HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Chakri Dynasty commemorated on April 6

A most happy birthday to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn

Swiss President visits Bangsai Center and Helga Jaermann’s Porcelain Painting Station

Pattaya welcomes Arisa

Singapore: A catalyst for Asian boating?

Tasmanians and the Saga of the Fourth Cycle

Chakri Dynasty commemorated on April 6

Banks and businesses to close in observance of holiday

Chakri Day (April 6) was first instituted by H.M. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) in the year 1919 to commemorate all the Kings in the Chakri Dynasty, which started with Rama I and continues to this day with Rama IX, H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great.

The reigning Kings in the House of Chakri brought peace and tranquility to the people within Thailand’s borders and successfully protected the Kingdom, maintaining sovereignty and integrity through crucial periods threatened by European colonization and two World Wars.

In commemorating “Chakri Day” the national flag is proudly displayed by the people of Thailand and both government officials and members of the community participate in traditional ceremonies, making offerings of flowers and garlands at the many statues of Kings in the House of Chakri.

The Chakri Dynasty, or the “House of Chakri” followed the reign of King Taksin the Great, when He abdicated due to poor health. The Chakri Dynasty was ushered in on 6 April 1782 when a close aid of King Taksin, General Chakri, marched back into Thonburi and assumed the throne as H.M. King Buddhayodfa the Great. Each Monarch thereafter has had “Rama” as part of their title.

Banks, government offices and most business offices will close on Tuesday, April 6 in observance of this special day.

Chakri Dynasty - Chronology of the present-day Dynasty of Thailand

King Buddhayodfa the Great (Rama I) 1782-1809

The first King of the Chakri Dynasty moved the capital city from Thonburi to Bangkok and built the Grand Palace that houses the Emerald Buddha. Helped release Thailand from Burmese control after Ayuthaya succumbed 14 years earlier.

King Buddhaloetla (Rama II) 1809-1824

The first great poet king of the Chakri Dynasty, renowned for his literature.

King Nangklao (Rama III) 1824-1851

Extensively encouraged international trading and education, enhanced promotion of Buddhism and built many temples.

King Mongkut (Rama IV) 1851-1868

Modernized Thailand in both commerce and education. Known as the “Father of Thai Scientists” and famous for his astrology.

King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V) 1868-1910

One of the most beloved and revered kings, He abolished slavery, extensively contacted the Western world, modernized the government, education, transportation, and communication. His diplomacy skills saved Thailand from being colonized during colonial period.

King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) 1910-1925

A great poet king. Continued the work of Rama V in modernizing Thailand. Promoted education and established the Boy Scouts in Thailand.

King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) 1925-1935

Granted the Constitution to Thailand in 1932. Thailand changed from Absolute Monarchy to Constitutional Monarchy.

King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII), 1935-1946

A direct grandson of King Rama V. Known as the father of modern Thai medicine.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great (Rama IX) 1946 to the present

A true monarch of the people and guiding light for the whole Thai nation. Saved Thailand from many crises, dedicated to raising the living standards of the poor, especially in remote regions.

Rama I
Rama II	Rama III
Rama IV	Rama V
Rama VI	Rama VII
Rama VIII	Rama IX

Swiss President visits Bangsai Center and Helga Jaermann’s Porcelain Painting Station

During his official state visit to Thailand, Dr. Joseph Deiss, president of the Swiss Federation, toured the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center at H.M. Queen Sirikit’s Support Foundation.

Joining him for the tour were Mrs. Deiss, Swiss Ambassador Hans-Peter Erismann, Mrs. Erismann and the Swiss trade delegation.

Swiss porcelain painting artist Helga Jaermann heads the Porcelain Painting Station at the center, where she has been an honorary porcelain painting teacher since 1994.

Swiss Thai Chamber of Commerce and Diethelm Travel organized part of the full day excursion program to Ayutthaya for the Swiss delegation.

Dr. Joseph Deiss, president of the Swiss Federation, admires an orchid plate painted by Helga Jaermann.

Dr. Deiss & Mrs. Deiss (center), the Swiss Ambassador’s wife Freda Erismann (left), and Helga Jaermann (right).

Helga Jaermann presents flowers to Swiss President Dr. Joseph Deiss.

Dr. Joseph Deiss takes a closer look as one of the porcelain painting artists works on a piece.

Pattaya welcomes Arisa

It is an old European custom to welcome newborn children with a traditional ‘head wetting’. For someone as non-traditional as the Pattaya Mail’s Dr. Iain, it could be imagined from the beginning that this head wetting in Shenanigans would be just a little different (or maybe it’s the upside down way that Australians look at life). He left his baby at home! His excuse was the fact that he wasn’t having his daughter hanging around in pubs to all hours when she was only one week old.

Sai presents Doc with what is proving to be a handy accessory - a baby bath.

However, Dr. Iain and wife Som were delighted at the welcome that has been given to their baby daughter Arisa (for those who like statistics, she was 3.7 kg in weight and 52 cm long at birth). And for those who like comparative statistics, that’s 50 grams heavier and 1 cm bigger than Jason Payne’s baby Leo.

Sheri (left) and Pat (right) present the Doc with gift-wrapped “necessities”.

The people who crowded into the Shenanigans pub were a good cross-section of the good folks of Pattaya and ranged from all the experienced Mums such as Kannikar Ottesen, who was looking so ‘motherly’ that husband Ib should perhaps go on an extended holiday immediately, to new Mums like Nui Payne (who had brought baby Leo to negotiate the dowry). Other Mums who were ‘clucking’ over the baby photos included Pat Burbridge, Sheri Ferguson and Xena. Pat, Xena and Sheri proffering practical advice in the way of disposable nappies. (Ask Dr. Iain one day about the story of his second son and the nappy!)

Proud parents Doc and Som with 19-day-old Arisa.

With new Mum Som having spent some time in the restaurant business, it was no surprise to see the Royal Cliff dynamic duo of Walter Thenisch and Stefan Beuttler sharing an ale with the proud father. Or was that several ales with proud Dad?

Negotiating photographic rights was Howard Greene, Pattaya’s ace photographer of ladies, but since father Iain is currently waiting for Elite model agency in New York to contact him, Howard was told he would have to wait. More media people were seen, with Les and Raine from Pattaya Mail Plus TV looking to secure the electronic medium rights, but both received the same answer given to Howard Greene. This is going to be an expensive baby to photograph.

(L to R) Peter and Zena smile convincingly as the proud father shows off his princess.

Rotarians turned out too, with presidents Peter Malhotra, Dieter Precourt and past presidents Dennis Stark and John Richards including president elect Chris Gibbins from both the Jomtien-Pattaya and Taksin-Pattaya clubs offering fast-tracks to the presidency.

Bryant (center) tells Noi (left), “You’d better be at work tomorrow!”

The staff at Shenanigans were more into practical things with Sai presenting father Iain with much useful baby gear, in an even more useful baby bath. Daughter Arisa has had her head wetting in the Shenanigans bath, rather than at the Shenanigans pub.

Some of Dr. Iain’s drinking buddies from Northern Thai Realty including Bryant Berry, Jack Levy, John Seymour, Frank and Andy came to assist (and assist each other home), as well as the girls from the office Tooiee, Noi, and Am.

Proud dad Jason Payne with son Leo - a future suitor for Arisa?

As an avowed non-smoker, the proud father managed to light up and smoke, not one, but two cigars, and photographs were taken as incriminating evidence by the Pattaya Blatt’s Elfi Seitz and witnessed by John Morgan who had his trouser leg rolled down for the occasion.

It was a busy evening wetting the baby’s head, which the father’s head knew about the next morning, but he wishes to thank everyone for their kind words, and their help in welcoming the new arrival.

Doc and Howard negotiate the photo rights.

Stefan (left) and Walter (right) discuss diaper-changing whilst throwing back a cold one or two.

Walter (left) and the Ottesens Ib and Kannikar (right) congratulate Doc.

Singapore: A catalyst for Asian boating?

by Peter Cummins

With some of Asia’s - in fact, the world’s - best cruising areas and some tax relief in sight, the erstwhile hard-pressed Thai marine industry seems poised for exponential growth.

Following upon Phuket’s first - and highly successful - marine exposition (PIMEX) last December, Singapore has stepped into the breach to bring boating and water sports to “everyone”.

Singapore city-scape rears above the green tip of Sentosa Island (Peter Cummins photo)

The forthcoming Boat Asia 2004 will be show-casing some of the world’s best yachts, powerboats, super yachts and marine equipment from 15 - 18 April, at the newly-developing Sentosa Cove Marina complex on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, just half a kilometre south of Singapore city.

Sentosa Cove: a great place for a marina (Peter Cummins photo)

It could hardly be more appropriate, Sentosa, in Bahasa Malay meaning “peace and tranquility”, is approximately 500 hectares of green tropical flora, with the impressive silhouette of the Singapore city-scape etched in the sky behind.

Furthermore, sitting on the gateway to the Riau Archipelago and the South China Sea, the Sentosa Marina is conceived as Asia’s finest “yachting hub”. Sheltered by entry breakwaters, once it is fully operational the perfect strategic location will undoubtedly welcome the world’s yachtsmen and women.

Press and media waiting to board the good ship “Columbus” (Peter Cummins photo)

The organizers expect that more than 8,000 visitors from the Asian region alone - Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand - will descend on the Island Republic to see the latest boats, equipment and marine technology. Highlighting displays from more than 70 participating companies worldwide, Boat Asia 2004, will actually feature an “on-water” exposition, rather than a solely indoor show, which it has been since it was first staged some 10 years ago.

The MS “Columbus”: a great venue for the Boat Asia seminars (Peter Cummins photo)

The driving force behind what is undoubtedly going to be the bench-mark for such future maritime expositions in the region, is Suntec Singapore’s huge multi-faceted International Convention and Exhibition Centre conference and exhibition centre, shopping malls and office complexes, right in the heart of down-town Singapore.

Artist’s impression of the new facilities (SIM photo)

Recently, a group of South East Asian reporters from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, were treated to a preview of Boat Asia, organized by Singapore-based Danny Chaplin’s Public Relations company and briefed by various members of the Suntec Integrated Media (SIM) team, led by Director Roel van Leeuwin.

And what an intensive over-view it was. The beautiful Motor Vessel, appropriately named “Columbus”, was commissioned out of the Keppel Marina ferrying the press, media, SIM personnel and luminaries in the marine sector, circling Singapore to arrive off the new site for the Sentosa Cove Marina and Boat Asia 2004.

A Singapore sunset from Sentosa (SIM photo)

Built in 1910 (around the time of the “Titanic”, one of the journos pointed out, donning a life jacket...!) in Holland, the Columbus has been host to European Royalty and, indeed, with its beautifully-appointed teak interior and furnishings, it exudes Old World charm.

The vessel will be anchored off Sentosa Cove for the duration of the exposition, serving as the conference centre for three days of seminars bringing together the biggest names in the marine industry from Asia and the West. Household names in the boating industry worldwide will be high-profile at Sentosa: Azimut, Beneteau, Ferretti, Riviera, Sea Ray, Sunsail, to mention a few.

A proposed residence in the marina complex (SIM photo)

Warren Buckley, SIM’s Chief Executive Officer, was extremely up-beat for Boat Asia and the future of the marine leisure industry in Asia, generally. “No better mooring could be chosen for Asia’s leading boating event”, Warren informed the gathering on the “Columbus”. “We’re excited about coming out onto the water since it... displays boats in their natural element,” he said.

“Asia is still more or less under-developed as a boating region, despite the large potential of this wonderful cruising destination”, Warren added. Alessandro Diomedi, Managing Director of the Italian Ferretti Group of Boat Builders, endorsed Warren’s remarks, saying that the potential of the Asian market had hardly been tapped, with some of the world’s best cruising areas here for the asking.

Noting that the Sentosa Cove Marina will cater to mega yachts (40 metres plus) as well, Alessandro noted that “It may also signal a renaissance of the boating life-style in Singapore”.

Tammy Gouldstone, Senior Project Manager of Boat Asia 2004, took a more pragmatic approach, saying “Our message is that boating can be suitable for anyone”. In fact, at Boat Asia 2004, there will be ample opportunities for participants and visitors to have a “hands-on” experience right there in Sentosa Cove, from a large array of craft available.

On “dry land”, Boat Asia’s air-conditioned waterfront pavilions will display a vast range of equipment and accessories, engines, navigation and communication aids and an up-dated inventory of marine chandlery, from the smallest shackle to a two-ton anchor.

A number of prominent “boat people”, marina managers and marine infrastructure experts from Phuket and Pattaya will participate in the show, including Vincent Tabuteau, Andy Stephens, Bill O’Leary, Andy Dowden and Grenville Fordham, these last two being the motivators for PIMEX.

So, the press and media returned to their own lands, a lot wiser - and, I would venture to add - a lot more positive about boats and boating in Asia, especially Southeast Asia.

The whole press preview was superbly organized - if a little tightly packed - in the usual Singaporean style - with panache, politeness and good humour.

If the visit and the extraordinarily well-endowed press kits distributed to the media are the criteria, Boat Asia 2004 will be an outstanding success and will be a giant step in harnessing the Asian marine potential.

More information about the events can be obtained from Suntec Integrated Media: tel +65 6825 2266, fax +65 68252088, Exhibitor and Visitor Information contact:tammy. gouldstone @ SuntecintegratedMedia.com

For media information contact: Danny Chaplin e-mail: danny.chaplin@chaplinp r.com, website: http://www.boat-asia.com

Tasmanians and the Saga of the Fourth Cycle

Peter Cummins

Pattaya Mail special correspondent Peter Cummins, now a resident and fervent supporter of Pattaya, seems to be in the news a lot lately.

A few weeks ago, Peter addressed the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya, on the theme of “thriving and/or surviving in the UN”. At that time he promised another story: how he came to leave his native Tasmania and subsequently joining “the world at large”.

A raw youth sets upon the world at large.

Well, here it is: his fourth cycle. No, he is JUST SLIGHTLY older than 48 years. The cycle refers to that fateful day, in late February 1956 (before most of the readers of this piece were even thought about, let alone born!) when, with his best friend, he embarked on the tour of his life.

His fellow-Tasmanian, Jan C. Ralph was the exact opposite to Peter: tall, handsome and erudite, with a world-view almost totally absent from the thinking of his countrymen and women (in those days, at least).

Jan had ideas and ambitions. His immediate need was to escape Tasmania and Australia and, as he said it way back then, “Do something with his life”.

Peter leaves Australia: no longer needed the cork hat to discourage the flies.

Peter, small, relatively ugly, could barely string a coherent sentence together and his world view was Aussie rules football, cricket, sailing and, of course, swilling beer.

What strange “bed fellows”, one could reasonably assume.

The Great Escape

There they were, on the deck of the Pacific and Orient (P&O) liner, the “Otranto” on the 25th of February 1956, as it slowly left the Williamstown Pier in Port Melbourne, a boatload of raw Aussies - a real-life “Ship of Fools”, to borrow from Catherine Ann Porter’s classic - lined the decks, most intent on steaming to the “Mother Country”, as England was known in those days. There was a marvellous irony there. England had sent many of the ancestors and early settlers to Australia in chains as convicts. Now, as a free people, many wanted to go back to their roots.

From the deck of the “Otranto” in February 1956 to the deck of a Chao Praya River ferry, December 1972.

Peter was possibly the rawest of them all. Four painful years of a high school at the hands of the “Band of (Christian) Brothers” equipped him for absolutely nothing in the big world outside. He had 200 Aussie pounds in his pocket, a one-way passage to England and a trans-Atlantic berth to Montreal.

“What are you going to do overseas, son?” his father asked him, not unreasonably, as the lad packed his bag, preparing to flee hearth and home.

“I know not, father dearest,” he replied, “I only know what I am NOT going to do, dad, and that is to stay here and go rotten!” Curiously, that sort of ended any further heart-to-heart dialogue between father and son. But they still parted friends.

Meanwhile, back at the wharf, the roar of the crowd seeing the ship off was muted somewhat by hundreds of streamers from shore to ship, in a typical rousing send-off. A local lad was seen standing on a stanchion as he hurled a roll of toilet paper which hit Peter full in the face on its trajectory from the pier to the ship’s deck. Suddenly it broke and fell into the dark waters of the sea. That was, to Peter, the symbolic severing of the umbilical cord which had tied him to Tasmania/Australia.

Five weeks of unrelieved boredom - except for passing through the Suez Canal - eventually ended at Southampton: the “Mother Country” at last, was the rapturous sigh of many Aussies and not a few Brits escaping Australia to come home. To Jan and Peter, it was a “mother” all right, as they hastened to embark on the first available Trans-Atlantic vessel bound for the New World, leaving behind a grubby, cold and thoroughly miserable country.

Canada: the great catalyst

Canada. What a country! So vast: so diverse! Although still bitterly cold even in April, it beckoned with an adventure and the excitement of the great unknown. Ensconced in a safe, free and prosperous country, the lads from Tasmania were overwhelmed by the Frenchness of Quebec Province and the thriving metropolis of Toronto, rising literally out of Lake Ontario.

It was also an awakening - a “baptism of fire” - which was to be the catalyst galvanizing the lads into action. Although a keen sportsman, Peter had never really done any hard physical work. His first job, then, was in Sudbury, a dreadful mining town some 600 km north of Toronto, at a smelting plant of the International Nickel Company. By the end of the first day, working in 35-degree heat, he was covered in black nickel dust.

Jan, due to his greater physical strength and weight, found himself on a drilling team, some two-kilometres underground. At the end of the day, after they had shed the protective clothing, safety glasses and fireproof boots, they were both wondering why on earth they had left the predictable, easy life of Tasmania.

The friends split at that point, Jan staying in the east and Peter started out to hitchhike across Canada from the east to the Pacific North West - some 10,000 kilometres of incredible scenic beauty across the vast prairies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, majestic rivers, iridescent lakes and the towering mountains of Banff Springs, and finally to the city of Vancouver, a jewel on the Pacific.

Employment was not too readily available, so he signed on as cook\deck-hand on a tug towing huge clusters of logs across Puget Sound, with an average speed of about one km per hour. Peter really did not hear the “cook” part of the job. A cook he certainly was not and, at the first available port, he was “let go” - like, fired!

His next (mis)adventure was up the coast from Vancouver, to a town called Woodfibre, to work for the Alaska Pine and Cellulose Company, producing paper pulp and to stevedore on the frequent Japanese freighters which came to load the paper. The pay was incredibly high and, for the first time in his life, Peter had some real money. Many other jobs followed, including a building site lift operator, taxi and truck driver and post office mail (thought he always preferred the female) sorter.

The time and the seasons passed quickly and, on being fired from his last job which consisted of loading fertilizer into bags from a large chute - (his briefest job, incidentally, lasting 23 minutes) - he took a bus to New York.

How strange and remote it all was. Peter was virtually, the “New York” pioneer and before long Jan joined him and the friends embarked on similar careers with the United Nations, via academia at night school, when they joined the “restless army of course-takers” haunting the subways.

So now, to end this saga, Peter is happily ensconced at the Pattaya Mail, simultaneously doing free-lance articles spread far and wide.

For his part, Jan stayed in New York and, even as he passed his own sixth cycle, is an acknowledged expert and top consultant for international exhibitions all around the world.

Thus, Jan and Peter had good cause to celebrate their fourth cycle, forty-eighth anniversary.