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Lions Club proposes
building clock tower
Lions Club members and Mayor Niran look over the
plans.
Narisa Nitikarn
The Lions Club is proposing the construction of a clock tower that would be
a new Pattaya landmark.
Lions International District 310C, led by Banjong Bantoonprayok, president
of District 7 310-C, Jaran Kanokganchana, president of the Lions Club of
Pattaya and Naris Petcharat, former president of District 310-C, met with
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn on February 21 to propose that a clock tower
be built at Laan Phote Naklua.
Banjong said that the project is in the submission stage and a suitable
location at Laan Phote Naklua is still being sought.
 The
Lions Club is proposing the construction of a clock tower in Naklua.
A design for the structure has been drawn up by an architect from the
Pattaya Public Works High Rise Building Control Department, who said the
base would be 1.5 meters high and square in shape. The clock, which would be
1.5 meters in diameter and driven electronically, would have four faces at a
height of 12 meters from the base.
Naris said that after the Lions have built the clock tower it would be
handed over to Pattaya District Office. He said that the Lions would like
city hall to provide part of the budget because presently the Lions have
only approximately 700,000 baht, not enough for the project, which has been
costed at 970,000 baht.
The mayor expressed interest in participating in the construction of the
clock tower but said that more cost details would have to be provided.
Great Expectations
(L to R) Ranjith Chandrasiri,
Deputy General Manager, Royal Cliff Beach Resort and President of the Royal
Cliff Wine Club, Mr. Thierry de Tourneil, General Manager, Baron Philippe de
Rothschild, Panga Vathanakul, Managing Director, Royal Cliff Beach Resort and
Lt. Chawalit Techapaibul, Executive Chairman, Ambrose Wine Limited sample the
wine at the Mouton Rothschild Wine Gala Dinner.
Dr. Iain Corness
The Royal Cliff Wine Club, under the captaincy of the highly accredited wine
judge Ranjith Chandrasiri, has been one of the success stories of Pattaya. Now
with over 500 members, each successive wine dinner is sold out earlier and
earlier. Such was the situation with the Mouton Rothschild Wine Gala Dinner,
which was fully booked within three hours after notification of the event!
 Ranjith
Chandrasiri
One of the reasons for this is the mystique that goes with the ‘brand’, and I
use that word advisedly, rather than ‘vineyard’. On hand to discuss and
elaborate upon his company’s wines was Thierry de Tourniel, the general manager
for the Asia/Pacific region for the Baron Philippe de Rothschild label, who was
more of a flag carrier than a bureaucrat, unfailingly visiting each table in the
Royal Cliff Beach Resort Grill Room restaurant, which was filled to capacity.
Also on hand was Walter Thenisch, the amazing executive chef for the Royal Cliff
who never fails to rise to any occasion with his choices of courses (and there
were seven for this dinner), including a wonderful Yellow fin tuna tartar with
Dijon mustard and crème fraiche in the early part of the evening and a double
cream Camembert laced with truffle oil and bouquet of salad towards the end.
 Thierry
de Tourniel
It was also an interesting sociological exercise, in that the Wine Club members
are becoming very well experienced these days, having experienced numerous
different wines and labels over the past few years, so the members have become
not only sophisticated, but have also developed some critical palates. And not
afraid to discuss their likes and dislikes. In wine terms, this is important, as
no wine has a universal appeal.
The members also had the opportunity to experience seven different Baron
Philippe de Rothschild wines, including one from the Domaine de Baron’Arques, a
vineyard purchased by the Baroness Philippine de Rothschild and her two sons in
1998. An old wine-making property, dating back to the XVIIth century. With these
wines, one was getting history as well as taste.
With the Chateau Mouton Rothschild wines, one was also drinking from bottles
whose labels had been created by famous artists - 2001 vintage by the American
artist Robert Wilson (1941), 1998 by Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) and the 1995 by
Antoni Tapies (Barcelona 1923). One should not just think of the centuries of
wine-making tradition with these Rothschild wines, there was also the evidence
of very clever wine-marketing.
Another factor in the desirability index for these wines is rarity. The ‘better’
wines having a total production of generally less than 300,000 bottles. As the
vineyard says, “A few acres for producing wine and a whole world to sell it in.”
Illustrating this quite emphatically was the fact that none of the wines sampled
that evening were available for sale to the members. Exclusivity is, however,
marketable!
The members also experienced many different wines, ranging from one end of the
price spectrum to the other. Some that would retail in Thailand under B. 2000
per bottle (the Mouton Cadets Blanc and Rouge) to others that would have a price
tag (if you could ever find one) at over B. 70,000 after imposition of Thai
taxes (Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1995).
The Mouton Rothschild Wine Gala Dinner also highlighted the fact that price
alone is not the arbiter of personal satisfaction. One should go by one’s own
taste buds, and this dinner gave the members the chance of experiencing some of
the accepted ‘great’ wines, to assist in educating one’s own palate. It was not
a guarantee that everyone would like all of them. A rapid tour of the tables
indicated that for most members, the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2001 was the
favored vintage, ahead of the more expensive 1998 or the very much more
expensive 1995 vintage.
This Wine Club event was approached by everyone with great expectations. For
some this was met, for some this was not, but for everyone this was an evening’s
experience they will probably never get again. Many thanks to the Royal Cliff
Beach Resort and Ambrose Wines, sponsors of the spectacular Mouton Rothschild
Wine Gala Dinner.
Russian TRIZ concept
spreads to Thai industry
Vimolrat Singnikorn
TRIZ, an approach to industrial development and problem solving that was
developed by a Russian scientist and is now used by some of the world’s
biggest industrial concerns, was the subject of a seminar staged on March 2
by the Technological Promotion Association (Thai-Japan) in cooperation with
CMP Media (Thailand) Co Ltd, held at Amata Nakhorn Industrial Estate.
 Narong
Warongkriangkrai, director of the Thai-German Institute.
Narong Warongkriangkrai, director of the Thai-German Institute, presided
over the event, whose key speaker was Assistant Prof Traisit Benjabunyasit,
of the Technological Promotion Association (Thai-Japan).
“At present there are many new competing businesses, and businessmen need to
regularly and continually create new innovations to survive and adjust the
product system to the trend, mostly in response to customers demands,” said
Narong. “To reach their business goals they must have a model for progress.”
Assist Prof Traisit said that TRIZ is from the Russian language, where it is
used as an acronym for a theory of inventive problem solving developed by
Russian scientist Genrich Altshuller in 1946.
 Assistant
Prof Traisit Benjabunyasit, of the Technological Promotion Association
(Thai-Japan).
“TRIZ propagated from Russia to Europe and America, and many large companies
use this methodology such as GM, Ford, Boeing, HP, Motorola, and Philips,”
said Traisit. Japan brought TRIZ into the country in 1997, but the first
TRIZ symposium in Japan was held only in September 2005. In Korea, Samsung
hired a TRIZ expert from Russia in 2000.
TRIZ has started to become well known in Thailand, being taught by several
education institutes, and Traisit said that interest here will grow because
competing businesses need more creativity to survive in world business, and
TRIZ can help them do that.
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