|
Lighthouse provides a beacon for networking
Dr. Iain Corness
If you are looking for a local growth industry, you would
have to go for the Lighthouse Club in Pattaya. In a little over 12 months it
has gone from being a little known group of hard drinking chaps in the
building industry to being one of the largest social groups in the region.
(L to R) Nattamon Puangkaew, marketing coordinator in the
International Marketing Department at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya; Keith
Wilson, singer; and Janya Rattanaliam, international affairs executive at
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.
The latest event, held in the Holiday Inn’s Havana Bar,
had what was estimated as 300 people in attendance. And all enjoyed
themselves. Of course, entrance fees being B. 200 for all ladies certainly
helped, and the ladies were there in abundance, and in their party finery.
Papakan (Jeena) Saguansap, the Holiday Inn’s Tea Tree Spa manager being a
very fetching example, who managed to handle the Jock and Doc show interview
on Pattaya Mail TV.
(L to R) Dave Buckley, managing director of Real Estate
Magazine Thailand; Keetha Sirikan from The Vineyard; and Terrence Allen
Collins, project manager for The Vineyard.
Also helping swell the numbers was the fact that the
evening was a joint promotion with the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand
(BCCT) and was sponsored by Cees Cuijpers’ Town & Country Property (with
sub-sponsors The Residence Condominium and The Meadows). The B. 200 entrance
fee was also extended to all BCCT members as well as the Lighthouse Club
members themselves. Non-members were not hit to leg either, with their fee
being only B. 500, and many of those whom I saw could drink more than B. 500
unaided at a single sitting! (Though there were a couple of the revelers who
lost not just their car keys, but their cars as well. And if you still have
them please return to Northern Thai Real Estate!)
(L to R) Cees Cuijpers from Town & Country Property;
Tracy Cosgrove and Martin Simons, GM of The Bed & -5 Ice Bar, proudly
display Martin and DJ Nakadia’s donation to the Melissa Cosgrove Foundation.
With 300 people, the throng spilled out from the Havana
Bar itself, on to the forecourt and there were even a few on the footpath.
The next stop is the beach, if these events get any larger.
Other ladies included Nui and Nat from Bangkok Hospital
Pattaya (both skilled at resuscitation) and Raksa Intasing, the marketing
manager of Fiesta Events Management promoting her Treasure Hunts and flights
to destinations unknown (but with whom?). Judy Hoppe (Rotary Club
Jomtien-Pattaya) added some ‘class’ while Peter Smith’s (AA Insurance
Brokers) young lady Nam added some glamour.
Being a charity event, the recipient of the evening was
the Melissa Cosgrove Foundation, with Tracey Cosgrove now extending her
children’s charity even into Myanmar.
Those who were still standing after 8.30 p.m. had to
option of staying for a disco club event with assorted DJ’s, show dancers
from the -5 Supper Club, and other ‘beautiful’ people, with whom it is
advantageous to be seen. However, now being an ‘oldie’, it was long past my
bedtime and my nurse insisted it was time for my Horlicks and to retire, but
I am told the disco club was another fun event. And before you ask, the
lovely young lady on the poster, with the orange hair, is Cees Cuijper’s
girlfriend! And it’s a wig!
(L to R) Woranut Anusuriya, sales manager for East
Furniture & Interiors; John Collingbourne, auctioneer and training officer;
Anthony Thomas from The Vineyard; and Tam Van Gucht, sales & marketing
coordinator for The Residence Jomtien Beach.
Local Skål Club
booking by numbers
Dr. Iain Corness
The Skål Club of Pattaya and East Thailand met at the Green
Park resort for their latest dinner meeting. Local president Ingo Raeuber
welcomed everyone and thanked Thanet who had arranged the venue at one of his
resorts.
Oliver Libutzki presents excellent statistical breakdowns on
the tourist market.
The after-dinner speaker was Oliver Libutzki, who has lived
in Thailand for many years and has been in the tourism and travel business all
that time. He spoke with authority, now being the regional director market
management for the Agoda company.
He presented excellent statistical breakdowns on the tourist
market and could show that “last minute” bookings were financially much better
for the hotels than “early bird” bookings.
He finished by saying, however, that forward booking for December were
looking good at this stage. Many hoteliers smiled at that!
PCEC races to the finish line
Master of Ceremonies Les Edmonds welcomed everyone to the
Sunday August 22 meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club at the Tavern by the
Sea Restaurant. After the usual opening announcements, Les called on a person
who really needs no introduction in Pattaya, Dr. Iain Corness.
PCEC speaker this week was the well known Dr Iain Corness,
consultant at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, and Motoring Writer. ‘The Docs’ other
career, that of racing driver in the UK, Australia, and Thailand, was the topic,
and he shared with us some of his successes and some of his failures - including
the cars that tried to kill him!
Dr. Iain is well known as a man of many talents. Here in
Thailand, he devotes his time as a consultant at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya -
always available to assist his fellow expats in getting to the right doctor or
department to care for their particular ailment. He is also a columnist writing
several articles for the Pattaya Mail; under his own name and a few
pseudonyms. One of these articles, Auto Mania, relates to his love of
automobiles and racing. He has also written two oft read books providing
insights for a western foreigner living in Thailand entitled, Farang and
Farang, the Sequel. What many may not have known is that he has been a
race car driver, a professional photographer, and restaurateur.
Dr. Iain said that he would talk about his racing experience,
which started in Australia and has not yet ended as he continues to race cars in
Thailand. He pointed out there were two kinds of race car drivers. There were
the “bold drivers” and the “old drivers,” but he said there were no “old bold
drivers.”
Dr. Iain said he has always been fascinated with racing cars
from a very young age. But, he mentioned that he was unfortunate to have been
born into a family that did not have the money necessary to buy a race car.
During his third year of medical school, he learned that banks would loan money
to students to buy books. So, he took out such a loan, but instead of buying
books, he bought a Ford car which he then spent time fixing it up. He then
traded it in on MGA motor car.
Dr. Iain said this, his first race car, was immaculate, but
it did have a problem with the brakes getting hot as he discovered on the 2nd
lap of a race. As he was doing about 120kph, he saw the race marshals jumping up
and down and he couldn’t figure out why until he looked in his rear view mirror.
It was then he realized his car was on fire. He said back then there were no
flame retardant racing togs; fortunately, upon stopping he was sprayed with fire
extinguishers because he discovered he, too, was on fire.
After these adventures, he went to the UK to finish his
medical school and then practiced for a time in Gibraltar. He arranged his
return to Australia by signing on as a ship’s doctor for an Australia bound
ship. He related how after arrival he left the ship in the middle of the night
because he was carrying two very heavy and clanking, suitcases - he had brought
back the parts for an MGB motor car and wanted to avoid the customs formalities.
He then rebuilt the MGB and began racing it using his own finances.
He said he was noticed by British Leyland and he signed a
contract to race for them. Dr. Iain said that he and some friends built the only
twin cam engine for an MGB which made it a very fast car. Unfortunately, in 1971
Australian racing officials stopped his racing it as they deemed it was too fast
for its class. He then took up motorcycle racing for a while, never winning, but
never coming in last. He said he gave up on motorcycle racing because “I never
fell off my racing car.”
Chris
Parsons from the Pattaya Players talked briefly about their upcoming production.
‘Murder at Rutherford House’ airs 10th & 11th September; more details at
www.pattayaplayers.org.
He then returned to motor car racing using the much faster
Formula 5000 cars. Similar to Formula 1 cars used in Europe, these cars are
raced in Australia, New Zealand, and America. He noted that these types of cars
are very fast, around 300 kph. So, the driver has to be thinking now of what he
needs to do for the turn way down the track, which is not easy.
Dr. Iain then showed a picture of the car that he said
“almost killed me” in 1992. He explained how the car caught fire and he couldn’t
get out because the door had been jammed. Although by then, the racing togs were
flame retardant, they still only gave you about 40 seconds. He described how he
finally was able to exit through the flames, which burned off his eyelashes and
eyebrows. He said the flames were so hot that they had also melted the back of
his helmet.
Dr. Iain concluded by describing several subsequent cars and
races using slower cars than the formula 5000 class. After coming to Thailand,
he said he remained involved in racing by joining the Pizza Company race team.
He and others are currently working on a vehicle they hope to race in the not
too distant future.
After Dr. Iain answered questions from the audience, Chris
Parsons from the Pattaya Players talked briefly about their upcoming production.
Les called on Rudy from Flight of the Gibbon Adventure Tours to explain how
their zip line tour works and the safety measures they have in place for those
members who planned to go on the Club’s tour scheduled for August 28.
Les then called on Roger Fox to conduct the always
informative and sometimes humorous Open Forum, where questions about living in
Thailand and Pattaya in particular are asked and answered.
Dusit Thani GM honors late
wife with pavilion restoration
Vimolrat Singnikorn
The general manager of the Dusit Thani Hotel & Resort is
honoring the memory of his late wife by helping to renovate the gabled pavilion
at Jittapawan College in Naklua.
Chatchawal Supachayanont, general manager of the Dusit Thani
Hotel & Resort fondly remembers his Penchom.
Chatchawal Supachayanont led a religious ceremony at the
Phlapphla Chatulamuk pavilion Aug. 18 to mark 100 days since spouse Penchom
passed away. He also established the “Bun Penchom Fund” to raise money to supply
milk to 60 Buddhist novices studying at the college.
HRH the Princess Mother came to lay the Phlapphla Chatulamuk
foundation stone on October 8, 1967 at 2:51 p.m. as a place where Their
Majesties the King and Queen could attend religious ceremonies.
Phlapphla Chatulamuk’s apex, marked with four Garuda snake
head points, was raised in 1969. The pavilion was the site of a multi-tiered
umbrella raising ceremony for Buddha Nawarit Jittapawan in 1976, and has housed
Buddha relics.
The renovation will work to restore the pavilion and the
surrounding land with special attention being paid to making it a showcase for
Thai art and religion.
Chatchawal noted that the Dusit Thani conducts monthly
merit-making ceremonies and off-season offerings of robes and other necessities
for monks.
The Phlapphla Chatulamuk pavilion at Jittapawan College has been renovated
beautifully.
Annual Fassbind memorial dinner brings in 100,000 baht for charity
Elfi Seitz
More than 80 friends of the late Alois X Fassbind turned out
at an annual fundraising dinner to honor the man they recalled as “Mr. Pattaya”
with more than 100,000 baht in donations.
Cindy Burbridge (left) and Judy Hoppe (right) call out
raffles numbers during the Alois X Fassbind charity dinner.
The Aug. 15 event at Bruno’s Restaurant, which Fassbind
founded with partner Bruno Forrer, featured gourmet food, a raffle and silent
auction with funds going to the Alois Xavier Fassbind Memorial Fund, the
foundation started after his death in 2000 to continue the charity work for
which he became famous.
A founding member of the Rotary Club of Jomtien-Pattaya,
Fassbind made his name in Pattaya in the hotel industry, but everyone knew his
middle name was “charity”. He funded the Fassbind Medical Center at the
Banglamung Retirement Home and worked tirelessly on projects to benefit the
area’s poor.
The annual Fassbind Foundation dinner cost each diner 1,500
baht with Bruno’s owner Fredi Schaub donating 500 baht each to the cause. More
than 60 raffle prizes were given away, raising 40,000 baht alone from sale of
tickets.
The evening culminated with the traditional silent auction,
with the top item, a bottle of imported wine, going for 9,000 baht. That brought
the entire evening’s take to more than 100,000 baht, which will go a long way
toward the foundation’s goals in the next year.
| Sponsor list
Items for silent auction: Dieter Reigber, Arlette Cykman, Bruno’s
Restaurant, Bjorn Hellesylt.
Items for raffle: Amari Watergate, Bangkok,
Baquette Bakery, Bruno’s Restaurant, Captain’s Corner, Counseling
Center Pattaya, Diana Garden Resort, Fairtex Sportsclub, Horseshoe
Point, Marriott Hotel, Montien Hotel, Moon River Pub, Nittaya
Patimasongkroh, Pagoda Restaurant, Pinnacle Hotels, Poseidon
Restaurant, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Siam Bayshore Hotel, Wine
Cellar, Woodland’s Residence. |
|
