Jumpin’ in Jomtien

The latest region to see an exponential growth rate is the once forgotten area called Jomtien. This village was, till very recently, a long strip of fairly forlorn shop houses facing the beach with several large condo blocks, an unoccupied and deserted tribute to the property “development” excesses of the late 1990’s.

However, the financial woes have left and investment is again on the rise. Jomtien seems to be getting more than just a small portion. In the past six months there has been ten new restaurants open their doors, twelve new bars surround themselves with balloons, three new guest houses and many small Thai enterprises and shops popping up where once there were closed roller doors with faded hand painted “Sale or Rent” notices.

There is even a new large condominium block being built and investors are prepared to buy “off the plan”, despite the silent blocks further down the beach strip.

Much improvements in the road works have been carried out, and even another Police Station half way down from the existing station at Dongtal.

No, while Pattaya has been attempting to sort out its traffic and drainage problems, Jomtien has forged ahead. With its cleaner beaches and now an improved tourist infra-structure, Jomtien might just make itself the Resort Town to which Pattaya once held undisputed title.

by Doctor Iain Corness

I believe in rituals. Especially in the mornings. Being a night person, mornings are not greeted with pleasure or alacrity, but can be muddled through by applying the age old principle of rote. Leaving one’s clothes in the same place for the morning dressing means that one can actually greet the new day wearing a semblance of correct clothing, but god help the person who shifts my toothbrush.

Feeding is an important part of the morning ritual, an accomplishment which is well beyond the somnambulistic capabilities of the pre-breakfasted night person. The answer lies in training someone else to do this for you. For me, it is the noodle shop lady down the road, who now automatically places a bowl of “kwiteo” in front of me and a Coke with straw beside me. This transaction requires no words. She understands. Noodle shop ladies are truly special people.

This morning, while staring out over the rim of my noodle soup and trying out the focus capabilities of my eyes I came across another ritual. Pulling up outside the shop was a decrepit, battered motorcycle with sidecar and a rider of the same genre. In a large black plastic bucket were squid. Shoals of them.

Several noodle shop ladies descended upon the squid seller. Squid were selected carefully after much detailed examination. Now, for me, all squids look the same (though they might say the same about us) and I am sure that Mother Squid cannot pick out her own squidlets in the shoals, but these squid were examined minutely. Considering that that each one would end up chopped into little coiled rubbery bits that live in the bottom of a bowl of Tom Yum Talay, this appeared to me to be somewhat of an overkill situation. But then, I have never been a noodle lady.

But the ritual was not yet over. Much bartering and haggling ensued until an amicable agreement had been reached and money changed hands. My noodle lady returned smiling. The bargain must have gone her way this morning. The ritual was complete.

By this time, the combination of Coke and “kwiteo” had begun its job of clearing the grey from the grey matter and I began to realise that what I had witnessed was not a “one off” situation, but was a ritual that has been played out since the days when King Taksin and his army of 1768 marched through en route to Ayutthaya. The ritual of the squid seller with the traders and housewives has been part of Pattaya for all that time.

With cognitive thought now becoming possible, it slowly dawned on me that even though we live in a tourist resort city with 5 star hotels, disco’s that seat (?) stand 6000 people and chauffeur-driven Benzes, if you open your eyes there is still much evidence of a simpler lifestyle around us. A lifestyle where the most stressful part of the day may be selecting the best squid. We should not forget this with our ceaseless quest for sophistication. Several generations of squid sellers cannot all be wrong!

Story and pictures
by Peter Cummins

What lesson does the America’s Cup have for Thailand? One is tempted to roll out the old David Vs Goliath analogy ... again, as ‘tiny’ New Zealand (population 3.8 million people, 42.5 million sheep) thrashed ‘big’ Italy (population 60 million people, very few sheep).

The interesting factor for Thailand is that the whole country of New Zealand was behind the America’s Cup defence, from the day the Kiwi’s thrashed the USA and brought the Cup home five years ago.

The Waikato University Management School, in an intensive survey conducted over two years to identify the world’s best 10 sporting organizations, named Team New Zealand as the top, singling out the management and approach to the America’s Cup as being a worthy blue-print for the success of any business venture.

Huge crowds await the return of the competitors at the Viaduct Basin

Thailand’s fractious and disorganized approach to sport - and to business in some cases - could well benefit from emulating New Zealand’s total dedication - and the resultant resounding success.

Pattaya Mail special correspondent Peter Cummins was sponsored by the New Zealand Tourism Board and Air New Zealand to go to Auckland to cover the America’s Cup action. As is now well known, Team New Zealand totally outclassed the Italian Prada syndicate, headed by Patrizio Bertelli.

Nevertheless, Prada, along with several Aussie syndicates, Japan, US and France are already looking to 2003, the thirty-first America’s Cup, with Prada the Challenger of Record.

Even old arch-foe Dennis Conner is looking for the action. The next time, however, he may be fighting for the defender’s berth: he was granted NZ residency during the Cup rounds and, it is rumoured, he may apply for citizenship.

Auckland - Tourism’s Best-Kept Secret

September 1953. I sailed into Auckland as an able seaman aboard the Australian Navy’s flagship, HMAS “Australia”. Sir Peter Blake was a tiny lad of four years of age; Russell Coutts and the rest of Team New Zealand were light years away from being conceived, even. The America’s Cup? Who had ever heard of it?

We had been at sea for some eight days and shore leave was being keenly anticipated. Until we reached Auckland, that was. Like sailors anywhere around the world, we stormed ashore and several hours later staggered back on board. Next day, with another leave, hardly any of us even bothered to go ashore. We had ‘done’ Auckland and its pub! We just stared over the rail at the flat, dreary shore-line and dilapidated Gary buildings lining the waterfront.

The Viaduct Basin from atop the 300 m Sky City Tower

February 2000. Wandering around among the highly-animated crowds at the waterfront’s newly-constructed Viaduct Basin and the splendid America’s Cup Village, one could only think: is this Monte Carlo, Rio de Janeiro, Cannes or even Santa Catalina, the playground of California’s rich and famous?

It is Auckland, New Zealand’s “City of Sails” which, up until the thirtieth America’s Cup rounds, must have been tourism’s best-kept secret destination - the Pacific’s own Riviera.

Seriously Rich

It was a scene of incredible affluence - or, to put that into “Kiwi-speak” - it is the domain of the “seriously rich”. The Superyacht Marina has berths for up to 90 yachts no smaller than 25 m. (80 ft.) in length. The world’s biggest sloop (single-masted yacht) was launched on 1 January 2000, built by the New Zealand yard Alloy Yachts. The maroon-hulled “Georgia” checks in at a mere 52 metres (160 ft.) with a gigantic 65 m. (200 ft.) mast towering over the waterfront. Alloy Yachts are, right now, building an even bigger craft - this time a 56 m. (175 ft.) ketch.

Loping along, camera at the ready, what did I see amongst all this magnificence? A navy blue sloop named “Philanderer.” Several years ago, the Finnish Nautor Swan Company established Concorde Yachts at the Ocean Marina, Jomtien. Their first product, the “Mirabella” was mooted at the launching (towed to the water by two elephants) as the “largest production yacht ever built.” She was around 26 metres (89 ft.), as I recall. About two years later, the “Philanderer” came out of the Concorde stable, only slightly smaller at 25 m. (85 ft.). Both these craft loomed immense against the Pattaya cityscape, on their ‘shake-down’ cruises. Now, berthed at the Superyacht Marina, “Philanderer” was dwarfed by the mega-yachts. I could only photograph a view of the transom.

The News

One of the few local news items that was not related to the America’s Cup was, in fact, about sheep. The newscaster solemnly declared that New Zealand’s sheep population, according to the latest census, had dwindled to a mere 42.5 million, down some four million since the previous census. Actually, he said, warming to his subject, a census of the sheep population takes many years, for the teams dispatched around the country counting sheep, inevitably fall asleep!

Rumbles In The Camp

There was never any question about the New Zealanders’ team spirit and cohesion and all was calm in the Kiwi camp. Such a strong team spirit, in fact, allowed for differences in the camp. Although they stood side-by-side during the victory parade, there were reports of tensions between Coutts and the syndicate head Sir Peter Blake.

During the finals, Blake received a visit from Francine Cousteau, widow of the late Jacques Cousteau. She came wearing a red cap, which had been the distinguishing head gear of Jacques, to meet the man who immortalised the red sox as New Zealand’s symbol of success and pride.

Thai-built “Philanderer” – lost among the mega-yachts

Francine sailed into Auckland on board Cousteau’s flagship, the “Arctic Explorer”, to pass the Cousteau mantle to Peter, whom she regards as “a courageous man; a man of ethics” capable of resurrecting Cousteau’s work to clean up the oceans and shores of the world.

No doubt, Coutts - and his tactician Brad Butterworth - were somewhat irked by what they considered Blake’s attention to his own agenda, taking more interest in the Cousteau projects than in the America’s Cup defence by Team New Zealand. “Defending the Cup is nothing compared to defending the environment,” said the man who is used to negotiating his way through the “Roaring Forties”.

During the course of five Whitbread - now Volvo - Round-the-World races which he finally won in 1990 and a record-breaking circumnavigation in 1994, with Robin Knox-Johnston, in just under 75 days, Blake was appalled at the accumulating garbage and the dwindling number of albatrosses encountered during successive crossings.

After these challenges and even facing the possibility of death in some of the wilder storms, Blake finds “sailing around a couple of buoys suffers somewhat by comparison.”

But the unified approach held and Blake still wears the symbol of pride which he created in 1995 - the lucky red socks - which have sold in millions of pairs. Maybe even the sheep wear them. The socks, in fact, are made in South Korea!

Next week: The Italians lost the starts but won the hearts.