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Pattaya celebrates HM the Queen’s birthday from dawn ‘til dusk
City officials light candles
to wish HM the Queen a happy birthday.
Thai classical music and dance
is always a big treat on Mother’s Day.
Staff reporters
Pattaya-area residents came out from dawn until dusk to celebrate HM
Queen Sirikit’s 77th birthday, marking the occasion with merit-making, a
mini marathon, health checks, candle lighting, prayers, a parade and more.
Practically even venue in town organized a special event to commemorate HM
the Queen’s Royal Birthday.
The Aug. 12 celebrations started early at the Banglamung District Office
with Chief Mongkol Thamakittikhun leading a merit-making ceremony.
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya celebrated HM the Queen’s birthday, which is also
Mother’s Day in Thailand, by offering free and discounted health services
for mothers, including checks for cervical cancer and bone density. People
wishing to mark the occasion by doing good deeds donated blood.
Festivities climaxed in the evening with a parade from Royal Garden Plaza to
Bali Hai Pier where student bands played, people lit candles and monks
prayed for HM the Queen’s continued good health. The evening concluded with
a salute from Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome and a grand fireworks display.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome
presents flowers
to Her Majesty the Queen’s image at Bali Hai pier.
Elfi Seitz presents a flower
arrangement to Her Majesty
the Queen on behalf of Pattaya Mail Publishing.
The military looks sharp
during the parade.
Representatives from City Hall
march in the parade.
Staff from the Pattaya Mail
proudly march in the parade.
Pattaya School marching band
keeps the beat.
Tourists and expats join the
fun.
Youngsters proudly wave the
Thai flag as the parade marches by.
Tourist police officers cycle
in the parade.
Banglamung District Chief
Mongkol Thamakittikhun gives alms
to monks during the morning merit-making ceremony.
Folks in Banglamung make merit
in the morning on Mother’s Day.
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya
offers discounted health checks
during the Royal Birthday celebrations.
Students from Pattaya City
School #8 prepare
for their performance during the ceremonies.
Everyone, young and old,
lights candles to wish Her Majesty a happy birthday.
Beautiful fireworks light up
the night sky, signaling the grand finale of the event.
Thousands of Pattaya residents
light candles
and sing to HM the Queen at Bali Hai pier.
AustCham really did watch the sun go down
Dr Iain Corness
The Australian Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) held its Seaboard
Sundowners at the Sheraton Resort in Pattaya last week. It was a real
‘sundowners’, with the members being treated to a wonderful tropical sunset
viewed from the bar on the beach.
 (L
to R) Myung Hyun Kim, International Marketing Department Manager, Samitivej
Public Company Limited; and Julie Chabra, International Marketing, Indian
Department Manager, Samitivej Public Company Limited.
The principal sponsors were AA Insurance Brokers and the Sheraton Pattaya
Resort itself. This gave the AustCham members a wonderful venue, with
nibbles and beverages being ferried around by the lovely service ladies from
the Sheraton, whilst everyone indulged in some good old networking, as well
as some good old wines and beers.
Representing the ‘red-shirted’ AA people was Peter Smith, who assured
everyone that there was no political significance in the color, but was
proud to be a sponsor of the evening. He also mentioned in an exclusive
interview with Pattaya Mail TV that despite the global economic
downturn, his brokerage has recently won awards from the major insurance
companies and had expanded with offices opened in Chiang Mai and Hua Hin.
 (L
to R) Mike Davey, Diving Project Manager, Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd.;
and Chris Clegg, Project Manager “Team Siam” Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd.
The very amiable Matthew Fryar, the director of revenue management for the
Sheraton Pattaya Resort, represented the Sheraton, and just hoped that
everyone was enjoying the Sheraton experience and would perhaps come another
time to sample their Papaya restaurant. He was aided by the lovely and newly
married Ann Autchayawat, director of sales and marketing for Sheraton, and
the yet unmarried Duangmanee Yantawattana (Apple) (what’s wrong with the
young Aussies these days?).
The dynamic Australian Chamber had its executive director, Brett (Brylcream)
Ganaway on hand, all excited at the news that the famous Australian Rules
legend Ron Barassi was coming to Thailand as the chamber’s guest for the
(televised) Grand Final. This will be the first time Barassi has been out of
Australia during an AFL grand final. I asked Brett what about Roy Cazaly
(378 senior matches), but Brett was too young to have known of the other
legendary player, who was the inspiration for the song “Up There Cazaly!”
(Cazaly died in 1963, for all the young readers).
 (L
to R) Paul Hunt, Director / General Manager, Halifax Vogel Group Asia Ltd.;
and James Beeson, Operations Manager, Kulthorn Metal Products Co., Ltd.
It was good to see so many of the chamber’s members and guests had brought
their wives along too, with Judy Hoppe (still hopping on crutches), Roseanne
Diamente, Renita Bromley and Som Corness all enjoying the ambience and the
liquids.
Of course, other groups were also present swapping business cards, including
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya’s Neil Maniquiz, Ann Wangvirayaphan and Worarot
Sasom (Pik) who won a bottle of Australian Broken Hills red, with her lucky
business card having been selected by AustCham’s president Andrew Durieux.
 (L
to R) Penpapasorn Eamsa-Ard, Sales Manager, Sheraton Pattaya Resort; and
Kritikar Thananan, Marketing and Relationship Manager, Master Licensed
Partner of Engel & Voelkers Asia-Pacific Ltd.
John Howarth, the senior consultant for Montpelier (wealth management and
tax planning), was still enquiring about his gender reassignment surgery
(ongoing joke after winning a check-up package from the Bangkok Hospital
Pattaya), whilst Pat Gossett (materials management and engineering - MME)
was heard quizzing Ann Wangvirayaphan about hair transplants for a Japanese
company wishing to come to Thailand. The subjects discussed at these
networking evenings range from business to bizarre.
 (L
to R) Varadan Devanathan, Managing Director, Visteon (Thailand) Ltd.; and
Winfried Kiesbueye, Managing Director, CEVA Logistics (Thailand) Ltd.
Regulars included Paul (I can move it) Wilkinson (AGS Four Winds) along with
Dr Salam Hoshang from Asian University, telling everyone how to relax. Paulo
Randone, the ‘guru’ of the D2 baracuda was there, thoughtfully tugging on
his immaculate plaited goatee, and mentioning a forthcoming hypnosis comedy
event to be held soon at the D2. Watch these pages while you fall into a
deep, deep sleep.
The next Seaboard Sundowners will (I believe) be held on September 11 but
you can confirm by e-mail to Brett Ganaway: execdirector
@austchamthailand.com or check the web site regularly:
www.austchamthailand.com.
(L to R) Kanji Notoda, Senior
Business Development Manager,
CHEP (Thailand) Ltd.; and Chris Aitchison, Country Manager, CHEP (Thailand)
Ltd.
(L to R) Rosanne Diamente;
Karaten Thrane, General Manager-Logistics Thailand & Indochina, UTi
Worldwide Co., Ltd.; and Judy Hoppe.
(L to R) Andrew Durieux,
President, AustCham Thailand; Peter Smith,
Director of AA Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd.; and Matthew Fryar,
Director of Revenue Management, Sheraton Pattaya Resort.
(L to R) John Black, Managing
Director, Real Estate Magazine Thailand;
and Alastair Actken from Gratham Hospital.
(L to R) Mark Bowling, Sales
Manager, Colliers International; Peter Smith, Director of AA Insurance
Brokers Co., Ltd.; Peter Mewes, Managing Director, The London Consultancy
Co., Ltd; and Jerry N. Stewart, Non-Executive Director / Chief-Financial
Officer Business & Financial Consultancy & Education.
(L to R) Chris Clegg, Project
Manager “Team Siam” Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd.; Jitra Wongjuan, Account
Executive, Waste Capital Management Co., Ltd; Craig Somerville, Customer
Relations Manager, JVK International Movers; Paul Wilkinson, ESB
Coordinator, AustCham Thailand; Rosanne Diamente from Women With a Mission;
and Mile Davey, AGS Four Winds.
Who are Women With a Mission -
and how can you help?
Rosanne Diamente
We are three women, two Australians and an American, who were living
in Rayong and Chonburi, Thailand, for some years before we came to know each
other. We were each in Thailand due to our husbands’ jobs and met each other
though an expatriate club in Pattaya on the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand. We
worked together on various welfare projects in the Rayong and Chonburi area,
teaching English, arranging school sponsorships and generally raising funds
to benefit the communities we were living in.
 Chonburi
Handicap Project has improved the lives of many Thai families who live in
poverty and have the added responsibility of supporting a handicapped
spouse, child or grandchild in our community.
In December 2004, a tsunami struck the southern provinces of Thailand, which
prompted us to visit the region and see if there was anything we could do to
help. The expatriate clubs we were involved in were unable to offer support
to the southern provinces as they were committed to their existing projects,
so as individuals we went with the intention of a one-time visit and
contribution. Three years later, however, in the Krabi, Phang Nga and Ranong
provinces, we’d helped:
* implement lunch farms in seven schools to supplement school lunches;
* provide daily school lunches for more than 900 children in eight schools;
* provide child sponsorships;
* provide milk and milk formula for infants and children to the age of four
years.
As is the nature of expatriate life, we soon found that one of us was
relocating back to Australia and another moving to a new country, leaving
only one ‘Musketeer’ (which is what we’d started calling ourselves) in
Thailand. After a brief settling down period we decided to continue our
collaboration despite our distance and found ourselves in Mae Sot.
We are inspired by the belief that individuals can make a difference - and
have seen proof of it. We are committed to providing children of all ages,
social and cultural backgrounds the necessary tools to receive a proper
education and assisting them with daily nutritional requirements.
We subscribe to the ideology that children have rights as human beings and
need special care and protection. WWM work to help to meet these basic needs
and to expand the opportunities for children to reach their full potential.
Our projects include the Du Pla Ya Boarding House, Grace Boarding House &
Orphanage, and the Chonburi Handicap Project
Du Pla Ya Boarding House
Du Pla Ya, a name chosen by the children, sits amongst the hills
of Umphium Mai Refugee Camp and is home to approximately 80 children between
the ages of 7 and 20, and their four carers. The children mostly are from
the Karen (or Kayin) State where an ongoing civil war has produced thousands
of refugees and internally displaced people (IDP). Many of the children are
not registered with the camp authorities meaning they’re not eligible to
receive refugee rations and instead share in those received by the others,
resulting in not much of anything for anyone.
Children at the Grace Boarding House & Orphanage.
A typical story of how these
children have ended up at Umphium Refugee Camp is that of New Gay Was. She
is 10 years old and has 6 siblings. She is in Grade 2 at school in the camp
and her parents and siblings remain in Burma where her parents work cutting
the jungle and planting rice. In her own words, New Gay Was told us that
troops came to their village to take children as military porters and their
animals for food. She is happy to be studying in the camp as she can study
the whole year and there is no shooting. She misses her family a lot.
Grace Boarding House & Orphanage
Grace Boarding House & Orphanage is located in the Shan State of
Burma and is home to 57 children (16 girls and 41 boys, including 17
orphans) aged between 6 and 16 years of age, mostly from the Wa State where
there are no schools and no chance for an education. Many of the children
have parents who live and work as farmers; however, many more of them have
lost their parents to armed conflict.
Currently Grace Boarding House & Orphanage receives support for food for 30
children from a Baptist Church in Singapore but rely on irregular donations
to fund educational supplies, teacher’s salaries, general running costs,
school uniforms and food for the remainder of the children. Parents assist
when they can by donating the occasional a bag of rice and vegetables.
However, there is no rice from June to October as it is planting season.
Chonburi Handicap Project
The Chonburi Handicap Project was started by Rosanne in January
2008 after the governor of Chonburi Province in Thailand, where Rosanne
lives, asked the public for assistance for the many handicapped people
living in Chonburi who live in housing conditions unsuitable to their
special requirements and who receive only B500 (USD15) per month to live on.
Working together with the Redemptorist Center of Pattaya (under the Father
Ray Foundation) Rosanne has been able to visit the worst cases over the past
year or more and help make a difference in the lives of 45 handicapped men,
women and children by providing medical care, wheelchairs, hospital beds and
building or repairing existing homes. Funds were raised with the help of
local clubs, organizations and private citizens to make this possible.
The Chonburi Handicap Project has improved the lives of many Thai families
who live in poverty and have the added responsibility of supporting a
handicapped spouse, child or grandchild in our community. Women With a
Mission is proud to continue the work of Rosanne and the Redemptorists and
bring this project under our ‘umbrella of activities’.
How can you help?
On October 2nd Women With a Mission will host a Charity Golf
Tournament at Pattana Golf and Sports Resort. It’s a best ball, shotgun
start, stroke play competition and restricted to a maximum of 110 golfers.
It will be a healthy combination of serious golf and novelty events, which
will appeal to golfers of all skill levels. Entry fee is B8,000 per team or
B2,000 per golfer.
All proceeds of the tournament will go to Women With a Mission projects,
namely Du Pla Ya Boarding House, Grace Boarding House & Orphanage and
Chonburi Handicap Project.
For more information and to sign up contact: Rosanne Diamente, 081-865-0714
or Joan Nygrin, 084-465-6733 or contact us at
[email protected]
Du Pla Ya Boarding House sits amongst the hills of Umphium Mai Refugee Camp.
Food & Hoteliers Expo
on the menu for Aug. 27
Most of the area’s best chefs will be creating masterpieces for the expo
this month.
Can’t forget the beer and beer girls.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya will be transformed into a gourmet’s paradise Aug. 27-29
when the Pattaya Food & Hoteliers Expo kicks off for its third year.
The event brings together chefs from around the world for exhibitions and
contests at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and a weekend food fair along Beach
Road. Organizers say the event aims to help raise the standard of food and
hospitality in Pattaya and showcase cuisine from the area’s restaurants and
hotels.
 Fruit
carving will be amongst the competitions.
Most activities will be centered on the Royal Cliff, which will see 20
contests in everything from fruit carving and drink-mixing to deserts and
Thai set menus. This year will also see the introduction of new events,
including a barista championship, young chef competition and “Miss
Congeniality” pageant.
Wittaya Kunplome, chief executive of the Chonburi Provincial Administration
Organization, the fair’s lead organizer, said the annual event draws big
crowds of both local and tourists to sample various local recipes and enjoy
top-tier foods.
Other events will include a barista workshop and a trade fair for
hospitality-industry businesses.
Tourists need not trek to Jomtien Beach to enjoy the food fair, however.
Beach Road will be lined with booths from area hotels and restaurants,
offering samples of the many cuisines Pattaya has to offer.
Pattaya and Chonburi officials are set to host
the 3rd Pattaya Food & Hoteliers Expo Aug. 27-29.
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