Dusit, overlooking one of the swimming pools and Pattaya Bay, the Club certainly has that "luxury" look about it. Change rooms are spacious, with steam rooms, showers and sauna, and the facilities in the workout areas and aerobic room are all new and "state of the art" electronics. Rows of polished dumb bells and strange chromium and wire contraptions await the eager fitness exponents. This new club has not been an IMF exercise in any way!

In the true spirit of investigative journalism, the Pattaya Mail sent one of its junior reporters to experience what the attendees might expect. Here is his report.

"The last time I ran anywhere was fleeing from an irate father after dropping off his daughter several hours late, and that was many years ago in the days of hardship before ball-point pens and wonder bras! Since then I have managed to avoid all forms of regulated exercise.

The invitation from Club Manager David Garred stated: bring exercise footwear, shorts and sweatshirt. That in itself was enough to strike fear into my heart. Exercise footwear? I don’t own any of those fashionable Reebok things (not even a "knock-off" set), my slip-ons would have to do. Shorts? He’d obviously never seen me in shorts. I have these long thin white stringy things that hang down from my trousers, which I affectionately call "my legs". They do a passable job at holding my backside off the ground, but are certainly not the things you parade in public. A sweatshirt? Come on, I’m a reporter, I push pens, I don’t sweat!

The appointment with my physical fate was set for 8.30 p.m. on a Friday night. This, I thought, was a good move. My drinking mates would all be well into their sessions by then, and I would be able to slip into the Fitness Club incognito. Fat chance! One of David’s instructors looked up from where he was reading the Pattaya Mail and greeted me by name, with a large grin, while thrusting this week’s column at me. I cringed.

David, however, took me to one side and began to gently probe my medical history. When you have been around as long as I have, that can be quite long, but he soon winkled out the fact I have wonky knees, knackered ankles, a dicky back and falling hair. So far, so good, no sweat.

He then asked about my footwear. I must compliment him on the fact that he never actually burst out laughing while looking at my dancing pumps. He did suggest where I might purchase some proper footwear if I were to begin to take this "Fitness Thing" seriously. I made a mental note to ask the Editor to supply footwear in future.

After more general words of advice we approached one of his electronic exercisers. An exercise bike, but one with a difference. A veritable Xmas tree of lights on a panel in front of your eyes indicate your speed, distance travelled, time taken, calories burned up, resistance to be overcome and a few other items, none of which I remembered as I was now pedalling at 75 RPM against 50 Watts of electronic trickery.

David stood there chatting away for the 20 minutes during which I covered 2 miles and used around 80 calories worth of French Fries (or as my Belgian Mate Collin Sparkes tells me they are actually "Belgian Fries", but that’s another story).

It was only later that I realized that David was not just a chatty chap, but was actually monitoring my puffing and panting. Those questions about my knees and legs were just to make sure that I was exercising, not lining up for a bed in the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital I.C.U. ward.

Having made my 20 minutes without either falling off the bike, or slipping out of my dancing pumps, David wound down the resistance and allowed me to cool off. From there it was into the aerobics room for stretching exercises.

Now these are strange contortions that you do to stretch your reluctant muscles. In many of these positions you look like a spastic chicken, but the great thing was that everybody looks like a contorted chook - even Mr. Super Fitness David himself. In some masochistic way, I even started to enjoy doing them!

From there it was to the showers and a fluffy towel. Like Superman, I returned as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet (sorry, Pattaya Mail).

Fortunately, I have never had John Travolta fantasies, but I must admit that the experience with David Garred at the Dusit Resort Fitness Club changed my ideas on the lycra life. The concept is "fitness", not to end up looking like a geriatric Arnie. It’s about feeling better and looking better (new Reeboks would be a good start though, I suppose!)

Three times a week for 30 minutes is all I would have to do, said the ever-smiling David. I wonder if the Editor would miss me? On second thoughts, at only B900 for a two week membership, I wonder if I could get him to pay fir it?

Thank you, David Garred and the Dusit Fitness Club. It was fun!"

Successfully Yours: Premprecha Dibbayawan

The quietly spoken Principal of Jural Law in Soi Yodsak, Premprecha Dibbayawan, was probably born to be a "high flyer". So much so, that his first job after leaving school at 18 years of age was that of an airline steward!

In fact, his family has demonstrated an enormous appetite for travel; of the nine brothers and sisters he is the only one currently resident in Thailand. Of his own four children, one has also become a travelling airline steward and another is studying in the USA. However, Khun Premprecha, known as Prem, is the only lawyer.

Premprecha Dibbayawan.

Prem was born in Bangkok, but was raised in Sri Racha. It was this proximity to the sea in his childhood that possibly stimulated Prem to come to Pattaya. He enjoys the seaside atmosphere and has been here for more than 15 years, even having an aquarium business at one time that he called "Love Sea Aquarium".

But Prem’s other love is The Law (the capitals are mine but the importance to Prem was obvious). From those early days of serving dinner at 30,000 feet, he was inexorably drawn back to the ground to study Law. That trip was much longer than BKK to LAX as he did his course by studying part-time while working with Thai International. He then completed a Masters degree in Comparative Law in America, before returning home and commencing his legal work.

He returned to Bangkok, his birthplace, joining a large Law Office to gain the necessary experience he would need for the time when he would "fly" again - but this time in a solo legal practice!

The smog and traffic jams of Bangkok and the sea and diving made Pattaya look very attractive, and so when the time was right, he came down to the shore and opened up his own office. He still, however, remains in contact with Legal firms in Bangkok, working as their Eastern Seaboard consultant.

When Prem speaks about the practice of Law, he becomes very serious. He was initially drawn to Politics when at school and said, "To know Politics better, is to understand the Law". He continued with advice for young lawyers, "You have to like the subject, so you can understand it better. You will not go far if you only think of money."

He covers all aspects of legal business and it distresses him to see those in trouble following the inexpert advice of their unqualified "friends". He smiled when I asked him for advice for those who have come recently to Pattaya. "Don’t fall in love easily! Look around and select good friends in the community and when you want to know more, get qualified advice!"

Prem is now well established and in the eyes of the community is regarded as a success. However, Prem himself shrugs off the accolades, "I don’t call it success. I call it perseverance. I stick to it."

He has been a very active member of Rotary and is a past President of the Jomtien-Pattaya club. He is also on the steering committee of the Fassbind Foundation, but typically he is reticent when talking about his public service activities, "If I am called to serve, then I serve," was his reply.

Prem believes it is important to simply do good as then people will believe in you. Whilst perhaps initially a "simplistic" approach, it epitomizes his quiet, methodical approach to life and its problems - particularly legal ones!

It was an interesting hour with him, and the calm confidence that he exudes was very comforting. For a member of a profession not renowned for "caring", Premprecha Dibbayawan comes across as a thoughtful man devoted to the Law and its application to help the life of others.

AutoMania: How Green is your Valley?

by Dr. Iain Corness

I was chatting to a petro-chemical engineer the other day who appraised me of some interesting facts. The governmental regulations coming into force shortly will make the refineries reduce the amount of sulphur in diesel fuel. Stops atmospheric pollution etc., etc. and looks like another "win" for the "Greenies".

However, who pays the cost? Easy! You and me (again)! And is it really a "win" for the (pseudo) environmental lobby? Simple answer, "No"!

In their crusade for a "cleaner" world, the "Greenies" ignore the over all picture in attempting to mop up their own pet little corner.

Ford Explorer on test.

Look at this sulphur question as an example. Firstly, what does sulphur do in diesel oil? Well, it is a lubricant and helps reduce wear in a diesel engine. With lower levels your engine will wear out faster, produce fumes earlier and knock like a woodpecker. Of course, this state of affairs cannot continue, so the diesel manufacturers will have to put something else into the fuel as a lubricant. What will that do to the environment? At this stage, who knows?

Now, to get the dreaded sulphur out of the diesel apparently isn’t all that difficult (chemically), but it will cost heaps, I’m sure. They bombard the fuel with hydrogen which combines with the sulphur to form - yes? (Let’s not see the same hands every time!) It forms Hydrogen Sulphide known chemically as H2S and known in every school chemistry lab as "Rotten Egg Gas". So there’s a nice new smelly environmental hazard we’ve produced in getting rid of the old one.

The next problem is to now get rid of the H2S. In this country, after the refineries pay for its removal, there is a fairly high chance that some contractor, somewhere, will dump it. It will leech its way into the ground and eventually reach the water table where it poisons the water for the next generation. And this lowering of sulphur levels is supposed to be an advancement?

I mentioned the "Bio-Diesel" fuel the other week. Yes, said the engineer, peanut oil makes a really good fuel. The only problem is that if we converted every diesel engine to it we would run out of the world stocks of peanut oil in less than a week. And industry would come grinding to an immediate halt!

I’m sorry, but I do not understand the Green Movement. They are either short-sighted or self serving or both. Or maybe, like the Amish in America, they feel we should go back to the pre-industrial revolution days. Wouldn’t that be riot?

No, I am an unrepentant Some Other Colour person. (I was going to say "Brownie" but then remembered that this organization already exists and I have got the wrong tackle for it!)

Ford Explorer

The large people movers are big business these days, and Ford’s Explorer is a big muvver mover! Last week we had the opportunity to sample one and get an idea of its capabilities as an exploration vehicle.

In this country we have roads ranging from excellent to downright dreadful. I’ve seen pot-holes so deep they have Chinese music coming out of them. Whilst not promoted as a pure 4x4, the Explorer does a very workmanlike job of covering the dirt roads around Pattaya. This ability to handle the ruts and washaways is, however, gained at the expense of some smoothness on the bitumen. The ride is best described as "firm", and certainly does give the feel of high speed stability, much more than the softly sprung "luxury" Japanese counterparts.

I was most impressed with the power steering, which was progressive enough to allow for ease of parking, yet gave enough "feel" when the car was in motion.

The engine is the super smooth 4 litre V6, powerful enough to carry the Explorer and several passengers at highway cruising speeds and still have reserves for quick passing. The "kick-down" I felt was a little slow, though this possibly could have been adjustment on that particular test car.

Air conditioning was excellent and carried through to the rear seat passengers, a feature neglected by many other manufacturers.

The overall feeling of the Explorer was one of strength and stability, the body feeling particularly strong with excellent torsional rigidity. For anyone in the market for a people mover I would suggest they give the Explorer a close look. Ford is putting a good dealer network together and service and spares should be no problem.

Test vehicle supplied by Ford Enterprise Ltd., Nongkaem.

Automania Quiz

Last week we visited the British AC sports cars, the company who produced the basis of the vehicle which ended up as the powerful 427 Shelby Cobra. The small engined original version had a Bristol engine, still a nice car, but nothing like the 7 litre V8 thumper that Carroll Shelby produced. So that was the answer - Bristol.

So let’s stick with the Cobra for a while. Who was it who convinced Ford to supply the engines to Shelby and also convinced AC to supply the rolling chassis? Hint : he was famous in drag racing circles (or should that be "straights"?)

The recent Quiz questions on the Customised Hearses brought a few good replies, but Andy Sitton was first in with "Harold & Maude" (the movie) and Robert Lepper had the "full monty" with Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort (the actors), Cat Stevens for the music and an E Type Jaguar as the hearse. Well done both! With the James Dean question, it was my old Aussie Mate, Phillip MacDonald who was first in with the goods. Now I have to be honest here, I originally thought that it was a 356 "Speedster" (as did David Llewellyn) in which our rebellious film star met his untimely end, but I was wrong. It definitely was, as Phillip said, a "Spyder", a road going version of the cars the Porsche Factory raced at Le Mans and other circuits. Only a few of these were sold to private owners, but our Jimmy certainly should have cancelled his order!

Updated every Friday
E-mail: [email protected]
Copyright 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Created by Andy Gombaz, assisted by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek.