PATTAYA: is it too late or can we make a difference?

Story and photos by Peter Cummins

Pattaya is suffering from very bad press, much of which is justified - if a little biased - from an environmental and ecological point of view. But is it irreversible? The city fathers are working on a number of proposals to ameliorate the situation but, ultimately, it is up to individual action which could return the tattered lady to at least some of her former glory and dignity as the ‘Jewel of the East.’

Photo: Sailors at Royal Varuna clean off foul-smelling oil picked up by their boat near Koh Larn.

Alas, our beloved Pattaya is constantly taking a beating in the world’s press and media and the resort’s image as the "the Wild West of the East" is daily becoming more sullied by the onslaught of paedophiles, Mafia-style gang-land killings, tourists dying from over-dosing... It is virtually a media open season on Pattaya and coverage of these and countless other unsavoury activities is enormous, inevitably portraying the resort in a most pejorative manner.

Added to this is the rising crescendo of howls of the environmentalists and the eco-tourism advocates who, to continue the Wild West analogy, are "shooting from the hip", with Pattaya centre target - the bull’s eye, so to speak.

This Pattaya Mail correspondent has been an avid sailor for more than 20 years around the Pattaya-Jomtien area and would agree with the eco critics. The seamier side of the shore-based activities are, no doubt, in evidence, but are not within the competence of this "Mail man" to discuss.

But the environment definitely is. In the more than two decades of sailing, cruising, swimming and diving around the areas from North Pattaya to Sattahip, from Pattaya Bay to Koh Rin, Koh Pai, Koh Larn and Koh Nok, I have been a first-hand witness to the steady deterioration of this once-lovely area in the Northern Gulf, to what it has become today. The insidious pollution has turned this beautiful area into a virtual Sargasso Sea of effluents, as garbage, great chunks of oil-coated polystyrene, plastic bags, bottles and other unmentionable flotsam and jetsam sluice back and forth on the tides.

Back on land, biking or walking around it is appalling to see the ever-growing "impromptu" disposal areas where people jettison mountains of rubbish and then drive, ride, or even walk off. The count last week, in a two-kilometre stretch on a small soi leading off Sukhumvit Highway to Pattaya Central (Foodland), was eight rotting, festering piles of refuse. Scavengers pick them over; dogs fight and howl over scraps; the rodents move in; the marauding armies of cockroaches thrive there, to produce thousands more cockroaches!

Ugh! It’s horrible
Take a walk along Jomtien on a busy weekend. After a week in Bangkok, treat yourself to a lung-full of sea air. Close your eyes for a minute and you will be back in Bangkok: the fumes, emissions and noise of countless jet skis and power boats zooming around the shore-line at high speed, the latter often towing "rubber banana" boats with four or more aboard, until well into darkness. Jomtien last week looked more like a scene from the Normandy D-Day landing in the last year of WWII.

Perhaps development came too quickly, transforming the former sleepy fishing village into an unrecognizable jumble of high-rises, condos, hotels, beer bars and discos, in two very brief decades.

Photo: Visual pollution: billboards at the mouth of Soi Yamato 20 years ago; the start of the downward spiral?

But why the headlong rush by the foreign non-resident news-hounds to condemn a place that is home and a favourite recreation area for Thai people and some 40,000 expats, the great majority of whom enjoy life along the Eastern Seaboard, from Laem Chabang to Ma Ta Phud?

Some in this community are here professionally; others are numbered among the legion of escapees from harsh and bone-chilling northern climes; a vast multitude just like "to be here" - whether as tourists or longer-term visitors, many of whom just keep coming back. There is no place on earth to rival our Pattaya, for most of us here!

There are excellent schools, great international restaurants, superb sporting facilities. The positives are endless.

Why only Pattaya?
Some of the criticisms I have read in various newspapers and magazines, and, of course, have seen on the ‘idiot box’, inspired me to do a little homework: is Pattaya the ONLY resort that some of these less-than-diligent journos can cite to vent their frustrations? And is there any attempt by some of these gentlemen and ladies of the Fourth Estate to give a more balanced picture of our resort town?

I present some examples of my findings, extracted from various sources, acknowledging the assistance of my former colleagues and the bibliographic resources of the United Nations Library at Bangkok for the material.

Herewith:
"The increasing flood of visitors corrupts the local culture, encourages prostitution, strengthens the drug trade and erodes the environment. With uncontrolled expansion, however, tourism could end up in a trap, destroying exactly what it thrives on: clean beaches, attentive services and friendly people. Art and culture are replaced by cheap imitations."

Pattaya 1998? No; Barbados, 1980.

"On the shore-lines, monolithic concrete hotels, high-rises and condos are encroaching on pristine beach-fronts and obstructing the view. Vast stretches of the coastline far in excess of foreseeable demand were zoned for tourism and development controls were largely ignored. It is a total disaster."

Jomtien 1998? No; Cyprus 1985.

"The potential hazards of unplanned development are most apparent. Only two decades ago, this was a small picturesque village on the eastern shore. Now little remains of the village except the temple which now overlooks a jumble of hotels, high-rises, condos and beer bars."

That is DEFINITELY Central Pattaya 1998. WRONG AGAIN: Bali 1992.

"A boom in water sports over the past decade has brought a profusion of craft to the shore areas. Power boats, cabin cruisers and yachts jostle for sea-room with water skiers, speed-boats, para-sails, jet-skis and water scooters, many of them lethal weapons in the hands of inexperienced riders who can hire craft right off the beach."

Photo: Plastics and other junk on the South Pattaya beach-front: imagine what is in the sea.

This MUST be the Jomtien of last week which I described above. TOTALLY wrong: the French Riviera off Nice, 1990.

So, there appears to be nothing new in attacking Pattaya. Other places, as far apart as Bali, Cyprus, Nice and Barbados, with tourism and development problems remarkably similar to Pattaya’s, have also had their share of criticism. However, these and many other tourist destinations have been able to reverse the trend of deterioration and re-emerge with a new image - and, of course, keep the flow of the tourist dollar, yen, pound and franc intact.

The winds of change
Pattaya, too, can reverse this disaster and, even as the South-westerly Monsoons sweep over the Gulf, the "winds of change" are sweeping over Pattaya and the Eastern Seaboard. It is common knowledge that the name Pattaya, in fact, is derived from the Sanskrit word for these prevailing winds, blowing from February until October - a joy to all who like the sailing, boating, the water sports and a myriad other outdoor activities on offer right here.

If not exactly Monsoonal gusts, nevertheless here are a few "squalls of change" and impending plans to turn Pattaya around, environmentally and socially, and bring the lady back to some semblance of her former beauty and dignity.

For example, just prior to last New Year’s Day, the city fathers instituted a "walking street" closed to vehicular traffic until midnight every evening. It encompasses the famous South Pattaya strip where one can actually walk now during this allocated time without fear for life or limb.

It is a huge success but should be continued throughout the night. Unfortunately, as it is now currently operated, at the bewitching hour the midnight cowboys are poised at the entrance to roar down the strip on their obnoxious machines, their tattoos flying in the wind. Strollers wisely scatter before this mind-numbing performance of these congenital retards. Maybe this menace can be gradually eradicated.

There is not one, but there are THREE water treatment plants now fully operational. A new one, to treat waste water of the Naklua and Central Pattaya areas, will come on line next June. One shining example of community spirit is that of the Royal Cliff which recycles waste water treated by its own facilities, to maintain the hotel’s extensive and very beautiful gardens, lawns, trees and plants.

The traffic jams that one encounters usually on weekends along North Beach Road are caused by the building of sewage disposal viaducts. It is well worth the minor inconvenience, knowing that each metre of pipe laid will help make the sea a "cleaner arena".

There have been sightings of Pattaya’s finest - the boys in khaki - riding bikes, if you please!

There are some proposals from City Hall for a mini-bus system, to replace - or, at least put some order and discipline into - the chaos known as baht buses.

There have been periodic clean-up campaigns along the beach-front and a respectable sea-front promenade has been built, demolishing, amongst other concrete monstrosities, the ugliest of them all - known formerly as the "Sailing Club."

One campaign worthy of note is that of Somsak Tangruengsri, General Manager of the Royal Garden Resort Pattaya, who leads the hotel’s management and staff on a monthly "clean-up" campaign of Pattaya Beach.

Even visiting crews from US ships have been known to dedicate their time to cleaning the beach-front.

More than 100 scuba divers have an annual "dive" off Koh Larn to clean and gather the junk deposited on the sea bottom there.

There is, furthermore, a "far out" proposal to dismantle that dreadful and stinking sea-front market place at Naklua. It could one day become a "peoples’ park".

Over to us
"At home" each of us can help - even if a little. In a report entitled "Conservation: how can ONE person make a difference?", author Ms Reute Butler, who has led powerful pro-environment lobbies on Washington’s Capitol Hill, has constantly pointed out that environmental protection, like charity, "begins at home".

Ms Butler has constantly urged householders to separate garbage, glass and metal cans to be set aside for recycling; newspapers - yes, even, precious copies of the "Pattaya Mail" - can be recycled for new publications and energy; vegetable and fruit waste can be used for compost, fuel and fertilizer.

Among the expats living here, many know how far some governments have progressed, with countries like Switzerland as just one example, imposing severe penalties on any who disregard strict environmental codes. No wonder it is so easy to breathe there, even in the rarefied mountain air.

An interesting piece in the "Bangkok Post" last week referred to the "saleng people", those at the lowest strata of society who scour the garbage dumps of Bangkok collecting any item which can be sold for a few satang. As Karnjariya Sukrung, who wrote the piece, pointed out very rightly: "Since cosmopolitan Bangkokians still refuse to sort out their garbage to facilitate recycling, it is the ant army of saleng people (which) has kept Bangkok from a garbage disaster."

According to Jirapol Sinthunawa of Mahidol University’s environment centre, as quoted in Karnjariya’s article, "the saleng people are the unsung heroes without whom Bangkok would drown in a sea of trash."

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has installed special bins for wet, dry and toxic junk and a fleet of special trucks to collect sorted garbage destined directly for the re-cycling plants, a la Suisse. Again, unfortunately, the citizenry does not react.

Pattaya has its own legions of saleng people, so named after the three-wheelers, usually rusted beyond recognition, in which they collect trash, and perhaps we can attempt to start something here. At least as individuals we can sort our own refuse and help our own saleng people who, in turn, are helping the environment directly through re-cycling.

One other effort, on a personal basis, would be what Bangkok environment writer Wipawee Otaganonta urged us some seven years ago, to reject all forms of plastic bags and containers. In her excellent article entitled "Saying no to plastic shopping bags," Wipawee urges simply do not use them; rather, take your own re-usable carry bag on shopping forays.

It is going to be rather difficult to convince some Thais to do this, but perhaps some farangs, especially those from countries with strict laws against environmental degradation, would be more amenable.

Not an avid shopper myself, nevertheless, on a recent shopping trip I netted 14 plastic bags: not only were they used to hold my purchases but some of the goods inside, in turn, were encased in plastic. Fortunately, a number of these were provisions from Foodland which uses only biodegradable bags.

But what of the rest? I wondered how many plastic bags the average household accumulates in one week. It must be a mountain - and a non-biodegradable one at that. These types of plastics can only be destroyed at extremely high temperatures. Scientists otherwise estimate that it takes years for them to biodegrade.

To conclude, it is worth looking again at the ideas of Ms Butler whose "Friends of Conservation Organization", founded in Nairobi, Kenya, did much to save the wild-life and environment of East Africa. "Every person must re-think the overall approach to consumption," urges Ms. Butler. "Avoid using any household items damaging to the environment. Any toxic substances going down the drain will end up somewhere in the land or sea environment."

Do something; start somewhere! "One person CAN make a difference," she adds. Although it is going to be a long road back to former glory, these schemes of the city fathers and our own individual efforts may help rehabilitate the old lady we now see, to the Pattaya of yore, when there were pristine beaches, sparkling seas and clean streets.

Let’s try. Let’s start - NOW!

World’s largest captive bear population in the neighbourhood

Unbeknown to many, Pattaya is home to what is probably the world’s largest population of captive black bears in the world.

This, however, is not something to celebrate. Nor is the Banglamung Wildlife Breeding Centre in the hills overlooking Jomtien a tourist attraction. Having 75 bears in captivity means that less are in the wild, the result of poor wildlife conservation in a country that has arguably some of the richest animal populations known.

Thailand’s Royal Forest Department has ended up as the dumping ground for exotic pets, like bears, that have been abandoned by owners after the cuddling stage has ended. People, including resident foreigners, make purchases from middlemen who have literally snatched baby animals from their mothers.

Buyers like to think that they are providing a good home for the baby bear, gibbon, monkey or binturong. In fact, the reverse occurs. By paying for an exotic pet, the marketplace is perpetuated and wild animal populations reduce. Once the animal grows, sooner or later - but inevitably, its wild instincts will develop and someone gets bitten.

A massive problem has occurred with the Asiatic Black Bear, an indigenous mammal that counts as one of the world’s endangered species. It grows to 180kg, is dangerous, and requires labour intensive husbandry, expensive caging, and massive quantities of veterinary supplies. No one stops to think when at 5kg and cute as a button when born, the bear is a favourite pet even though its captivity is illegal.

In response to the Forest Department’s dilemma, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), a London-based international charity, funded the construction of a 30-rai compound in Banglamung in 1996. Fenced and secured by electric wires, the enclosure was built for 16 bears but presently holds 35 and will soon have 45. Thus is the scale of Thailand’s black bear problem.

WSPA’s local partner society, the Thai Society for the Conservation of Wild Animals (TSCWA), maintains the enclosure and supports the Forest Department staff. Things to do include sustaining the animal management system by supplementing diets, enriching dens and planting trees, and ensuring that veterinarians are on-site to handle sickness and eliminate the possibility of an outbreak of disease.

Without this care, the bears never wake from their traumatised psychotic state nor get the chance to experience life in native habitat. And although returning the animals to the forest is a lengthy and extremely difficult scientific procedure, re-introduction is certainly impossible if the bear remains in a 3m-long cage for all its life.

But in the wake of Thailand’s financial downturn and dwindling budgets from the government, Banglamung’s bears have been forced to go on a diet. Sustaining a healthy balance of food and building up the strength of new baby animals that are continually confiscated by the officials is becoming harder and harder.

Towards this, TSCWA volunteers have begun collecting unwanted food and offcuts from Pattaya’s hotels and restaurants. Almost anything will do, as bears are not fussy eaters. But the TSCWA needs more, and it is hoping that Pattaya’s business leaders will enthusiastically embrace its own local wildlife conservation activities.

You can help by contacting the TSCWA, care of the Pattaya Mail. Or write to the Thai Society for the Conservation of Wild Animals, 32 Prathum Ct, 85/3-8 Soi Rajaprarop Makkasan, Bangkok 10400. Tel: (02) 248-0405, Fax: 248-1490. Email: [email protected]

Post script
Pattaya Mail sent a photographer to the Banglamung Wildlife Breeding Centre who returned with graphic pictures and the heart rending story of the plight of our bears.

WSPA volunteers, Bruce Vickery and Sophie Sharpe just do not have enough resources to feed these bears. An adult bear requires 10 kg of food a day and they are currently only getting around 2 kg.

The bears are not here by choice. They have ended up at Banglamung because someone unthinkingly bought a cute cuddly pet, on the black market, that turned into a large problem. Many are too psychologically traumatized to be able to be released back into the Thai forests.

Other bears, which have been taken from their homelands of Vietnam, Laos and Burma, are not genetically programmed for life in the wilds of Thailand and will have to remain in "care" for the rest of their lives.

Animals taken from the wild eventually return to their instinctive aggressive behaviour. Black Bears, Sun Bears and the Gibbon and Macaque monkeys are all examples of species taken by us to be pets, when in actual fact, these animals cannot be domesticated. They are wild animals that should be left to roam free.

The Bears are part of Thailand’s heritage and we should do our best for these unfortunate animals. Soon there will be 75 bears in enclosures meant for much less. The volunteers have no money for food for the animals or to purchase much needed veterinary supplies.

Collectively, we have caused these bears to be in these appalling circumstances. Surely we can now try to make amends? You can positively help with donations to the TSCWA.

The Voyages of the SS Swartenhondt

Over the past years I have related on these pages details of my life as sailor in the "roaring" fifties (they were roaring for me). The developments in Indonesia recently made me realise that I have not mentioned the time that I sailed on the SS Swartenhondt, a ship built in 1924 who maintained a zigzag service in the straits of Makasar and beyond, to what we referred to as the "Molukken" or the Moluccas.

Those were difficult years. President Sukarno, the front man of the group of educated Indonesians who led the republic of Indonesia to independence from the Dutch, was terribly annoyed with our company, the K.P.M. lines, it being an irritating remnant of Dutch colonialism. Although Indonesia had started its own inter island shipping, it still could not really do without our floating grocery empire, as we called it. We still maintained the traffic and communications between the islands. We were a necessary evil so to speak. This was not the only reason Sukarno encouraged the Indonesians to hate us, through his charismatic and volatile speeches. The stubborn Dutch held on to a piece of real estate they actually could do better without, namely the western part of the Island of New Guinea or, as the Indonesian called it, "Irian Barat". Eventually, in the sixties, it became part of the republic as well.

The country was in a mess; the people went hungry and there was a break down of common morals. Anarchy was rampant. Stealing from our cargo was a virtue and as soon as we arrived with a cargo of rice from Thailand, for instance, the Indonesian labour would disappear into the hatches and emerge jubilant with their pockets full of rice or even extra bags filled to the brim with the staple. Once we left Jakarta with a party of 45 cases of Bata shoes destined for Manado. During the voyage in the several ports we called on, pilferage was rife and when we finally discharged in Manado there were only a few shoes left of the whole lot, and these were not pairs but left or right shoes.

On these Moluccas runs we would take a large contingency of Makassar (nowadays Ujung Pandan) labour on board to load and discharge cargo on some of the deserted beaches we would call at. These fierce and independent people, also called Badjos, were Buginese who are known to be most able sailors and notorious pirates since times immemorial. They sail the oceans in magnificent schooners and are supposed to have settled on Madagascar hundreds of years ago. The people of that island off the coast of Africa are of Malay extraction and they speak a language which is supposed to be a version of Malay.

Right here in Thailand there was a large colony of Makassar people who revolted against the Siamese rule in the time of Constantine Phaulkon in Ayutthaya. After the destruction of that beautiful city by the Burmese, they apparently moved south and a neighbourhood near Pratunam and New Petchburi Road in Bangkok is still called "Makasan", a bastardisation of Makassar. Many people living in the neighbourhood and along Klong Saen Seb are of the Muslim religion as are the Buginese.

It was easy to become enemies with this rough lot, which was dangerous, but once they had decided that you were their friend you could enjoy their protection, and they would do you all kinds of small favours to show you their affection. Their sense of humour was rough and strange. Once I was present when one of our Bajos lost a finger while putting the beams back into the hatches. This was cause for great hilarity. One of his comrades retrieved the severed finger and while I escorted the victim to the Chief Engineer who was our "Doctor", he followed me urging me to sow the finger back. This was, under the circumstances, quite impossible. Medicine was practised by the chief with the help of a manual, a so called "paper doctor". I finally accepted the lifeless limb and discreetly dropped it into the sea when he wasn’t looking.

Our itinerary was variable but usually we left Surabaya with deck passengers for Makassar and other destinations. These simple people took their households with them, which included chickens, goats, bicycles, crates and fruit, especially "Durians" when they were in season. The fruit was eaten while we were still in tranquil waters and the empty Durian shells were thrown everywhere on the deck, spreading their penetrating odour. As soon as we were steaming into the Java Sea and it was windy most of the passengers became desperately seasick, throwing up on the deck as well, and the stench was unbearable.

The majority of the deck passengers disembarked in Makassar and there we took the Bajos on board for the voyage up north through the straits of Makassar. From Makassar we sailed to Parepare, a small town north of Makassar, where we mostly discharged rice and other foodstuffs.

On we went across the straits to Balik Papan on the East Coast of Borneo. Hence to Samarinda on the river Mahakam, and when we were finished, there we would cross the straits again to Dongala, the port of Palu on the West Coast of Sulawesi, and after discharging there we sailed further north to the village of Toli-Toli.

Most of those small ports of call were nothing other than a stretch of beach and somewhere out of the interior our cargo of forest products, copra (dried coconut meat) and other commodities would appear. The second officer in full uniform was carried from the special cargo boats we were equipped with (they were actually reinforced sturdy lifeboats) on the shoulders of a Badjo, to the shore to become the company’s agent. Because of this status a little table and chair plus a huge umbrella or some coconut leaves were installed to protect him from the blazing sun. There we sat for hours (if it did not start to rain) waiting for more cargo, writing mate receipts and consignments which were sent back to the ship to be signed by the Chief Officer, with copies given to the shippers.

From Toli-Toli there were several small beaches with, among them, Palele where we anchored off shore. I remember that at one of those posts we anchored with two anchors in front and the stern moored on a coconut palm. At one time I recall we did three beaches in one day. It was hard work and straight out of a story by Somerset Maugham.

The next "bigger" port would be Amurang and a few hours sailing further north Manado, the capital of the Minahassa. Then we would round the northern point of Sulawesi and call at the post-war port of Bitung on the East Coast. From there we went as far as Gorontalo. The ship would return at that point loaded especially with copra, which smells like rancid coconut oil, but also with cloves, nutmeg, and salted fish, as well as sulphur from the active volcanoes in that area.

Dutch football stars return to “Save the Children”

The ‘World Masters’ football team (ex-international players and former Ajax stars) returned to Pattaya to play a charity Soccer game, in which all proceeds went to "Save the Children" and ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography & Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes).

The team, sponsored by Greenwood Travel, Thai Airways Holland Amsterdam, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (Netherlands Office) was composed of world famous soccer stars.

This is the third year the charity game has been held. The ‘World Masters’ played against the Assumption College Team of Sriracha at Assumption College. The atmosphere was more one of good sportsmanship for a good cause than win at all costs. Even though members of the Assumption team were ‘getting on’, they still had some pep left. As the game progressed, the ‘senior members’ allowed themselves to be replaced by students of the college. The college acquitted itself well and the final score was 1-1.

After the game, there was a bacchanalian celebration at the Grand Jomtien Plaza hotel, attended by a multitude of honored guests. Sonsgak Yomjinda, Pattaya City Manager, represented Pattaya City, with Pratheep Malhotra, owner and Managing Editor of the Pattaya Mail newspaper represented the media and Mr. Micky Kearny, Advisor and Trainer for INTERPOL, represented the Children’s Foundation of Bangkok.

It was a starry night, with many singers and famous football players. Some of the well-known stars were Spiro, Jac Herb, Glenda Peters, Saskia and Serge, Ivo Franklin and Ria Valk.

Well known players were Benny Wijnsteker, Leo Van Veen, Eddy Pasveer and Wim Meutstege.

The atmosphere at the party was one of camaraderie and satisfaction at the good job everyone had done to help ECPAT.

Automania: Automania meets the Lone Ranger!

by Iain Corness

The big boss of Ford in Thailand is David Snyder. Nice guy, but helluva busy - or so says his ever-protective secretary, Julie. I began trying to get an appointment to see David back in April, but he was tied up with the International Motor Show in Bangkok. Nothing daunted, I made the trip to Bangers and waylaid him as he left the Ford stand. This, I might add, was not difficult as he was sporting a plaster cast on his left foot!

However, what I did not know at the time, and the reason for his haste, was that he was on his way to the loo. Deciding a "head to head" chat at the urinal was not the stuff of which great journalism is made, I contented myself with brief congratulations on their Motor Show razzamatazz and mentioned that I would hopefully be seeing him for an interview. I took a business card from one of his minders and withdrew gracefully.

Now, at least armed with a card and the executive wash room fax number, I contacted Julie who efficiently arranged an appointment to see her el supremo. She also asked that I fax over the questions I would ask, so that David could be prepared. I must say that I found that a trifle odd, as I am sure David isn’t in his present position with the world’s number 2 car maker if he can’t handle questions "off the cuff" from automotive scribblers like me. However, never being one to buck the system, I dutifully sent off the framework of my questions.

The fax was still warm when Julie rang to say that David was terribly sorry, but he was called urgently to Bangkok and would not be able to see me that day as previously arranged. I began getting paranoid. Was this part of a deliberate plot? Had David’s spies found out that I once owned a General Motors Holden product? "Can I have another appointment time?" was my feeble reply.

Now young Julie isn’t where she is with FoMoCo if she got fazed easily, so she took it all in her stride and gave me another appointment for a couple of weeks later. As the days clicked by, I began to get anxious. I looked again at the business card to estimate how long it would take from the Editorial Office in Pattaya to the Auto Alliance (Ford/Mazda) in some industrial estate with "Rayong" in brackets after the name. With Rayong about an hour down the road, I decided on leaving at 7.30 a.m. for my 9.00 appointment. Nothing was being left to chance.

I set off before breakfast, reaching outer Rayong with 45 minutes to spare. Breakfast even looked like being in order. Strangely, I had seen no signs to the industrial estate, but no problems, there was a Mazda Dealer who could no doubt point me in the correct direction.

The friendly Mazda girls studied the business card intently, turned it over several times to read the Thai "wriggle writing" on the back, talked amongst themselves and then drew me a map. Things were looking good, I could almost taste the forthcoming brekkie!

Faithfully following the "mud map", I turned the last corner and there it was! The Auto Alliance Factory? No, another Mazda dealership!

This lot were even more helpful - they rang the Auto Alliance and ascertained that I was at least an hour away from where I should have been. Julie came on the phone and said that since David already had another appointment at 10 a.m. then would I like to cancel? The obvious answer was "No, but I’ll have to won’t I?"

Returning to the office I faxed the most elegant letter to David and Julie, composed while on bended knee over broken glass. It worked, though! Julie rang and said that David was very busy etc., etc., but he could see me a week later. That, of course, was a day I was in Bangkok and so yet again it appeared that David Snyder would escape. We parted on good terms, but personally appointmentless!

Now, I was not going to let Ford slip out of my hands so easily. Good old Aussie know-how came to the rescue. Happening across the time table of the Australian Ambassador’s visit to the Eastern Seaboard, what did I see? A visit to the Auto Alliance and an address by, you guessed it, David Snyder himself.

A couple of "G’Day Mates" later to the Oz Embassy and I had an invitation. Automania had finally broached the walls of FoMoCo!

Question time was my forum and all my queries were answered. Next was a guided tour of the Plant. As I swung in behind David as we left the office, Julie swung in even quicker, removing the small camera I was carrying. So I’m sorry, no sneak pics!

However, I have "eye balled" the new ute (pick-up) called the Ranger. Number1 is blue and rear wheel drive (4WD is also available). This first lone Ranger to come off the new Thailand assembly line is not for sale as David has earmarked it for the foyer. My parting shot was to ask David for a test drive. "Later in the year" was his reply. "How about July?" I countered. "Too soon" he said with a smile. Reckon I’ll ring Julie!

Autotrivia Quiz
Last week’s question related to the world land speed record and the fuel used to power the first car past 350 mph. The answer was John Cobb, who recorded an average of 350.2 mph in 1938. The fuel he used? Well, I gave you the "horse"power tip. Mobil’s logo for many years has been Pegasus the flying horse! It was Mobil and the car was called the Railton Mobil Special.

So to this week. Still thinking about fuel, what was the first production diesel engined British car? A free beer on me for the first reader to correctly identify it. Fax or email the editorial office.

Copyright 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Created by Andy Gombaez, assisted by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek.