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Hospital staff honors Prince Mahidol
Patcharapol Panrak
On Mahidol Day, September 24, hospital staff from Somdej
Phranangchao Sirikit Hospital gathered to lay wreaths of remembrance for the
“Father of Modern Thai Medicine”, Prince Father Mahidol Adulyadej in
Sattahip.
 Hospital
staff from Somdej Phranangchao Sirikit Hospital lay wreaths of remembrance
for the “Father of Modern Thai Medicine”, Prince Father Mahidol Adulyadej in
Sattahip
Capt. Bancheod Wipatawi, deputy director of Somdej Phranangchao Sirikit
Hospital, Naval Medical Department, chaired a ceremony attended by monks
from the Ratsamakkee Temple, representatives from the Royal Thai Navy in
Chonburi, Rayong, and Chantaburi, and staff of various hospitals.
All paid their respects in front of the statue of His Royal Highness Prince
Mahidol, who was also Admiral of the Fleet, to commemorate his pivotal role
in the history of modern Thai medicine.
Prince Father Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkla was a son of King
Chulalongkorn (Rama V), and father of His Majesty King Bhumibol and his
brother HM King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII).
He was born on January 1 1892 to His Majesty King Chulalongkorn and Queen
Savang Vadhana. He was educated at the Harrow School in England then
proceeded to Germany to continue his studies at the Nurwik Imperial German
Naval Academy.
At the outbreak of World War 1, he returned to Thailand and was commissioned
for a short time in the Royal Thai Navy and became Admiral of the Fleet.
He went on then to study public health at Harvard University in the United
States and received his M.D. cum laude from there.
When he returned to Thailand, he used his knowledge to develop fields of
medicine, nursing and public health to provide medical experts and nurses to
improve Thailand’s medical and public health education. This was based at
the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital which brought its expertise up
to international standard.
The Prince Father is recognized as the “Father of Modern Medicine and the
Public Health of Thailand” because of his great contributions to the
improvement of health services here. Patients fondly called him “Mho Chao
Fa” (‘Prince Doctor’).
He passed away on September 24, 1929 on the day since designated as Mahidol
Day.
Milan Crosse Networking
Dinner September 2008
The September Milan Crosse Networking event took place on
Thursday the 25th and was again held at the Orangery by the Sea restaurant in
the J Avenue Complex on Pattaya 2nd Road.
 (L
to R) Maurice Bromley, M.R. Chatumongkol Songakul, Joe Grunwell and Jim Howard.
The attendees were welcomed up to the outside terrace of the restaurant for
pre-dinner cocktails by M.R. Chatumongkol Sonakul, the owner of the restaurant
and Jim Howard of Milan Crosse.
Despite all the recent rains it was a perfect evening and those attending
represented some of the major industries on the Eastern Seaboard. There was a
buzz of anticipation as Jim had promised a special presentation on the mechanics
involved in setting up and running a radio station and the philosophy behind the
establishment of Southshore FM 88.5 right here in Pattaya.
Among the crowd were Kevin Fisher of Cranes and Equipment Asia, Gary Baguley of
Blue Wave Watersports, Thirachart Charuvastra of Aus Thai International Legal
and Accounting Co., Ltd., Maurice Bromley of Auctioneers Go Industry - Dovebid,
the president of the South African - Thai Chamber of Commerce and Klaus
Kinzelmann of BMW Thailand. Other well known men about town Joe Grunwell, Steve
Duckworth and Stuart Saunders were also spotted.
Before dinner was served M.R. Chatumongkol addressed the gathering and gave some
pointers on the philosophy behind the Orangery restaurant operation. He also
announced the introduction of some additional cuisines including Russian and
Thai seafood. Dinner was then served in the private dining room and the superb
spread was complemented by some fine Australian wines.
The highlight of the event was the presentation from Russell Jay Darrell, the
man behind the new FM station Southshore FM 88.5. I believe that all those
present now believe that there is a future in radio! The new station will be
closely linked with the world’s foremost news broadcaster the BBC London and
will be focused on the English speaking audience in the Pattaya hinterland. The
station is also being sponsored by Raimon Land, one of the foremost property
developers of high quality condominiums in Thailand and will serve to promote
the company’s image on the Eastern Seaboard.
Russell also discussed some of the problems in operating a radio station in
Thailand, both technical and otherwise! The presentation was well received and
provoked a discussion on the types of music and the artists that those present
wanted to hear on the radio.
The evening was hosted by Jim Howard on behalf of Milan Crosse accompanied by
Cameron Stirling, the creative director of Milan Crosse Creative Co., Ltd.
Baba Hardev Singh Ji
Maharaj visits Pattaya
Staff Reporters
On September 25, Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj, head of the Sant Nirankari
Mission, made an appearance in Pattaya at Long Beach Garden Hotel and Spa. Along
with his envoy, he made his significant presence amongst his disciples before
going back to India after a two day trip in Thailand.
Satguru
Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj (left) accepts a bouquet of flowers from Pattaya
City’s deputy chief, Apichat Puetphan.
His students and worshipers here welcomed him warmly and in turn, received his
blessings. President of the Thai-Sikh Community in Pattaya, Amrik Kalra, along
with Pattaya deputy municipal clerk, Apichart Puechphan topped the list of local
leaders to attend the event.
The Sant Nirankari Mission is neither a new religion nor a sect of an existing
religion, but all-embracing spiritual movements dedicated to human welfare. It
endorses and accomplishes the established age-old truth that realization of
fatherhood of God through the living Satguru is the goal of human life and its
spontaneous by-product is the cherished achievements of universal brotherhood
which is inherently essential for peace and progress of mankind.
Satguru
Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj (left) accepts a bouquet of flowers from the
president of the Thai Sikh Community in Pattaya, Amrik Kalra.
The Mission has no political complexion or ambition. It does not, however,
advise its followers to be cut off from society. It urges them to act and behave
like responsible citizens. The Mission centers around the relationship between
Man and Good. Its message is addressed to the hearts of men.
The Mission believes in God, who is One, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal,
formless, a non-psychic objective reality and perceivable. The one who
experiences it is known as ‘Nirankari’. The sole aim of the Mission is to impart
the knowledge of Nirankar (the formless God).
Joined by more than 100 disciples young and old from Pattaya and the neighboring
area, all paid their respects to their holy deity, blessings were given, and
happy times were had by all.
Many followers came to see Satguru
Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj in Pattaya.
PCEC members free their spirits for a day
The regular Sunday meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club
got underway at the Amari’s Henry J. Bean Restaurant on Sunday, September 28
with emcee Richard Silverberg making the usual announcements. Gary Hacker, U.S.
Warden, made another announcement, urging Americans to vote in their upcoming
election.
 Brad
describes the adventures (and misadventures) encountered in 6 years traveling
across the US in a covered wagon drawn by four donkeys.
Lawrie Mcloughlin then introduced the featured speaker, Brad Kenning. Lawrie
said that he first met Brad at the Bang Sarae Club where Brad was sitting in on
a jam session. Brad has been a musician in America and plays several instruments
including the trumpet, piccolo, and guitar. He has also sat in on jam sessions
at local Pattaya venues - Sharky Bar, Jazz Pit, and the Blues Factory. But Brad
was not here to musically entertain the audience. Rather, he described his past
activities of wandering around Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California
in the USA using the name Mojave Jake, leaving everyone to believe he was indeed
a free spirit - one who is not restrained by convention or obligation.
With the aid of several pictures, Brad entertained the audience with his travels
for six years beginning in the summer of 1980. At that time he was in Durango,
Colorado when he came up with the idea of building a wagon. He said he soon
realized that he did not know how to go about building a wagon; but he did come
across a “chicken coop” on wheels. The picture he displayed was of a rather
unusual looking contraption, with an apparent canoe as a cover, chicken coops on
the side, and various paraphernalia dangling from it; but it did have wheels. He
paid the owner 500 dollars and became its proud owner along with a couple of
donkeys. He said he also received a 15 minute lesson on shoeing a donkey and
driving a wagon.
 MC
Richard Silverberg introduces Mojave Jake (Brad Kenning) to Pattaya City Expats
members.
It being too late in the year to take to the road, he and his companion Cynthia
wintered in the area. When they did set out, they headed southwest making about
10 miles per day on days they traveled. He said they really didn’t have any
specific plans on how they were going make a living. However, they soon
discovered that passing motorists considered them to be a photo opportunity.
Often, these people would approach and offer money. Similarly, they found the
various paraphernalia such as leather harness items of interest and offered to
buy some for souvenirs. In Arizona, Brad said they purchased about 10 dollars
worth of local American Indian jewelry, which Cynthia made into 6 necklaces.
They subsequently sold the necklaces for 10 dollars each. Brad said he also made
some screen type paintings, which they were also able to sell. Eventually, they
had 5 donkeys and made their living selling jewelry and screen paintings, posing
for pictures, and giving donkey rides.
Brad described the various roads they traveled including freeways, which did beg
the attention of highway police. During these encounters, he said he argued that
there were old laws still on the books granting them the freedom of the road -
he was not sure that that was really the case, but it eventually seemed to
settle the matter and they moved on.
Their initial trek went from Durango, Colorado, through Arizona to the Colorado
River near the US border with Mexico. While there, Brad rebuilt the wagon and
they set out for Nevada where they wintered as road conditions made it too
difficult to travel. He said that many kind hearted people from the area brought
hay for the donkeys while they were there.
During two succeeding summers, they put the wagon in storage and loaded their
things onto the donkeys. These items included an inflatable raft, food, and even
champagne. Brad said traveling around the Sierra Nevada in this fashion was more
fun than using the wagon. Brad’s pictures of the Sierra Nevada mountain range
were breathtaking.
Eventually, they acquired another wagon when their rebuilt one basically fell
apart. The picture of this wagon showed a more conventional vehicle, but they
kept the chicken coops - always had fresh eggs and a chicken in the pot. Brad
then invited questions from the audience, of which there were many.
MC Richard Silverberg then brought everyone up to date on upcoming events.
Chairman Michel De Goumois announced that the Members’ Dinner would be on
October 1st at the Valencia, a great Spanish restaurant on Thepprasit Road. The
regular Open Forum was conducted by “Hawaii Bob” Sutterfield with the aid of
Stuart Saunders. As always, the often humorous Open Forum provided answers to
questions from the audience about living here in Thailand - following the Club’s
motto of expats helping expats.
Rotary Governor
visits Plutaluang club
Rotarians from Plutaluang and
other clubs in District 3340
welcome DG Pratheep and Rani Malhotra.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
The Plutaluang Rotary Club led by President Chaweewan Adinon warmly
welcomed Pratheep Malhotra, Governor of District 3340 of Rotary International,
making one of his many visits to Rotary Clubs in his district, at a party at the
Sifa restaurant in Sattahip on September 24.
Pratheep said Rotary’s work is to provide service to alleviate the sufferings
and needs of millions of underprivileged children and adults in this world.
There is much work to do in the community such as helping the children. He
stressed that more than 30,000 children are dying everyday from preventable
causes. Children die needlessly of pneumonia, measles, and malaria - for the
lack of basic medicines, vaccines, and mosquito nets. They die of diarrheal
illnesses - for the lack of a packet of rehydration salts that costs 3 baht.
They die in the thousands, every day, because they have only dirty water to wash
in and to drink. They are killed by illnesses that become deadly in combination
with poor sanitation and malnutrition. They die because their families are
trapped in a cycle of extreme poverty, a cycle that is not interrupted because
there is no access to education. They die because their needs are not met in the
areas of water, health and hunger, and literacy.”
“We just need to go into the community around our homes to see that there are
people who need help,” he said.
Pratheep told a story about an old man seeing a girl dancing on the beach. But
she wasn’t dancing, only picking up starfish that were stranded on the beach and
throwing them back to the sea one by one. As the beach was strewn with many
starfish, the man asked the girl how she was going to help all of them and
whether it made a difference to anyone of them. The little picked up one more
starfish and threw it into the sea, saying “I can and will help them one by one
and yes, it makes a big difference to this one,” as she threw back another
starfish into the sea.
The governor said members of Rotary can’t refuse a call for help. His own
approach was to go anywhere and help anyone in need that he could.
Ten Rotarians at the dinner with birthdays in September all contributed $100
each to the Rotary Foundation to ensure continuity of the good work to help
those in need and to Make Dreams Real for the world’s children.
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