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City unveils Pattaya monorail plan
Pramote Channgam
Pattaya City has unveiled an ambitious plan for the construction of
four-billion baht monorail public transport system in the city along the
same line as the BTS in Bangkok.
Thai Engineering Consultants Co. Ltd. (TEC) and MFC Asset Management Public
Co. Ltd. representatives presented details of their research and unveiled a
plan to Mayor Itthipol Khunplome and an advisory committee at a meeting at
city hall on October 1.
Pongsak Det-Udom, managing director of TEC, said that after research and a
survey of Pattaya city, the company opted to propose a monorail system
suitable for the city’s topography based on the high standards set by the
Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS).
They propose the transport system be constructed in three phases for a final
total distance of 27.1 kilometers.
Initially an 11-km.circuit with 9 stations will be built for 8 trains.
It will start from North Pattaya in front of city hall and travel to Pattaya
Beach Road, Bali Hai Pier, South Pattaya Flyover, Pattaya 3rd Road, Central
Pattaya, the junction of Pattaya 3rd Road and North Pattaya and back to the
front of city hall.
Apirati Chaiwat, financial engineering director of MFC Asset Management
Company proposed the formation of the Pattaya City Development Company, with
a shareholding of 99.9%, to construct and operate the system as the BTS was
established to be the operator.
The four billion baht funding target is divided into two parts: one billion
baht from Pattaya City income and the remaining from bonds, he proposed.
Mayor Itthipol said a world tourist destination such as Pattaya should have
a mass transportation system of international standard. But in reality there
are still many obstacles ahead, such as acquiring land, adjusting and moving
buildings and businesses to accommodate the rail line.
This information presented the initial stage of the project, which will be
explored further to the satisfaction of the public, he said.
The mayor also foreshadowed an “aerobus” link with Larn Island after the
completion of the “Pattaya BTS.”
Poodle thief returned to the wild
Patcharapol Panrak
Good neighbors in a village in Plutaluang had begun to suspect one another
when their well-bred puppies had been regularly disappearing into thin air.
 “I
can’t believe I ate the whole thing…” Residents gather to view the
gluttonous poodle thief caught red-handed - or rather, big bellied.
That was until a two-meter-long explanation flopped out for all the world to
see.
Pichit Kliekrutan at the radio center at the Sawangrojanthamasathan
Foundation in Sattahip received an alarmed call from a caller in the Navy
House Village in Plutaluang Sub-district on October 6 that a large python
was out in a village yard.
It had a lump in its stomach the size of a currently-missing poodle pup and
was so full from the meal that it couldn’t move.
The request was that the snake be immediately taken away to be released into
the wild to prevent it harming residents and dining on more prized pets.
Janjira Chamcheun, 24, who found the python, said it seemed to prefer good
breeds of puppies, especially poodles and foreign breeds, the regular
disappearance of which made villagers mistrust one another and disrupted
good friendships.
She suspected that there were more pythons around.
Caught full-bellied, the large and long poodle thief was taken by rescuers
to its new home on top of Laempujao Mountain.
Sattahip gives welfare
grants to elderly
Elderly residents in Sattahip
sign up for their free 1400 baht.
Patcharapol Panrak
Sattahip Sub-district gave 1400 baht of welfare payment to each of
the 611 needy elderly residents in its community.
Peng Buahom, deputy administrator of Sattahip Sub-district, chaired the
ceremony on October 2 to hand the money to the elderly people who registered
to receive their grants.
Akadech Nuchauy, deputy administrative assistant, who is in charge of
carrying on the project, said that the grants for the elderly were possible
because there is revenue available and precedence is given to older
residents who have no one else to care for them.
Peng Buahom, administrative assistant, said it is important to organize a
welfare service for impoverished elderly people who would also now receive
regular visits to their dwellings to ensure that they have all that they
need.
Mayor sees red after Belgian “sex city” report
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
A special report in a Belgian newspaper labeling Pattaya a “sex
city” has sent Pattaya City Hall into a spin.
The Flemish-language newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws”, with a circulation of
250,000, told its readers that Pattaya was a large sex capital abundant with
prostitutes who solicited sex for 250-1000 baht.
 Women
in some areas of the city have caught the eye of Belgian journalists.
The newspaper writers reportedly spent a week in Pattaya and wrote that the
number of prostitutes had doubled in the last five years so that now one in
three people in Pattaya is a sex worker.
Mayor Itthipol Khunplome called an urgent meeting of chiefs of government
organizations to discuss the Belgian report on October 2 at city hall.
The mayor told the meeting that Pattaya City can’t stay quiet about this
matter and will send a letter to explain this to the Thailand Tourism Bureau
in Paris to try to have the Belgian newspaper “change their information.”
He said that this newspaper article had damaged Pattaya’s image. The city
will need to spread positive information about tourism here internationally
everywhere including on the Web. An additional budget for 2008 will be used.
He said currently Pattaya City already faces a tourism problem due to the
fuel crisis and the political situation. This misunderstanding will add to
the problem if it affects tourism from the European market group, which is
the city’s main market.
It must be realized that this misleading image was in conflict with
Pattaya’s current policy to promote new tourist groups, emphasizing family
visitors as well.
Pattaya City is requesting cooperation from the Banglamung District, Pattaya
and Banglamung police stations to be more vigilant in checking licenses of
go-go bars and pubs to ensure that they are operating within the law.
This is to prevent a bad overall image of our tourism, the mayor said.
City helps fund new
hospital in Banglamung
(L to R) Thani Kerdbunsong
and Dr Prasit Jittiwattanapong receive the cheque from Deputy Mayor
Verawat Khaki, Mayor Itthipol Khunplome and Pisai Panomwan Na Ayutthaya,
advisor to the mayor.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Pattaya City has contributed a further 15 million baht towards the new
Banglamung Hospital now under construction to commemorate the 80th
birthday of His Majesty the King.
The amount will add to the total construction budget of 98 million baht
required to complete construction by the end of 2009 of the 7-storeyed
and 150-bed hospital to serve patients in Pattaya and Banglamung
communities.
Mayor Itthipol Khunplome gave a 15-million baht cheque to Dr Prasit
Jittiwattanapong, director of Banglamung Hospital, at a ceremony at
Pattaya City Hall on October 6.
On hand were also Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay and Thani Kerdbunsong, an
administrator from the hospital.
Itthipol said this payment was made possible by former mayor Niran
Wattanasartsathorn having provided a budget to support the construction
of this building and approved by the city council.
Dr Prasit reported that while 60% of the construction has been
completed, the Cabinet has granted an extension of 180 days for the
hospital to be ready to open by the end of next year.
The construction budget of 98 million baht came from both government and
private sectors. It consists of 15 million baht from Chonburi Provincial
Administration, 15 million baht from Pattaya City and 20 million baht
from Banglamung Hospital.
The current available budget is 72.1 million baht with 24.9 million baht
still to be raised.
Grand Loy Krathong fest ready to float
Vimolrat Singnikorn
A grand Loy Krathong festival is shaping up this year in Pattaya
and it is hoped that the festival would also give a needed lift to
tourism in the last quarter of the year.
Miss Noppamas beauty queen contests for both children and adults will
launch the festival with a glittering and eye-pleasing start on
Wednesday night, November 10 at Bali Hai Pier.
 Young
Miss Noppamas beauty queen contestants compete for top prize at last year’s
event.
The very young beauty queen contest is open to girls 7-10 years of age of
all nationalities with 30,000 baht in scholarships being offered as prizes.
Pattaya City is receiving sponsorship from the Suan Dusit Rajabhat
University’s Pattaya Center and the Taksin Pattaya Lions Club in the adult
beauty contest, which is open to women 18-24 years of age, offering 40,000
baht in prizes.
A variety of performances will be held on the stage such as the Alcazar
Performance and a Band of Teachers. As usual as bustling market will sell
all kinds of goods and food.
The emphasis this year is definitely on making the beautiful and intricate
krathongs (floats) themselves out of natural materials which, unlike plastic
and synthetic foam, can decompose in water or be naturally-composted as good
waste materials.
Anyone interested in participating in the beauty queen contest can apply at
the tourism department in the Pattaya City Administration Office on North
Pattaya Road, tel. 038-253128, fax 038-253129, or at the Suan Dusit Rajabhat
University’s Pattaya Center on Thepprasit Road, Nongprue, tel. 038-300898-9,
fax 038-300999, until November 9.
TAT says Russian tourists still love Thailand
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Thailand’s political instability has not affected the number of
visitors from Russia, according to the Thailand Tourism Authority (TAT).
 Niti
Kongkrut, TAT Region 3 director.
Speaking after organizing TAT and Pattaya-sponsored booth at the Leisure
2008 travel expo in Moscow on September 23-26, Niti Kongkrut, director of
TAT Region 3, which includes Pattaya, reported that Russian tourists were
still very satisfied with Pattaya as a “perfect tourist destination” with
its international-class hotels, spas and golf courses.
He said that while Thai street violence in the political arena caused
wholesale cancellations by Asian tourists, Russian travel agents told him
that only about 10% of their bookings to Thailand were cancelled.
He said, unlike Swedish visitors for example who choose quieter and more
serene holidays, Russians prefer places with a lot of amusement and
entertainment. They also love being able to “just travel around just wearing
thongs and shorts in weather, which is a big contrast to their cold
climate.”
So Phuket and Pattaya have been favored destinations. Russians are also
trying new places such as Koh Chang, usually staying there 2-3 days before
“ending up in Pattaya,” he said.
He said the annual leisure travel expos in Moscow have been very successful
venues to promote Thailand to Russian visitors, citing an increase of 84% of
incoming Russian tourists in 2007 as a result.
This year the TAT stand at the expo also had representation by 17 Thai
businesses exhibiting their products.
TAT’s work at the expo this year also focused on cooperating Russian travel
agencies and the tourism authority in Moscow on the May to September period
when normally Russian tourists don’t come to Pattaya.
“TAT in Moscow will seek to expand the market to Siberia where there are
rich tourists from the fuel industry,” Niti said.
He said that incoming tourism number targets have not been reached this year
because of the political upheavals so he urges tourism businesses to work
harder to boost business.
TAT itself had a new promotion campaign to restore and improve the level of
tourism from Asian countries.
Navy wives desert market to protest
Patcharapol Panrak
It was a sign of the times that Sattahip market was reported to be
“as quiet as a cemetery” because wives of navy men and even merchants from
the market had left to show solidarity with the People’s Alliance for
Democracy (PAD) at Government House.
Tension in the community rose again after the arrest of two leaders of PAD
on treason charges. The movement’s many supporters in the market place and
the streets and lanes around it have been mobilizing as words flow through
the well-used community conversation network.
 The
local PAD, including navy wives, makes their way to the demonstrations in
Bangkok.
Perhaps like elsewhere in Thai society, the political division has arrived
at the level of the family creating an unusual split in Sattahip where 80%
of the people either work for the Navy and the government or are families of
government workers.
In many cases then wives of naval men are disagreeing with their husbands
and have for the first time taken to the streets to vent their views. They
are not sure now where their husbands and the Navy itself stand in the
current protest against what is viewed by them as an unjust government.
As many naval wives join merchants calling themselves “Chinese for the
nation” in making their way to join the protests in Bangkok, they reportedly
go with the support of their government-worker husbands.
Many in the Navy resent the current government’s concession of land to
Cambodia in the Preah Vihear World Heritage border agreement, seeing it as
“losing land without putting up a fight for it.”
Hotels set for
international road shows
Members of the Thai Hotels
Association Eastern Chapter are prepared for going on the road next year.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The Thai Hotel Association’s Eastern Chapter has a 35-million baht
government marketing budget to launch a series of international promotional
road shows in 2009.
Association chairman Chatchawan Supachayanont told the association committee
meeting on October 3 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Pattaya that Pattaya City
and the Chonburi Administration had allocated a budget of 35 million baht
for marketing.
Some 14.5 million baht will be spent on road shows to Vietnam, scheduled
from January 5-12, Germany from March 11-15, Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates from May 5-9 and one in India.
Publicity funding will be also made through the Tourism Authority of
Thailand’s offices in Japan, Australia and Russia.
20.5-million baht has been allocated for domestic marketing through
magazines, TV, radio and internet, aimed at domestic tourism and the
campaign is getting underway, Chatchawan reported.
Biker held for
snatching gold chain
Theerarak Suthatiwong
A motorcyclist was arrested after he allegedly rode up to a woman and
snatched a gold chain from her neck in South Pattaya.
 As
the police look on, the victim makes a positive identification of the
perpetrator.
Victim Wimonwan Sombatkamrai, of Nongprue, told police that two men had
followed her on motorcycle and snatched her gold chain of 50-satang weight
when she stopped in front of a gasoline station early on October 3.
Traffic police later grabbed Sanchai Chatdon (“Yok”) from in front of S P
Mansion at the beginning of Soi Bongkot 3 in South Pattaya. Sanchai comes
from the Klongtoey area in Bangkok.
They are still looking for another man named “Bank”.
Police said they found the gold chain in Sanchai’s trousers pocket when he
was arrested. They said the man had been imprisoned three times for using ya
ba and was released from jail only a month ago.
They said he had committed other robberies before snatching the gold chain
to raise money to buy more ya ba.
Couple stabbed
over land dispute
Theerarak Suthatiwong
A Swiss man and his Thai wife were stabbed by an intruder in their
house in an apparent dispute over a land transaction.
Police said Peter Anton Schinder, 61, and his wife Bang-On, 54, were woken
early in the morning in their house at Huayyai on October 2 by a young man
who was stealing 18,000 baht in cash and a cell phone.
They said the three quarreled and man stabbed the couple before jumping out
of the window and escaped.
Bang-on told police that Jetsada Kulapong, 26, a next-door neighbor, was the
intruder who accused the Schinders of not having paid for a plot of land
that they had bought from his father. She said the angry man then stabbed
her husband and herself in the arm and hip. A neighbor brought the injured
couple to hospital.
Pol. Capt. Sarayut Sanguanpokai, Superintendent of Pattaya Police, led a
police team to arrest Jetsada at his friend’s house in Huayyai later that
afternoon, allegedly in possession of a 30 cm-long knife.
Jetsada has been charged with attempted murder.
Officer’s income plan
goes up in smoke
Patcharapol Panrak
The dream of a humble naval officer to save up to buy a mini van to
earn extra income transporting students went up in smoke in a spectacular
way when his van, newly-converted to liquid petroleum gas, exploded at his
house.
 A
brave neighbor tries to extinguish the blaze with his fire extinguisher.
Two fire engines rushed to the scene in Sattahip in the early morning of
October 5 and within 30 minutes succeeded in putting out the fire before the
recently-filled gas tank exploded or spread fire to a row of houses close
by.
But there was only the shell left of the green Toyota van, plus a
well-cooked mango tree under which it was parked.
Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Pratan Riang-ngern, 30, who works at the Royal
Thai Navy at the Air and Coastal Defense Center, said the van had been
working well in the four months since the new gas system was put in.
But he was woken up that morning by neighbors shouting.
Next-door neighbor Noklek Bankhoontod, 45, said she heard a powerful gas
leak from the front of the mini van before it caught fire. Then four
explosions as the van’s tires burst while residents ran away in all
directions, fearing explosion of the van’s gas tank.
Young motorcyclists break legs
Patcharapol Panrak
Four schoolgirls on motorcycle were injured when they failed to stop
at a red light and collided with a Royal Thai Navy pickup truck.
The rider Wanda Parapol, 14, and passengers Arisara Kruachang, 13, Panida
Srisookyo, 14, and Passaraporn Kusonapiban, 14, all broke their right legs
in the accident in Sattahip early on October 2.
Pol. Lt. Col. Rerngsak Sookcharoen attended to the girls at the scene.
Wanda said she and her friends had come from the direction of the Kilometer
10 Market and were engrossed in an amusing chat and didn’t notice that the
traffic light had turned red.
Police put splints on their injured legs before transferring them to the
Queen Sirikit Hospital Naval Medical Department for further treatment.
It is not known whether Wanda’s parents have been reprimanded for allowing
their underage, unlicensed daughter to ride a motorcycle with not one, but
three passengers.
Service woman cries foul when client uploads video of their encounter
Boonlua Chatree
A Sattahip service woman has accused an elderly German man of
secretly videoing the couple having sex and broadcasting it on the Web for
money without her consent.
Sompis Srisuk, 38, from Sattahip, filed a complaint with Pol. Col. Noppadon
Wongnom, superintendent at the Pattaya police, alleging that Klaus Dieter
Werner Schellig had forcibly locked her out of their rented room on the
premises Enterprise Company in North Pattaya in the early hours of October
5. While she cried and protested helplessly outside, Werner uploaded the
video as a “webcam” to the world for which he was to be paid, she said.
Sompis called police who demanded that Werner open the door to them and
confiscated the man’s computer containing many videos of him having sex with
other women but none with the complainant.
Police detained the German for further questioning.
Sompis said she was introduced to Werner through a regular client, known as
Peter, and agreed to provide the German with her special horizontal service
for 1,000 baht.
She alleged that Werner proposed to give her much more money if she agreed
to be filmed performing naked for the camera. But when her client insisted
on videoing her face, the woman called it a day and demanded payment for her
services.
She alleged that Werner refused to pay and chased her from the room.
Police said Werner admitted that he had set up a video camera but did not
use it.
Self-sufficient disabled man refuses help
Patcharapol Panrak
Visuth Nongyai, 44, may be disabled with legs that had never
developed but he is happy living in his small shack and surviving from what
he can grow in his garden.
He had gratefully refused offers of help from very well-meaning people,
preferring his simple ways rather than embarking on anything new. All he
requested were a new plastic sheet to cover the roof of his shack and a new
toilet.
 Visuth
is truly an anomaly, refusing help from well-intentioned charity groups.
The Disabled Association of the Lions Club, the DJ from Disabled Network
Radio and the Sattahip Disk Jockey Association all offered to help him build
a better dwelling.
Prasert Iampetch, chairwoman of the Sattahip Lions Club, Chonburi, Apinada
Saimai of the Disk Jockey and Network Association, the Sattahip Police
Committee, Nongnapas Chuwanna, chairwoman of the Sattahip Disk Jockey and
Network Association, and Sania Kredsamran, secretary of the Sattahip
Disabled Association formed a delegation to visit Visuth on October 2.
They reported that the disabled man had never been able to work and lives in
a 2 x 2 meter shelter, covered with galvanized iron and without windows. It
has been built on someone else’s land.
He has survived by planting a garden with vegetables such as galangal, lime,
lemongrass, basil leaves, papaya and bananas for eating and has a sister who
brings additional food.
Visuth told the helping team that he lives his life according to the
sufficiency concept of HM the King and aims to be not rich, not poor and not
starving by planting a backyard garden for himself with some to spare for
neighbors as well.
He said that the reason that he gratefully declined assistance was not
because he was proud or stubborn but that he didn’t want to have any
valuable things to maintain. As he lives alone, a better shelter would give
him more chores and could be more dangerous as well.
Sania Kredsamran, secretary of the Sattahip Disabled Association, reported
that that currently there are many private organizations and clubs in the
Sattahip District that are working to provide a better quality of life for
the disabled, poor, and elderly.
Chairman Prasert said the Sattahip Lions Club has a budget of 30,000 baht to
build accommodation for the needy and homeless and that Visuth was the first
to decline their help.
Chonburi builds
new football stadium
The Sirindhorn Football Field
is being replaced.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Construction has begun on a new 120-million baht football stadium,
complete with running tracks and seating for 10,000 fans, located four
kilometers from the Chonburi Provincial Administration offices.
To be opened this time next year, the new stadium will replace the
Sirindhorn football field at Assumption Sriracha School which has become too
small for the growing number football followers in the area.
The stadium will be the new home for the ace Chonburi Football Club, the
leading team in this year’s Thailand Premier League, and will be shared with
the Coke-Bangpra team.
Annop Singtothong, manager of the Chonburi FC Club, said there will be four
grandstands on all sides of the field and an athletic track around with
Tartan Rubber surface and an LCD scoreboard screen.
He said the Chonburi FC Club, Coke-Bangpra, and the new Sriracha FC Club
teams will play there regularly next year, making Chonburi the new “Football
City of Thailand.”
The manager is looking to form new first and second division teams in the
league for the many talented new players now studying in the Assumption
Sriracha and Chulabhorn schools.
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