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Family Money: Sitting
on a Nest-Egg
By Leslie Wright
Part 1
A considerable number of retired expatriates call
Pattaya home. Some of these enjoy a pension from their former employment;
a small number have significant wealth which is being managed for them by
offshore private banking services. Most, however, are living off the
income derived from a relatively modest amount of capital - the equivalent
of a few million baht rather than tens let alone hundreds of millions.
Now that interest rates on local bank deposits have
fallen from the 15%-17% highs that prevailed a couple of years ago to the
pathetically low figures that apply now, many retirees are concerned that
their capital is not generating sufficient income to maintain their
lifestyles to the extent it did before interest rates were lowered so
dramatically last year.
In some cases, the cash withdrawals they require are
eroding their capital, even in the low inflation climate currently
prevailing. Some have expressed alarm at the prospect that if they
continue to draw down from their modest nest-eggs what they require to
maintain their current living standard, their capital may not suffice to
last them for the rest of their lives, as they had originally anticipated.
What are the alternatives?
Private banking
People with significant wealth have always been able to
avail of private banking services located in politically-stable regimes
like the Channel Islands, Switzerland and Luxembourg (although recent and
pending court cases are shedding new light on the perceived ‘safety’
of the latter two.)
These banks generally see their primary role as capital
conservation rather than income generation, so tend to take an
ultra-conservative approach to managing their clients’ money.
They also set a relatively high entry threshold -
typically in the order of at least $500,000 and in some cases $1 million.
Not only is this more than the ‘average’ Pattaya
retiree’s capital nest-egg, the returns that can be expected from most
private banking portfolio management services are insufficient to meet
their income requirements, so leaves them out in the rain.
High Street banks et al
Some of the high street banks, ex-building societies
and fund management groups are chasing what is a fast-growing financial
sector: offering their versions of private portfolio management to those
with more modest amounts of capital - typically ranging between ฃ50,000-ฃ250,000.
However, in most cases these institutions are following
a ‘one-size-fits-all’ philosophy. This is understandable, inasmuch as
providing a personalised portfolio management service involves allocating
a considerable amount of time and human resources, which for the
relatively modest sums involved is simply not cost-effective for a large
institution. They rely on the economy of scale, since the alternative of
passing on the costs to the client would in most cases be seen as too
expensive and hence unacceptable.
The result is that the medium-sized investor does not
receive a truly personalised service, but simply gets a slice of a managed
pie - akin to investing in a unit trust firm’s managed fund - and a
relatively conservative one at that.
Individual institutions
Approaching individual investment institutions such as
unit trust or mutual fund companies won’t help much, inasmuch as they
are in the business of persuading investors to invest in their funds. The
account executives work for the firm, not for the client.
So don’t expect the staff there to spend time
evaluating your needs, circumstances and all the various bits & pieces
you may have collected in your portfolio: this is all outside their brief,
which extends simply to explaining the investment style of their funds on
offer. It’s like going to a market stall where the principle is: “This
is what we’ve got; would you like some?”
Moreover, potential investors are all too often
beguiled by performance figures, and make their investment decisions based
on past performance rather than future potential. What may have been a
top-performing fund (or market sector) last year may perform very poorly
in the coming year... But it’s far easier to sell winners than losers,
as every fund salesman knows.
Going it alone
As has been touched upon in this space before, most
investors don’t have the interest, expertise nor access to the
specialised information with which to construct and manage their own
portfolios effectively, even if they have the time.
Many retired amateur investors, faced with the prospect
of their capital being eroded by their required income withdrawals (not to
mention inflation), may take on more risk than is really appropriate to
their circumstances - which may then result in further loss of capital if
they guess the markets wrong.
If one does not have sufficient capital to qualify for
private banking services, nor wish to be just another number among many
bundled into high street banks’ off-the-shelf investment packages, nor
have the capability of constructing and managing one’s own portfolio
effectively, what does one do?
Quite a dilemma, and not an easy one to solve, you
might think.
Personal investment management
What such clients (and this includes many of those
Pattaya-based retirees referred to at the beginning) are really looking
for is a personal investment manager whom they can call or visit on a
regular basis, whom they can rely on to give them timely best advice
(which means having the client’s best interests in mind as opposed to
his own or the firm he works for), who is mature enough to understand
their needs and circumstances, has established business dealings with
enough internationally-recognised firms to be able to create and is
experienced enough to manage a truly tailor-made portfolio, is objectively
dispassionate while sufficiently self-confident to make tough investment
decisions as necessary, and has the integrity to own up if things go wrong
(as they inevitably do from time to time) and take the appropriate steps
to put them right.
A rather rare animal in these days of increasingly
impersonal ever-larger financial institutions.
But a few experienced financial advisers, having
recognised these special needs in their own locales, and perhaps having
tired of the attitudes of large financial institutions towards individual
investors (especially those with relatively modest sums of capital), have
established personal portfolio management firms to provide exactly this
sort of dedicated service to their local niche markets.
I know of one such in Hong Kong, another in Cyprus,
and, of course, one right here in Pattaya.
Wealth creation or conservation?
Investment management is both about wealth creation and
wealth conservation - and getting the right balance between these
objectives is an important part of successful investment management.
Wealth conservation is the maintenance of the real
value of money against inflation, and traditionally would involve a
portfolio of bonds and cash.
Wealth creation is putting the money to work, and would
require equities and other investments to be included in the portfolio.
Clearly, the risk and reward between these two approaches can be very
different.
A portfolio of equities is typically more risky than a
portfolio of cash and bonds, but with the sweetener of anticipated higher
returns over the longer term. The right mixture of equities, bonds and
cash for any one client will depend to a large extent on each client’s
financial goals and aspirations and his or her attitude towards risk.
Understanding this and getting the correct balance
between wealth conservation and wealth creation is the starting point for
sound investment management.
Assessing risk
Thus, to provide best advice to a potential client, his
or her risk-aversion profile needs to be assessed at an early stage. This
is preferably done as part of the initial needs analysis process in a
face-to-face meeting, or where that is not possible by the use of a
detailed financial-profile questionnaire.
It is often the case that the needs of people at vastly
different ends of the wealth spectrum can be quite similar: nest eggs of a
retired person and very wealthy families might have the same aims of
wealth conservation. While the initial approach would be similar in this
case, the portfolio would differ mainly through greater diversification in
the larger portfolio.
On the other hand, a working executive with a high
income might require an aggressive wealth-creation portfolio, since his
overall strategy is to build up the capital element - his nest-egg for the
future.
In truth, the majority of clients lie somewhere in
between these two extremes. And this especially applies to those with
modest amounts of capital who are concerned both with conserving their
nest-egg and generating an income from it - our Pattaya retiree being a
perfect example.
A client who has a modest amount of capital but who
also requires an income stream is all too often tempted to veer towards
one extreme or the other along the risk spectrum. But a totally objective
approach is necessary to balancing his needs against his resources - and
since money tends to be such an emotive subject, many clients find it
particularly difficult to do this dispassionately.
Leslie Wright is Managing Director of Westminster
Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd., a firm of independent financial
advisors providing advice to expatriate residents of the Eastern Seaboard
on personal financial planning and international investments. If you have
any comments or queries on this article, or about other topics concerning
investment matters, contact Leslie directly by fax on (038) 232522 or
e-mail [email protected].
Further details and back articles can be accessed on his firm’s website
on www.westminsterthailand.com.
Editor’s note: Leslie sometimes receives e-mails to which he is
unable to respond due to the sender’s automatic return address being
incorrect. If you have sent him an e-mail to which you have not received a
reply, this may be why. To ensure his prompt response to your enquiry,
please include your complete return e-mail address, or a contact phone/fax
number.
The Computer Doctor
by Richard Bunch
From Dave Evans, The Hague/Pattaya: I
have been a regular reader of your great paper since working on the TRC
Refinery in Map Ta Phut a while back. I read you every week over the Net
here in Holland. My wife Aungsana is Thai and has a Thai restaurant here in
The Hague. We often need to write an email to Thailand and would like to use
Thai font. We have windows 98 and a Thai keyboard. After a few tries of
trying to download Thai fonts, I’d appreciate a hint or two. I noticed you
helped one guy out this week in the letters column. I really would
appreciate a tip. Thanks in advance.
Computer Doctor replies: I haven’t found a
satisfactory way of entering Thai directly into an e-mail program if the
Operating System is not Thai/English. The ‘Keyboard Switch’ which allows
Thai to be typed in applications such as Word on a non-Thai Operating System
doesn’t work in e-mail clients. However, there is a work around, if you
have already installed the ‘Keyboard Switch’ and Thai fonts, then you
can type the message in, for example Word then attach the resulting file to
your e-mail message. If you haven’t already installed the ‘Keyboard
Switch’ and fonts then you will need to do this first, download them from
http://thaigate.rd.nacsis.ac.jp/refer/thaiio.html
From Freddie Clarke: I was surprised to hear from “R.B.”
that the Loxinfo starter kit he bought?/looked at?, did not contain the
newsgroups. I have the same kit, and have set it up for other people. There
is no restricted access to newsgroups, to my knowledge. He simply needs to
configure the news-server in. I do agree that they are useful, and there are
thousands out there. Particularly interesting are the messages in computer
problem related ones.
Computer Doctor replies: Thank you for the
information Freddie. As you say, he probably hasn’t configured his news
client correctly which in the case of Loxinfo is news.loxinfo.co.th
From Keli, Pattaya: I have kept a 5-1/4” drive to
access a large library of data and programs that I sometimes use. I just
cannot destroy all those hours of work. I would be happy to accommodate Mr.
Victor Moore if he has not already found a source.
Computer Doctor replies: Well Victor, it looks like
the power of the Pattaya Mail has triumphed. If you send an e-mail to me
with your contact details, I will gladly put you in touch with Keli.
I have received quite a few e-mails from readers who
would like me to run a survey on the local ISP’s. I am quite willing to do
this, but in order that any results are meaningful it will require input
from as many readers as possible. If responding, please include the name of
your ISP, the node/s you connect through, your location, your telephone
provider TT&T or TOT, modem details and of course your comments, include
any other relevant information.
Send your questions or comments to the Pattaya Mail at
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, 20260 or Fax to 038 427 596 or
E-mail to [email protected]
Richard Bunch is Managing Director of Action Computer Technologies Co.,
Ltd.
Successfully Yours: Dr.
Olivier Meyer
by Mirin MacCartthy
 The young, friendly, disarming Dr. Olivier Meyer has
worked and studied hard all his life and achieved what few other foreign
doctors have done - he has been given Thai registration and recently
opened a general practice here in Pattaya.
Born and educated in Switzerland, Dr. Olivier speaks
five languages: French, German, English, Thai and a little Lao.
“Sometimes at the end of a busy day it is a little confusing. I go
outside or talk on the telephone in one language and then speak to patient
in the wrong language. They just look at me,” he laughed.
He decided on medicine as a career because, “I read
some stories about doctors and thought that is a good way to help the
people. It is very people orientated.”
After his graduation Dr. Olivier threw off his white
coat and put on a backpack and spent eight months travelling throughout
South East Asia, visiting Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, India, Malaysia and
Singapore. The two countries right up there on the top of his list,
Thailand and Indonesia, were the only two he wanted to revisit.
After a year’s residency in Geneva he returned to
Thailand in 1990 and worked for a year as an anaesthetist for the Red
Cross International Hospital, treating Khmer refugees at Aranyaprathet on
the Cambodian border. It was a rapid learning experience, treating mine
injuries and other casualties. However, it was not all work - that was the
year he met his Thai wife in Bangkok.
The following year he took his bride back to
Switzerland and studied Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine. This
took another three years.
Returning in early 1996 to the land that kept calling
him, he worked with the official physician for the Swiss Embassy in
Bangkok, Dr. Phillipe Balankura. “When I met him he asked me if I wanted
to be a head physician in Cambodia. Apparently the Thonburi Hospital in
Bangkok was planning to open a new hospital in Cambodia. So I became
assistant to the medical director in their hospital in Bangkok for one
year. Naturally, I had experience in medical practice but none in
administration, but then in the end, the project in Cambodia was
cancelled.”
He continued, “Then there was a second project to
start a new hospital in Hanoi in Vietnam. I spent many trips there
backwards and forwards, met so many officials. I had even arranged an
international loan for the Thonburi group to start up. Everything was
ready to move and then came the economic downturn. So that project was
cancelled, too, and I was not very happy. That is why I went to sit the
medical exams here, so I would not be doing only administration - I like
treating patients as well.” He grinned.
The Catch 22 situation here is any overseas qualified
doctor must pass the final year medical exams in written Thai, and
additionally be married to a Thai and living here if not employed by a
Thai company or hospital.
How difficult was that? Well it took Dr. Olivier four
years just to learn to write Thai. His wife had already taught him to
speak it. When they were in Switzerland they only spoke Thai at home, but
back here in Thailand, they only speak French, so neither will forget
their native tongue. But Dr. Olivier admits it took him four years to
learn to write in squiggle writing. Dr. Olivier laughed, “It is like
little children, you must learn letter by letter, then word by word, then
sentence by sentence. But after two to three months you are able to read a
little. It teaches you how to spell and pronounce. If I am unsure of a
certain tone I will ask my wife to write the word, and then it is easy.”
Dr Olivier has a one year old daughter, but wants to
have more family. Like most doctors, he doesn’t have much free time as
he works at his clinic six days a week, but the time he does have off he
likes to spend with his family, and reading. (His great love is French
literature.)
Dr. Olivier’s local clinic opened only two months
ago, but it’s very busy. He is proud that many Thais come to see him as
well. “I am very happy about having Thai patients. I don’t want only
foreigners coming to see me.”
Success to him means to do what you reach for. If you are able to
achieve your goals, no matter what they are, then you can be happy. The
quality he values most in life is honesty and family - it looks as if he
has the correct prescription already, does it not?
Snap Shots: Irving
Penn - the B&W Master
While Irving Penn is one of the best photographers
America has produced and handled all media, formats and films, for Harry
Flashman, his Black and White work stands out as some of the most
spectacular photographs of his era. He had an eye for photo and design
that was unique, so it is worthwhile spending a little time looking at
this great man and his works.
He was born in 1917 in Plainfield, New Jersey.
Realising early that his talents lay somewhere in the artistic world, he
enrolled at the age of 17 in a four-year course at the Philadelphia Museum
School of Industrial Art, where he trained for a career as an art
director. At this stage he had no thoughts of becoming a photographer.
His first art work experience was as an office boy and
apprentice artist for Harper’s Bazaar magazine drawing shoes.
After graduation he had positions as an art director,
but he was not happy or convinced that this was all that life was going to
offer him, so he went to Mexico for a year to devote himself to painting.
One year convinced Penn that he was not going to make
it as a painter and he returned to New York and took a job with Vogue
magazine as a junior art director. His work was noticed by the senior art
director, but the staff photographers could not deliver the pictures that
Penn saw in his mind, encouraging him to take the photographs himself.
This was the start to a great career. He continued with
Vogue, with just a small break for the war effort, and his first
exhibition of magazine covers was held in 1947 at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York.
For me, his work is unique because of his use of light
and other devices to isolate his subject from the background. One example
of this was his series, taken against a totally plain background, of
workers in their working clothes with their tools of trade being the main
item to lead the viewer to the industry concerned.
 He is also the master of side lighting to produce a
dramatic atmosphere to his photographs. Look at the shot of Picasso for
example. The pose, the close up aspect, the one dramatic eye fixing you,
the Spanish hat as the clue - all these items are true art director
material - but Irving Penn was an art director who could take the
photograph as well.
His use of photographic equipment was also very varied.
Since he would envisage a shot before he took it, he would then work out
what he felt would be the best equipment to use to produce the shot. His
formats were also varied, from 35 mm Leica and Nikon, through to medium
format (6x6) Rolleiflex or Hasselblad and then all the way through to
giant 8x10 Deardorff plate cameras.
His talents have not gone unnoticed. He was voted as
one of the top ten photographers in the world in 1958 and has had his work
exhibited internationally as well as at some sell-out shows in his native
America. Included in these are those in the Museum of Modem Art, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art, the
Baltimore Museum of Art and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1975)
and at the Metropolitan Museum (1977). Published books include ‘Moments
Preserved’ (1960), ‘Worlds in a Small Room’ (1974) and ‘Flowers’
(1980).
Irving Penn and his extraordinary capacity for work, versatility,
inventiveness, and imagination in a number of fields including editorial
illustration, advertising, photojournalism, portraits, still life, travel,
and television, is someone who truly is a “Master Photographer” and
studying his work one wet afternoon will go a long way towards improving
our own photography.
Modern Medicine: Breast
or Bottle?
by Dr Iain Corness
Is Mum still the best? With infant formulas
(“formulae” for the pedantic) being around for about 50 years, surely
the need for breast feeding has stopped in our new technological and
scientific age?
In my medical school days, it used to be said that the
three reasons breast milk was better than bottle were 1, you didn’t have
to look for the equipment in the middle of the night, 2 it was always at
the correct temperature and 3, it came in such handy containers!
However, forgetting the humorous aspects, there is no
doubt about it that Mum still is best. There are still significant
differences between formula and Mum, although the gap is narrowing every
year. You see, Mum’s milk contains antibodies, enzymes and hormones - so
far these are not available as freeze dried products, just add water and
pop in the microwave to warm!
Statistics are all on the side of Mum too. Did you know
that bottle fed bubs are five times more likely to be admitted to hospital
compared to breast fed infants? An American study also found that bottle
babies were more likely to suffer from diarrhoea, cough, wheeze, vomiting
and all sorts of other ailments.
Of course there will be those who will say that women
with small breasts are unable to fully feed a baby. This is a total myth.
Size, gentlemen, does not matter when it comes to milk production. Sure,
the smaller breasted Mums may not have the same storage capacity as their
more generously endowed sisters, but they will still produce enough
quantity over a 24 hour period. They may have to feed the infant more
often - but the quantity (and quality) is still there.
Even the old bugbear, cigarette smoking comes in with
the breast versus bottle arguments. We know that no one should smoke, but
if a Mum continues (or can’t stop, usually) and she bottle feeds her
children, they are seven times more likely to develop breathing problems,
having had the bottle instead of the boob.
Of course, some infant formula folk will say that you
should use a soy formula, rather than one derived from cow’s milk.
However, science does not bear this out. One noted College of Paediatrics
has even gone so far as to say, “There is no evidence that soy formulae
are nutritionally better than cow’s milk formulae for normal infants.”
It is also of interest to note that 40% of infants allergic to cow’s
milk protein also develop soy milk allergy. There is also work going on
right now that appears to show that use of soy milk formulae may impair
immunity in the child. So much for soy!
There are those who will say that breast milk, these
days, is contaminated with pesticides, since these fat soluble
environmental chemicals are everywhere. And the cows are not? Cow’s milk
is even more likely to be contaminated with DDT and its derivatives.
No, there was a famous TV advert in Australia for a deodorant called
“Mum” and the catch line was, “I can get by without lots of things,
but I can’t get by without my Mum.” For little babies, that line is
even more important!
 Dear
Hillary,
I arrived in Pattaya without a hotel reservation. My
travel agent informed me that there were hundreds of hotels available and
that finding suitable lodgings would be quite easy.
I was first directed to an imposing, exclusive looking
white hotel perched on top of a cliff. It was obviously designed for the
rich and famous. It was so luxurious that I expected to find a forty
nine-piece orchestra playing for guests in the wash rooms. This hotel was
too formal for me and the rates well above my price range. Is it true that
this hotel is so exclusive that even room service has an unlisted number?
Downtown offers such a large selection of hotels and
rooms that I didn’t know where to start looking. The first downtown
hotel I inspected was old and dilapidated. It didn’t have a nine-hole
golf course but it did have nine hole sheets on the bed. The air
conditioner was an old window rattler that continuously clunked, banged
and leaked water everywhere. The view from the window was a close up of
the wall of the hotel next door. The floors seemed uneven and walking
around in the room caused the walls to creak and groan. I would be too
frightened to pull the blinds down in case the building collapsed.
The next hotel wasn’t much better. I asked the
manager to tell me how much the weekly rates were. He told me that he
didn’t know, as nobody had ever stayed for a week.
The views from the bedrooms were fantastic. You could
see for miles - through the holes in the roof. On a positive note, the
sheets had no holes and they were changed every day - from one room to
another.
I then inspected a filthy bungalow that had rooms
available for rent. It was so dirty that I’m sure I saw a line of
cockroaches leaving in disgust. The owner included meals in the rental
price. No doubt I would need to change for dinner - into overalls.
I then went to a hotel on Soi 8. It was clean and
fairly well presented but outside the windows were numerous bars, playing
music at full blast. However, I stayed for one night and left a call with
the receptionist for seven in the morning. When I woke the next day, I
found seven bar girls in my room. Business in this hotel was obviously not
good. The maids were stealing towels from the guests.
The hotel did have hot and cold water. The hot was
served in the dining room as soup and the cold water was dished out in the
bar as beer.
I am now staying in a very nice hotel on Soi 10. The
rates are reasonable, the hotel clean and the staff are helpful, friendly
and lots of fun. When I say “friendly and lots of fun,” I mean very
friendly and lots and lots of fun. My only complaint is that I have to get
out of a warm bed at four in the morning to let them all out of my room.
My search to find a suitable hotel was long and
arduous. Please give me your advice on the best method for finding the
right accommodation in Pattaya.
Mick - Mighty Mouse
Dear Mickey Mouse,
You seem to being doing all right by yourself. The
hotel in Soi 10 seems to be the perfect place for a squeaky-clean
church-going bachelor as yourself. Then again you can often arrange
bargain rates at the top hotels (49 piece orchestras, nine-hole golf
courses, etc.) by getting a package deal on the accommodation with your
helpful travel agent before you leave. Or are you one of those people who
arrive at the airport and ask if there’s a seat available on a plane out
of the country? Failing that, get a Lonely Planet guide and look up places
in your price range. Still “try before you buy” is Hillary’s motto
or at least look before you get took is the best suggestion.
Dear Hillary,
My girlfriend (Japanese) and I spent two wonderful
weeks in Pattaya last March. Michiko was talking to a Thai girl and the
subject of “Breast enlargement” came up. By any chance do you know of
a reputable Plastic Surgeon (Hospital) that performs this service, and the
approximate price?
Love your column!
Best Regards,
Jack
Dear Jack,
Thanks for the compliments. For a Japanese girl, a 10 AA bra would be
large, I presume! But then again, I haven’t met your girlfriend. To
answer your question, I am told the cost of breast augmentation here is
thirty to forty thousand baht for nom yai AKA a great set of knockers.
Ensure the surgeon is qualified and not just an M.D., F.A.I.L.E.D. (Fellow
of the August, International, Learned, Educated, Doctors). The larger
hospitals have reputable plastic surgeons. Ask to see examples of their
work or go to any cabaret show here and find the best bazookas and ask the
“girl” for the name of the surgeon who did his. Don’t suffocate.
GRAPEVINE
The
Blackpool connection
Terence Potts, a Blackpool boarding house
owner, simply doesn’t know what to do following the collapse of his
blissful and monogamous life with Porn. He had met her five years ago,
fallen in love and taken her to the northern English resort to help
run his hotel. She had everything she wanted including her own car and
a generous salary. Suddenly, last week, Porn announced that she must
return to Pattaya immediately following a phone call. “But why,
don’t you love me?” queried Terence. “It’s not that,” she
replied, “I just heard my husband got injured in a motor bike
accident.”
Stocking up
Is presently the time to invest in the local
stock market? Sages say that it is now that the trend to economic
recovery is becoming marked. Positive indicators include low interest
rates, a stable baht, banks moving to clean up their balance sheets, a
surge in consumption, increased exports and state spending on the
rise. On the other hand, we heard something very similar in 1996
before the crash which wiped out many small investors. Better to wait
a while yet.
Light up my life
Sorbonne lecturer Lucien La Motte, 45, is
returning to Paris broken hearted after the collapse of his holiday
romance following horrifying extravagance which exceeded 400,000 baht.
The girl of his dreams persuaded him to buy motorbikes for several of
her physically handicapped relatives who lived in an obscure village
near the Burmese border which admittedly is not well patronized by
French intellectuals. Lucien finally realized he was merely a baht
sign on legs when he was also asked to fund traffic lights so that the
grandparents could drive about more safely at night. “I’ve been a
fool,” he told the shocked taxi driver on the way to the airport.
New venue
There’s an interesting new restaurant, or
new to GEOC (Grapevine Eating Out Collective), in the soi opposite the
telephone exchange in Central Road. The Two Lions, offering
international and Thai cuisine but specializing in Swedish fare, has a
special every day for 120 baht. On Saturdays, there’s an
all-you-can-eat buffet for the same sum. They can also deliver to your
home. Roast pork is 120 baht per kilo, including potato salad, mixed
vegetable salad and garlic bread. The Two Lions is offering first
class value for money.
Classical opportunity
A
Japanese lingerie manufacturer is offering for sale a musical bra to
commemorate the birthday of Mozart who died in 1791. The bra contains
a memory chip which plays a quite delightful six minute selection of
the famous composer’s music, accompanied by flashing lights on the
cups to indicate that a new tract is about to start. However, there
are two points to bear in mind before you part with $US85. Firstly,
Mozart would have found it awkward to write the 1812 Overture as he
had been dead for some years. Also, the bra is not washable (without
ruining the performance) so sweaty people are advised to keep well
clear of any temptation to purchase. |
Legal
eagle
Reader WE asks whether you are allowed to
make telephone calls if you are arrested by the police. As far as we
know, there is nothing in Royal Thai law either to permit or to forbid
this. However, the police appreciate that an arrest is a traumatic
experience for a farang and will normally allow you (if you remain
polite) to call a lawyer or a friend from your own mobile or from a
public call box, or even from their own phones, before a formal charge
is made. But once you are confined to the police station cells, it is
obviously much harder to make phone contact with outsiders. Telephone
calls in actual prisons are very strictly forbidden by the Department
of Corrections. Personal visits, letters and faxes (at your own
expense) are permitted.
Gay heart strings
An overindulgent farang, trying to impress
his new boyfriend, asked what he could buy him as a birthday present.
The young man had already clocked up a motorbike and an expensive
watch, but said he would like to learn to play the flute which had
been a lifetime ambition. Good as his word, the suitably impressed
farang produced the 130,000 baht Swiss made instrument and arranged
lessons with a retired flautist from a village near the Cambodian
border. However, after a few days, the farang noticed that the flute
was not in its case. “Yes,” replied the pampered youth, “I had
to sell it as I meant to ask for guitar.”
Call it quits
You know you have been in Pattaya too long
when:
You wander the sois looking for a free barbeque
tonight.
You address affluent strangers as “Guv”.
Indian tailors on Beach Road ignore you.
Beggars yawn as you pass by.
You have visited Nong Nooch gardens for the
twentieth time.
Your conversation is limited to how important you
once were.
You proclaim drag shows are a cultural experience.
You don’t know what a cultural experience is. |
Dining Out: Rice
Mill Chinese Restaurant - Chinese with a view!
by Miss Terry Diner
One thing is definite - the Royal Garden Resort people are
not afraid of spending to improve their product. The latest addition to their
line-up on the 3rd floor of the Royal Garden Plaza is the superbly outfitted
Rice Mill Chinese Restaurant.
 Chefs
and restaurant manager, From (L) Lam Yuk Lun, Chaisilp Kaewking and Pornchai
Kanjananukulkit.
This new restaurant opened officially only this week, so
the Dining Out Team is proud to bring you the very latest in Pattaya eateries.
We were also very lucky to have been invited to become involved with this new
outlet, right from the outset. This was accomplished by being involved in
tastings of the various dishes, commencing way back in early January and then
again after the restaurant’s kitchen became fully operational in late
January.
The restaurant is at the Tower Records end of the 3rd floor
and overlooks Pattaya Bay. It has one large main area with three private rooms
as well. Fitted out in wood and plush velvet, it has some very authentic d้cor
items. The table appointments are also of very high quality, with the black
and silver chopsticks being exceptional. The ambience is Chinese and the
ambience is also very good.
The restaurant manager is Chaisilp Kaewking, who was
spirited away from Bangkok by the local Royal Garden people and he is very
keen to show the ability of his chefs and staff.
The principle chef, Lam Yuk Lun, is from Hong Kong and
comes with great credentials - so what about the food at the Rice Mill Chinese
restaurant?
Well, there are a couple of menus available. The first is
an unlimited Dim Sum Buffet at lunchtime all this month. This costs 169 Baht
net per person and there are 20 Dim Sum items on offer. Remember this place
for a business lunch.
 Two
of the hostesses.
The second is the more conventional a la carte Chinese
Cantonese menu, which has over 90 items, including old favourites such as
Peking Duck and Shark’s fin soup. Most dishes are marked as Small, Medium or
Large and Chaisilp said this was equivalent to 1-2 people for an S, 2-4 for an
M and 8-10 for an L.
The hot and cold appetizers, fried shark’s fin, shrimp
balls, spring rolls, etc., are generally between 150-300 baht for a small
portion. Bean curd and vegetable dishes are in the 120-250 baht range, pork
around 120 baht, beef 180 baht, prawn 430 baht, fish 260-300 baht, scallops
430 baht, chicken 170 baht and noodle and rice dishes 140 baht.
While the bulk of the dishes are Cantonese style, there are
also enough Szechwan items to please those who like a little more “Zing”
with their Ying and Yang and some of the little side dishes of sauce have
enough fire to please the asbestos palate as well.
For those who are still a little unsure of which items to
try, or what goes with which, there are some set menus to take all the
guesswork away. The “Pattaya Tai” with 6 courses is 420++ baht, while the
“Liab Chai Haad”, also with 6 courses, is 560++ baht.
Now here is one item really worth noting, as discovered by
the Dining Out Team - on weekdays there are some 50% specials. For example, on
Mondays the Suckling Pig is 500++ baht or on Wednesday you can have the Peking
Duck for only 550++ baht. These weekday menu items (a different one every day)
are exceptional value in a restaurant of this calibre.
The Royal Garden Resort people are making no secret of the fact that they
intend to place the Rice Mill Chinese Restaurant right up there with the
currently accepted leaders in this cuisine. If they can maintain the standards
of the dishes we experienced they will accomplish this. Definitely worth a
try.
Animal Crackers: Who
cares?
by Mirin MacCarthy
As part of the ongoing project to found an animal refuge
in Pattaya, Dr. Nop the Naklua vet invited me to see an established refuge
in Bangkok. What I saw there was a real eye opener. It was immensely
cheering to see that animal welfare can and does work in this country. It
also disproved the myth that only farangs care about animals here.
“The Home for Handicapped Animal Foundation” was
started twenty years ago by a Thai woman, Khun Sataporn Chulasukhon, when
she took in an injured stray dog. The one animal turned into several and now
the refuge is home to 800 animals, not only dogs and cats but also goats,
birds, monkeys, and even a crocodile!
7 years ago the refuge was set up as a foundation by a
kindly monk, Luang Poor Maha Bua, who donated land and an income of 100,000
baht a month. While that may sound like a lot of money, divided by 800
animals (and 23 staff) leaves barely 100 baht a month for food and medicine
for each animal.
Khun Sataporn said, “When you accept these animals they
are with you for life. We desperately need money for food and medicine and
housing and volunteers to help with the care. The government cannot care for
all the stray and injured animals, it is too big a problem.”
The refuge is built on a large area near the airport. It
has an office building with a small animal surgery, and separate areas for
new arrivals where each animal is isolated in individual cages, and larger
areas for the healed animals waiting for adoption, plus hospital areas for
the injured.
Khun Sataporn’s long time friend and voluntary
assistant, Khun Needa Nikornpun, said, “We adopt animals out but we follow
up for two years and we are careful who we let the animals go to.
Unfortunately there are still some people who eat dogs. We certainly don’t
endorse that.”
Khun Needa continued, “It is not true that Thai people
don’t care about animals. If you walk around the streets about five in the
evening you will see women feeding strays. Do a survey on your area in
Pattaya too and you will see it. Often people leave injured animals outside
our gate at night, because they are too poor to afford the treatment. That
in itself is another form of caring, leaving the animal where they know it
will be looked after.”
Their address is: The Home for Handicapped Animal
Foundation, 15/1 Moo Soi Maha Karoontiwanon Rd, Ban Mai, Amphur Pakred,
Nontaburi, Bangkok. 11120. Telephone 02- 5844896 and 02-9615625.
Caring for Pattaya’s strays
How we treat our animals is a reflection on us all. As we
rush through life we have largely forgotten what our ancestors were aware
of: all creatures and all of life is connected. We can ignore the wretched,
rabid stray animals here as we step around them as not being “our”
problem or we can join together to help.
The concept of a Pattaya Animal Refuge Association was
proposed three weeks ago in this column. There are already vets and others
who have pledged support for this. We still need community help. Will you
join in? Many of us do have something we could contribute to help; time,
expertise, care, organizational ability, promotion, fund raising, housing,
writing newsletters, telephone answering, volunteering, feeding, cleaning,
whatever it takes.
The objective of the Animal Refuge is to receive stray,
injured and unwanted animals, dogs, cats, monkeys, birds, the lot, provide
temporary housing and veterinary treatment, rabies inoculations and spaying
before release, raising sponsorship and running Adopt a Pet programmes.
No one vet or no one individual can do it all. For it to become a reality
it will need public support - both money and manpower. We are now looking at
forming a Pattaya Animal Refuge Association. Please send in your expressions
of interest to Mirin at email <[email protected]>,
fax 038- 427 596, or direct email [email protected].
Let’s see what we locals can do for our local animals - please help!
Auto Mania:
The Illman Hump
by Dr. Iain Corness
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I published a photograph of a 1933 motor car
and asked what it was and who designed it. The car was not a prototype VW as
many of you thought, though it was designed by the famous Dr. Ferdinand
Porsche. It was in fact an NSU prototype, though some design features of the
later VeeDubs are quite evident. The rear side windows look very VW-like, as
well as the sloping rear engine cover. I think it had swing axles at the
rear as well. This was a favourite design feature from Dr. Porsche and was
seen on the VeeDubs, Auto Union race cars and Porsches themselves.
So to this week and let’s look at a very famous driver
who held the world Land Speed record for three years, won an international
Teams Trophy Race for Mercedes, defeating the British, French and Americans
and died aged 45 when shot by his friend in the Ardennes forest, having been
mistaken for a wild boar! Ah yes, what a way to go! For the Automania FREE
beer, be the first to fax 427 596 or email [email protected] with
the correct answer.
Yunnan 2000. Emma Chizzit?
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the Yunnan 2000 Rally
being organised from KL, through Thailand and Laos and on into China. This
begins on the 20th of May and ends back in Bangers on the 4th of June. This
is for large 4x4’s or big bikes but is certainly an interesting way to
explore SE Asia with your mates. Minimum of three people in each 4x4 and it
will cost US$1750 per person for the Thailand registrants. My old mate,
Captain Sitthichoke of the Asia Off Road Centre Thailand is organising the
Thailand end and you can contact him on 038-431 672 or on 01-855 4858.
Primary Safety
Safety in motor cars is something we tend not to think
about, generally because it might involve personal pain! When we discuss
safety in design there are two areas that must be covered. I call these
Primary Safety and Secondary Safety.
 Primary Safety is when the design of the motorcar is such
that it will want to stay on the road, it will want to go round corners and
it will pull up in a straight line. Ergonomically the switches and controls
will be in a position that normal human beings can reach them and the design
of the car will enhance driver comfort and precision.
Secondary Safety comes into play when everything has gone
wrong and you are now headed for that tree, or a size 12 truck parked at the
side of the road. This is where you need a vehicle that has been designed to
allow the occupants to survive. The cabin space does not distort too much,
the seatbelts work, the airbags deploy and you can step out of what was once
a lovely car.
Both of these aspects are important, but it is only in
the last few years that the manufacturers have actively pursued Primary
Safety. Make no mistake about it, today’s cars are much safer to drive
than ten year old ones. And I am talking about ten year old cars when they
were brand new, not the knackered old nails many of them are by now.
One example of a car with strong Primary Safety features
is the new Mercedes-Benz C 240 that your scribe had the opportunity of
testing at the Bira circuit a couple of weeks ago. The nice folk from
DaimlerChrysler had set up an obstacle course around the circuit. It
included a slalom test through the witches hats, a braking test, the
“moose” test (high speed avoidance) and an acceleration test. Mind you,
I don’t think the nice people from DaimlerChrysler envisaged that one
tester might just drive their nice motor car quite so hard!
The Benz was very agile through the witches hats slalom
and did everything it was supposed to in the braking department with the
on-board ABS, while reducing the amount of horrible vibration and grating
you are used to getting with ABS up till now. The advantage of ABS, of
course, is not just the braking, it is in the fact that it allows you to
steer your way out of trouble while still standing on the picks. This was
also well demonstrated by the DaimlerChrysler people with a high speed
retardation and avoidance display on a soapy track.
 Benz
C 240
However, the most impressive feature of the new C 240,
for me, was the high speed “swerve-ability” to coin a word. The car
could be nailed through both the tight esses on the back of the circuit with
very little body roll and a feeling of complete stability. The ability to
steer and brake your way out of trouble is what I mean by Primary Safety and
the new Benz has it in bucketloads.
The Illman Hump
Remember the Hillman Imps? Those dreadful little rear
engine devices with the positive camber front wheels from the Rootes Group.
Talking with the Bira Circuit people about test cars that have bounced off
the walls reminded me about the sad tale of the very first Imp to come to
Oz.
All the motoring journo’s of the day were invited to
the (long since defunct) Lowood circuit to sample the new wonder car, the
only one in Australia at that time.
The first lucky motor noter took off and disappeared over
the crest and down to the first hairpin. It was expected that a lap of the
ex-airfield circuit would be around 3 minutes and when it got out to 5
minutes the Hillman people began to get fidgety. At 10 minutes and still no
Imp on the horizon they leaped into a car and charged off, to return up the
circuit to get the transporter.
About half an hour later the truck re-appeared with a
tarpaulin draped mass on the tray along with several tight-lipped Hillman
representatives. The lunch was a hushed disaster with journo’s muttering
sotto voce and trying not to laugh when it became apparent that the first
guy had managed to trip the Imp on the very first corner of the circuit.
I never really had much more to do with Hillman Imps after that, other
than to watch a motor racing mate who stuffed a 302 Ford V8 in the bum of
one. A definite improvement, other than the fact it went like a bullet but
cornered the same way!
 Down
The Iron Road:
Steam Locomotives around Pattaya
by John D. Blyth
Yes! Pattaya has a railway, and a station - did you know?
If you came down from Bangkok on the bus following the old route through
Chonburi and Sriracha, you could see the railway on the left just as you
enter Sriracha. You don’t see it again, but it is not far away from
Sukhumvit Highway, near the turn off to Siam Country Club.
1
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It is quite a new railway, intended to serve commercial
ports at Sattahip and Laem Chabang. It was opened about 1984 and is a branch
line from the main Eastern line of the State Railway of Thailand, the
junction being at Chacoengsao. It is possibly the best section of railway in
Thailand as it is newer than most of the lines and was built to carry heavy
loads to and from the ports.
Sattahip has not produced much traffic for rail, although
I believe a train of oil tank wagons did run each night for a time. The new
and growing port of Laem Chabang has quite a lot of rail traffic, both
inward and outward and much of this is in international containers; there is
also a major oil depot near the junction of the railway port. Laem Chabang
Port also has a passenger station, but although the famous ‘Q.E.2’ has
docked there at least once, it is not known that a train of passengers has
ever used the port station.
On the line between Bangkok, Chachoengsao and Pattaya
(and to Ban Plutaluang to the south) a daily passenger train runs. At the
time of my arrival to live here, there were two, but a letter to a national
daily paper suggesting that this was not enough for a growing area was
greeted by the State Railway with a move to reduce it to one!
No movements of steam trains on our lines are known,
until late in 1999, when two of the steam locomotives preserved in working
order by the State Railway were seen on a filming assignment at Sattahip.
The locomotives concerned were two of those brought into Thailand by the
war-time occupying Japanese forces, to work mainly on their own railway
built to provide a rail link between Thailand and Burma. They are of the
Japanese Class C.56; 55 of them were brought into Thailand and of these,
four were destroyed and another five were on the Burmese side of the Three
Pagodas Pass when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which
brought the Far East war to an end. They are on record as remaining in
Burma.
I have no record of any other steam locomotives visiting
the Sattahip line, although this has been planned on a number of occasions.
However, if you don’t happen to have spotted them there are five
locomotives which have been preserved locally, which are not too difficult
to find.
Three of these are in the grounds of Siam Country Club,
to which access is along a road off Sukhumvit Highway, not far from the
intersection with Pattaya Central Road.
Photo 1: You will meet first a small locomotive at a road
junction; it is No. 3 of the former Thachin Railway, built in Munich by the
Krauss Company at their Sendling works in 1905. The railway was built from
Bangkok Noi to the Banks of the Thachin River. The Bangkok terminus for a
long time was on the river at Klong Sarn but is now at Wong Wien Yai. Later,
a further section of railway was built from the opposite side of the Thachin
River, down to the Maekhong River; although the two sections soon came under
one management and under control of the State Railway in the 1950s, the
Thachin River still awaits a bridge.
Photo 2: From here take the left fork of the road and you
will soon come to the other two locomotives; on the left is a big express
passenger machine from the State Railway; built in 1929 by ‘Hanomag’,
the famous Hanover based German locomotive builder, it is a little unusual
for Thailand in having three cylinders in place of the more common two. When
first seen in 1991 it was in dreadful condition, but some work was done
later in patching the rusty areas and covering of all with paint (of the
wrong colour). It stands with three nicely restored third class passenger
coaches, in the old red and cream colours.
Photo 3: Across the road is a tiny engine, built in 1915
for the Borneo Company by Kerr, Stuart & Co., of Stoke-on-Trent,
England. It later went to Srimaharacha Timber Co., which operated out of
Sriracha for about 60 years, shipping timber from a jetty that is still part
of the Sriracha coastal scene. The nasty yellow colour it carried when last
seen was not from the timber company who appear to have used a uniform grey
paint.
Photo 4: The timber company is worth a short article of
its own, but I will just mention that one of their locomotives is on show in
a small park in central Sriracha; as you go into town and approach the
centre, there is a fairly big road diverging on the left-hand side; not far
down, the park is on the right-hand side, but you can’t see the locomotive
until you go inside! It is a six-wheeled tank locomotive built in 1952 by
Henschel Company of Kassel, Germany and is in fair condition.
Photo 5: Finally, some distance in the opposite direction, about 6 km
along Jomtien Beach Road you will come to a resort named ‘Jomtien
Chalet’. Prominent in the area is a locomotive, again by the Henschel firm
in 1952, the very last steam locomotive built for a public railway in
Thailand. Two of these were delivered to the Maeklong Railway and this is
the second and last. By Maeklong standards, it is huge; but by any others,
it is tiny! When seen about 1991 it was in fair condition, but a photograph
a few years ago in ‘Pattaya Mail’ suggested that like so many historic
relics, it has been left to rot.
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Coins of the Realm:
Unrecorded medal
by Jan Olav
Amalid,
President House of the Golden Coin
During my more than 25 years as a coin dealer and more
than 30 as a collector it is not often I come across unrecorded numismatics
like coins, medals, tokens or paper money.
Some years back I received an auction catalogue from the
coin department of a Swiss bank. In about two weeks they were to auction off
a small collection, about 20 pieces, of Thai coins and medals. Most of the
coins were from King Mongkut (Rama IV), 1851-1868, and King Chulalongkorn (Rama
V), 1868-1910.
After a quick look at the auction-catalogue, I knew where
I would be in about two weeks. The ticket for Switzerland was booked. The
coins and medals had to be looked up in books and catalogues.
One of the objects to be auctioned off was a medal from
King Chulalongkorn struck in 1870. It is considered the first non-monetary
medal of Thailand. The medal was struck on the occasion of the Kings 17th
birthday. It was also given as an award to the winners of the contest then
held to design illuminations for the Grand Palace and other Royal
Residences. The competition was open for all Thais and for the first time,
to foreigners. The medal was awarded to the first, second and third winners.
In the book “Medals of the Rattanakosin Era
AD1782-1982” published by The Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance,
the medal was recorded only in Gold-plated silver, silver and bronze.
According to the Swiss auction catalogue this medal was struck in gold. I
contacted museum people, dealer and collectors. No one had seen or heard of
this medal in gold. I was hoping no other collectors of Thai material knew
of the Swiss auction.
 Medal
Commemorating King Chulalongkorns’s 17th Birthday. On the obverse The
Coronet on a golden tray flanked by Royal umbrellas with the CS date, 1232,
on a ribbon below. On the reverse is the King’s monogram.
After arriving in Switzerland the day before the auction
I examined the medal carefully: yes the medal was really in gold. If I could
buy the medal for the minimum price of about 5,000 Swiss Francs it would be
a bargain. The night before the auction I did not sleep very well, and
decided I would even pay six times the minimum price, and still the price
would be good.
The next morning I entered the auction room. I was not the only one that
new of the medal and the collection of Thai coins. Some of the Thai dealers
were present and even a few Thai collectors had made the trip to
Switzerland. From this moment I knew there would be no bargains, just one
expensive experience. We all wanted to bring something back, and the prices
went higher than what a dealer might ask. The unique medal becomes the most
expensive Thai medal. I had to pay close to two million baht for it. This is
what sometimes happens in auctions, but what is the price of something
unique?
Copyright 1999 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Updated by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek, assisted by
Boonsiri Suansuk. |
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