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Brahman bulls ready to show off
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
The best Brahman bulls around the country are being groomed to show off
their pedigree and be bought and sold at the Fifth Eastern Breeding Cattle
Competition to be held from November 14-16 at the Banglamung District
Office.
 Suriya
Kitsamret, president of the Brahman Breeders Association.
Organized by the Beef Cattle Association of Thailand, the first prize will
include the H.R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s trophy.
Deputy mayor Verawat Khakhay, Suriya Kitsamret, president of the Brahman
Breeders Association, Niran Wattanasartsathorn, chief advisor to the Mayor
of Pattaya, and Niti Kongkrut, director of the TAT Region 3 Office, and
officials met at city hall on October 29 to organize the event.
President Suriya said the competition, backed by his association, Pattaya
City and the Department of Livestock Development, aims to promote the
breeding of beef and to improve the quality of the Brahman breed in the
country.
The expo will show goods and equipment for the beef cattle industry, an
exhibition on progress in biological technology and lectures from an expert.
Visitors can park their vehicles at the Jittapawan Temple in Banglamung on
the three days.
Free net surfing
on Pattaya Beach
Pattaya Beach will soon have free
wireless internet.
Staff reporters
Within six months residents and visitors can relax with drinks, take in
the passing parade on Pattaya Beach, send and receive emails and surf the Net
from their laptops at the same time using a new Wi-Fi service courtesy of
Pattaya City.
It is the first free service of this kind in the country.
To be operated by CAT Telecom and TOT the planned layout of the free wireless
Internet service covering the entire beach front is ready to be put in place
with the installation of a series of communication posts along the beach.
Mayor Itthipol Khunplome said the City’s Strategic Administration had researched
and setup the IT and information system which is already to be installed,
pending considerations of the placement of communication poles so as not to
overly obstruct beach scenery.
The communication posts (2.4 GHZ frequency) will be needed at 54 locations, the
range of each pole covering an area of 100 meters on the beach at a distance of
150 meters from each other and broadcasting at a speed of at least 128Kb/sec
with the bandwidth to be increased in future.
While the wireless broadcast is free on the beach as an extension of the city
administration’s own IT system, there will also be a paid online service
coverage that all visitors can tap in at their convenience to access the
Internet at anytime.
Phuket and Chiang Mai already have wireless Internet services at various places
for tourists who are required to pay a fee. But Pattaya City will be the leader
in the country with its free Internet Wi-Fi service on the beach.
Diana Group makes Kathin merit
The Diana Group gathers for the
united Kathin activity at Nongprue Temple.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Gifts of saffron “Kathin robes” were respectfully offered to monks as
the Diana Group made the “Tod Kathin” merit-making ceremony at the end of the
Buddhist Lent at Nongprue Temple in Banglamung on November 2.
Sopin Thappajug, managing director of the Group and employees lit candles and
joss sticks to pay respect to the 3-gems of Buddhism as monks chanted prayers.
Food and gifts were offered to monks at the end of the customary ceremony.
The “Kathin” is a Buddhist tradition that should be performed within one month
after the end of the Buddhist lent. Some temples don’t hold this ceremony within
the month so there needs to be a catch-up ceremony such as this one later, as
the kathin should not be missed, said Sopin.
“Kind-hearted people now can gather to hold this ceremony with the goal of
raising some money for the temple to use it for the monks’ affairs in the
future. The aim is also to build new accommodation for monks,” she said.
Jesters show appreciation to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya
Honorary Jester Mike Franklin presents a Certificate of
Appreciation to Neera Sirisampan, International Affairs Director, in recognition
of support from Bangkok Hospital Pattaya at the 2008 Jesters Care for Kids
Charity Drive Children’s Fair.
Optimist Club encouraging everyone to keep Pattaya beautiful
Phil Webb
The Optimist Club International Club of Thailand encourages everyone to join
with them in their newest campaign titled: “Keeping Pattaya Beautiful.”
Charter President Drew Noyes said, “Our goal at our club is to bring the public
and private sectors together to develop and promote a national cleanliness
ethic. We believe that each of us holds an obligation to preserve and protect
our environment. Through our everyday choices and actions, we collectively have
a huge impact on our community. It’s really a simple concept, but one with far
reaching effects. ‘Keeping Pattaya Beautiful’ follows a practical approach that
unites, not only the expat community but unites all caring citizens as well as
businesses and governments to find solutions that advance our core issues of
preventing litter, reducing waste and at the same time beautifying our beautiful
city of Pattaya, as well as other communities in Thailand. The diverse landscape
consists of many different ‘community environments,’ each with their own
interconnecting needs and challenges. The Optimist International Club of
Thailand is hoping to combine education and hands-on stewardship to address the
needs of Pattaya on an intensely local and effective level.
“We will kick-off our initial, ‘Keeping Pattaya Beautiful’ clean-up campaign
immediately following the Loy Krathong Festival. Loy Krathong or ‘yee ping’
(festival of lights) is the most beautiful festival and ceremony in Thailand,
but at the same time generates a plethora of litter and garbage,” so stated
President Drew.
We encourage all caring citizens to join with us in helping clean-up the tons of
refuse. We will meet the morning following the festival at Beach Road/Soi 6 at
9:00 a.m. Please bring a couple of plastic bags and a pair of gloves.
Also, a “special challenge” goes out to all the charity and service clubs of
Pattaya to join in on the fun.
Dean Barrett tells
tales to PCEC
The regular Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club
got underway at the Amari’s Henry J. Bean Restaurant on Sunday, November 2nd when,
after the usual announcements, MC Stuart Saunders welcomed back Dean Barrett, a
well known author, who has spoken to us on previous occasions.
 Well
known author Dean Barrett tells PCEC members of his new subject Lek and her
escapades in his latest book “Identity theft, Alzheimers in America, Sex in
Thailand, Tangles of the Mind”.
Dean noted that in the past he has spoken to us about his books that were based
on Thailand venues, and on his last visit about his book based on a China
locale. However, for today’s talk, he would discuss his recent book entitled
Identity Theft, Alzheimer’s in America, Sex in Thailand, Tangles of the Mind.
Dean prefaced his comments with a caution. Although many mystery authors
develop a main character and theme that they continue to write about in their
succeeding books, do not expect that from his writing. So, he does not
recommend that other would be authors do as he does. Instead of a disciplined
approach, perhaps the preferred method, he writes what comes out of his head.
He also mentioned that often authors who write stories based on Thailand are
“sexpat” writers rather than “expat” writers. A “sexpat” writer is someone who
visits, has minimum exposure to the culture, goes home and writes their view of
the sex scene in Thailand. Whereas, the “expat” writer may include such scenes,
but that is not necessarily the main point of the writer’s story.
He suggested that you not judge a writer by the material, but rather by what
they do with it. Dean mentioned for example that many might think that a story
totally set in a bar would not be great material. However, a very well known and
critically acclaimed play does just that - Eugene O’Neal’s The Ice Man Cometh.
Dean also said that his readers may love some of his books and hate others.
However, he opined that anyone who likes humor will probably like his books. He
suggested that those interested in seeing his diverse style and humor visit his
websites (www.deanbarratt
thailand.com and www. deanbarrattmystery.com).
Dean then discussed his recent book. He noted that this is a novel set mainly
in Thailand, but does have a chapter involving a family in Florida coping with a
person with Alzheimer’s disease. It also is somewhat unique in that he as the
author interacts with the characters in his book.
 Bob
‘the Bird’ Sutterfield runs the PCEC Open Forum with brother Tim, when questions
can be asked about living in Thailand such as getting visas, owning property,
drivers licences, etc.
He then read excerpts of the novel dealing with Lek, the obligatory go-go dancer
for any novel situated in Thailand. Dean notes that Lek not only tantalizes one
of the main characters of his book, she is so alluring and sexy that even he,
the author, takes her to bed. As the reader will discover, Lek uses her
intelligence and sexual power to not only manipulate the story, but to also
criticize the quality of Dean’s novel - to the extent that Dean as the author
must include footnotes to defend himself. Dean concluded by noting that the
novel appears to be about the nature of existence and delusion and, in fact,
maybe only exists within the mind of the Alzheimer’s patient.
After Dean’s answers to many questions from the audience, MC Stuart Saunders
announced that for those interested in visiting with Dean, there would be a
dinner later in the day at the Aloha Restaurant on Second Road opposite Royal
Garden.
MC Stuart then introduced Richard Silverberg, the Club’s resident computer guru
to give the audience his latest website find. Richard said that he had come
across the website www.publicpofiler .org/worldnames which he found to be an
interesting diversion. To use the site, type in yours or a friend’s surname.
The site will give you statistical information on the name showing its frequency
by country, regions (state/province), and city. Richard cited some results he
obtained when using the names of some of his fellow PCEC members.
MC Stuart Saunders then updated everyone on upcoming events and Hawaii Bob
Sutterfield with the aid of his brother Jim, conducted the always informative
and sometimes humorous Open Forum where information is shared on living in
Pattaya and Thailand.
Teachers
time-out!
ISE staff enjoy the recent All Black win at Shenanigans.
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