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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Stammtisch visits Regulars’ table at the Moon River Pub

UK Club has new chairman and committee

Shooters celebrates grand opening

Kohinoor Restaurant celebrates 11 years of serving fine Indian cuisine

Bangkok to get robots to check electricity lines

Bar a Go-go

Stammtisch visits Regulars’ table at the Moon River Pub

Peter Nordhues

The regulars’ table of the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce met May 14 at the Moon River Pub for a convivial get-together.

Although the weather was very bad and there was a fierce storm in the afternoon, many members made their way from Bangkok to Pattaya. Among them were the trainees of the German Embassy and of the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Unfortunately the chairman of the chamber, Dr Paul Strunk, had to cancel his appointment.

Danilo Bไcker, Janine Tilmans, Ren้ Pisters and Monika Rottman enjoy a nice evening.

Eupaporn Seniwong Na Ayuthaya, project manager of the chamber, welcomed the guests warmly and wished everybody a nice evening. Guests from Bangkok and the attending businesspeople from Pattaya and its environs were compensated for the bad weather by a large buffet, followed by the Moon River Pub’s in-house band “Power Jam” who entertained the guests. The rest of the evening remained very homely, as people exchanged news and renewed old bonds.

The German-Thai Chamber of Commerce takes care of more than 500 members in Thailand. Besides leading German companies, also many Thai companies which do business in Germany are represented.

For more information, contact the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce, G.P.O. Box 1728, Bangkok 10501, Thailand or visit the website http://www.gtcc.org

The chamber’s next regulars’ table takes place July 9 at 7 p.m. in the Moon River Pub on North Pattaya Road. Members and friends are welcome.


UK Club has new chairman and committee

On the May 18, Ron Hall passed the chairmanship of the UK Club over to Wendy Khan and a revised committee was elected.

Wendy Khan was born in Portsmouth to Naval parents and spent her formative years in Malta (which is why she likes the heat so much). She trained as a secretary, and prior to coming to Thailand, was the administrator for the Girls’ Schools Association.

Members of the committee are as follows (from left to right): Becky Neil (membership secretary), Wendy Khan (chairman), Andrew Hutchings (publicity, public relations and information officer), Yuwadee Hall (Thai advisor and co-ordinator), Ron Hall (treasurer), Kevin Fisher (events co-ordinator), Eileen Denning (secretary), John Khan (events sub-committee chairman), and Norman Denning (events co-ordinator).

She enjoys playing golf as often as possible on the lovely courses around Pattaya. While in England, Wendy was an active member of the local BSAC Diving Club, she qualified as an advanced diver and was also appointed diving officer of the club.

Wendy has two children and four grandchildren. Her son, who has lived in Bangkok for fifteen years and is to blame for Wendy’s presence in Thailand, has a Thai wife and a small son and daughter. Her daughter, who lives in Germany, also has a son and daughter.


Shooters celebrates grand opening

Longtime Pattaya expats, tourists, and buffalo-wing-loving U.S. Marines packed Shooters, Walking Street’s newest bar at the corner of Soi 15 on May 8 for its grand opening party.

Shooters isn’t another go-go bar, although some of its beautiful hostesses, as well as customers, were dancing on the tabletops before the night was over.

Those are definitely not buffalos under the wings of Shooters owner, Alan Verstein.

Big-screen music videos and 50 signature shooter drinks kept the party going strong. But the biggest draw (ask the Marines) may be Asia’s best Buffalo wings. For those who are unfamiliar with America’s second-greatest contribution to the culinary world after the hamburger, Buffalo wings are spicy chicken wings named after the city they originated in, Buffalo, New York.

While the combination of beer, Buffalo wings, and beautiful waitresses is hardly original, Shooters has some major advantages over its similarly named rival, Hooters, in America. This being Thailand, Shooters’ wings are hotter, spicier and more appealing than anything you’ll find at Hooters (and that goes for the waitresses too).

And best of all, Shooters’ wings are free to all customers for a limited time.

Shooters is owned by Pattaya real estate developer, Alan Verstein, and Eric Nernberg, a restaurant owner from Pittsburgh, PA, USA.


Kohinoor Restaurant celebrates 11 years of serving fine Indian cuisine

Ravinder Kumar Kalothara (Ravi) , a veteran in the Indian restaurant business, invited members of the local community to celebrate Kohinoor Restaurant’s 12th year of business in Pattaya. Ravi is well known amongst the Indian and expat community as one of the finest Indian chefs on the Eastern Seaboard.

A large group of distinguished gentlemen helped Ravi Kumar (4th from right back row) celebrate the 12th anniversary of his Kohinoor Restaurant.

So successful has he been in the culinary field, that Ravi, who started out by working as a cook in Indian restaurants here in Pattaya, ended up at the Kohinoor and through his diligence and hark work, finally made an offer to the proprietors they couldn’t refuse. He wanted to buy and operate the restaurant himself. That he did, and he has become a very successful restaurateur in his own right.

Ravi is also the owner of Ravi Store in Soi 17, next to the Sikh Temple, which Indian residents refer to as the ‘Ration Store’. Practically everything that you need in an Indian kitchen is available, not to mention Indian snacks and sweets, all the way to Indian music and movie CDs.

At the celebrations last Wednesday May 26, Ravi decided to have a bonus party for the Sikh community as well, to celebrate the appointment of India’s first Sikh prime minister, Sardar Manmohan Singh. Amrik Singh Kalra, head of the Indian community in Pattaya, thanked Ravi for his kind hospitality and wished him many more years of success and prosperity in his restaurant business.

Kohinoor Indian restaurant is located on Pratamnak Road opposite the Camelot Hotel in South Pattaya.


Bangkok to get robots to check electricity lines

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) will acquire specially made robots to carry out one of its most dangerous tasks - the checking of overhead electricity cables.

The robots are being built by researchers from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, led by Dr, Chit Laowattana, head of the university’s Field Robotic Development Operations Center (FIBO). It is hoped that the robots will eventually replace human labor in the inspection of electricity cables across the country.

The robots will run rapidly along the cable to measure the electron charge, and will report on points which are suspected of deterioration or damage. Dr. Chit said that he expected a prototype robot to be built within the next eight months.

FIBO’s operations focus on the development of robots for work that is heavy or dangerous, as well as robots designed to increase production capacity. The center has previously developed robots designed to pick up hot steel in the steel production industry, as well as robots to pick up rubber from conveyor belts. The latter cost just 4 million baht each to produce, compared to 15 million baht for similar robots purchased from abroad.

Dr. Chit denied that the development of robots would put workers out of employment, saying that the use of robots would merely free up worker time for other activities. The world robot population is currently estimated to stand at around 50 million, of which 22 million are based in Japan. (TNA)


Bar a Go-go

Bar F. Ly

Pattaya certainly has no shortage of venues where you can kill off a few billion brain cells in the quest for libation. While you’re procrastinating where to go, you might just run across, or be run over, by Mr. Cocktails.

The man behind Mr. Cocktails, Surat, is a former hotel employee and restaurant captain who decided after a dozen years of service that the political garble that comes with working in such a place was too much and decided to go at it on his own.

Surat, aka Mr. Cocktails, prepares for another round.

“I’d rather be my own boss,” says Surat while mixing another cocktail for his waiting customers.

Surat said he came up with the idea and approached the Banglamung Excise Department, which controls liquor licensing in the district.

“They said I could do it so long as I stuck to a certain area. I didn’t have much cash to invest so I had the frame built and attached to my bike,” adds Surat, who also said he’s been in operation for around 6 weeks.

“During the daytime I sell traditional Thai coffee, go home at around 3 p.m. to spend time with my family before getting ready to go out again at 8 p.m.,” he said.

Surat cases the streets from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. sticking to the areas of Soi 6 and Soi Post Office before completing his nightly rounds near the New Palladium Disco in North Pattaya. All his cocktails are 59 baht and Surat says that he already has a number of regular customers, including bar owners fascinated with his idea and cheap prices.

“The girls and even the bar owners come out and buy from me because my prices are not expensive. If I don’t know the bar I don’t park in front. I don’t want to upset anyone,” says Surat.

On the night that I found him on Soi 6 Surat had three tourists in tow who bought more than a few cocktails, dancing to the music blaring away from the mobile bar’s stereo system.

Not new in Thailand, but certainly a novel idea for Pattaya, and Mr. Cocktails is enjoying what he does, so remember if you see him on the street remember to pick up a drink. I’m off for another one.