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Pattaya Mail receives Support
Award from Father Ray Foundation
(L to R) Pattaya Mail
Marketing Director Tony Malhotra, Lyndy Moore Eggleton, Public Relations
Manager of the Father Ray Foundation, Pattaya Mail’s Managing Director
Pratheep Malhotra and Pattaya Mail TV Production Manager Paul Strachan.
Pattaya Mail’s Managing Director Pratheep Malhotra this
week received an award from Lyndy Moore Eggleton, Public Relations Manager
of the Father Ray Foundation.
Lyndy said, “On behalf of Mike Lancaster, and members of our Development
Team, I have great pleasure in presenting you with our most prestigious
award in recognition of your generous and continuous support for Father Ray
Foundation.”
“Every day, all the year round, we care for 850 abused, abandoned and
isolated children and disabled young adults. The support of the local
business community and their customers is vital. By donating valuable
television time on Pattaya Mail TV and advertising space in Pattaya Mail
newspaper, you are helping us to make a positive difference in the lives of
children in our care.”
“I trust that your readers will follow your shining example and help us with
gifts for the children for Christmas; cash donations and student
sponsorship. It costs just 500 baht per month to sponsor a disabled student
or an orphaned child. We thank you, in anticipation of your generosity and
invite you to become part of the Father Ray Sponsor Family. Simply go to our
website and donate now www.fr-ray.org/donate and/or come into our Welcome
Center at Sukhumvit Road, Km 145.”
THA-Eastern Chapter holds Sports Day 2009 in Pattaya
Representatives from Dusit Thani
Pattaya hold up the sport event banner while other participants prepare for the
parade.
The Thai Hotels Association-Eastern Chapter has been
supporting Pattaya City’s efforts to reinvent the resort town as a great
destination for corporate meetings, a list of fun and recreation involving the
sea and the sun as well as in making the city an ideal choice for tourism,
including family trips.
On November 15, various hotels in the eastern region signed up to join in games
and friendly competitions held at a local school stadium to celebrate the 19th
THA-E Sports Day, an annual sport event organized by the association.
Dusit Thani Pattaya was one of the hotels that played local games and competed
in a football match among others. The resort’s general manager, Chatchawal
Supachayanont, who is also the president of the THA-E Chapter believes that the
sports event will help in building a strong solidarity and fostering goodwill
among member hotels while at the same time maintaining the image of Pattaya as a
city that supports civic programs such as sports activities.
PCEC races through meeting
Roger Fox, emcee for the regular Sunday meeting of the
Pattaya City Expats Club on November 22 at the Amari’s Henry J. Beans
Restaurant, began the proceedings with the usual announcements, then introduced
guest speaker Ron Weaver, better known by his nickname Q’on. He is the managing
director of Alexia Solutions, LLC. He has recently opened a radio controlled
model car business in Pattaya.
 Ron
Weaver, better known by his nickname Q’on, founder of NanoTrax, tells PCEC
members how he has turned his hobby, micro radio controlled car racing, into a
thriving business.
Q’on started by giving his background. He is 34 years old and has lived in
Thailand for almost 7 years. He said like many of us, it was the beauty of
Thailand that attracted him here, but after being here for a while he needed
something more to do with his life. So, he began looking for something that not
only interested him but that could one day be a profitable alternative to his
current profession of internet design and development.
He said radio controlled cars has always been one of his interests since he was
15 years old. He worked as a dishwasher and saved over $400 US to buy his first
radio controlled model, a Kyosho Ultima. Although he loved radio controlled
cars, he couldn’t afford such a hobby at the time, so he took a long break until
he was 31 and living in Thailand. He noted that in January 2009 he was
introduced to the Kyosho dNaNo radio controlled car and when he saw it, he tried
it and couldn’t resist buying three of them - one for himself, one for his wife
Joom, and the third for his son. It was at that moment, he said, that the seed
was planted for his new endeavor.
He took the cars home and ran them on the floor and was severely disappointed.
When run on the floor it collected dust like a Hoover vacuum and spun around
like a bumper car at high speed.
 John
Fishback conducts the open forum -’everything you wanted to know about life &
living in the Land of Smiles’.
Pattaya R.C. Powerboat has an RCP/Kyosho track for mini radio controlled car,
and taking note of the surface, Q’on said they set out to find a similar
material so they could build their own home circuit track. After some effort
with several versions, they came up with a workable and fun surface to run their
cars.
Enjoying their home track so much, his initial thoughts were to build and sell
the home circuit tracks. But, after discussing it with a distributor, they wound
up selling their model instead.
Q’on said he then developed the concept of NanoTrax. He opened a website in late
January and started looking for a location for their new business. He found a
property on Thepprasit Road with 4 floors of empty space that was perfect for
building the playroom of his dreams. They began construction in late February.
The eventual design and construction required an investment of over 4 million
baht, which caused him to bring in a close friend as a co-investor. By the end
of May 2009, construction was finished and they had acquired enough inventory to
open the shop. They held the grand opening celebration on May 30.
To his knowledge it is the first indoor mini-radio controlled racing shop in
Thailand and quite likely, the only one in the world outside of Japan, the
birthplace of dNaNo.
He drew on his previous experience and developed a website geared toward
communicating with people rather than trying to sell them something. Q’on
pointed out that NanoTrax is primarily a place for adults but children often
come to the shop interested in playing with their cars. He said that fathers and
sons have visited his shop and discovered a new activity that they can share. He
believes that this kind of hobby should be a family activity and he developed
the shop with that in mind by providing alternative entertainment for all their
visitors. They have been open now for 6 months and so far the feedback he has
received has been one hundred percent positive.
In response to several questions, Ron noted that the shop is located on
Thepprasit Road between Soi 7 and 9. His website is www.nanotrax.com or
www.nanotrax.net. His shop is open from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. and they do serve food
and beverages.
There are two tracks (circuits) for racing the cars. One is on the main floor
and the other is on the next floor up where you can sit down while controlling
your car. They use a radio control system that will accommodate 40 cars at one
time. There are over 30 different models available; each a replica of the real
car with similar driving characteristics.
Further, performance can vary among the same model depending on how it is
equipped and set up. Q’on said that the most popular models are the Porsche
911GT and Ferrari. The hourly track fee is 80 baht. It is 200 baht to rent a
car. They also sell the cars with costs ranging up to 5,000 baht depending on
the model and how it is equipped.
During the question and answer period, several members of the audience noted
they had already visited the shop and it was a fun place to visit.
Emcee Roger then updated everyone on coming events and called on John Fishback
to conduct the always informative, interesting, and sometime humorous Open Forum
where questions are asked and answered about living in Thailand and Pattaya in
particular.
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