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Candles and a parade mark
the beginning of the Rains Retreat
Pramote Channgam
Photos by Pattaya Mail
and Tom Brown
A parade and candle decorating festival was held in Pattaya on July 16
to mark Buddhist Lent Day, with 20 organizations and 10 schools taking
part in what has become an annual Pattaya carnival.
 Lord
Buddha takes pride of place in the parade.
The parade started on Beach Road at Soi 6 and ended at Chaimongkol
Temple in South Pattaya.
Prizes totaling 80,000 baht were handed out for the best parade float
and the best candle decorations.
Buddhist Lent Day is an important date in the Buddhist calendar, when
all the monks vow to stay in their temples or in one specific place for
the entire three months of the rainy season.
Thai people refer to this time of the year as Cham Phansa, “phansa”
meaning rainy season and “cham” meaning living.
 The
beautiful woman dressed in traditional costume walks in the parade.
Even though Buddhist Lent Day is mainly for the Buddhist monks,
Buddhists always regard this special occasion as a good opportunity to
make merit, and to preserve the precepts of their beliefs and clear
their minds.
Followers prepare candles, incense, flowers, bathing soap and other
essential items for living and offer this to the monks and the novices
for use throughout the rainy season. They also help the monks to clean
the temples and other religious places, and to help with cleaning and
repairing the monks’ dwellings.
This is also a time when beeswax is molded into large candles to present
to the temples for use during the three-month long period, and is
regarded as a way to make merit.
In Pattaya, the atmosphere of the candle parade was a lively one, with
more than a 1,000 people taking part. A procession of long drums added
to the festivities, and people danced along to the traditional music.
The competitions attracted many entries. Winner of the candle decoration
category was Maree Vit School, which collected 20,000 baht and a trophy.
The first runner-up was Pattaya School No 3, taking home 15,000 baht,
and the second runner-up was Pattaya School No 9, which received 10,000
baht.
The winner of the parade float category was Pattaya School No 8, which
received 10,000 baht and a trophy. The second runner-up was Maree Vit
School, which received 7,000 baht and in third place was Pattaya School
No 9, which received 5,000 baht.
Kratinglai Community
decorated their float with ‘Garuda’,
one of the well-known and respected creatures from Thai mythology.
Lord Buddha once again
takes pride of place in the parade.
A pony pulls the Sawang
Boriboon Foundation float,
decorated with a creature from Thai mythology.
Maree Vit School used
creatures from Thai mythology to decorate their float,
which won the hearts of the judges and helped them to win prizes.
Thai traditional dance is
always a big part of the festivities.
Local students perform a
dance signifying the 4 regions of Thailand.
Young Thai dancers
practice before the parade.
Many intricately designed
floats were paraded down Beach Road
as part of the Buddhist Lent festivities in Pattaya.
Youngsters parade with
traditional Issan instruments.
Pattaya students in full
costume wait for their turn to perform.
Pattaya celebrates Asalaha Bucha Day
with prayers and candlelit procession
Revered monks lead the Wien
Thien procession, walking three times around
the temple with candle, flowers and joss sticks.
Entire families participate in
the ceremonies.
With candles and joss sticks
lit, many Buddhists
recite prayers during Asalaha Bucha Day.
Staff reporters
Pattaya residents and visitors gathered at the city’s temples on
July 17 to celebrate Asalaha Bucha Day, listening to sermons, lighting joss
sticks, praying and, in the evening, walking around the temples with lit
candles in an age-old tradition.
 Tak
bat is an important part of the religious proceedings.
Asalaha Bucha is an important day for Buddhists, falling on the 15th night
of the full moon during the eighth lunar month of the Buddhist calendar and
commemorating the first sermon given by the Buddha.
The sermon concerned the Four Noble Truths presented to the Buddha’s first
five disciples in the forest of Esipatana Marukatayawan, in the Paranasi
District in India. The sermon set in motion the Wheel of Dharma.
In the morning of July 17, Pattaya residents went early to the temples to
make merit, chanting and meditating to clear their minds and focus on the
purposes of Buddhism. In the evening they returned to walk around the temple
three times, with lit candles in hand.
Following the procession, they listened to a Dharma sermon and attended the
pouring of the holy water.
New ‘sister’ for the Rotary Club of Eastern Seaboard
Elfi Seitz
Representatives of the Rotary Club of the Eastern Seaboard and the
Rotary Club of Bergheim/Erft in Germany met at the Marriott Resort and Spa
to celebrate the signing of a “sister club” agreement.
 Toy
Ryser (left) and Horst Grabbe (right) sign the sister club agreement.
The presidents of both clubs, Toy Ryser from Pattaya and Horst Grabbe from
Germany, put their signatures to the contract that had been arranged by Dr
Claus Rink, member of the RC Eastern Seaboard.
The first joint project of both clubs is the Learn English CD for Thai
students. This was also initiated by Dr Rink, himself a teacher. The CD has
for long been tested and proven effective in helping students to understand
the English language more easily. This year, the teaching team consists of
Finn Monshausen, Daniela Adscheidt, Ephraim Morote and Severin Arnold, all
of who are from Cologne.
 Students
perform traditional dances to the delight of the assembly.
The German delegation of 10, led by president Grabbe and charter president
Thomas Odenthal greatly appreciated the hospitality extended to them, as the
official business was combined with visits to several projects undertaken by
the RC Eastern Seaboard, followed by some subsequent days of vacation.
In an interview with Pattaya Mail TV, Grabbe and Odenthal said that this
would not be their last visit to Pattaya. They are looking forward to
carrying out joint projects with their friends from the RC Eastern Seaboard,
always with the aim of helping people in need.
Former president Stefan Ryser emceed through the evening, which saw many
members of other local Rotary Clubs exchanging pennants, and the exchanging
of gifts between the sister clubs. Students from local schools provided
entertainment with songs and a dance performance.
After the signing, members of
both clubs pose for a souvenir shot.
Current and former presidents,
Bob Denzel, Stefan Ryser, Thomas Odenthal,
Horst Grabbe, Bruno Wagner and Donald Hugh Maclachlan are all smiles after
the exchanging of pennants.
Northern Real Estate lights the way
(L to R) Jack Levy from MLG
Insurance,
Graham Macdonald from British Chamber of Commerce
Thailand and Todd Guest from MBMG International chat at the Networking
Evening.
John Seymour from Northern
Thai
and Mark Thomson from Northstar address the gathering.
Claire and Malcolm Boden from
the Charity Club of Pattaya enjoy the event.
(L to R) John Hamilton from
Waste Management Services
and Paul Wilkinson from AGS Four Winds International chat over a beer.
Local beauties add pulchritude
to the proceedings.
by A Special Correspondent
The Lighthouse Club held its July Networking Evening at Flannigans Irish Pub
on Friday, July 25. Northern Thai Real Estate were the sponsors with
Managing Director John Seymour being his usual generous self and buying
drinks all round. There was a record attendance with well over 60 people
coming to mix and network.
Peter Mewes of the London Consultancy was seen in deep discussion. Also
present were Malcolm Scorer and Pete Smith from AA Insurance. Joe Grunwell
was waxing lyrical about how well his son James was doing this season and
Jimmy Howard was in a quandary where to watch the Olympics next month.
Jack Levy, representing MLG Insurance Brokers, was chatting away to Kevin
Fisher whilst the Lighthouse Club chairman, Mark Thomson, was making sure
that everyone was happy.
Flannigans put on a fantastic spread and John Seymour was delighted with the
whole event. The next meeting will be on Friday, August 22. For those who
are not familiar with Lighthouse, it is a charity that cares for the
families of construction workers who cannot, for whatever reasons, care for
them by themselves. All proceeds go to the those families who need our help.
Rotarians provide clean water, better hygiene conditions and nutrition to children at rural school in Korat
School children and Rotarians
are overjoyed,
having tasted their first glass of clean potable water.
Rotary District 3340 Governor
Pratheep Malhotra (centre) presided over the presentation of the Clean water
Project to the JC Anusorn School. He is flanked by the president and members
of the Khunying Mo-Korat Rotary Club.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
More than 100 teachers and students from JC Anusorn School were
delighted when the Rotary Club of Khunying Mo-Korat with the help of funds
from the Rotary Club of Medford Rogue and the Rotary Club of Chardon, both
in the USA, finished a project to provide clean drinking water equipment,
educational supplies, made improvements to the library and further developed
an agricultural project.
The presentation was made to JC Anusorn School in Baan Nongkhon in Srikhiew
district of Nakhorn Ratchasima Province on July 5 at a ceremony presided
over by Pratheep Malhotra, governor of District 3340, Rotary International.
Present were school director Anek Chomjantuek, Saman Sakulpaisarn, head of
the Klogphai Tambon Administrative Organization, President Chatkool Khammeon
of the Rotary Club of Khunying Mo-Korat, project chairman Salit Assawakul,
and Chukiat Prasangsit and Kittisak Pensuwaparb, project consultants.
The school has only seven teachers for its 90 students. Nutrition is
lacking, and there were insufficient fundamental utilities such as a clean
potable water system. Hygiene was a threat as the school was short of proper
lavatories. In addition the school was in need of basic educational tools,
and had a dilapidated library.
The project involved laying a 1.5 kilometer pipeline to bring water from a
pond nearby to be stored in new hygienic water tanks before going through a
filtration system to ensure that the water is safe for consumption.
A large tank has been refurbished for the breeding of fish to provide food
for the students and for sale to the local community. A piece of land has
also been cultivated as a vegetable garden for the same purpose.
The students, mostly from farming families, will take care of the
agricultural projects under the supervision of their teachers, and in
addition to providing nutrition the project will become a source of
educational learning.
Kittisak said that the club had renovated the old library, providing books
and donating bookshelves and additional purchases. The school toilets have
been improved by putting in new tiling, changing the sanitary ware, and
putting in new basins for brushing teeth and washing hands.
The club intends to follow up on the worthwhile project, with the idea of
using the school as a model for other needy institutions of learning in the
community.
School director Anek said the students now have enough clean water and food,
but that the school is still very short on educational and sports equipment.
DG Pratheep added that “the emphases for this Rotary year are to initiate
projects to lower the alarming rate of child mortality. Rotarians all over
the world are racing against time to save as many children’s lives as we
possibly can. Clean water, good health, proper nutrition and education are
vital elements to help achieve these goals.”
Earlier children had to brush
their teeth with muddy water, (left)
but now thanks to Rotarians, they have plenty of clean water. (right)
Construction workers begin
work on the water tower (above)
and the finished product (below).
Children ‘lend a hand’ in
upgrading ‘their’ fish breeding tank.
The unkempt fish tank before
renovations.
The dry piece of land (left)
that is cultivated into a fertile vegetable garden (right)
Rotarians show off the new
pump that was installed
to draw water from the water hole 1.5 kms to the school.
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