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Danes honour Father
Brennan and his work
On November 2nd, at Scandic Hotel in Copenhagen, a gala
evening was held in order to generate money for Father Brennan and his great
work at the Pattaya Orphanage.
 (L
to R) Dick Falkenbrink , famous singer Anita Lerche and Ooy
At this special event 350 people attended, and people
came from Scandinavia, the UK, Germany and from France. The evening was a
tremendous success, with plenty of action from famous Danish actors and
singers.
A host of VIPS were also in attendance, among whom were
Baron Riccardo Carrini, the founder of Pattaya Orphanage Trust, UK and
Didier Molly, founder of Pattaya Orphanage Trust in France. Queen Margeret
of Denmark’s uncle, Captain in the Danish Navy (retired) Carl Castenskjold
and his lovely wife Maja were also present. Father Brennan was there for one
week, having left his beloved orphanage in order to attend this event.
 Band
leader Rene from Aqua with the 2 autographed guitars the band donated to the
auction
During the evening, an auction was held offering
well-known Danish actor Poul Glargaard’s paintings. Mr. Glargarrd paints
in his spare time. Danish designer Lasse Spangenberg sponsored two
beautifully hand made long dresses. A Danish photo model presented the
dresses while people bid on the dresses (without the contents, of course).
Plenty of money came in from both the dresses and the paintings.
But the evening’s highlights were actually two guitars
from the Danish Band Aqua that were auctioned off. The bids came faster then
a machine gun can spit its bullets, and the final bid on one guitar stopped
at DKK 20,000,or aprx. 110,000 baht. Claus Noorren from Aqua with his
charming wife Siggy were also present.
 Comedian
Leif Maibom, who just bought himself a computer, explained to the audience
how it worked - all were “sick with laughter”
This was the 9th time that honorary member of the Jomtien
Pattaya Rotary Club, Bjorn Falkenbrink organized a gala evening for the
Pattaya Orphanage to acknowledge Father Brennan’s great work. Bjorn has
been a close friend of Father Brennan for 24 years, and over the decades has
been providing tons of things for the Pattaya Orphanage.
Many thanks goes to the numerous generous sponsors in
Denmark, and an understanding Airline, SAS, Scandinavian Airline, which made
it possible to bring all the things to Thailand. And we must not forget the
very understanding people at Don Muang Airport Customs Department, who know
and understand the seriousness of the work Father Brennan does at the
orphanage.
 (From
left): Rotarian Hans-Jorgen Sejrbo, Bjorn Falkenbrink, Father Brennan, Frank
Rasmussen (with the “Aqua” guitar he bought at the auction for
B110,000), and the Queen’s uncle, Capt. Carl Castenskjold.
Knowing Bjorn, we are sure that he will continue to
collect items for the orphanage for many years to come. He remarked that he
is looking forward to organising the next gala evening. That will the 10
years jubilee, and Father Brennan has promised to attend that event as well.
Bjorn said that he now has 78 bookings for that event
which will take place on November 1st 2002 at Scandic Hotel, Copenhagen. It
would be fantastic if people from Pattaya could attend. Bjorn e-mail is for
booking is: [email protected]
Planet Rock scores best
babe in Miss South Pattaya 2002
The crown for the Miss Pattaya 2002 title went to Planet
Rock’s Ms. Jen after a star studded evening at the Planet Rock Nightclub
in Pattayaland 2.
The five judges, all of whom showed varying degrees of
personal bias were from the sponsors, with Fredi from Bruno’s Restaurant
and Wine Bar, Pascal from Casa Pascal’s Fine Dining, Andrew Khoo GM Hard
Rock Hotel and Dr. Iain from the Pattaya Mail Nite Beat show, plus another
gentleman from the Singha beer garden at Big C who kept his name a secret,
in case the wrong girl won.
 The
happy winner of Miss Pattaya 2002, Planet Rock’s Ms. Jen
After the sponsors were introduced and the concept of
vote buying explained by Dr. Iain, who showed a rather empty wallet, the
ladies, all 17 of them appeared in bikinis. The bars sponsoring the lovelies
included Bubbles, Best Friend, Mr. Gary (?), Spicy Girls, Juthamas Beauty
Salon, Lipstick, Planet Rock, All Girls, Rodeo, Miss Linda, Cafe New Orleans
and Top Class Entertainment. Fredi was heard to mutter if all the waitresses
looked like the Cafe New Orleans entrant he would eat there every night!
To give the judges time to mark their sheets, there was
an interlude with Las Vegas style dancing shows with feather headdresses and
lots of swinging beads and swinging anatomy as well.
The next round had the ladies in evening dress and again
it was frantic pencilling from the impartial judges who could be seen
offering inducements to each other (verbal and otherwise).
Some more dancing shows followed with the scores being
totted up to get the final five contestants who were judged on their beauty,
whether they were “interesting” and their intelligence. Those who knew
their own names had a head start. Searching questions were put to the girls
as to what they would do for the traffic problem, the 2 a.m. closing and
advice to George Bush.
More frantic scribbling followed, with impartial
accountants being called in to check the mathematics of the Casio Diastar
calculator. The final scores were agreed upon by everyone except the partial
judges, but in the end it was Planet Rock’s Ms. Jen who picked up the
prize money, flowers, sash and the trophy, presented by Dr. Iain on behalf
of the Pattaya Mail. First runner up was Ms. Jane from Juthamas Beauty
Salon, followed by Ms. Jak from Cafe New Orleans, Ms. Bun (also Planet Rock)
and Ms. Ganya from Rodeo Girls.
Ms. Jen will proudly wear the sash, and probably little
else, for the next 12 months!
Sikhs celebrate Gurpurab
this week
Members of the community donate blood to the
Thai Red Cross
Anniversaries associated with the lives of the Sikh Gurus
are referred to as Gurpurabs (festivals). Of these, the important
ones are the birthdays of Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh and the martyrdom
days of Guru Arjun Dev and Guru Teg Bahadur.
Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, was born in a
Punjabi village (which is now in Pakistan) in 1469. His birth anniversary,
or Guru Nanak’s Jayanti, which falls in the months of
October-November (Kartik), is enthusiastically celebrated by Sikhs as
Gurpurab.
Guru
Nanak
Gurpurabs witness the culminations of Prabhat Pheris,
the early morning religious procession which goes around the localities
singing Shabads (hymns). These Pheris generally start three
weeks before the festival. Devotees offer sweets and tea when the procession
passes by their residence.
In Pattaya the celebrations start with the three-day Akhand
Path in which the Granth Sahib (the holy book of the Sikhs) is
read continuously from beginning to end without a break. Conclusion of the
reading coincides with the day of the festival.
On this day the Granth Sahib is carried in
procession throughout the village or city. It is placed on a float or a van
strewn with flowers. Five armed guards, who represent the Panj Pyares,
head the procession carrying Nishan Sahibs (the Sikh flag). Local bands are
hired for playing religious music for the procession. Marching
schoolchildren are a special part of the procession. Free sweets and langar
are also offered to the general public outside some gurdwaras.
This week devout Sikh residents of Pattaya made a special
pilgrimage to the Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Soi
17, where special programmes were arranged and kirtans (religious
songs) were sung. Langar or community lunch was also arranged in the
gurdwara. The Langar was open to people of all walks of life and of
all faiths. Local volunteers served it with a spirit of Seva
(service) and Bhakti (devotion).
At night Sikhs illuminated and decorated their houses and
Gurdwaras with candles and electric lights.
To celebrate this joyous occasion Pattaya residents of
all faiths and nationalities are invited to donate blood to the Thai Red
Cross at the Sikh Temple in Soi 17 this morning from 9 a.m. until noon.
After which all are welcome to stay and have lunch.
The Crocodile, the
Elephant and the Monkey - Part 4
by Geoffrey A. Franklin
 The
driver’s desperate manoeuvre at that deadly high speed almost worked. He
missed the elephant by what must have seemed like a millimetre. His wildly
out of control vehicle, though, skidded off the road with the sickening
sound and smell of burning rubber, before coming to a thudding destructive
halt at the bottom of the, fortunately, dry klong dividing the two
carriageways of the Sukhumvit highway. He struck his head on the dashboard,
temporarily stunning him as his vehicle’s protective air bag belatedly
expanded around him. In truth, his driver’s safety belt had prevented him
from being ejected through his laminated windscreen against the dried up,
hard sides of the klong and almost certain death. His head, resting upon the
horn of his utterly destroyed vehicle, continued to play jolly warning
tunes. Meanwhile, his compact disc player was playing a Frank Sinatra
standard number, ‘Strangers in the night.’ Later, he was to protest to
the vigilant, on duty night staff of the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital outside of
which he had crashed and who heard all the noise and had rushed out extract
him from his wrecked vehicle, “I swerved to miss a huge elephant with a
crocodile and a monkey on its back and a policeman with glowing white hands
flying horizontally over the road.”
 The
hospital staff exchanged indulgent glances to each other. They had a quite
different idea on what had caused this near fatal accident. They had heard
similar alcohol influenced stories like this one before. A subsequent
standard blood test revealed that the driver, a Bangkok businessman, had
been drinking alcohol earlier. He stood firmly by his story. His crazed,
demonic driving speed had absolutely nothing to do with his vehicle being
only half the length it had been before the accident. His speed seemed
totally irrelevant to him.
Meanwhile, an utterly distracted, terrified Patchy had
charged forward to escape the glaring headlamps, blaring horns and
screeching brakes of this “thing” threatening to kill her, Lingy and
Toothy. Her eyes rolled around her head and her large ears sailed behind her
at a speed she had never, ever run at before. She crossed the Sukhumvit
trumpeting loudly in uncontrollable fear, her tail tucked firmly between her
rear legs as she galloped away from it all. She vaguely felt some things
crumble under her feet as she gained impetus but could not stop to look
back.
Toothy clung on to Patchy’s back for grim death, whilst
Lingy screamed incessantly, “I told you so, I told you so,” at the
extreme excitement of the moment.
Took had quickly recovered from his flying rugby tackle
like dive to safety. He stood up, shook himself to recover a semblance of
composure and watched Patchy’s huge backside rapidly disappearing down
Pattaya Nua Soi, toward their intended destination, the beach road. He
remounted his motorcycle and paused momentarily to look down into the dried
bed of the klong at the smoking telescoped vehicle there, as the hospital
staff swarmed all over it. He issued a few mental curses at it, as he set
off in hot pursuit of a very frightened Patchy. As he drove on, he passed a
number of Mercedes Benz limousines parked outside the Gulf Siam Hotel that
had been squashed virtually flat. He raced on past Pattaya City Hall and the
prestigious World Gems buildings, staring forward hoping to see Patchy. His
sole concern was for his animal charges.
 He
eventually slid to a standstill beside the trio at the dolphin roundabout at
the junction of Pattaya Second Road and Soi Naklua. Patchy was breathing
very heavily after her two-kilometre sprint at an elephant’s Olympic
record breaking speed. Slowly she began to recover and to assume her placid
composure. “My feet hurt,” she moaned looking down at her bloodied and
broken toenails on all her four feet. Lingy continued screaming
hysterically.
“Oh shut up,” growled Toothy at him. He eyed Took
cynically and asked sarcastically, “Is that what a policeman means when he
says he will see you safely over the road?” Took ignored the sarcasm and
said, “Sorry about that, the Sukhumvit seems to be full of suicidal
drivers, all of them with a death wish. There was nothing I could do to
prevent it, even at this early hour in the morning.”
His animal charges seemed to have recovered sufficiently
to continue and he said to them, “The beach is only is only two or three
hundred metres down the road here, just past the Amari Orchid Hotel. Your
race down Pattaya Nua has saved us valuable time Patchy. You must be gone
before sunrise.”
Continued next week…
Updated every Friday.
Copyright 2001 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
Updated by
Chinnaporn Sangwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
E-Mail: [email protected]
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The Rotary Club
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Skal
International
Pattaya
Fun City
By The Sea
www.pattayarotary.org
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