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Fassbind Foundation committee visits Banglamung Home for the Aged
Carrying on the work of “Mr. Pattaya”
Alois (Louis) X. Fassbind, the man who became known as
“Mr. Pattaya” through his promotion of this city world-wide, was mourned
in many places when he died in 1998, not the least being the Banglamung Home
for the Aged.
The
Fassbind Medical Home was found by Alois “Mr Pattaya” Fassbind in 1995.
Earlier last week, Fassbind Foundation committee members
visited the Fassbind Medical Center at the Banglamung Home for the Aged.
Led by longtime friend and committee chairman, Bruno
Forrer, the committee toured the medical center to see what was needed to
maintain it and ensure that residents received the best care and equipment
possible.
With the aid of staff the decision was made to renovate
the 18-year-old building. The building was repainted, fans and lighting were
replaced, toilets were renovated and additional equipment such as cabinets,
a sterilization cabinet, extractor fans and wheels on beds were added to
restore the building to its former glory so that the facility can continue
to provide residents with proper medical care.
The Fassbind Medical Home began construction on November
1, 1985, and was completed on December 20 that same year. It has since
undergone extensions and renovations. Alois Xavier Fassbind provided the
funding for the entire project from his personal funds until his sudden
passing in 1998.
Louis
Fassbind back in 1995 with then 106-year-old resident of the Home for the
Aged, Phun Tongpliew.
The
Fassbind Foundation committee members, led by Bruno Forrer (seated center)
visited the Banglamung Home for the Aged last week to check on the progress
on recent projects there.
The Foundation keeps Louis’ project alive, and
residents at the home will continue to receive much needed medical care,
since government budgets, as with most government facilities, are unable to
fully maintain maintenance, renovation and running costs.
The Foundation will also look at setting up an educational institution
involved in the tourism and hospitality sector as well as scholarships for
outstanding students in the industry.
Rotary Clubs of Pattaya, Laem Chabang, and Sriracha donate 300 bicycles to children in local areas
Donation made in conjunction with Rotary 10,000 Bicycles for Youth project
Songklod Kaewvisit
Rotary Clubs in the region have initiated a project that
will provide needy children in the area with bicycles to use to so they can
more easily attend school. The target for the scheme is to eventually
acquire 10,000 bikes. Three hundred bikes were presented in a ceremony held
at the Public Health Garden in Laem Chabang on February 25th, presided over
by the Laem Chabang municipal mayor, Boonlert Nomsilp.
Somchai
Jiarranaiphanich, past district governor, presided over the donation
ceremonies in Laem Chabang.
Boonlert
Nomsilp, Laem Chabang municipal mayor (2nd from left), officially hands over
the bicycles to deserving students
This year (2002-2003) is special for local Rotarians, as
Bhichai Rattakul now holds the position of International Rotary President,
the first Thai to do so. To honor his achievement, Rotarians in District
3340 organized the Rotary 10,000 Bicycles for Youth project.
These bicycles are important to children from low-income
families because of the long distances they have to travel daily to go to
school. Parents of these children cannot afford to purchase bikes and often
these kids drop out of school because of lack of basic transport.
These
smiling students graciously accept their bicycles.
Fifteen million baht has been raised from a concentrated
effort from the 41 Rotary Clubs in Thailand, 21 clubs abroad, bicycle
manufacturers, and a group of Rotarians from 11 countries including
Australia, England, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Scotland, Taiwan,
and the U.S.
The money was not only used to purchase bicycles, but
also donated to children in rural areas.
Somchai Jiarranaiphanich, past district governor and head
of the project, explained that Rotary understands how vital education is to
Thai youth, especially in rural areas where attendance is often irregular
and youngsters regularly drop out of school for lack of recourses.
“One of the biggest obstacles to overcome and one that
is most discouraging is the transportation problem. Residents in rural areas
do not have access to reliable transport - roads are scarce and in poor
condition. Some kids have to walk several kilometers a day to attend school.
Eventually, the effort becomes daunting,” said Somchai.
Rotary International District 3340, plus Rotary Clubs in
the northeastern and eastern regions of Thailand, promptly looked into the
situation and decided to realize the kids’ dreams by finding a way to make
it easier for them to go to school. They came up with the idea for the
bicycle project.
Bicycles will be donated to schools in the rural areas.
Teachers in these schools will distribute the bikes to children who need
them most. When these children are finished with their schooling, they will
return the bicycles to the school for next batch of needy children to use.
Somchai said, “Rotarians are concerned with children’s education and
that at least 10,000 children will not have to walk several kilometers to
schools anymore. We want to encourage these youngsters to stay in school and
grow up to be good citizens and help develop our country.”
Pattaya’s Scanasia Co. Ltd. sends a little bit of Thailand all over the world
If you ever get the chance to sail the seven seas on one
of those deluxe cruise ships and admire the shiny modern interior, you could
be looking at product from Pattaya. Well, not yet exactly from Pattaya, but
a company in charge of the cruise ship metal, glass and steel interior has
its main office here in Pattaya.
 Scanasia
Trading Co. Ltd. is located in a big gray office building on Sukhumvit Road.
No one would think that behind that facade is the seat of a company which
does business with half of the world.
Scanasia’s Aaltonen and Juha took the time to explain
their business with us:
The company was established in 1997, when a group of
businesspeople from Finland settled down here to take advantage of the mix
of good quality products and workmanship and relatively cheap costs and
salaries in Thailand.
Scanasia Trading Co. Ltd. is solely a trading company and
buys its products from all over Asia. But most are bought in Thailand,
especially from the Bangkok area.
Managing Director Aaltonen explained, “We can deliver
high quality products that reflect European standards from here and keep our
prices much cheaper.”
Aaltonen said his customers are the shipyards around the
world that build huge cruise ships, particularly in Finland, his biggest
customer.
“One ship weighs approximately 140,000 tons, is 310
meters long, 38-48 meters wide and has 17 floors,” says Juha, who points
out that these giant ships require enormous attention to detail.
Details are what Scanasia deals in. They build steel
parts, aluminum pillars, frames for glass cubicles in elevators, marble
bowls for plants, wooden ornaments and even hangers for the passenger
cabins. “We deliver all parts, either from our stocks or we have them
custom made,” said Juha.
It takes about one year to complete building a ship this
size and elegance. Delivery dates are crucial. Deadlines on deliveries can
be complicated and difficult to coordinate. “We are in continuous contact
with our manufacturers to make sure that everything is ready on time,”
emphasizes Juha. “Yet problems do come up. Once a manufacturer told us
just three months before the delivery date that he had to raise the price
for his product,” he said.
Frenzied, they looked for a substitution and finally
found it in Portugal. But when the sample item arrived the measurements were
all wrong.
Now Juha can smile about it. “I flew to Portugal where
I worked day and night with our client until we finally managed to deliver
on time,” he said proudly.
In five years Scanasia has solidly established itself in
the industry. Today it is on the list of major shipyards around the globe.
“In the beginning we had to do a lot of running around but now the
shipyards are contacting us,” said the MD.
Scanasia Trading Co. Ltd. Is about to take another daring
step - from trading to manufacturing. They plan to open a glass and metal
factory to produce products under their own brand name. The company will
also focus on the local market to provide parts for kitchens and doors.
“Pattaya is an unbelievable growth market. A person can go away for a
week or two and upon return everything looks different,” said Juha, who is
planning to use this dynamic development for his business venture.
What an improvement
Opinion by Akshay Singh
After constant surveillance and regular inspections of
the water around the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Royal Cliff Beach Resort,
Pattaya Beach and Jomtien Beach, I am pleased to report that there has been
a remarkable improvement in the cleanliness of the water in these areas.
Pattaya
does have some beautiful scenery.
It is obvious that City Hall is making a genuine effort
to solve the problem.
I once mentioned that people have been carelessly dumping
rubbish into the ocean, but the government seems to be keeping a tight grip
on these perpetrators.
They are also continuing efforts to clean up the local
beaches, making it possible for tourists and locals to enjoy themselves in a
clean environment. This is all that needs to be done and Pattaya’s image
will be augmented a great deal.
The
waters off Jomtien beach are now cleaner, and people frolicking in the ocean
is a common sight.
I also interviewed a number of tourists on Beach Road and
none of them seemed to have experienced any problems recently.
“I find the water here very clean. I haven’t seen any
rubbish at all,” said a British tourist.
All you need to do is take a stroll down Pattaya Beach Road or Jomtien
Beach to notice the clear progress. Children are seen playing in the water
and tourists are seen sun-baking on the warm sand. This is what Pattaya is
all about.
Sponsorship support for the 2003 PC Classic Regatta
by Peter Cummins
The sponsors are “coming aboard”, so to speak, for
the Ninth Pattaya Mail PC Classic Royal Cliff Beach Resort International
Regatta, to be sailed out off the Royal Cliff on Saturday, 29 March, 2003.
The founding sponsors - Carlsberg, Coca Cola, Ambrose Wines, the Pattaya
Mail, the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, the Royal Varuna Yacht Club and the
Tourism Authority of Thailand - are being joined this year by Barter Card,
the newly-opened Jomtien Boathouse, LCB Container Terminal 1 Ltd., Pattaya
City and Rieckermann Thai Engineering Company Ltd.
With the city fathers and concerned citizens in both the
public and private sectors determined to return the resort city to its
former pride of place as one of the world’s great tourist attractions, the
holding of such events as this annual regatta goes a long way towards
achieving this goal.
Mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat notes that, in his years
at City Hall, he has implemented many changes and he has seen Pattaya
develop from a rather small tourist resort to what is today, an
international sea-side resort city, burgeoning with some of the world’s
best hotels, conference facilities and, equally-importantly, from a tourism
perspective, unquestionably the region’s best sports facilities -
especially for marine-related pursuits.
“That is the reason that the office of the mayor has
consistently supported this great international regatta, sponsored
principally by the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, the Pattaya Mail
newspaper and managed by the Royal Varuna Yacht Club,” said Mayor Pairat
recently.
He pointed out that the road to the present has not been
easy and Pattaya has suffered from over-development - especially during the
1980s and 1990s - with the concomitant problems of pollution and damage to
the environment.
“We, at the city office, have worked hard to improve,
beautify and generally make our city a human-friendly and family-oriented
resort. A major step forward has been the installation of the massive
wastewater treatment plant as a result of which the waters of Pattaya Bay
and the contiguous coastal areas have now been declared fit for swimming,”
he added.
“It is with justifiable pride,” continued the mayor,
“that I single out the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Managing Director Panga
Vathanakul and General Manager Andrew Wood who have vigorously pursued a
campaign for a cleaner, greener Pattaya and supporting the Regatta is just
one manifestation of environment-friendly activities”.
The Pattaya Mail, too, has been a constant
‘watchdog’ of the state of the city and its environs, while the Royal
Varuna Yacht Club, the Kingdom’s biggest and most active, has year-round
local, regional and international regattas all of which create a favourable
image of our city in the world press and media channels.
The mayor observed that “the regatta, now reaching its
ninth sailing, is a truly spectacular event which brings the most-colourful
fleets close-in to the big spectator group assembled on the Royal Cliff
foreshore to watch the action.”
The Royal Cliff Catamaran - appropriately named “Island
Dream” - bedecked in the flags of the nations competing, is anchored just
off-shore, serving as the race nerve-centre and a close-up viewing platform
for the major regatta sponsors and certainly adds a touch of extra colour to
the marvellous panorama.
“We are also pleased,” Mayor Pairat concluded,
“that the press and media covering the action send a positive image of our
city, not only to local and regional media, but also world-wide to tourism
outlets, via television. The office of the mayor of Pattaya fully supports
this event from all viewpoints, particularly that of safety and security of
all concerned.”
Ms. Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority
of Thailand - a long supporter of marine as well as many other sports - is
well aware that tourism has been one of Thailand’s biggest earners of
foreign currency, since 1987.
“Pattaya, particularly, with a good year-round climate,
warm waters and, now with a much cleaner environment, is still a favourite
resort, especially during the long winter months of the Northern
Hemisphere,” said the TAT governor.
The ongoing annual regatta makes a great contribution to
Pattaya, not only through the influx of visitors who come to participate,
but also in promoting the resort to the world-at-large. The Tourism
Authority has always supported marine-related activities, such as the now
world-famous Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, held each year at the island
province, to honour His Majesty the King, himself a Gold-Medal winning
helmsman.
“We are most happy to support this regatta,” Ms
Juthamas confirmed. “It will bring in men and women from some 15 countries
to compete on the waters off the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, thus presenting a
clean, colourful spectacle for all who attend and for the press and media
which will be promoting this new image of Pattaya and the environs.
For further information about the regatta or how to
become a sponsor, contact:
Andrew J. Wood, General Manager
Royal Cliff Beach Resort
Tel: 038 250 421; E-mail: [email protected]
Peter Malhotra, Managing Director
Pattaya Mail: 038 411 240-1; E-mail: pratheep@ pattayamail.com
TAT and Royal Garden celebrate Thai Fermented Liquor & Folk Wisdom Festival
Songklod Kaewvisit
Mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat officially presided over
the opening of the Thai Fermented Liquor & Folk Wisdom Festival held at
Royal Garden Plaza last weekend. Alcoholic drinks were on display for
purchase, and free taste tests were given to help shoppers make up their
minds. How local alcohol drinks are made was also illustrated.
Suwanthep
“Tony” Malhotra and Kantamanee Inthramanee (right) emceed the fair in
English and Thai respectively.
Attaporn
Wanakit from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mayor Pairat
Suthithamrongsawat and Supadit Maneerattanajaratsri, managing director of
Royal Garden Plaza preside over the opening of the Thai Fermented Liquor
& Folk Wisdom Festival at the Royal Garden Plaza.
The mayor said that it was pure Thai wisdom that keeps
good traditions and lifestyles, and as highlighted in the event, local
production techniques must be preserved and passed on to the next
generation.
The highlight of the event was the drinking contest,
which was open to Thais and foreigners over 20 years of age. The first
person to finish a bottle of locally brewed whiskey poured down a wooden
bridge, over a big cube of ice and into his or her mouth, would win the
prize. MCs Kanthamanee Intharamanee and Suwanthep Malhotra guided the
audience through the party in both Thai and English, which was an enjoyable
event with a friendly atmosphere.
Mayor
Pairat Suthithamrongsawat visits a booth with locally made alcohol
beverages.
Winner
Somchai Phornkasaem (left) receives a cheque for 5,000 baht from Supadit
Maneerattanajaratsri, managing director of Royal Garden Plaza.
Somchai Phornkasaem from Bangkok finished 3 bottles and
went away with a 5,000 baht cash prize.
Suphakit Phrommin, another Bangkokian won the best and
most fashionable drinking style and went away with a thousand baht.
Englishman Marcus Button pressed his super-sucker button to fetch the
title of the drinker to consume the most number of liters and went away with
a thousand baht. His thousand baht was probably spent on the second round at
home.
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