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AustCham rocks in Pattaya
Dr Iain Corness
The Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce (AustCham) held another of their
‘fun’ Seaboard Sundowner evenings in the Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya’s Hall
of Fame last weekend.
It was, as usual, very well attended, with some organizations sending in
complete ‘teams’ of people to network amongst the AustCham members.
Notable amongst these mob attacks was Kirwan Industrial Services, headed
by Steele Lambrinos along with his very large platoon of foot soldiers,
including the delightful Jirawan Kampukaew, who could get anybody to
sign for anything, just by batting her eyelashes.
 Hard
Rock Hotel Pattaya GM Andrew Khoo (2nd right) welcomes the Bangkok
Hospital Pattaya team (from left) Anwar Sadat Shimul, Yana Lut and Dr.
Iain Corness.
Other large groups were the sales team from Pattaya Dot Com, and the
marketing team from the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya, with new marketing
assistant Sushil from Nepal, ably teamed with Yana from Russia and
Shimul from Bangladesh, showing just how ‘international’ their hospital
really is.
The two sponsors for the evening were SCI Double Impact and the Hard
Rock Hotel itself. SCI did produce a ‘double impact’ duo with their
director of interim management Richard Jones suggesting that there were
many “business opportunities to be had in Soi 6, offering a full range
of services,” though I believe he had intended to say that SCI Double
Impact was offering the full range of services not covered by Soi 6,
whilst Damian Norris the other part of the duo, their director of
international taxation practice, amazed the throng with his very
realistic chimpanzee impressions.
From the Hard Rock Hotel, the new director of operations Elyes Ben
Brahim informed the members and guests of forthcoming renovations and
new curtains, whilst the GM Andrew Khoo blew his whistle. Loudly.
Steele Lambrinos, in an exclusive interview with Pattaya Mail TV,
expressed some of the uncertainties that face foreign businesses in
Thailand, but assured everyone of the resolve that Kirwan Industrial
Services had in weathering the storm.
To help with that weathering process, the executive director of
AustCham, Martin Kyle, spoke on the forthcoming 17th Australia-Thailand
Joint Business Conference, which is being held in association with the
2nd AustCham Regional Business Conference in Bangkok on November 7 and
8, entitled Asian Growth: The Next Steps. These combined conferences
will cover all the areas of concern in the foreign business community,
including free trade agreements, finance and funding growth, logistics,
education, tourism, human resources, property and infrastructure plus
world and Asian economics. Further details from Martin Kyle, email
execdirector@ austchamthailand.com
Information on the next AustCham Seaboard Sundowners will be noted in
the Pattaya Mail.
(L to R) Martin Kyle, executive director of
the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce and Barry J. Rumpf, Director of
NK Facility Services Limited exchange stories.
Brendan Richards (left) and Peter Smith
enjoy a tipple at the event.
Malcolm Scorer, director of Insurance
Brokers Co., Ltd., and Elyes Ben Brahim, director of operations at Hard
Rock Hotel Pattaya.
(L to R) Jonson Diversey, Steele Lambrinos,
Sethaut Pornphaisalsin, Woraran Jaito, and Barry J. Rumpf gather for a
group photo.
(L to R) Yu Jing Chen, Jonson Diversey,
Sukanya Seanglaw, Somporn Kerdbanrai, and Piyatida Triukhot toast a
successful evening.
Sundowner evenings are for the whole family.
(l-r) Michael Perry Project Engineer, Siemens, his wife Walirat and son
Josh, Liam Benham Vice President Government affairs, Ford, Piyaphat
Chaisenharn, Allen Benson and Chariyaporn Benham.
Movers and shakers compete in cocktail contest
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
A bartender from the Royal Cliff left judges shaken and stirred during the
Bartender Contest at Pattaya Food and Hoteliers Expo 2007, and walked away
with the first prize of 5,000 baht.
 Kittisak
Thongsan, a bartender from the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, receives the
winning prize from Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn.
The expo was organized as part of a strategy to upgrade the food and
beverage sector in Pattaya and the Eastern region to international levels.
Governor of Chonburi Province Pracha Taerat presided over the opening
ceremony at A-One The Royal Cruise Hotel on August 9, with Deputy Mayor
Verawat Khakhay, Banglamung District Chief Pratheep Chongsubthum, and former
head of the Sports Authority of Thailand Sontaya Khunplome also present.
Bartenders from 19 hotels throughout Pattaya took part in the contest.
Kittisak Thongsan of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort was placed first with his
cocktail named Hong Hern, first runner-up was Yutvanit Mankong from the Siam
Bayshore Resort and Spa, and second runner-up was Ponasak Aumpeod from Hard
Rock Hotel.
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn presented trophies to the winners, together
with cash prizes of 5,000 baht, 3,000 baht and 2,000 baht respectively.
Witoon Wongsawas, head of the Witoon Cocktail and Wine School, who was one
of the cocktail judges, said scoring was based on maximums of 20 points for
taste, 20 for decoration, 10 for creativity of the recipe, 5 for colors, 5
for the name, 20 for presentation technique, 5 for professionalism, 5 for
preparation and cleanliness and 10 for the standard recipe cocktail.
Other competitions during the event were for flower arranging, freestyle
cake decoration, fruit and vegetable carving, seafood som tam preparation,
and dessert plate arrangement. There was a Betagrow Better Deluxe sausage
cooking contest, a fragrant rice cooking contest, a European food cooking
contest, and a cooking contest of pasta noodles by Barilla Piriyapool.
Chonburi Governor Pracha
Taerat, flanked by Sontaya Khunplome (left) and Deputy Mayor Wutisak
Rermkitkarn (right), presides over the Pattaya Food & Hoteliers Expo ‘07
opening ceremony at A-One the Royal Cruise Hotel.
Contestants in the Pattaya
Food & Hoteliers Expo ‘07 bartender
contest put on quite a show.
There were some great entries
in the dessert plate arrangement contest.
Contestants in the food
carving category created some masterpieces out of fruit.
Dancing kitchen maids were one
of the highlights of the show.
Skål International Pattaya regroups
A sight for sore eyes, the lovely Kate
Sarasin (right) greets Hans Bänziger as he registers for the luncheon.
Ingo Räuber gives an update of Skål
activities as Benny and Bill Anton listen attentively.
Clayton Wade (left) MD of Premier Homes
confirms to Paisan Bundityanond that he will be the guest speaker at the
next Skål meeting.
Mike Franklin (left) and Johanna Stetten
exchanging golf stories.
Dr Iain Corness
After five years of planning, plotting and lobbying, the Skål Club of
Pattaya and the East were the hosts of the Skål International World
Congress held here in Pattaya in 2006. For many of the members, it was
time to relax after the closing ceremony; it was a job well done.
However, like all strong organizations, it was now also time to regroup.
America is considering having a lady president, but the local Skål club
did more than consider, with Deborah Bundityanond from Rabbit Resort
taking on the top position in the newly formed executive, which has a
good percentage of new faces, amongst some of the more seasoned
campaigners.
To celebrate this with the members, President Deborah arranged a Skål
International lunch meeting at Casa Pascal, with the restaurant almost
filled to capacity with the revamped organization’s members, who were
addressed by their new president who led not only the Skål toast, but
also added in an enthusiastic three “Chaiyo’s” as well.
Both local and Bangkok media were well represented at the meeting,
showing the national importance of the Skål International group, with
president Deborah saying in an exclusive interview with Pattaya Mail TV
that she was planning monthly meetings for the group, with 50 percent
being lunch meetings and the remaining 50 percent being evenings.
Exciting new topics and speakers were being arranged, and she was sure
that all those involved in tourism in Pattaya would appreciate the
advantages that could come from membership of Skål International, the
largest tourist organization in the world.
The first meeting under her presidency was certainly well attended and
very enjoyable, and the consensus amongst the members was very positive.
Skål is for people to make friends and do
business with each other.
Suchitra & Chookiat Srivatjanapong, GM of
the Asia Pattaya Hotel welcomes newcomer Suvanna Pinsuvan (right).
The press is encouraged to attend as
President Deborah Bundityanond greets Rod McNeil and Bryan Hall of
Capital TV.
David Holden, Hans Banziger and Kim
Schnyder, hostess extraordinaire.
Deborah charms the living daylights out of
Dr. Iain Corness of PMTV.
Tony Malhotra Director of Sales & Marketing
of Pattaya Mail introduces himself.
Bob James (left) of Aquanatics Dive Center
and Vikrom Malhotra (2nd left) of Massic Travel with lovely Skålleagues
and guests at their table.
Pascal Schnyder (left) who so brilliantly
hosted the lunch poses with Chookiat Srivatjanapong, Joan Sarasin, Peter
Malhotra, Paisan and Deborah Bundityanond, Ingo Räuber, Alexander
Haeusler and Christina Boden.
Star-Photo shoots wireless to a remote location
Mike Franklin
Technology in all communication fields abounds, and no more so than at
the Star Photo studio. Professional photographer Claude Muhlemann has
introduced the latest wireless technology and developed a process named
CSG (‘Catch it, See it, Get it’), a state-of-the-art wireless picture
transmitting system. It enables the photographer shooting a picture to
view it seconds later on a screen connected to the internet, transmit
anywhere in the world, and from there being able to print it out. The
photographer simply presses the release button on his camera and the
picture goes ‘wireless’ from the transmitting camera to a lap-top or
other access point from where it is up-loaded to the internet. It
operates at two levels; CSG Basic and CSG Advanced.
 Mike
Franklin (left) confirms with Star Photo photographer Claude Muhlemann
that the client has received the shot.
The process CSG Basic was recently demonstrated to good effect at the
recent Pattaya Mail ‘Mike Franklin’ Classic Charity Golf
tournament when all participating teams in the two shotgun starts were
photographed on the 10th tee and the shot sent wireless to the Star
Photo computer and prints produced. Thus, all teams received their
photos, including the last team to play the 10th hole, as they left the
field.
Likewise, a fashion shoot was recently held at Tony’s new Fitness Center
using an outdoor set and transmitting the model shots to a laptop at a
nearby on-site location.
 Photographer,
model and assistant are ready to shoot.
However, the real technical value of CSG is best demonstrated by CSG
Advanced and this process was demonstrated at a photo-shoot launch at
the Star Photo studio, 2nd Floor Pattaya Bazaar, North Pattaya. The
launch was covered exclusively by Pattaya Mail and PMTV with
details reported here and featured on PMTV.
A two way web-cam link gave visual and voice communication with a Swiss
client located in the Mabprachan Lake area. The photo files as they are
shot go wireless to the studio laptop and are transmitted instantly via
the internet to the client. Receipt of the files is confirmed on a
second screen in the studio that displays the files once they have been
received by the client. With the client and photographer in
communication via small inset screens on the laptop, the shots can be
discussed. For launch demonstration purposes the client printed out
files and displayed them on the web screen alongside the transmitted
file visible on the laptop. The CSG Advanced process delivered the shot
in less than a minute to the client, and just a few minutes longer for
the file to be printed out.
However, the time will depend on the speed of the internet connection
and size of file being sent.
 Monique,
the model at today’s photo shoot, flashes her beaming smile.
Clearly, CSG Advanced has many applications and advantages. Speed
certainly, providing the opportunity for instant transmission from shot
to publishing of dramatic sporting moments, accident & disaster
reporting, breaking news events, etc. Distance and time zones are not a
problem as one click of the camera in Pattaya can send the shot to an
overseas press or TV news desk or to a far location in the world.
A more immediate application of CSG Basic will be at the Jesters
Children’s Fair & Family Day on Sunday September 9th at the Diana Garden
Resort & Driving Range, North Pattaya when Claude and the Star Photo
team will be photographing children and families and producing the
prints at their stall in a flash.
So, the latest technology is literally ‘on camera’ at Star Photo. Come
to the Jesters Children’s Fair on September 9th, have a family photo
taken and see for yourself how ‘wireless’ photography works. For more
information about Jesters ‘Care for Kids’ and Star Photo, go to: www.
care4kids.info and www. star-photo.biz
The client confirms that the shot has been
received and printed out.
Automotive Focus Group gets into 1st gear
Dr. Iain Corness
With sponsorship from the Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce
(AustCham), an Automotive Focus Group (AFG) was set in motion last week
at the Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya. With the steering wheel held in the
capable hands of long-time auto man George Strampp, around 30 interested
people from all types of automotive fields attended the inaugural
meeting.
 The
capable hands of long-time auto man George Strampp held the steering
wheel at the first meeting.
The group decided that the concept was one worthy of pursuing, if
nothing else providing a focused networking for businesses in the auto
industry, especially as many of these are already on the Eastern
Seaboard. This was confirmed by Steve Walmsley of the Nitro Group,
carbon fiber manufacturer based in Bang Chang, that whilst the AustCham
functions were very pleasant evenings, he was more interested in
networking with his specific markets in the auto industry.
Showing the varied nature of the auto industry in Thailand, the meeting
welcomed diverse areas such as Sri Thai Thana Auto Parts represented by
international department manager Punnadar Asavalarpnirundon, Mike Alarid
from Fabrinet’s Auto Business Unit, Uli Kaiser from Interstar
Technology, Tony Le Fournour from Chep Equipment and pooling systems and
Peter Johansson from Tellus storage systems, as well as people such as
Alain Deurwaerder from Katoen Natie and Mike Diamente from Dana Spicer.
There was much discussion regarding the venues for the AFG, and it was
felt that availing themselves of the venues chosen by AustCham for their
networking evenings would provide a ready-made meeting place complete
with libations, though Chantana Hinkaew from Hemaraj Land and
Development also offered their conference facilities, should the members
like to have a site or plant visit, and then stay on at the Eastern
Seaboard Industrial Estate for the networking function.
The AFG had produced sufficient world-wide interest that the meeting had
observers from the Scomi Group from Malaysia, and Steve Gregerson from
American Axle and Manufacturing who is based in Shanghai.
James Uyeno from Lean Systems and Design gave a brief talk, to explain
some of the thinking behind Lean management, describing it as shortening
the lead-time between order and payment, and striving for sustainable
results which go right to the bottom line.
By all appearances, it seemed as though the AFG would definitely fill a
niche for the automotive industries key players, and further details can
be requested from George Strampp, email
[email protected]
Around 30 interested people from all types
of automotive fields attended
the inaugural meeting.
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