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Stammtisch visits Regulars’ table at the Moon River Pub
Peter Nordhues
The regulars’ table of the German-Thai Chamber of
Commerce met May 14 at the Moon River Pub for a convivial get-together.
Although the weather was very bad and there was a fierce
storm in the afternoon, many members made their way from Bangkok to Pattaya.
Among them were the trainees of the German Embassy and of the German-Thai
Chamber of Commerce.
Unfortunately the chairman of the chamber, Dr Paul
Strunk, had to cancel his appointment.
 Danilo
Bไcker, Janine Tilmans, Ren้ Pisters and Monika Rottman enjoy a
nice evening.
Eupaporn Seniwong Na Ayuthaya, project manager of the
chamber, welcomed the guests warmly and wished everybody a nice evening.
Guests from Bangkok and the attending businesspeople from Pattaya and its
environs were compensated for the bad weather by a large buffet, followed by
the Moon River Pub’s in-house band “Power Jam” who entertained the
guests. The rest of the evening remained very homely, as people exchanged
news and renewed old bonds.
The German-Thai Chamber of Commerce takes care of more
than 500 members in Thailand. Besides leading German companies, also many
Thai companies which do business in Germany are represented.
For more information, contact the German-Thai Chamber of
Commerce, G.P.O. Box 1728, Bangkok 10501, Thailand or visit the website
http://www.gtcc.org
The chamber’s next regulars’ table takes place July 9 at 7 p.m. in
the Moon River Pub on North Pattaya Road. Members and friends are welcome.
UK Club has new chairman and committee
On the May 18, Ron Hall passed the chairmanship of the UK Club over to
Wendy Khan and a revised committee was elected.
Wendy Khan was born in Portsmouth to Naval parents and
spent her formative years in Malta (which is why she likes the heat so
much). She trained as a secretary, and prior to coming to Thailand, was the
administrator for the Girls’ Schools Association.
Members
of the committee are as follows (from left to right): Becky Neil (membership
secretary), Wendy Khan (chairman), Andrew Hutchings (publicity, public
relations and information officer), Yuwadee Hall (Thai advisor and
co-ordinator), Ron Hall (treasurer), Kevin Fisher (events co-ordinator),
Eileen Denning (secretary), John Khan (events sub-committee chairman), and
Norman Denning (events co-ordinator).
She enjoys playing golf as often as possible on the
lovely courses around Pattaya. While in England, Wendy was an active member
of the local BSAC Diving Club, she qualified as an advanced diver and was
also appointed diving officer of the club.
Wendy has two children and four grandchildren. Her son, who has lived in
Bangkok for fifteen years and is to blame for Wendy’s presence in
Thailand, has a Thai wife and a small son and daughter. Her daughter, who
lives in Germany, also has a son and daughter.
Shooters celebrates grand opening
Longtime Pattaya expats, tourists, and
buffalo-wing-loving U.S. Marines packed Shooters, Walking Street’s newest
bar at the corner of Soi 15 on May 8 for its grand opening party.
Shooters isn’t another go-go bar, although some of its
beautiful hostesses, as well as customers, were dancing on the tabletops
before the night was over.
 Those
are definitely not buffalos under the wings of Shooters owner, Alan
Verstein.
Big-screen music videos and 50 signature shooter drinks
kept the party going strong. But the biggest draw (ask the Marines) may be
Asia’s best Buffalo wings. For those who are unfamiliar with America’s
second-greatest contribution to the culinary world after the hamburger,
Buffalo wings are spicy chicken wings named after the city they originated
in, Buffalo, New York.
While the combination of beer, Buffalo wings, and
beautiful waitresses is hardly original, Shooters has some major advantages
over its similarly named rival, Hooters, in America. This being Thailand,
Shooters’ wings are hotter, spicier and more appealing than anything
you’ll find at Hooters (and that goes for the waitresses too).
And best of all, Shooters’ wings are free to all
customers for a limited time.
Shooters is owned by Pattaya real estate developer, Alan Verstein, and
Eric Nernberg, a restaurant owner from Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Kohinoor Restaurant celebrates 11 years of serving fine Indian cuisine
Ravinder Kumar Kalothara (Ravi) , a veteran in the Indian
restaurant business, invited members of the local community to celebrate
Kohinoor Restaurant’s 12th year of business in Pattaya. Ravi is well known
amongst the Indian and expat community as one of the finest Indian chefs on
the Eastern Seaboard.
A
large group of distinguished gentlemen helped Ravi Kumar (4th from right
back row) celebrate the 12th anniversary of his Kohinoor Restaurant.
So successful has he been in the culinary field, that
Ravi, who started out by working as a cook in Indian restaurants here in
Pattaya, ended up at the Kohinoor and through his diligence and hark work,
finally made an offer to the proprietors they couldn’t refuse. He wanted
to buy and operate the restaurant himself. That he did, and he has become a
very successful restaurateur in his own right.
Ravi is also the owner of Ravi Store in Soi 17, next to
the Sikh Temple, which Indian residents refer to as the ‘Ration Store’.
Practically everything that you need in an Indian kitchen is available, not
to mention Indian snacks and sweets, all the way to Indian music and movie
CDs.
At the celebrations last Wednesday May 26, Ravi decided
to have a bonus party for the Sikh community as well, to celebrate the
appointment of India’s first Sikh prime minister, Sardar Manmohan Singh.
Amrik Singh Kalra, head of the Indian community in Pattaya, thanked Ravi for
his kind hospitality and wished him many more years of success and
prosperity in his restaurant business.
Kohinoor Indian restaurant is located on Pratamnak Road opposite the
Camelot Hotel in South Pattaya.
Bangkok to get robots to check electricity lines
The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) will acquire
specially made robots to carry out one of its most dangerous tasks - the
checking of overhead electricity cables.
The robots are being built by researchers from King
Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, led by Dr, Chit Laowattana,
head of the university’s Field Robotic Development Operations Center
(FIBO). It is hoped that the robots will eventually replace human labor in
the inspection of electricity cables across the country.
The robots will run rapidly along the cable to measure
the electron charge, and will report on points which are suspected of
deterioration or damage. Dr. Chit said that he expected a prototype robot to
be built within the next eight months.
FIBO’s operations focus on the development of robots
for work that is heavy or dangerous, as well as robots designed to increase
production capacity. The center has previously developed robots designed to
pick up hot steel in the steel production industry, as well as robots to
pick up rubber from conveyor belts. The latter cost just 4 million baht each
to produce, compared to 15 million baht for similar robots purchased from
abroad.
Dr. Chit denied that the development of robots would put
workers out of employment, saying that the use of robots would merely free
up worker time for other activities. The world robot population is currently
estimated to stand at around 50 million, of which 22 million are based in
Japan. (TNA)
Bar a Go-go
Bar F. Ly
Pattaya certainly has no shortage of venues where you can
kill off a few billion brain cells in the quest for libation. While you’re
procrastinating where to go, you might just run across, or be run over, by
Mr. Cocktails.
The man behind Mr. Cocktails, Surat, is a former hotel
employee and restaurant captain who decided after a dozen years of service
that the political garble that comes with working in such a place was too
much and decided to go at it on his own.
 Surat,
aka Mr. Cocktails, prepares for another round.
“I’d rather be my own boss,” says Surat while
mixing another cocktail for his waiting customers.
Surat said he came up with the idea and approached the
Banglamung Excise Department, which controls liquor licensing in the
district.
“They said I could do it so long as I stuck to a
certain area. I didn’t have much cash to invest so I had the frame built
and attached to my bike,” adds Surat, who also said he’s been in
operation for around 6 weeks.
“During the daytime I sell traditional Thai coffee, go
home at around 3 p.m. to spend time with my family before getting ready to
go out again at 8 p.m.,” he said.
Surat cases the streets from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. sticking to
the areas of Soi 6 and Soi Post Office before completing his nightly rounds
near the New Palladium Disco in North Pattaya. All his cocktails are 59 baht
and Surat says that he already has a number of regular customers, including
bar owners fascinated with his idea and cheap prices.
“The girls and even the bar owners come out and buy
from me because my prices are not expensive. If I don’t know the bar I
don’t park in front. I don’t want to upset anyone,” says Surat.
On the night that I found him on Soi 6 Surat had three
tourists in tow who bought more than a few cocktails, dancing to the music
blaring away from the mobile bar’s stereo system.
Not new in Thailand, but certainly a novel idea for Pattaya, and Mr.
Cocktails is enjoying what he does, so remember if you see him on the street
remember to pick up a drink. I’m off for another one.
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