- HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:
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The Riviera comes to Pattaya
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AustCham on course for the next 25 years
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Numerology and the number 9
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Battling the Crab
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The B.T. Insurance Bike Ride for the Jesters Charity Drive
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The Riviera comes to Pattaya
The glamorous world of the French Riviera is one of sun,
sand, fun, water sports, beautiful women, expensive sea craft and discos.
With the commissioning of “Hollywood at Sea”, our own disco afloat,
Pattaya can now say that it has everything the Riviera has - and even
more.
 The
gals and guys keep up the throbbing disco beat, changing costumes as the
bands change lead singers. If you like the disco beat, this is the venue
for you.
The “Hollywood at Sea” is an extension of the
concept of the original Hollywood Disco, a venue where countless thousands
of visitors and locals have been dancing their shoes off for a few years.
Hollywood was famous for its slick dancing displays, the rotation of bands
and amazing light shows. That model and the technology has now been taken
on board ship, with “Hollywood at Sea” being a compact and more modern
version of the original Hollywood Disco on land.
At the shipboard venue, the hatcheck girls are waiting
for you as you come off the speedboat and enter the floating disco. On
embarkation level there is a relaxed restaurant with a comprehensive Thai
menu ranging from khao tom favourites at 60 baht or stir-fries at 90 baht.
Cocktails and beers are also available.
 The
hatcheck girls are waiting for you as you come off the speedboat and enter
the floating disco.
Progress up the internal stairways to the top deck, the
action level with a stage at one end and the rest of the deck being
tables, chairs and disco dancing space. This is where the multimillion
Baht sound and light shows are run in conjunction with the extreme dancers
who turn a band into frenetic entertainment. The gals and guys keep up the
throbbing disco beat, changing costumes as the bands change lead singers.
If you like the disco beat, this is the venue for you.\
 “Hollywood
at Sea”, Pattaya’s own disco afloat, is helping promote Pattaya as a
fun and action packed tropical resort with something for all tourists.
As a new attraction for Pattaya, and incidentally this
is the only floating disco in Thailand, “Hollywood at Sea” is helping
promote Pattaya as a fun and action packed tropical resort with something
for all tourists. The energetic dancers in particular!
AustCham on course for the next 25 years
Eastern Seaboard Sundowner coincides with Pattaya Mail’s Ninth Anniversary
story and photos by Peter Cummins
The July Sundowner at the Third Floor of the Australian
Embassy Bangkok, held early July, was just one week after the splendid
Australian-Thai Business Awards Dinner, organized in conjunction with
AustCham’s celebration of a quarter of a century of ‘vigorous’ economic
promotion in the Kingdom and in Australia, of two-way Australian-Thai trade
links, recently reinforced by the signing of a bilateral trade agreement between
the two countries.
 AustCham
President Mark Driscoll thanks the sponsors.
Of course, this event was superbly covered by the Pattaya
Mail special correspondent (Vol. X, #27, 05/07/2002) and serves as an
introduction to the next Seaboard Sundowner, to be held today, Friday, 19/07,
the same auspicious day as the Ninth Anniversary edition of the Pattaya Mail.
Over the years, the Mail has long been a corporate member of
the Australian-Thai Chamber, as well as of many others - specifically the
German-Thai and the British-Thai - and has long contributed to the projects and
developments of the Chamber, especially along the Eastern Seaboard.
Superstars Pichai Chuensuksawasdi, Bangkok Post
editor-in-chief, and John Hancock, Chamber founding member were both in rare
form, bringing the capacity attendance at the Grand Hyatt Erawan through 25
years of history, humour, hiatus, hilarity and heartache.
Thus, the July Sundowner was a follow-on to the memories
sparked by these two. Sponsored by long-time loyal Chamber supporter, the
Sukhothai Hotel, with splendid victuals - tables loaded with delicacies - and
Qantas/British Airways as corporate sponsor, the evening was the usual success,
with nobody heading out into the night until the lights were almost out. At
least the torrential rain had stopped pouring outside, while the never-ending
supply of the usual beverages flowed copiously inside.
 Qantas/British
Airways staff ‘flying high”.
A feature of the Qantas/British Airways promotion was a new
‘Business Class’ upgrade to ‘First Class’ for certain dates and under
certain conditions. The obliging staff even handed out ‘classy’ pens to
allow one to note the dates and other facts, for having an “in-flight bed”.
Once again, thanks to our sponsors who keep the AustCham
Sundowners the “best show in town”. Speaking of which, there will be another
of the ever-popular “Eastern Seaboard Sundowner” on Friday, 19 July, at the
spectacular Garden Beach Resort.
The last one held at the resort in North Pattaya (actually
almost in Wongamat), last year, was superb, with the air-conditioning full on -
like a great southeasterly blowing in from the sea.
Corporate sponsors will be Rod Skinner’s Sriracha-based
Transit Maintenance Limited, now celebrating their fifth year on the Eastern
Seaboard (six in the Kingdom).
Publisher
Colin Hastings (“Big Chilli” et. al.) joins some of the beauties.
The Saturday, as usual, will consist of an English-teaching
venture to the AustCham-supported Ban Khao Huai Mahad School, from 10 a.m. until
noon. All volunteers are welcome and should contact the staff at the Chamber for
the various arrangements, transport to the school at Rayong, etc.
The Garden Beach will offer special rates for
“out-of-towners” who wish to stay over for Friday night.
So, come and enjoy the start of the Pattaya Mail’s Tenth
year of publishing, the Australian-Thai Chamber’s start of its 26th year of
progress and, well, just come to the Garden Beach to enjoy the “Pa-Ta-Ya”
(Sanskrit for Pattaya, meaning the South West wind!)
A full range of Aussie wines will be flowing, too! See you
there - or, in our case, here!
Numerology and the number 9
Happy 9th Anniversary Pattaya Mail!
Anchalee Kaewmanee
The concept of numerology is shared with many cultures and is
based on mystical traditions. The common premise is that certain numbers are
associated with different characteristics and powers.
 In numerology the number 9 is associated with the planet
Uranus. In astrology Uranus has to do with sudden changes and freedom. Often
those freedoms are forced onto us by unexpected change of events.
Numerology is a method used for character reading and
prediction much in the same way cultures around the world utilize astrology.
Many people consult numerology when building homes, offices or starting
businesses. Milestones in life such as weddings, journeys, the birth of a child,
or the choice of a profession can be analyzed by adroit numerologists. For
example, the date, time and hour of birth will provide a numerologist the
information he or she needs to consult charts that arrive at what is called the
individual’s “life path number”.
The number 9 is linked as tightly to the future as it is with
the past for it is a number which corresponds to a search for the truth. This
number represents logic and reason and is associated with the sciences,
humanitarianism and social causes.
Since the planet Uranus represents distance, endeavors
affected by the number 9 usually have great vision and depth. Nine also
represents great distances and foreign travel. For example, if an individual’s
birth charts show a life path number of 9, he or she will enjoy music and art
and travel. However, these people will truly excel in professions such public
speaking, politics, community or diplomatic service, and professions which
involve traveling and exploration.
Planets Uranus and Jupiter have freedom in common. However,
Uranus rules the number 9 and this planet will rule great distance and foreign
travel. Nine represents life, liberty, justice and self-reliance. Nine
represents the ending or completion of something. Endings are often signals of
new beginnings. The number 9 symbolizes a force which reaches beyond normal
boundaries.
Pattaya
Mail Reaches Lucky Number 9!
Battling the Crab
Part 2 of a 6-part series about fighting cancer
The diagnosis
In many ways I was fortunate to have been in Thailand
when my ‘problem’ first started: the treatment available here is
world-class, and if like me you have to pay for the treatment yourself,
it’s much cheaper here than in Europe or USA.
I’m often asked how my case was first detected. Well,
the first symptoms were that my neck swelled up, and my face became red,
and I thought I had an allergy. But antihistamines had no effect. I also
was experiencing severe coughing fits - which typically resulted in my
waking up on the floor after fainting. Now it was starting to be
worrisome, so I took myself along to my trusted doctor at Pattaya
International Hospital, who ordered a series of tests - all of which
proved negative - and then a chest X-ray, which showed a fist-sized shadow
on my lung where at my annual check-up 5 months earlier there was nothing.
Initial diagnosis? Possible TB; possible cancer. Oh dear...
Next came a CAT-scan, scheduled for two days later.
We’ve all seen them on TV, but I’d never had one before. Fortunately
I’m not claustrophobic, but I can see why some people would be scared of
being rolled into what looks like an enormous washing machine just wide
enough to take an average width human ... and I’m slightly wider than
average.
There’s this ring thing just inside the opening,
which spins around, not too fast, and makes a whirring noise, but not too
loud, and nothing to be frightened about. Then they tell you to breathe in
and hold it - and then breathe out. One assumes they’re taking pictures
during this time.
The rather narrow ‘bed’ that you’re laying on can
move farther in or out of the machine, and the pictures they take are
actually like slices through your body. All very clever and hi-tech. You
don’t feel a thing, I assure you.
Is it cold, or hot, or stuffy? No. The room is
pleasantly air-conditioned, and for those whose blood freezes below 28ฐ
Celsius, they offer you a blanket.
Typically, however, they have to inject you with a
contrast dye to get clear definition on the pictures. So they do have to
put a needle in your hand or arm, but it’s quite a small one. When they
are actually injecting the dye you get a warm sensation, but that soon
passes, and is gone by the time the procedure is finished. Altogether it
took less time than I had imagined it would - only about half an hour.
Sadly, the results of my CAT-scan were not encouraging.
A mass was clearly evident, which was displacing both my heart and vena
cava (the large vessel that carries blood from the lungs to the heart),
and was tentatively diagnosed as either lymphoma (which nowadays can be
cured if caught early enough) or carcinoma (which is regarded as almost
incurable). Oh dear, again.
Next step was a biopsy to determine what the mass was,
and how best to deal with it. This had to be done in Bangkok, and involved
inserting an 8-inch long hollow needle through my back, through the lung,
and into the tumour, to extract some cells for examination in the forensic
laboratory. How did they know exactly where to put the needle? Well, this
time they had me lay flat on my tummy on the CAT-scan table, with my arms
clasped above my head, while they inserted the needle (under local
anaesthetic), then used the CAT-scan to see where it had been placed. If
it wasn’t exactly right, they’d pull out the needle, and push it back
in again. This they had to do six times before they were satisfied
they’d got it in the right place to suck out a few cells from the tumour.
The description sounds worse than the actual
experience, but nonetheless, was rather worse, I think, than those Indian
fakirs you see putting spikes through their backs and attaching carts to
them to pull along the street during Hindu festivals... I had to be in a
recovery room on oxygen for two hours to let the hole they’d made in my
lung seal up and for me to be able to walk out of there. Not my idea of a
Saturday afternoon’s fun.
The results of this biopsy would not be ready until the
Tuesday evening, three days later, so I had a rather nervous weekend,
trying to think positively and not worry too much.
On Tuesday afternoon I drove back again to Bumrungrad
Hospital to hear the news from the consultant, a highly respected
professor of thoracic medicine, who gave me the news straight, without
frills or sugar coatings. Although I had been warned that there was a 10%
chance of its being carcinoma (the worst case scenario), hearing the words
was nonetheless stunning.
After taking some time to get over the initial shock, I
questioned the doctor further, and he was generous with his responses.
He volunteered the information that I could get a
second opinion elsewhere, or return to UK - but that the treatment of this
particular cancer had progressed little in the past 20 years; only the
unpleasant side-effects of the chemotherapy had been lessened. And that
the accepted first-line treatment I would receive at Bumrungrad - a
combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy - was arguably as good
(and probably the same) as I would receive in either the UK or USA.
Had I had international healthcare insurance still
operative, I might have considered flying back to UK. Under the
circumstances of having let my local healthcare insurance lapse (for what
seemed sound and logical economic reasons at the time, but foolish in
hindsight), I was left with few realistic options.
Fortunately Bumrungrad Hospital has an excellent
international reputation, and is arguably among the best cancer treatment
centres in the world. (And much cheaper than a comparable hospital in USA
or UK, where, I have since learned, I might have had to wait for months
for a bed, and the treatment would have been no better or advanced than I
have received at Bumrungrad.)
I was advised that the best course of action would be
to act swiftly and vigorously against the cancer. This involved a) being
admitted immediately - that same night - to start radiation and
chemotherapy treatment the next morning; and b) giving up smoking (at that
time I was a 2-pack a day man).
I agreed to be admitted, and that night paced back and
forth like a caged tiger, considering the repercussions of this terrible
news. Less than two years to live ... and I was only 53. I also went out
on the hospital room balcony for frequent illicit puffs on the dreadful
weed that was probably the main cause of my dire predicament. I did,
however, promise myself to give up the habit the next morning, cold
turkey, a promise I have kept faithfully.
(Given the incentive and consequences of not doing so
made quitting much easier than I had thought it would be: back in the mid
80s when I was working in the Philippines I decided to quit smoking, and I
thought I had been succeeding very well until after 10 days my secretary
came to me with a petition signed by all the members of staff asking me
please to take up smoking again as I had become impossible to work with.
This time round, my staff have been a lot more tolerant and forbearing.)
(To be continued next week)
The B.T. Insurance Bike Ride for the Jesters Charity Drive
by Kim Fletcher
Yes folks it’s that time of year again, where a bunch
of natural athletes, and a huge mass of very unnatural athletes, lug out a
metal frame with wheels on it, brush off the rust and cobwebs, oil the
gears, pad up their rear end, and venture out onto the roads of
Pattaya’s fair city in preparation for the Annual Jesters Charity Bike
Ride on Sunday 15 th September.
For those of you that have not been fooled, misled,
tricked, beguiled or got duped into it whilst under the influence of
alcohol (this is my excuse as I certainly don’t remember volunteering),
let me explain the basic concept of this year’s little jaunt out on a
couple of thin wheels, powered by a chain and your own little legs.
There are two courses this year, both of which are, in
‘Harrier terms’, A to A, but seem uphill all the way. One of ten
kilometers and then the real thing, the fifty kilometers ride. This will
take you out from the Diana Driving Range along Beach Road, then out into
the country alongside Siam Country Club, round Maprachan Reservoir and
then back to the Diana Range. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Set out in a car
and see how long it takes you.
Kim,
shown here with the B.T. Insurance crew, has volunteered yet again to
pedal himself around town. Any takers?
As last year, Supaporn Sara of B.T. Insurance has
kindly come up with the where with all to sponsor the bike ride, so that
all the money that is raised by the bike riders goes straight to the kids.
Without B.T. Insurance there would be no bike ride, as nobody wants to
struggle their way round without a positive end result.
The entry fee for the ride is B.300 (men, women,
children, and pensioners all the same price. After all, it is for
charity). For this charitable donation you get a pat on the back at the
beginning from the organizing committee, seven strategically placed water
stops, manned by volunteers with ice-cold bottles of B.T. Insurance water.
These water stops are marshalled by those stalwarts of the Pattaya
community, Wayne (Blowfly) Ogonoski, Mark Gorda, Kurt Farnham, Wanchai,
Gerry Carpenter, John Kennedy and John Wilson, who have all become dab
hands at handing out frivolous free advice. Both routes are graphically
marked out, and there are sweepers for both routes, Jack Levy naturally
falling into that category. Jester Robert (Scar) Taylor will be leading
the Bike Ride off at the beginning on his Harley Davidson to ensure a
smooth start.
The Bike Ride is not a race, but the honour of
finishing is the prize. A commemorative plaque has the name of the rider
achieving the most sponsorship on it. Therefore, the person with the most
sponsorship gains Jesters Charity Drive immortality. Already up on the
Plaque are Erik Sorenson (2001), Kim Fletcher (2000), Paul Baker (1999)
and Darren Rose (1998). On completion of the ride everybody receives a
certificate with their name and time on it. This year upon entry, all
entrants will be given a special commemorative cycling shirt supplied by
Chris & Willie of Baltex. Now came on, how many of you have actually
ever owned a proper bicycling shirt before, and the boys from Baltex
assure me they make you go faster.
Helping out on registration will be Jester Wild Bill
Freeman, Malcolm Clare, and Mark Coombes of the Pattaya Panthers, Aom,
& Moo. This can either be done at Shenanigans, The Irish Pub, on
Saturday 14 th September
between 6.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m., or before the start of the ride at Diana
Driving Range between 6.30 a.m. – 7.30 a.m. Sponsorship forms are
available from Shenanigans, Tahitian Queen, Diana Driving Range and Diana
Inn, or can be downloaded from the website at www.care4kids.info
Please remember to bring along your sponsorship money
as well as your B. 300 when registering.
The route will be monitored by Pattaya’s Volunteer
Tourist Police to make sure of everyone’s safety.
So, in the next couple of months, if you see some poor
red faced, grey haired, pot bellied old fool peddling away at the side of
the road give him a wide berth, as it’s probably me practicing for the
big day.
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