|
Hard Rock Hotel holding first annual hotel sports competition
On July 15, Andrew Khoo, general manager of the Hard
Rock Hotel Pattaya, presided over the opening ceremony of the “Hard Rock
Sports Competition 2002”. The opening ceremonies took place at the
sports lawn of the Hard Rock Hotel. 429 people from the management and
staff are participating in the fun and games.
 Andrew
Khoo shoots the first basketball to officially open the games.
Organized to address the current drug problem in the
community, the human resource department of the hotel realized that
promoting sporting events can create a shield against the problems of drug
abuse.
Sports also promote unity, good health, identify
individuals who have real potential in various sports and teach people how
to work and play as teams. Team sports such as football, men’s and
women’s volleyball and chair ball are being featured.
The event began with an enthusiastic and colorful
parade of the sports personnel. Four teams participated: the red, blue,
green and orange team.
Andrew Khoo gave the opening speech and shot the first
basketball which officially opened the games. The event started July 15
and will run through August 1st.
Kim turns the big 4 - 6
On Saturday July 20, Shenanigan’s landlord Kim
Fletcher barely made it through his 46th birthday party celebrations in
Shenanigans Pattaya.
 Sometimes
it’s worth having a birthday, even if it is your 46th, as Kim Fletcher
discovered on the 20th July at Shenanigans Pattaya this year.
Heineken draught, Amstel bottles, Stolichnaya vodka,
Gin, Johnnie Walker Black Label, & Jamesons Whisky were all being sold
at 46 baht, and plenty of Chef Sunny’s bar snacks were served free to
mop up the alcohol.
With plenty of friends and customers on hand to help
Kim celebrate, he was last seen sporting a large number of gin and tonics.
For the many that might not remember, later during the night there was
some acoustic music followed by rock DVD’s on the big screen.
 Landlord
Kim Fletcher being held up by the many partygoers at Shenanigans last
Saturday night.
Happy Birthday Kim, what a party to remember, if you or anybody else
can!
American VFW donates basketball hoop to Ban Poosri Uppathom
Suchada Tupchai
Last week, Pol. Lieutenant Col Jirat Phichitpai, director
of the Ban Poosri Uppathom Drug Rehabilitation Center had an informal
meeting with members of the local group of American Veterans of Foreign
Wars, and their leader, Commander Guy (Bob) Dodson. During the meeting, Col
Jirat happened to mention that the center was lacking in sports equipment,
and that he thought a basketball setup would be an especially good outlet
for the residents and a good “tool” to use in the rehabilitation
project.
Commander
Bob and his men from the local American VFW last week donated a basketball
setup to Pol. Lieutenant Col Jirat Phichitpai, director of the Ban Poosri
Uppathom Drug Rehabilitation Center.
Commander Bob and his men resolved to gather up some
funds and buy the center a basketball hoop, backboard and stand. The setup
cost a total of 14,000 baht, but the money wasn’t what was important to
the veterans. It was more important for them to give something back to the
community, something of intrinsic value, something that could continuously
be put to good use.
On July 17, the American veterans made the trek out to
the center in Naklua and presented Pol. Lieutenant Col Jirat Phichitpai with
the new basketball equipment. The “court” was immediately set up and by
the time the formalities were over, a pickup game had already begun.
Currently, Ban Poosri Uppathom assists 40 young people in their
rehabilitation program. The center is supported by the government and a
number of individuals and charity organizations.
Georgian wines sampled by Royal
Cliff Wine Club members
by Miss Terry Diner
The Wine Tasting session this month held by the Royal
Cliff Wine Club was for Georgian wines. This was the first time that wines
from Georgia, previously an Eastern Bloc country, had been tasted in
Thailand.
 Even
the photographer got a little blurry at this wine tasting!
The importation of these “old style” wines has been
done by the Thai-Georgian Trading Company, whose executive director, Davit
Kapanadze, showed the wine club members the amazing ability of the Georgians
to drink one complete 750 ml bottle of 12% alcohol wine in under one minute!
The Georgians gave up drinking after they invented “gulping”.
Taking the members through six of these very different
wines was Satayaphorn Tantemsapya, the author of the only Thai language book
on wines, who showed the depth of his understanding of viniculture with his
descriptions of these previously unknown wines in the S.E. Asian region.
Like all public discussion on wines, there were extremes of opinion, with
some favouring the semi-sweet as opposed to the dry red varieties and vice
versa. These were certainly new tastes for most of the members and represent
another facet in wine making from this old European nation, which some claim
was actually the originator of present day wine making.
|
