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100,000 turn out to cheer the Buffalo Races
Miss Ban Naa beauty pageant
winners (L to R) second runner-up and press favorite Miss Charinya Chanchuo,
23, first runner up 22-year-old Irin Suwatsupakul, and winner Miss Pornthida
Maneenad, 18.
It seemed like a scene from
the past when the buffalos and their decorated carts passed by.
Narisa Nitikarn
A record 1,052 buffalos took part in the Buffalo Races held in Chonburi from
October 3 to 11.
The opening ceremony for the races, which were organized by Chonburi
Municipality in cooperation with Chonburi Provincial Administration and the
Tourism Authority of Thailand Office Region 3, was held on October 6.
This year’s races were the 135th for this traditional event. The races are
run to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent and the beginning of the rice
harvesting season.
The event also features a buffalo beauty pageant, a comic buffalo costume
contest, a parade and a Miss Ban Naa (countryside) beauty pageant. OTOP
products were also on sale at factory prices. Free concerts and stage
performances were put on throughout the event at the front of Chonburi
Provincial Administration offices.
Former advisor to the prime minister Thongtawee Phimsen, deputy governor of
Chonburi, presided over the start, with more than 100,000 spectators
cheering on the “buffaloes”.
There were three main races in all: buffalo Hong won the miniature event,
buffalo Heng won the small event, and buffalo Duang won the large event.
The healthiest female buffalo prize went to a buffalo belonging to a Mr
Chakat, and the healthiest male buffalo prize went to a buffalo owned by a
Mrs Pranom. A buffalo belonging to Mr Sounthorn won the most beautiful
buffalo prize, and the healthiest baby buffalo prize went to a buffalo
belonging to Mr Anek. The dress-up prizes were divided into two categories,
the most beautifully dressed and the funniest, which buffalo Luong and
buffalo Kwang won respectively.
The Miss Ban Naa beauty pageant was won by a human being, Miss Pornthida
Maneenad, 18, who was entered by the Chonburi Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Miss Pornthida won 20,000 baht. The first runner up was won by 22-year-old
Irin Suwatsupakul, who was entered by the private sector. She won 15,000
baht. Miss Charinya Chanchuo, 23, won the second runner-up and press
favorite, winning 10,000 baht for each category.
Buffalos entered in the
“Beautiful Buffalo Contest” were paraded around at the beginning of the
event.
New streetlights
will mean greater safety
Pol. Sgt. Pirom Paanphech from
Pattaya Municipal Police Station poses near the impressive new lights at the
Dolphin Roundabout.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The Dolphin Roundabout has been beautified and made a great deal safer with
the installation of extra streetlights, carried out after a survey by city
hall revealed that residents and motorists were unhappy with the dim
lighting in the area.
Erection of the new lighting began on September 11, the lights being mounted
on 12-meter high lampposts. Most of the lights are 400-watt metal hybrid
lamps but there are also six 1,000-watt lamps. The total cost was 791,000
baht.
The lighting has also been improved in other areas of Pattaya. City hall has
erected 39 new lights along Jomtien Beach Road, from Soi Chaiyapruk to the
outskirts of Pattaya, along with 57 new lights between Dongtan and Pattaya
Park, and 18 between Naklua Park and Lan Pho, the total budget being
17,588,000 baht.
Crime suppression police Pol. Sgt. Pirom Paanphech, who is responsible for
traffic at Pattaya Municipal Police Station, said that lighting in these
areas was now very bright and in addition to providing attractive photo
opportunities for tourists the new lights will help drivers and contribute
to reducing road accidents.
Call Center 1337 is now on-line 24/7 with tourism information
Operators are working around
the clock to provide information about Pattaya and handle other kinds of
enquiries at Pattaya’s new Call Center 1337.
Narisa Nitikarn
Pattaya’s Call Center 1337 came into operation on October 1 at 8 a.m.
Working from the second floor of the old Pattaya District Office building,
the operators will work around the clock providing information about Pattaya
and handling other kinds of enquiries.
Krittayoch Sayan, senior manager of the Pattaya City Customer Service Sector
of TOT Public Co Ltd is on site to monitor progress following the signing by
Pattaya City Council of a three-year agreement with the TOT to operate the
Call Center under a budget of 80 million baht.
The Call Center will be officially opened this December.
Krittayoch said that Call Center 1337 provides many services for the public
and tourists, and that anyone wanting to know more can visit
www.pattaya.go.th, or call in to meet an officer at the Call Center public
relations desk on the second floor of the old Pattaya District Office
building.
Services over the first phase will emphasize the provision of information on
tourism, hotels and restaurants, and any complaints can also be made at this
number.
Eight operators will provide information over eight-hour shifts. Information
is provided initially in two languages, Thai and English, which will later
be increased. There are 21 operator stations at the Call Center, so there is
the available capacity to add operators quickly when necessary.
Results of the operation will be submitted to city administrators on a
weekly basis, and any complaints will be delivered to the mayor’s office on
a daily basis. Accident reports will also be updated daily.
Husband attempts snatch-and-run with wife’s money
Boonlua Chatree
A man who snatched money from his wife and attempted to flee on a motorcycle
was apprehended by police shortly after midnight on October 2.
Ms Angkana Srapprae, 33, reported the theft to the police, saying that her
bag had been grabbed from in front of the Traithana Apartments, on Third
Road.
 Choocheep
snatched his wife’s handbag, trying to steal money meant for her sick son.
A radio call was sent out and police stopped the Honda Wave motorbike, which
was being ridden without a license plate, in front of the Q8 gasoline
station on Sukhumvit Road in North Pattaya. Frisking the driver, the
officers found 24,000 baht in his pocket.
The man was identified as Choocheep Plainarin, age 33, and his passenger was
named as Wichian Pongsri, 28. Choocheep admitted that he snatched the
property, but said that it belonged to his wife. He said that Wichian had
come along as a passenger.
Angkana went to the police station where the two men were being held and
claimed back her 24,000 baht. She said that with this money she intended to
tend to her sick two-year-old son to the hospital. She didn’t want to press
charges against her husband.
Police let Choocheep go free with his wife, where he quite possibly faces
punishment that fits the crime.
Fire threatens block
as air-conditioner explodes
Boonlua Chatree
An aging air-conditioner caused a fire at a house on Soi Arunothai 5 in
Pattaya Klang early in the afternoon of September 20, causing four fire
engines to turn out as the flames threatened to engulf the entire block of
10 commercial premises.
 A
fire started in an old air-conditioner caused panic in the neighborhood.
The fire broke out on the second floor of the three-story building, when a
wall-mounted air-conditioner in a bedroom exploded and dropped embers onto a
mattress below. Neighbors fled in panic as the flames threatened to spread
but firemen brought the blaze under control within 30 minutes. The bedroom
and its furniture were badly damaged.
Mrs Chamrat Onkong, 35, said that she rented the residence and lived with
her husband, formerly with the US Navy, and her son. She realized that the
electrical equipment inside the leased property was old. She contacted the
owner to repair it, especially the air-conditioner in the bedroom, which was
very old and often was out of order.
Her husband had gone out on business and she and her son were sitting
outside with a neighbor. She said that she had turned off all unnecessary
electrical equipment. Suddenly she heard the loud noise of an explosion,
which was later determined to have been caused by an electrical
short-circuit, and saw smoke. She hurried inside the house and found that
the air-conditioner had exploded and that the mattress was on fire.
The cost of damage to the room is estimated at 200,000 baht. Police have
contacted the owner for questioning.
Wife of navy officer escapes as car bursts into flames
Patcharapol Panrak
The engine of a Volvo caught fire at Soi Lungpho in Sattahip, and a fire
engine from Sattahip Municipality was called out to extinguish the flames.
 Wanipa
escaped without injury when her car caught fire.
Officers from the Rotchanathamasathan Satthin Foundation were also called
out, but the driver, Mrs Wanipa Yokpanngam, escaped from the vehicle
unharmed.
Wanipa, the wife of Captain Wattanapol Yokpanngam, who is stationed at
Prince Chumporn Khet-Udomsak Camp, was, however, scared that the fire would
ignite the fuel tank, which contained LPG, and cause an explosion.
Wanipa added that the driver of a car approaching in the opposite direction
had warned her that the engine was on fire by flagging her down. The driver
helped her out of the car, and the fire started to spread.
Fight breaks out amongst Islamic and Buddhist Khmer fishermen
Patcharapol Panrak
Two groups of Islamic and Buddhist Khmer fishermen fought each other with
knives, staves, shovels and beer and fish sauce bottles at Pratuang Pier on
Chai Talay Road, Sattahip, on September 29, with four of the men being
seriously injured.
A large team of police officers rushed to the scene of the fight, which had
broken out amongst nearly 100 fishermen at the end of the pier. They found a
fisherman named Cha, who had been stabbed with a knife and broken bottle,
lying in a pool of blood. Three other injured men were taken on board a boat
by their companions, who fled across the ocean with them.
The police officers called for a rescue team from the Rotchanathammasathan
Sattahip Foundation, and the injured Cha was taken to the Intensive Care
Unit at Queen Sirikit Hospital, Naval Medical Department.
Questioning a fisherman identified as Dam, from Patchanokmongkhol 88, police
established that the two groups had been drinking on the pier when an
argument blew up between the Islamic and Buddhist Khmers.
Pol Col Somthai Khamwat, superintendent at Sattahip police station, said
that in the past this sort of fighting has occurred only in areas of
Bangsarae and Samaesarn sub-districts, and the fact that it has spread to
Sattahip Market is cause for concern. He asked for the owners of the boats
to cooperate with the police to help restrain the fishermen, as they could
pose a danger to the public.
Helping the local handicapped
PSC donates sports equipment
PSC donated 50,000 baht worth
of sport equipment to Decha Nonthakot, assistant to the director of the
Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled.
Bernie Tuppin Charity Chairman PSC
With a huge sports carnival for handicapped athletes to be held in
Suphanburi soon, the donation of equipment to the local team could not have
come at a better time for them. The event is the National Championships and
Chonburi will be represented by 171 athletes many of whom come from the
Redemptorist Centre for the Handicapped right here in Pattaya.
The equipment provided covers a wide range of sporting disciplines and will
give the locals some last minute training with quality kit. The goods
presented to the team included footballs volleyballs, basketballs, tennis,
table tennis, badminton bats and balls, petong and takraw sets swimming
suits and swimming goggles and a stopwatch to record their performances. In
addition the local Pattaya competitions received a PSC cap and towel as a
memento.
Fittingly the presentation was made on behalf of PSC by Orr Tunsanthong the
smiling face of PSC’s office, Khun Orr was the first employee of the Pattaya
Spots Club and has been a valuable asset to the club since day one. I am
sure members of our community will join her in wishing the team every
success at the forthcoming championships.
Merit-making ceremony held for teachers and students at Pattaya School No 4
Teachers present alms to the
monks for prosperity.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
A merit-making ceremony for Pattaya School No 4 was held on September 29 at
Nongyai Temple, in cooperation with the Department of Education
Administration in Pattaya City, and members of Pattaya Council in Region 2.
 As
the students from Pattaya School 4 enter the festivities, they are blessed
by monks sprinkling holy water.
Amongst those attending the ceremony, which was held for education year
2006, were Witawan Hengtrakul, president of the Chonburi-Bangsaen Lions
Club, deputy mayors Wattana Chantanawaranon and Wutisak Rermkitkarn, and
Pisai Panomwan na Ayuthaya, member of Pattaya City Council. Pattaya School
No 4 director Nongrak Jitnirat welcomed guests.
Nine monks from Nongyai Temple took part in the ceremony, which is held
every year to bring good fortune to the teachers and students.
Pattaya School No 4 is located in Naklua sub-district, and teaches children
from the first-year kindergarten to secondary school class 3 levels.
Currently there are 41 teachers and 910 students at the school.
Thai snake charmer puckers up to cobras for world record attempt
Narisa Nitikarn,
Vimolrat Singnikorn and The Associated Press
A Thai snake charmer kissed 19 highly poisonous king cobras in an attempt to
set a world record Saturday.
One by one, the cobras were released onto a stage, as the snake charmer,
Khum Chaibuddee from Ban Kokesanga, also known as King Cobra Village in Khon
Kaen province, kissed each beast and then moved onto the next.
Security was tight, with four additional snake charmers flanking the stage
at each corner and a medical team waiting on the sidelines with serum in
case one of the snakes snapped, said a statement from Thailand’s Ripley’s
Believe It or Not Museum in Pattaya, which organized the event.
The museum’s manager, Somporn Naksuetrong, said Ripley’s planned to submit
the record attempt to the Guinness Book of World Records to overtake a
previous record set on April 25, 1999 when an American kissed 11 venomous
snakes. This year’s attempt was billed as the “Dangerous Kiss”.
Somporn said that in the attempt to break the existing world record,
Ripley’s abided strictly by the rules, such as placing the lips on the
snake’s head, but if the snake struck out or bit, then the world record
attempt would be over. There was no time limit.
Khum, a part-time snake charmer for more than 12 years, urged children and
onlookers not to try the feat on their own.
“I, myself, have been bitten several times by snakes,” he said in a
statement. “Always bear in mind the old story about the snake charmer who
died (from being) bitten by snakes.”
He went on to say, “The last two snakes were the most difficult to kiss
because they kept stretching up.”
Khum earned 50,000 baht for his feat.
The event was sponsored by Pattaya City Council, the Tourism Authority of
Thailand, the King Cobra Club of Thailand, the Royal Garden Pattaya, Pattaya
Marriot Resort and Spa, Pattaya Mail and Pattaya Mail Television.
Many honored guests witnessed the attempt such as William E Heinecke, CEO of
Minor International Public Co Ltd, Chaiwatt Charoensuk, director of the
Tourism Authority of Thailand, Region 3, Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn, and
Kamolthaep Malhotra, general manager of Pattaya Mail Publishing Co Ltd.
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