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Festive week capped by Pattaya’s Countdown to 2009

Rotarians unite in campaign march to End Polio Now

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Festive week capped by Pattaya’s Countdown to 2009

Banglamung District Chief Mongkol Thamakittikhun (2nd left) leads Pattaya citizens in merit making on New Year’s morning.

Diana Garden Resort with its Northern Lanna Style concept attracts many guests to its countdown ceremony.

Staff reporters
Despite having fewer revelers than usual, Pattaya’s countdown to 2009 still drew many thousands of New Year partygoers to local hotels, bars, beaches and Bali Hai.
The climax of the weeklong activities, the spectacular fireworks at midnight on New Year’s Eve, was featured on national television and even earned a spot overseas on BBC news.

The jubilant winner of two round-trip tickets to Chiang Mai courtesy of Thai Airways International celebrates her prize with Dusit Thani Pattaya general manager Chatchawal Supachayanont.
From December 25-31, Bali Hai was set up for nightly entertainment, each night capped with a festive fireworks display. Nationally famous recording artists So Cool, Black Head, Slot Machine, Tik Siro, Instinct, Paradox, Buddha Bless, Playground, Pancake, Boy Peace Maker, Hangman, and The Star rocked the Bali Hai stage in mini concerts, keeping the younger crowd excitedly dancing in the streets.
Walking Street was packed with tourists throughout the week, reaching a crescendo on New Year’s Eve. Both sides of the lively street were filled with booths and stalls. Busy Pattaya and Jomtien beaches were also in festive moods as fireworks exploded over the sea.
On New Year’s Eve at Bali Hai Pier, city and provincial administrators, led by Mayor Itthipol Khunplome, along with officials from the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand and GMM Grammy staged the days and nights of counting down for all to enjoy.
Food stalls and draft-beer booths made the party livelier than the previous year, earning those who ran the New Year businesses an estimated 100-million baht.
Hotels in Pattaya of course joined in to celebrate with some style.
The Amari Orchid and Tower went Italian with a Venetian Mask Carnival where staff members were dressed in beautiful symbolic attire to welcome guests.
Diana Garden Resort opted for Thai Lanna with Thai folk dances from several regions, but alternated this with karaoke for guests to join in the amusement by crooning in a Happy New Year. “I did it my way” anyone?
The Dusit Thani Pattaya featured an “Ice Fantasia” celebration when more than 500 revelers enjoyed a night of international cuisine, parade and dance performances from the Queen of Ice and Michael Tunk, plus live music entertainment from one of the country’s top divas, Nanthida Kaewbuasai. One of the highlights was the lucky draw prizes with the grand prize of two round-trip tickets to Chiang Mai courtesy of Thai Airways International that included a two-nights stay at dusitD2 Chiang Mai.
A Latino Fiesta was in full swing near the swimming pool at the Hard Rock Hotel where guests feasted on an international buffet and singer Palmy performed on stage.
Traffic throughout the holiday, meanwhile, was less than ideal. Traffic police and volunteers were kept busy trying to handle the extra influx of vehicles flowing into Pattaya, especially on Sukhumvit Road. Motorists who wisely avoided Sukhumvit Road found that alternative routes were jammed as well.
Commerce was down slightly this year, too. Beach vendors on Bangsaen Beach in Chonburi said that number of people had decreased by half from previous years when some 100,000 visitors would come during each important public holiday.
Vendors at the Nongmon Market complained that they earned much less this year because people may have celebrated at home to save money in tougher economic times.
Once the party finally faded away and the sun began to rise on a New Year, many of those who were not still at home sleeping off the night’s excesses opted to make merit in the morning by offering food to 70 monks at Lanpho Public Park in Naklua, the Tourists Service Center in South Pattaya and on Jomtien Beach.
Happy New Year from Pattaya Mail!

Classical Thai dancers welcome the New Year on the Bali Hai stage.

Mayor Itthipol Khunplome (center) leads the countdown to 2009.

Just six seconds to go until midnight
at the Amari Orchid Resort & Tower’s Venetian Mask Carnival.

New Year sales were down at Nongmon Market.

Bangsaen Beach was crowded, but according
to local vendors, not nearly as crowded as last year.

An “interesting” haircut which with to ring in the New Year.

Hangman - another well-known recording artist attracts big fans.

Instinct band.

Amazing fireworks light up Pattaya.

Boy Peace Maker shows off his voice at the main countdown stage.

Kaem The Star with her powerful voice thrills the crowd.

Pancake band.

Paradox band.

Buddha Bless with their famous
green-yellow-red costumes entertain the crowds.

Rotarians unite in campaign march to End Polio Now

(L to R) PDG Prempreecha Dibbayawan, Mayor Itthipol Khunplome, and District Governor of Rotary International District 3340 Pratheep Malhotra carry the banner spreading the “End Polio Now” message.

Pratheep ‘Peter’ Malhotra
Governor, District 3340 R.I.
It was a parade like no other. No we weren’t looking to topple anything or anyone. No we weren’t wearing colored shirts to send out confusing signals to the public. No, we weren’t going to close off any airports or government institutions.

Portraits of Their Majesties the King and Queen take pride of place in the parade.
The only thing we wanted to do was to shut off any chance of the dreaded polio disease from attacking our children.
We Rotarians were out in force to bring the one and only vital message to the people of the world that we were not stopping our rally until polio is totally eradicated from the face of the earth.
Why, you may ask, is this such a big deal? For most people who live on this earth, in the comforts of their societies and their modern lifestyles, this is a scourge that they know nothing about, or simply don’t care. They were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They routinely received their inoculations at the hospitals after they were born including all subsequent vaccine doses as necessary.
But for the people of many underdeveloped and developing countries who are still struggling between life and death, desperately seeking ways to give their children a chance to live, to just survive the first few years of their existence, it is a big deal.
A little over twenty years ago it was estimated that there were more than 350,000 people suffering from polio in 125 countries. In 1985, Rotary International launched the PolioPlus program, a 20-year commitment to eradicate polio. Rotary looked to celebrate the global eradication of polio in 2005, the organization’s centennial year.
For the last 13 years Rotary Clubs in Thailand and the Ministry of Public Health have provided polio vaccines during immunization days. The campaign in Thailand is a complete success as no case of polio has been reported in the last 11 years.
But the worst is not over. A survey in 2007 found that India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan still have small outbreaks of polio. According to an estimation made in February 2008, there are almost 2,000 people afflicted by polio around the world.
In 2007 a young Pakistani student who had just returned to Australia from a visit to his home country was found to have been infected with the polio disease. In Australia? you may ask, that’s impossible. Polio mainly affects children under the age of five; however, immune and or partially immune adults and children can still be infected with the poliovirus and carry the virus for long enough to take the virus from one country to another, infecting close contacts and contaminating sanitation systems. This could facilitate transmission, especially in countries where sanitation systems are sub-standard.
Though Thailand may not have any signs of the disease, if we do not protect our children we could be putting their lives at risk.
To this end Pratheep Malhotra, governor of District 3340, Rotary International called on Rotarians all over the district to organize an awareness rally to ‘End Polio Now’ in their communities.
In Pattaya, Rotarians from the city and neighboring towns joined in this walk on December 28. The parade was held not only to Honor His Majesty the King on His 81st birthday but also to bring the message to ‘End Polio Now’ to the people in the community.
Mayor Ittiphol Khunplome and Past District Governor Premprecha Dibbayawan joined DG Pratheep in leading the march of more than one hundred Rotarians from the Royal Garden Plaza down Beach Road through Walking Street and ending at the Bali Hai Pier. During the march, Rotarians waved Rotary flags and End Polio Now banners and distributed leaflets informing the public about the disease and urging the populace to bring their children to receive the polio vaccine drops on National Immunization Days. For this year’s campaign, the first immunization day was held last month, on December 17, and the second will be held next week on January 14 at health centers throughout the country.
If polio isn’t eradicated, the world will continue to live under the threat of the disease. Therefore the march to ‘End Polio Now’ continues.

Rotarians and children waved Rotary flags and End Polio Now banners and distributed leaflets informing the public about the disease and urging the populace to bring their children to receive the polio vaccine drops on National Immunization Days.