26th Year
Established in 1993
VOL.XXVI No. 52
Pattaya’s First English Language Newspaper
FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018 - JANUARY 3, 2019
30 BAHT
Happy New Year Road closures for 2019 Countdown
Roads surrounding Bali Hai – Walking Street, the Bali Hai flyover and the section of Pratamnak Road leading to the flyover – will be closed from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Dec. 30-31. Expect heavy traffic on all other roads thru Jan 3 and perhaps later. Drive safely, the life you save may be your own.
Tsunami set off by volcanic eruption kills hundreds in Indonesia Niniek Karmini Carita Beach, Indonesia (AP) - A tsunami believed to be triggered by a volcanic eruption killed at least 373 people in Indonesia during last week’s busy holiday weekend, sweeping away hotels, hundreds of houses and a group of people attending a beach concert.
More than 1,400 people were reported injured after the tsunami hit around the Sunda Strait at 9:27 p.m. Saturday, the Disaster Management Agency. At least 28 others were missing, but the toll could continue to rise because some areas had not yet been reached. Continued on page 6
As the sun sets on Christmas, we now prepare to say goodbye to 2018 on Monday night and celebrate the arrival of 2019 on Tuesday. It reality, the event might only mean flipping the page on a calendar, but for many it renews hope of a new beginning, of the chance to start with a clean slate, and promises of better things to come. This year Pattaya’s countdown will include two days of boxing and music at Bali Hai Pier, along with city sponsored fireworks and colorful pyrotechnics from hotels all up and down Pattaya Beach and beyond (details on page 2). Whether 2018 was great or lousy for you, the Pattaya Mail family wishes you and yours a healthy, prosperous and happy 2019.
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Tourist Police chief cancels Pattaya Countdown Dec. 30-31 officers’ leave during New Year’s
Pol. Lt. Col. Piyapong Ensarn canceled all vacation leave and time off for tourist police from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2.
Boonlua Chatree Leave has been canceled for Pattaya tourist police during the New Year’s holiday to ensure maximum
safety coverage for visitors. Pattaya Tourist Police chief Pol. Lt. Col. Piyapong Ensarn met Dec. 17 with officers to lay out the holiday schedule and safety plan.
He said it was important all officers be ready to work and prevent crimes during the busiest weeks of the year. Thus, all vacation leave and time off was canceled from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2.
This year’s two-day Pattaya Countdown will feature music, fireworks and boxing to ring in 2019 at Bali Hai Pier Dec. 30-31. Themed “Countdown 2019: Universe of Entertainment” and sponsored by Mono TV Channel 29, Government Savings Bank and Thipaya Insurance, the party will feature musical acts such as Rose Sirinthip, Panatda Reungwuth, Pete Pera, King Pichet, and Ploy ChompuYaneen, plus the final round of Mono 29’s Top King World Series of Muay Thai boxing. Roads surrounding Bali Hai – Walking Street, the Bali Hai flyover and the section of Pratamnak Road leading to
the flyover – will be closed from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. both days. Aerial photo drones, Wi-Fi cameras and street vendors will be banned from the Countdown zone. Pattaya officials said the prohibitions were to ensure safety for concert-goers as well as keep traffic moving. Day 1’s first act features musical talents Tao Somchai, Panatda Reuangwuth, Tao Settapong, Kanomjeen Kunlamart, Rose Sirinthip, Lamun Band, Chayin, Pang Nattanicha, and Bell Lelanee. At 8 p.m. Ben Chalathip, Room 39, Stap Apiwat, Singto Numcho and DJ Kongkwan take over the stage. At 5:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve will be the boxing match
followed by music from Pete Pera, Tony Pee, Blue Gents, Zheeze, Senpon, Hi Q, Angie, Tung Pang, Nina, Mewly, Bua, Kiki, Pink, and Gelato. At 10 p.m. the countdown to 2019 begins with Ae Jirakorn Sompitak, Prang Nakarin Kingsak with 15 minutes of fireworks set for midnight. The party continues into the first couple of hours of 2019 with heavy metal band Retrospect and DJ Rabbit, who will draw raffle tickets for the Pattaya Countdown grand prizes, including a four-door pickup truck, two motorcycles and cash-filled bank accounts from Government Savings Bank. (PCPR)
Jomtien Beach vendors Public hearings open for Laem reminded to keep sand clean Chabang-Bangkok rail lines
The State Railway of Thailand opened public hearings into its plans to lay new rail lines to connect ports in Laem Chabang and Sattahip with Bangkok.
Warapun Jaikusol The State Railway of Thailand opened public hearings into its plans to lay new rail lines to connect ports in Laem Chabang and Sattahip with Bangkok. Chonburi Deputy Gov. Thawatchai Radngam opened the Dec. 19 meeting at the Asia Pattaya Hotel with SRT chief engineer Julathep Jittasombat. The feasibility study project, which began in October and runs through September, assesses the appropriateness, design and environmental impact of the passenger line linking Bangkok’s Airport Rail Link station in Hua Mark to Chachoengsao and Sriracha, and a double-track freight rail between Laem Chabang Port, Sattahip Commercial
Port and the Maptaphut Industrial Estate. The logistics upgrade is part of the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor project and lays the foundation for later rail links with Myanmar’s main port. Julathep said rail is the only way to expand Thailand’s cargo capabilities, as roads are not a viable option. The port connections would reduce the current number of grade crossings, improving traffic on roads and highways, he said. The impact of construction on residential areas will be limited, as most the work will be on SRT property, he added. Nonetheless, members of the public attending the hearing worried aloud about expropriation of their land, particularly in Pattaya’s
Charoen Sukpattana and Soi 5 December communities near the Pattaya train station. Others insisted that if the government does use eminent domain on their property, they will be compensated at market rates so they can buy a new home. Teerawit Thongnok, Nongprue Sub-district’s municipal clerk, fretted that construction will exacerbate traffic congestion and flooding. He said the project managers must add flood-mitigation to its plans, as rail lines are barriers to proper stormrunoff drainage, he said. Two more hearings were scheduled, one on Christmas at the Tide Resort in Bangsaen. For more information on the project, see Double TrackMaptatput.com.
Jomtien Beach vendors were given a reminder to keep the shoreline clean and free of smokers. About 60 beach chair vendors and masseuses met with Pattaya mayoral advisor Sretapol Boonsawat, Manop Sakorn, chairman of Jomtien Beach Thai Traditional Massage Club and city regularly-enforcement officers Dec. 18. The agenda covered cleanliness of the beach, Thailand’s beach smoking ban, vehicle traffic, garbage collection and beach chair parcel boundaries. Vendors were told their primary responsibility is to keep their areas of the beach clean and to properly dispose of rubbish in tied plastic bags which must be dropped off at the appropriate pickup point on time.
Pattaya mayoral advisor Sretapol Boonsawat (right) reminds Jomtien Beach vendors to keep the shoreline clean and free of smokers.
They also are required to help enforce the smoking ban and alert patrol officers in cases where the beachgoer doesn’t comply. The vendors also were asked to ensure that any vehicles brought into the Jomtien “free zone” area are
relocated after no-parking rules go into effect. Sretapol and Engineering Department Director Sunthorn Sompramai then checked the progress of the latest phase of the Jomtien Beach landscaping overhaul. (PCPR)
Nongprue tells residents to be patient over broken streetlights Warapun Jaikusol Nongprue’s mayor told local residents to be patient as the sub-district’s engineers retrofit cheaply built streetlights with new fuse boxes. Mai Chaiyanit said Dec. 19 that Nongprue must obtain
a new budget allocation from the central government to afford controllers for the lights along Pattanakarn Road. Residents have complained the high-intensity lamps often are dark, leading to poor visibility on a 200-meter stretch of the boulevard at night. Mai said three Nongprue streets – Pattanakarn, Soi Siam Country Club and Soi Wat Sutthawat – have been lit for five years with the
dual-headed posts, each with its own controller. However, the lights were poorly designed, outfitted with controllers that can’t handle the temperature of extended uses. Hence the lights go out after a few hours of use. He said new fuse boxes are expensive and the sub-district doesn’t have the money for them. He asked residents to be patient as he is on the job, but waiting for more funds.
Nongprue’s mayor told local residents to be patient as the sub-district’s engineers retrofit cheaply built streetlights with new fuse boxes.
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Hazy days in Pattaya Pattaya checks Walking Street sign heights Boonlua Chatree
The annual haze has returned to Pattaya.
People come to Pattaya to breathe in the sea air, but the air has been decidedly unbreathable lately. As has been the case in Bangkok and many areas of the East and Central regions, thick haze and pollution have hung over urban areas. It not only has dimmed the view, but proven dangerous for the elderly, young and those with respiratory conditions. Agricultural fires, road improvements and weather conditions are to blame for the hazardous conditions.
Pattaya lit up for holidays Pattaya is lit up for the holiday season with rainbowcolored dolphins. Engineering Department staffers spread out across the city installing holiday lights in various places to give the city a festive look for Christmas and New Year’s. The highlight were dolphin-shaped decorations with rotating colors. City hall invited tourists to take photos with the color Pattaya mascots. (PCPR)
Pattaya authorities drove a fire truck down Walking Street to check that signs and billboards wouldn’t impede emergency-response vehicles.
Boonlua Chatree
Pattaya is lit up for the holiday season with rainbowcolored dolphins.
Read more news at pattayamail.com
Pattaya authorities drove a fire truck down Walking Street to check that signs and billboards wouldn’t impede emergency-response vehicles. The height of the neon and other signs hanging over the nightlife strip has been a perennial concern with city officials at one time talking about ripping them all down to ensure firetrucks could get to emergencies.
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh rode the truck Dec. 21, finding some signs still were below the five-meter barrier. Sagging electric and utility wires also obstructed passage.
He said city inspectors would be out to tell problem businesses to order immediate corrections. Utility companies also would be contacted to rehang wires correctly.
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Russian arrested for robbing compatriot Boonlua Chatree A Russian man was arrested for stealing a computer notebook from a compatriot. Artem Kuliasov, 29, was taken into custody at his Siam Oriental Garden condominium Dec. 15. Police recovered a Lenovo notebook belonging to Aleksandr Kuznestsov, 35, as well as the victim’s passport and driver’s license. Police said Kuliasov confessed to taking the computer and documents from K u l i a s o v ’s a p a r t m e n t at the Sombat Condo on Pratamnak Soi 4. The PC
Artem Kuliasov was arrested for stealing a computer notebook from a compatriot.
was found in the suspect’s condo and the documents
buried on the beach at Pratamnak Soi 5.
Takhiantia shootout leaves man shot in head A 25-year-old man was critically injured after an argument turned into gunfire in Takhiantia. Jirayu Jantarungsri, 25, suffered a 9mm gunshot to the head in the Dec. 19 shootout in Sancharoen Village. He was transported to Banglamung Hospital. Police quickly arrested Komsan Sirijampa, 26, at his cousin’s house along with the Glock pistol used. Police said Komsan confessed that he shot Jirayu, but only in self-defense. The suspect said he was fixing a motorbike at the crime scene when Jirayu arrived with Apichart Kaithong, 29, who was there to mediate a long-running dispute between the two men. Their conflict wasn’t resolved, however, and, as the argument heated up, Jirayu went to his Toyota Fortuner and pulled out an
Police arrested Komsan Sirijampa (not shown) at his cousin’s house with the 9mm Glock he allegedly used.
11mm handgun and fired twice at Komsan, but missed. Komsan said he pulled his own gun and fired off numerous rounds in self-defense, hitting Jirayu once in the head. He was charged with attempted murder.
16-year-old bar girl found dead in South Pattaya Boonlua Chatree A 16-year-old bar girl was found dead in her South Pattaya apartment, with police saying a mysterious “man in black” may have killed her. The body of the Witchayapat Nannitichot, who police said
Commander dies in navy triathlon Patcharapol Panrak A training commander participating in the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming the 1.5-kilometer stage. Cmdr. Sompan Meethong, 56, head of the 1st Training Battalion at the Air and Coastal Defense Command, succumbed in the first of the three-stage “Olympic Triathlon” which also called for him to cycle 40 kilometers and run 10 kilometers. Navy commander-in-chief Adm. Luechai Ruddit expressed his condolences over the commander’s death, adding that Sompan had passed a pre-event physical fine. Luechai said the five-part triathlon series would continue through Mother’s Day. Cmdr. Sompan Meethong suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming the 1.5-kilometer stage of the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon.
Toy vendor beaten unconscious on Pattaya Beach Boonlua Chatree A toy vendor was knocked senseless after being attacked by three men on Pattaya Beach. Boo n s o n g S o m p o n g , 34, was left bleeding and
Boonlua Chatree
worked in an entertainment venue in South Pattaya, was discovered by 19-year-old friend Patchara Dasri Dec. 19, two days after they last spoke. The girl was found lying face down on her bed, dressed in black with a blanket over her legs. No wound was found initially due to
decomposition of the body. Her remains were sent for an autopsy. Police said security cameras showed Witchayapat and a man dressed in black coming back to her Soi Khopai 5 apartment Dec. 17 and the man leaving alone about an hour later. Witchayapat never left the room again. Police collected forensic evidence and video footage and are trying to identify the mystery man.
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unconscious from a head wound outside the Centara Beach Hotel on Central Road Dec. 17. A hotel security guard relayed to police his conversation with a foreign tourist who saw the incident.
He said Boonsong had been followed from the beach by three men armed with a blunt object. They set upon him, beating him in the head until Boonsong collapsed. No motive for the attack was known.
Brit robbed by streetwalkers he took home Boonlua Chatree A 64-year-old streetwalker who allegedly drugged and robbed a British john who took her back to his Pattaya condo has been arrested. Penjan Hales was captured in Bangkok Dec. 18 with a diamond cross pendant belonging to George Andrew Leece, 56. Leece went to police after waking up the day before with a drug hangover and out about 1,000 British pounds, 3,000 baht and the necklace. He told police he was walking back to his condominium
Penjan Hales was arrested for allegedly drugging and robbing a British man.
off Soi Diana when he was propositioned by Penjan
and another younger, unidentified woman. He took them up on their offer and afterward the younger woman left. But Penjan asked to stay with him, claiming she said she was drunk and that her apartment was far away. The Brit agreed, but ended up getting drugged by sleeping pills, two of which police found in a plastic bag at the scene the next day. Penjan denied drugging the victim, saying the sleeping pills were hers because she has trouble nodding off. And she said she took only 10 pounds, not 1,000, which she split with her partner.
Sloppy U-turn closure work opens door to reckless motorcyclists Boonlua Chatree Motorbikes making illegal U-turns in Jomtien Beach are causing traffic headaches and accidents, residents complained. A U-turn on Jomtien Second Road opposite of Rompho Market was closed off to cars by cement barricades earlier this year, but workers left about 1.5 meters between the blocks, which has been enough for bikers to squeeze through. Residents pointed out that the seven-meter gap in the center island was closed for a reason, but reckless motorbike users and taxi drivers have ignored it and that
Motorbikes making illegal U-turns in Jomtien Beach are causing traffic headaches and accidents, residents complained.
creates a safety hazard. Residents claim the bikes have caused accidents and
will cause more. They want Pattaya to do a better job of closing the U-turn.
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Lantern festival lights up Big Buddha Mountain Beautiful lanterns and masked Khon actors highlighted Najomtien’s annual festival to honor the giant Buddha chiseled into the side of Khao Chee Chan. Santi Phawai, deputy permanent secretary for the
Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and Chonburi Deputy Gov. Thammasak Rattanathanya opened the Dec. 15-16 event at Big Buddha Mountain featuring local and Thai arts, cultural performances, Buddhist
The event at Big Buddha Mountain featured local and Thai arts, cultural performances, Buddhist sermons and a lantern parade.
sermons and a lantern parade. The festival, organized by the Chonburi Tourism and Sports Department and the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration, is held annually to promote cultural tourism and reinforce strength in the community. It also pays tribute to HM the late King Rama IX and late Supreme Patriarch Nyanasamvara. In addition to the parade, the festival featured a Ramayana Khon mask play, an “acid sand” ceremony and the throwing of ‘kabinlapat” spears by 100 Thai artists. The royal compositions of HM late King Bhumibol also were played by the Royal Thai Navy Band while artisans performed a “thepbanthng” dance. (PCPR)
City hall plans Taksin Day, New Year’s alms offerings Pattaya put the finishing touches on planning for its annual King Taksin Day commemoration and New Year’s Day alms offering. City council members met with municipal police and cultural promotion officials to plan traffic and other logistics of the Dec. 28 commemoration at the King Taksin the Great Monument in front of city hall. The service typically is hours long, with
both Hindu and Buddhist observances made, monks chanting Buddhist mantras, the lighting of candles and incense and followed by Thai dance and Muay Thai boxing demonstrations. The alms offering will see hundreds of monks and novice accepting donations of rice and dried food at Lan Po Public Park in Naklua and on Jomtien Beach Road the morning of Jan. 1. (PCPR)
Beautiful lanterns and masked Khon actors highlighted Najomtien’s annual festival to honor the giant Buddha chiseled into the side of Khao Chee Chan.
Siamese fighting fish set for Thai national honor Bangkok (AP) - The Siamese fighting fish, whose violent territoriality makes it beloved by gamblers who pit them in battle against each other, is set to become Thailand’s national aquatic animal. Suwapan Tanyuvardhana, a minister attached to the Prime Minister’s Office and vice president of the National Identity Committee, said that the body decided Thursday to forward its recommendation for the honor to the Cabinet for final approval. The committee promotes Thai cultural pride. The often brightly-hued fish is also called a betta fish, but Suwapan noted that it is clearly identifiable as Thai by its name: Siam is the old name for Thailand. It is also called Siamese fighting fish in scientific studies and historical accounts, which note as well
In this undated photo, a Siamese fighting fish is captured showing its bright blue, red and white coloring. (Kun Eak Nakhon Pathom via AP)
that it can be found in Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River.
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Tsunami set off by volcanic eruption kills hundreds in Indonesia From page 1 Scientists, including those from Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics agency, said Sunday that the tsunami could have been caused by undersea landslides or those occurring above sea level on the Anak Krakatau volcano’s steep outside slope following the eruption. The volcano’s name translates to “Child of Krakatoa,” a volcanic island formed over years after one of the largest eruptions in recorded history occurred at the Krakatoa volcano more than a century ago. The scientists also cited tidal waves caused by the full moon. Dramatic video posted on social media showed an Indonesian pop band named “Seventeen” performing under a tent on a popular beach at a concert for employees of a state-owned electricity company. Dozens of people sat listening at tables covered in white cloths while others bobbed to the music near the stage as bright strobe lights flashed and theatrical smoke was released. A child could also be seen wandering through the crowd. Seconds later, with
Residents inspect a house damaged by the tsunami, in Carita, Indonesia, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018. (AP Photo)
the drummer pounding just as the next song was about to begin, the stage suddenly heaved forward and buckled under the force of the water, throwing the band and all their equipment into the audience. The group released a statement saying their bass player, guitarist and road manager were found dead, while two other band members and the wife of one of the performers remained missing. “The tide rose to the surface and dragged all the people on site,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, when the current receded our members are unable to save
A woman reacts after identifying a relative among the bodies of tsunami victims in Carita, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Fauzy Chaniago)
themselves while some did not find a place to hold on.” Tourists were also affected during the long holiday weekend ahead of Christmas. “I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m inland,” Norwegian Oystein Lund Andersen wrote on Facebook. The self-described photographer and volcano enthusiast said he was taking pictures of the volcano when he suddenly saw a big wave come toward him. “Next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the road behind it,” he wrote. “Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground (through) forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of (by) the locals. Were unharmed, thankfully.” The Anak Krakatau volcano lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, linking the Indian Ocean and Java Sea. It erupted about 24 minutes before the tsunami, the geophysics agency said. The worst-affected area was the Pandeglang region of Java’s Banten province, which encompasses Ujung Kulon National Park and popular beaches, the disaster agency said.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 373 deaths had been confirmed and at least 1,400 people were injured. Rescue workers were still trying to access other affected areas. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed his sympathy and ordered government agencies to respond quickly to the disaster. “My deep condolences to the victims in Banten and Lumpung provinces,” he said. “Hopefully, those who are left have patience.” In the city of Bandar Lampung on Sumatra, hundreds of residents took refuge at the governor’s office. At the popular resort area of Carita Beach, some survivors appeared lost.
my bike. I was thrown into the fence of a building about 30 meters from the beach and held onto the fence as strong as I could, trying to resist the water, which feels like it would drag me back into the sea. I cried in fear. ... ‘This is a tsunami?’ I was afraid I would die.” The 305-meter-high Anak Krakatau volcano, located about 200 kilometers southwest of Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, has been erupting since June. In July, authorities widened its no-go areas to 2 kilometers from the crater. However, Anak Krakatau remains much smaller than Krakatoa when it blew in 1883, killing more than 30,000 people. Krakatoa launched far-reaching tsunamis and
A villager walks past a car damaged by the tsunami. (AP Photo/Dian Triyuli Handoko)
Azki Kurniawan, 16, said he was undergoing vocational training with a group of 30 other students at Patra Comfort Hotel when people suddenly burst into the lobby yelling, “Sea water rising!” He said he was confused because he did not feel an earthquake, but ran to the parking lot to try to reach his motorbike. By the time he got there, it was already flooded. “Suddenly a 1-meter wave hit me,” he said. “I fell down, the water separated me from
created so much ash, day was turned to night in the area and a global temperature drop was recorded. The violent explosions sank most of the island into the volcanic crater under the sea, and the area remained calm until the 1920s, when Anak Krakatau began to rise from the site. It continues to grow each year and erupts periodically. Gegar Prasetya, co-founder of the Tsunami Research Center Indonesia, said Saturday’s tsunami was likely
caused by a flank collapse when a big section of a volcano’s slope gives way. He said it’s possible for an eruption to trigger a landslide above ground or beneath the ocean, both capable of producing waves. “Actually, the tsunami was not really big, only 1 meter,” said Prasetya, who has closely studied Krakatoa. “The problem is people always tend to build everything close to the shoreline.” Nine hotels and hundreds of homes were heavily damaged. Broken chunks of concrete and splintered sticks of wood littered hard-hit coastal areas, turning beach getaways popular with Jakarta residents into near ghost towns. Vehicles tossed by the waves remained belly up in the rubble or were lodged in the air under collapsed roofs. Debris from thatch-bamboo shacks was strewn along beaches. Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and home to 260 million people, lies along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. In September, more than 2,500 people were killed by a quake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, which is just east of Borneo. Saturday’s tsunami rekindled memories for some of the massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake that hit on Dec. 26, 2004. It spawned a giant tsunami off Sumatra Island in western Indonesia, killing more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries - the majority in Indonesia. Roads and infrastructure are poor in many areas of disaster-prone Indonesia, making access difficult in the best of conditions.
Thailand’s legislature legalizes Up to 2,000 expected to ring in 2019 with meditation medical use of marijuana Bangkok (AP) — Thailand’s legislature on Tuesday agreed to amend the country’s drug law to allow the licensed medical use of marijuana, as well as kratom, a locally grown plant traditionally used as a stimulant and painkiller. Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia to take such action, which is also under consideration in neighboring Malaysia. New Zealand’s government earlier this month enacted a law liberalizing the medical use of marijuana, which had previously been tightly restricted.
The Thai legislation passed its final reading at the National Legislative Assembly by a vote of 166-0 with 13 abstentions. The changes, which become law when published in the Royal Gazette, legalize the production, import, export, possession and use of marijuana and kratom products for medical purposes. Purveyors, producers and researchers will need licenses to handle the drugs, while end-users will need prescriptions. Recreational use of the drugs remains illegal and subject to prison terms and fines commensurate with the quantities involved.
Public hearings showed overwhelming support for the measure. The bill introducing the legislative changes had noted that recent studies have shown that marijuana extract has medicinal benefits, which has prompted “many countries around the world to ease their laws by enacting legal amendments to allow their citizens to legally use kratom and marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.” It added that despite being classified as an illegal drug, many patients have used marijuana to treat their diseases.
Warapun Jaikusol Up to 2,000 people are expected to spend New Year’s Eve meditating and learning Buddha’s lessons at Chaimongkol Temple. While most of Pattaya will be popping corks and reveling at New Year’s parties, devout Buddhists will spend Dec. 29-31 contemplating the past year and their plans for the new one. Officials at the South Pattaya temple said the meditation session has become increasingly popular over the past five years with more and more people curious about the alternative New Year’s commemoration.
Up to 2,000 people are expected to spend New Year’s Eve meditating and learning Buddha’s lessons at Chaimongkol Temple.
They said meditation increases focus and attention spans, which can lead to a smoother life. Abbot Panyarattanaporn said the front of the temple has been prepared for overnight prayer services and
this year can accommodate up to 2,000 people. During the same period Chaimongkol is hosting its annual holiday fair with booths offering food and reasonably priced goods.
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China launches pioneering mission to far side of moon Christopher Bodeen Beijing (AP) - China launched a ground-breaking mission Saturday, Dec. 8, to land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European Union and the U.S. A Long March 3B rocket carrying a lunar probe blasted off at 2:23 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province in southwestern China, the
official Xinhua News Agency said. With its Chang’e 4 mission, China hopes to be the first country to make a soft landing, which is a landing of a spacecraft during which no serious damage is incurred. The moon’s far side is also known as the dark side because it faces away from Earth and remains comparatively unknown. It has a different composition than sites on the near side, where previous missions have landed.
Google commences $1B expansion in New York City
If successful, the mission would propel the Chinese space program to a leading position in one of the most important areas of lunar exploration. China landed its Yutu, or “Jade Rabbit,” rover on the moon five years ago and plans to send its Chang’e 5 probe there next year and have it return to Earth with samples - the first time that will have been done since 1976. A crewed lunar mission is also under consideration. Chang’e 4 is also a landerrover combination and will explore both above and below the lunar surface after arriving at the South Pole-Aitken basin’s Von Karman crater following a 27-day journey. It will also perform radioastronomical studies that, because the far side always faces away from Earth, will be “free from interference from our planet’s ionosphere, human-made radio frequencies and auroral radiation noise,” space industry expert
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the Chang’e 4 lunar probe launches from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018. (Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua via AP)
Leonard David wrote on the website Space.com. It may also carry plant seeds and silkworm eggs, according to Xinhua.
Chang’e is the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology. China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, making it only the third
country after Russia and the U.S. to do so. It has put a pair of space stations into orbit, one of which is still operating as a precursor to a more than 60-ton station that is due to come online in 2022. The launch of a Mars rover is planned for the mid-2020s. To facilitate communication between controllers on Earth and the Chang’e 4 mission, China in May launched a relay satellite named Queqiao, or “Magpie Bridge,” after an ancient Chinese folk tale. China’s space program has benefited from cooperation with Russia and European nations, although it was excluded from the 420-ton International Space Station, mainly due to U.S. legislation barring such cooperation amid concerns over its strong military connections. Its program also suffered a rare setback last year with the failed launch of its Long March 5 rocket.
Cut off from the world, an Indian island remains a mystery Tim Sullivan Google is spending more than $1 billion to expand operations in New York City. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
New York (AP) - Google is rolling out a major expansion in New York City, spending more than $1 billion on a new campus along the Hudson River that will allow it to double the number of people it already employs here. The internet search giant will fashion a campus exceeding 1.7 million square feet along the Hudson River in the city’s West Village neighborhood, Ruth Porat, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said in a blog post Monday. Google opened its first office in New York nearly 20 years ago and employs 7,000 people in the city. That footprint has expanded continuously. Google said this year that it would buy the Manhattan Chelsea Market building for $2.4 billion and planned to lease more space at Pier 57, both about a mile north of the new campus along the Hudson River. Google’s plan to expand is being announced a month after Amazon said it would put one of its second headquarter locations in New York’s Long Island City neighborhood, creating upward of 25,000 jobs in the region. Amazon, Google and other tech giants like Facebook are expanding beyond the traditional stomping ground of Silicon Valley, hungry for highly
trained engineers and other staff that can support expansion. The Northeast is proving to be a good match, with a strong base of higher education and a concentration of younger, educated workers from Boston to Manhattan. But it’s not just the Northeast. Apple last week announced plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, that will create at least 5,000 jobs. The bidding for programmers is driving salaries higher, which in turn is catapulting the average prices of homes in many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area above $1 million. Many high-tech workers are thus choosing to live elsewhere, causing major tech employers such as Apple, Amazon and Google to look in new places for the employees they need to pursue their future ambitions. Google has more than 7,000 workers in New York and Facebook has more than 2,000. According to official statistics, tech sector employment in the New York grew by 65 percent to reach an estimated 134,700 from 2010 to 2017. Google hopes to move into the new campus by 2020. Porat said that the company’s most recent investments gives it the ability to more than double the number of Google workers in New York over the next 10 years.
New Delhi (AP) - For thousands of years, the people of North Sentinel Island have been isolated from the rest of the world. They use spears and bows and arrows to hunt the animals that roam the small, heavily forested island, and gather plants to eat and to fashion into homes. Their closest neighbors live more than 50 kilometers (30 miles) away. Deeply suspicious of outsiders, they attack anyone who comes through the surf and onto their beaches. Police say that is what happened last month when a young American, John Allen Chau, was killed by islanders after paying fishermen to take him to the island. “The Sentinelese want to be left alone,” said the anthropologist Anup Kapur. Scholars believe the Sentinelese migrated from Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, but most details of their lives remain completely unknown. “We do not even know how many of them are there,” said Anvita Abbi, who has spent decades studying the tribal languages of India’s Andaman and Nicobar islands. North Sentinel is an outpost of the island chain, which is far closer to Myanmar and Thailand than to mainland India. Estimates on the group’s size range from a few dozen to a few hundred. “What language they speak, how old it is, it’s anybody’s
In this Nov. 14, 2005 file photo, clouds hang over the North Sentinel Island, in India’s southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Visits to the island are heavily restricted by the government. (AP Photo/Gautam Singh, File)
guess,” Abbi said. “Nobody has access to these people.” And, she said, that is how it should be. “Just for our curiosity, why should we disturb a tribe that has sustained itself for tens of thousands of years?” she asked. “So much is lost: People are lost, language is lost, their peace is lost.” For generations, Indian officials have heavily restricted visits to North Sentinel, with contact limited to rare “giftgiving” encounters, with small teams of officials and scientists leaving coconuts and bananas for the islanders. Any contact with such isolated people can be dangerous, scholars say, with islanders having no resistance to diseases outsiders carry.
“We have become a very dangerous people,” said P.C. Joshi, an anthropology professor at Delhi University. “Even minor influences can kill them.” Because of this, Abbi said scholars who visit isolated peoples are careful to limit their visits to a few hours a day and to stay away even if they have minor coughs or colds. Many of the island chain’s other tribes have been decimated over the past century, lost to disease, intermarriage and migration. Survival International, an organization that works for the rights of tribal people,
said Chau may have been encouraged by recent changes to Indian rules about visiting isolated islands in the Andamans. While special permissions are still required, visits are now theoretically allowed in some parts of the Andamans where they used to be entirely forbidden. “The authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe’s island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event,” the group said in a statement.
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Hello!... Hello! Echo!... Echo? In medicine’s grab bag of diagnostic procedures, there is one called an “Echo”. This is short for Echocardiogram and is one of the procedures that can yield much information on the workings of the heart, with pictures produced by Ultrasound. This type of ultrasound test uses high-pitched sound waves to produce the image of the heart. The sound waves are sent through a device called a transducer and are reflected off the various structures of the heart. These echoes are converted into pictures of the heart that can be viewed on a monitor similar to a TV screen. The difference between an X-Ray and an Echo is that the X-Ray is a static picture, whilst the Echo shows dynamic ‘action’ images of the functioning heart. The former is similar to taking a photograph of your car engine, while the Echo is the same as measuring your car engine’s workings on a rolling road dynamometer. The echocardiogram is used to evaluate how well the heart chambers fill with blood and pump blood to the rest of the body. It can also be used to estimate the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat (called the ejection fraction). It helps evaluate heart size and heart valve function. Echocardiography can help identify areas of poor blood flow in the heart, areas of heart muscle that are not contracting normally, previous injury to the heart muscle caused by impaired blood flow,
or evidence of congestive heart failure, especially in people with chest pain or a possible heart attack. In addition, Echo can identify some heart defects that have been present since birth (congenital heart defects). There are several different types of echocardiograms, including the Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE). This is the standard, most commonly used method of echocardiography. Views of the heart are obtained by moving the transducer to different locations on the chest or abdomen wall. This is a totally painless procedure. Another is the Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE). In this case, the transducer is passed down the esophagus instead of being moved over the outside of the chest wall. A TEE may show clearer pictures of the heart, because the transducer is located closer to the heart and because the lungs and bones of the chest wall do not interfere with the sound waves produced by the transducer. A TEE requires a sedative and anesthetic applied to the throat to ease discomfort. The main reasons for carrying out an Echocardiogram are to evaluate abnormal heart sounds (murmurs or clicks), a possibly enlarged heart, unexplained chest pains, shortness of breath, or irregular heartbeats. It can also diagnose or monitor a heart valve problem or evaluate the function of an artificial heart valve, detect blood clots and tumors inside the heart, measure the size of the heart’s
chambers, evaluate heart defects present since birth (congenital heart defects), evaluate how well the heart is functioning after a heart attack, and to determine whether the person is at increased risk of developing heart failure. It can also show some specific causes of heart failure, detect an abnormal amount of fluid surrounding the heart (pericardial effusion) or a thickening of the lining (pericardium) around the heart. Echocardiography is a painless procedure. You will not be able to hear the sound waves, since they are above the range of human hearing. The gel may feel a bit cold and slippery when rubbed on your chest. The transducer head is also pressed firmly against your chest, but this is not uncomfortable. There are no known risks associated with transthoracic echocardiography. You are not exposed to X-rays, radiation, or any electrical current during this test. However, there are some risks associated with transesophageal echocardiography, including the possibility of a tear of the esophagus, bleeding, and discomfort of the mouth and throat. Unfortunately, Echocardiography may not be accurate in between 10 to 18 percent of people because of technical difficulties. These are found in people who are overweight, women who have large breasts, or people with lung disease.
1st baby born using uterus Most teen drug use is down, transplanted from deceased donor but officials fret vaping boom Maria Cheng London (AP) - Brazilian doctors are reporting the world’s first baby born to a woman with a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor. Eleven previous births have used a transplanted womb but from a living donor, usually a relative or friend. Experts said using uteruses from women who have died could make more transplants possible. Ten previous attempts using deceased donors in the Czech Republic, Turkey and the U.S. have failed. The baby girl was delivered last December by a woman born without a uterus because of a rare syndrome. The woman - a 32-year-old psychologist - was initially apprehensive about the transplant, said Dr. Dani Ejzenberg, the transplant team’s lead doctor at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine. “This was the most important thing in her life,” he said. “Now she comes in to show us the baby and she is so happy,” The woman became pregnant through in vitro fertilization seven months after the transplant. The donor was a 45-year-old woman who had three children and died of a stroke. The recipient, who was not identified, gave birth by cesarean section. Doctors also removed the womb, partly so the woman would no longer have to take antirejection medicines. Nearly a year later, mother and baby are both healthy. Two more transplants are planned as part of the
Mike Stobbe
This Dec. 15, 2017 photo provided by transplant surgeon Dr. Wellington Andraus shows the baby girl born to a woman with a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor at the Hospital das Clinicas of the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the day of her birth. Nearly a year later, mother and baby are both healthy. (Courtesy Dr. Wellington Andraus via AP)
Brazilian study. Details of the first case were published Tuesday in the medical journal Lancet. Uterus transplantation was pioneered by Swedish doctor Mats Brannstrom, who has delivered eight children from women who got wombs from family members or friends. Two babies have been born at Baylor University Medical Center in Texas and one in Serbia, also from transplants from living donors. In 2016, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic transplanted a uterus from a deceased donor, but it failed after an infection developed. “The Brazilian group has proven that using deceased donors is a viable option,” said the clinic’s Dr. Tommaso Falcone, who was involved in the Ohio case. “It may give us a bigger supply of organs
than we thought were possible.” The Cleveland program is continuing to use deceased donors. Falcone said the fact that the transplant was successful after the uterus was preserved in ice for nearly eight hours demonstrated how resilient the uterus is. Doctors try to keep the time an organ is without blood flow to a minimum. Other experts said the knowledge gained from such procedures might also solve some lingering mysteries about pregnancies. “There are still lots of things we don’t understand about pregnancies, like how embryos implant,” said Dr. Cesar Diaz, who co-authored an accompanying commentary in the journal. “These transplants will help us understand implantation and every stage of pregnancy.”
New York (AP) - Twice as many high school students used nicotine-tinged electronic cigarettes this year compared with last year, an unprecedented jump in a large annual survey of teen smoking, drinking and drug use. It was the largest singleyear increase in the survey’s 44-year history, far surpassing a mid-1970s surge in marijuana smoking. The findings echo those of a government survey earlier this year. That survey also found a dramatic rise in vaping among children and prompted federal regulators to press for measures that make it harder for kids to get them. Experts attribute the jump to newer versions of e-cigarettes, like those by Juul Labs Inc. that resemble computer flash drives and can be used discreetly. Trina Hale, a junior at South Charleston High School in West Virginia, said vaping specifically Juul - exploded at her school this year. “They can put it in their sleeve or their pocket. They can do it wherever, whenever. They can do it in class if they’re sneaky about it,” she said. Olivia Turman, a freshman at Cabell Midland High School in Ona, West Virginia, said she too has seen kids “hit their vape in class.” The federally funded survey is conducted by University of Michigan researchers and has been operating since 1975. This year’s findings are based on responses from about 45,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 in
In this April 11, 2018 file photo, a high school student uses a vaping device near a school campus in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
schools across the country. It found 1 in 5 high school seniors reported having vaped nicotine in the previous month. After vaping and alcohol, the most common thing teens use is marijuana, the survey found. About 1 in 4 students said they’d used marijuana at least once in the past year. It was more common in older kids - about 1 in 17 high school seniors said they use marijuana every day. Overall, marijuana smoking is about the same level as it was the past few years. Vaping of marijuana rose, however. More teens, however, are saying no to lots of other substances. Usage of alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, heroin and opioid pills all declined. Experts say it’s not clear what’s behind those trends, especially since the nation is in the midst of the deadliest drug overdose epidemic ever. “What is it that we’re doing right with teenagers that we’re not doing with adults?” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute
on Drug Abuse, a federal agency that funds the Michigan study. One leading theory is that kids today are staying home and communicating on smartphones rather than hanging out and smoking, drinking or trying drugs. “Drug experimentation is a group activity,” Volkow said. What about vaping? “Vaping mostly is an individual activity,” said David Jernigan, a Boston University researcher who tracks alcohol use. The vaping explosion is a big worry, however. Health officials say nicotine is harmful to developing brains. Some researchers also believe vaping will make kids more likely to take up cigarettes, and perhaps later try other drugs. So far that hasn’t happened, surveys show. But the Juul phenomenon is recent, noted Richard Miech, who oversees the Michigan survey. If vaping does lead to cigarette use among teens, that may start to show up in the survey as early as next year, he added.
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Odds and Ends The Associated Press
Bowler turning 105 still looking to improve his game Webster, N.Y. (AP) - A New York state man who has been bowling for more than 90 years says he’s still trying to improve his game as he turns 105 years old. Tom Pisano bowls in the Monday and Wednesday leagues at AMF Empire Lanes in Webster, a Rochester suburb. League organizer Brad Larson says Pisano also stops by a couple other times a week to bowl additional games. Larson says Pisano averages around 135 per game, but the centenarian always talks about improving his scores. Pisano turned 105 on Wednesday and celebrated his birthday with his league friends. Pisano, whose wife is also over 100 years old, says he bowls for the exercise. When asked what the secret to longevity is, he replied: “The Lord takes care of me.”
Scuba-diving Santa brings holiday cheer to fish, museum goers San Francisco (AP) – It was a busy time for Santa Claus, but he made time to feed some fish in San Francisco. The California Academy of Sciences launched its holiday festivities by having a scuba diver dressed as St. Nick submerge into a coral reef exhibit while dozens of children watched from behind the glass. The “Scuba Santa” show took place during the morning feed at the Philippine Coral Reef tank at the San Francisco museum. Volunteer diver George Bell donned his Santa suit, from hat to coal black boots, and scuba gear for a recent feed and fielded visitors’ questions from inside the tank. The Philippine Coral Reef tank has thousands of reef fish representing about 100 species. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Police give $3 to person who found it 14 years ago Monmouth Beach, N.J. (AP) - Police in New Jersey have given $3 to the person who found it 14 years ago. Paige Woodie was 12 years old when she and a friend discovered the cash and turned it into a Monmouth Beach police officer in 2004. Sgt. Jeff Godwin tells the Asbury Park Press people who turn in found money are able to claim it within a reasonable amount of time if no one comes forward. The cash turned up during an audit and police “thought it had been long enough.” Woodie says officers came to her home and asked if she could remember what she did in 2004. She couldn’t think of anything bad. That’s when the officers turned over the $3 in an evidence bag. She says half belongs to her friend.
9 years after being flushed, woman’s wedding ring reappears Somers Point, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey woman has her wedding ring back, nine years after she accidentally flushed it down her toilet. Paula Stanton was sure the diamondencrusted gold ring was lost forever after she noticed it wasn’t on her finger while she was cleaning her bathroom nearly a decade ago. Luckily, a member of Somers Point’s public works department remembered Stanton mentioning the ring about three years ago. Last month, Ted Gogol was doing maintenance work near a manhole about 400 feet from Stanton’s house. He tells the Press of Atlantic City he saw a shiny object sitting the mud. It turned out to be Stanton’s ring, and after boiling it in peroxide and lemon juice, she is wearing it again.
PATTAYA MAIL
Crossword No 1326
(U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)
sponsored by
Massic Travel
Across 1. Portray (6) 4. Loftier (6) 8. Go on all fours (5) 9. Afterwards (5,2) 10. Prospect (7) 11. Not in any way (5) 12. Herb used in Indian cookery (9) 17. Spring flower (5) 19. Nevertheless (7) 21. Small river (7) 22. Fight with swords (5) 23. Large wasp (6) 24. Gentle wind (6)
Down 1. Medical practitioner (6) 2. Malleable (7) 3. Large stringed instrument (5) 5. Chanted (7) 6. Severe (5) 7. Fame (6) 9. Without hesitation (9) 13. Beat off, rebuff (7) 14. Malicious retaliation (7) 15. Stiffen (6) 16. Turn to ice (6) 18. Prise (5) 20. Thin crisp biscuit (5)
Answer to 980 Across: 1. Pass, 3. Thirteen, 9. Chemist, 10. Ether, 11. Lapse, 12. Easily, 14. Animal, 16. Gander, 19. Closer, 21. Merge, 24. Ought, 25. In doubt, 26. Talented, 27. Veal. Down: 1. Peculiar, 2. Steep, 4. Hatred, 5. Reels, 6. Exhaled, 7. Nero, 8. Cinema, 13. Oriental, 15. Illegal, 17. Armada, 18. Arrive, 20. Satan, 22. Route, 23. Boat.
Ten-Minute Sudoku An easy Sudoku puzzle that should not take long to complete. The rules of Sudoku are simple. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Each row must contain one of each digit. So must each column and each 3x3 box. Answer next week.
Last week’s answers:
No. 229
Customs finds 70 finches in hair rollers New York (AP) - Customs officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport say they found 70 live finches hidden inside hair rollers. Authorities say a passenger arriving from Guyana on Saturday had the songbirds in a duffel bag. The New York Times reports officials believe the birds were brought to the U.S. to participate in singing contests. Customs officials say people bet on how many times the finches chirp, and a winning male finch can sell for up to $10,000. The birds were turned over to veterinarians to the U.S. Agriculture Department, and the passenger was sent back to Guyana. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says bird smuggling could threaten agriculture through the possible spread of diseases such as bird flu. Customs officers have seized about 184 finches this year.
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Answers next week.
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Watching the Birdie A few thoughts about taking portraits
I wonder if you recall all those Polyfoto studios that were popular throughout Britain in the 1950s. They specialized in taking portraits in quick succession using a camera developed by Kodak. As a small child I was taken for a Polyfoto session because every small child was taken to one. The operator would point at various imaginary objects and you were expected to change your gaze accordingly. A couple of days later you could go and collect the
proofs, a single print which contained forty-eight minuscule images from which you could select the most flattering for enlarging. Many people simply cut up the proof sheets into individual photos and kept the ones they liked. The word “portrait” implies something more formal than usual. They’re fun to make too, though two things are important: being well prepared and keeping things simple. Get the shots set up even before your subject shows up. This is why Polyfoto was so popular: everything was established in advance, the lighting, the exposure, the focusing, the sitting positions and the background. Try to do the same, even if you are using a Smartphone.
Of course, you have more control using a DSLR camera, but it remains essential to establish as much as possible in advance so that you’re not faffing about with the camera during the shoot. If you want a soft appearance, set the aperture to the widest possible. However, the laws of physics still prevail and the wider the aperture the lesser the depth of focus. It’s better to have the entire face and hair in focus, not just the tip of the nose. Set the shutter speed high but you’ll probably need to increase the ISO to compensate. I tend to avoid flash for personal portraits though I’ve used both floods and multiple electronic flash. They both have their uses in different situations. Today’s sensors are such that flash is rarely needed. If you are indoors, ordinary lighting works well and adds a warm touch. Avoid fluores-
over and see her at the new bar she was working in. I did remember her from her previous bar but I was embarrassed as I could be overheard by my workmates when I was talking to her, so I just kind of fobbed her off. How can I tell her it isn’t a good idea to ring me at work in a crowded office? Any suggestions?
Dear Hillary, Last week the medical column in the Pattaya Mail newspaper had an article on ‘Viagorous’ exercise, and the doctor said he got the information from you. I didn’t know you were an expert in these matters. Would you like to tell us of your experiences? I am sure I will not be the only one to ask you! Vic Dear Vic, Or is that Viagorous Vic? I think if you read the doctor’s column again, he writes about “Viagorous” exercise and says, “Unfortunately I can take no credit for the catchy wording, this was something I stole from our Miss Hillary, and how she knows about this, I dare not ask.” If he doesn’t dare to ask, with the medical seal of confidentiality and all, how dare you to ask! Goodness me, Vic, I don’t even know you, let alone enquire as to your sexual predilections. However, if you read the item from last week again, he says, “Unfortunately I can take no credit for the catchy wording, this was something I stole from our Miss Hillary.” Not the information, Vic, but merely the catchy wording. Words are my business Vic, and catchy words in particular. I will accept your apology for your impudence, attached to a bottle of champagne (French preferably), and or a box of nice chocolates (preferably Belgian or Swiss). Dear Hillary, I am a young man, single and considered to be not bad looking and am here on a two year contract, so I’ve got lots of opportunities to enjoy myself here. My problem comes from one of the girls I met recently in one of the bars while I was out doing the rounds, as you do. Anyway, this girl rang me at work the other day and asked if I could come
cent tubes at all costs. I’ve often used two large photoflood lamps with reflectors several feet in diameter and a single “head-light” placed behind the subject. They are easy to use because the results are visible before you take the photo. Shadows can be filled with reflectors. This was the set-up used in the photo seen here, taken on a Mamiyaflex C330, a camera the size of a brick and which weighs about the same. Even so, the original image is pin-sharp. Do you want the sitter to look directly at the camera or focus attention on something outside the frame? Will you use props? They’re useful especially with children, and can also be used to indicate a person’s hobby or profession. But keep it simple, because simplicity often has more visual impact. And take a hint from Polyfoto – shoot as many
Tim Dear Tim, I don’t really care how long you are here for, you have broken the cardinal rule of bar etiquette, my Petal! It’s quite simple, if you don’t want a girl to ring you at work, then don’t give her your business card, silly! If you feel the need to chat her up on the phone just give her your mobile and tell her what hours to ring you between. The girl isn’t silly, she’ll comply. But will you? That’s the question. I doubt it. You’ll be writing to me next to tell me about how you’ve been ripped off by one of these ladies of the night, and what should you do. I think you should ask to be sent home. Thailand is not the place for silly young lads like you. Dear Hillary, Have you ever been driven out of your office by noise? They are doing renovations in my condo building, and there are teams of builders coming in every day with jack-hammers and it sounds as if he is drilling his way through to China. It is going on forever and it is giving me a giant headache. I can’t sleep in the afternoons and it has been going on for weeks. I have asked the condo management but they just say that it is only day time after 8 a.m. and finish 6 p.m. so it is OK. What can I do about this? Who can
images as you can because people often become more relaxed later. Some people are good at striking a natural pose but others look self-conscious, so go for a mixture of posed and candid shots. A remote control is useful. Many portrait photographers shoot at slightly below the subject’s eye level.
Then there’s the background. Decide on the background in advance and establish whether it’s going to be part of the photo or not. If not, your wide aperture will ensure that it remains softly out of focus. You can’t really go wrong with a plain off-white background. That’s what Polyfoto did.
I complain to now, since condo management will do nothing? Is this normal in this country? Insomnia Dear Insomnia, No Petal, I’ve never been driven out of my condo, because I work during the day. You are just lucky that you can spend all day in bed. It’s only daytime, so go for a walk along the beach instead of living holed up in your room like some sort of bear. If you can’t do that, then I’m afraid you’re stuck. All you can do is buy some ear muffs, or a Walkman or something like that. Don’t despair, they can renovate forever, can they? Dear Hillary, One of my friends from back home will be coming to visit next month, along with a couple of her girl friends, which are girls I haven’t met, but they would all be in their 50’s, and shocked me when they wrote and said they wanted to see a “naughty show” while they are here. Do you think it’s proper for me to take them to some of the more outrageous places, or what? I’m really blown away by this. I don’t want to appear as a prude or anything, but this is something I never experienced before. What do you recommend, Hillary? Prue Dear Prue, There is nothing to worry about, my Petal. Everybody knows we don’t have naughty shows in Thailand. They’re against the law, just like prostitution. Remember that what they might think is a little “naughty” might be fairly harmless really. If you’re completely worried, get your husband to take them.
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Father Ray kids play on ITL Sports Health Day Urasin Khantaraphan
Fr. Michael Picharn Jaiseri, C.Sc.R. Vice-President of Fr. Ray Foundation, welcomes benefactors and guests to the day’s sporting events.
Pattaya tennis players and charity groups came together to give disabled and disadvantaged children a day of fun, games and exercise.
Kids were taught the basics of tennis, but also got to take part in other activities organized for youths.
Save the Children trains communities in Phang Nga in the prevention of drowning
An event on the safety of children has been organized in Phan Nga province. The focus of the event is the prevention of drowning, which is the leading cause of death among children in Thailand. Governor of Phang Nga province Siriphat Phatthakun presided over the opening ceremony of a talent show by students in a project to prevent child drowning. The project is a collaboration of the Health and Safety for Youth Project, Save the Children, small child development centers, schools and communities in Takua Pa and Takua Thung districts. The drowning prevention project seeks to raise
awareness and create an understanding of water safety among parents, caregivers and communities. Statistics suggest that drowning kills more than 130,000 children aged below 15 years each year, or 400 children per day worldwide. In Thailand, four children aged below 15 years drown each day on average. Only two million of the 13 million Thai children nationwide can swim. At the opening ceremony, the participants learnt how to revive drowning people, perform CPR and use lifejackets. There were also games and exhibitions to educate the participants about how to rescue children out of their depth. (NNT)
Pattaya tennis players and charity groups came together to give disabled and disadvantaged children a day of fun, games and exercise. Mark Kolenberg of the Pattaya Tennis Lovers Club and Bernardo Diaz from the Panamanian embassy hosted the 3rd International Tennis Lovers Sport Health Day for Kids at Redemptorist Vocational College Dec. 19. Kids were taught the basics of tennis, but also got to play or practice basketball and taekwondo with indoor activities organized for disabled youths. Charity groups also did their part, donating clothing, food and snacks. Among those donating were the Lions Clubs International, Rotary International, Iris Society of Thailand, AIA Insurance, Alliance Francais Bangkok, Kaan Singha D’Luck, Greta Resort and Sport Club Pattaya, AU GSB Debate Club, MACOO Coffee Dietary Supplement Product, Wellness Solution and Epicure Catering Co.
The Pattaya Tennis Lovers Club, Panamanian embassy and a host of sponsors donated clothing, food and snacks.
Learning how to play from a member of the Pattaya Tennis Lovers Club.
Satit Udomseuksa students spread holiday cheer Pa Choochai Happy holidays! In the spirit of the season, on Thursday 13thDecember 2018 Satit Udomseuksa students with their teachers visited Ban Banglamung Nursing Home for the Elderly. The elderly residents and students did various activities together, such as telling stories, singing and playing games. It was a chance for the students to spend quality time with the older generation. Our students were able to spread
Christmas cheer and happiness at the nursing home. We would like to thank all the wonderful donations from our staff members, parents and students for the nursing home. These items included rice, toothbrushes/ toothpaste, soap, shampoo, tissue, floor cleaning liquids and much more. Satit Udomseuksa School would like to wish our special friends at Ban Banglamung Nursing Home for the Elderly, all of our parents, students and friends a safe, happy holiday season.
Satit School Director Titipun Pettrakul hands out early Christmas gifts to the elderly.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Satit Udomseuksa School students and the elderly.
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Digital detox: Resorts offer perks for handing over phones Dee-Ann Durbin (AP) - Can you take a vacation from your cellphone? A growing number of hotels will help you find out. Some resorts are offering perks, like snorkeling tours and s’mores, to guests who manage to give up their phones for a few hours. Some have phone-free hours at their pools; others are banning distracting devices from public places altogether. Hotels that limit cellphone use risk losing valuable exposure on Instagram or Facebook. But they say the policies reflect their mission of promoting wellness and relaxation. And, of course, they hope that happily unplugged guests will return for future visits. “Everyone wants to be able to disconnect. They just need a little courage,” said Lisa Checchio, Wyndham Hotels’ chief marketing officer. People’s inability to disconnect is an increasingly serious issue. Half of smartphone users spend between three and seven hours per day on their mobile devices, according to a 2017 global survey by Counterpoint Research, a technology consulting firm. In a
separate study by the nonprofit Common Sense Media, 69 percent of parents and 78 percent of teens said they check their devices at least hourly. Wyndham knew it had a problem when hotel managers requested more beach chairs to accommodate all the people who would sit in them and stare at their phones. It discovered that the average resort guest was bringing three devices and checking them once every 12 minutes or roughly 80 times a day. On Oct. 1, Wyndham Grand’s five U.S. resorts began offering prime spots by the pool, free snacks and the chance to win return visits when guests put their phone in a soft, locked pouch. The phones stay with the guests, but only hotel staff can unlock the pouches. Wyndham says 250 people have used the pouches so far at resorts in Florida and Texas. The program will be found at more Wyndham hotels next year. Wyndham Grand resorts also give families a 5 percent discount on their stay if they put their phones in a timed lockbox. The hotel provides supplies for a pillow fort, s’mores, a bedtime book and
Destination LONDON
This Dec. 1, 2018 photo shows a locked box holding cell phones during a digital detox visit to the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Chicago. A growing number of hotels are helping guests take a vacation from their vacation by offering incentives to guests willing to lock up their cell phones. (AP Photo/ Teresa Crawford)
an instant camera for adults and kids who don’t know what to do with all the newfound time on their hands. That appeals to Matthew Cannata, who heads public relations for the New Britain, Connecticut, schools. He worries about the impact of technology on his two young children, and he tries to keep devices out of sight during family meals. “Any chance I can get to put the phone away is great. Sometimes, people need to
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be forced to do things to start a thought process and then create a habit,” he said. At the Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit in Mexico, a socalled Detox Concierge will “cleanse” your suite of all electronic devices and replace them with games like Jenga and chess. Guests at its sister resort, the Grand Velas Riviera Maya, trade in their phones for a bracelet that gives them free access to activities like snorkeling; they must do at least four
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Resorts, an African safari operator, intentionally provides no Wi-Fi at many of its camps. Adrere Amellal, a 40-room hotel at the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, lets guests have phones in their rooms, but there’s no electricity or Wi-Fi. Not all vacationers want to be weaned from their devices. Phones double as cameras, music players, travel guides and e-readers. They also might be critical in an emergency. David Bruns, a communications manager for AARP Florida, uses two phones. He tries not to check his work phone after hours, but he carries his personal phone everywhere. “I don’t think I would like being made to put the thing down,” Bruns said. “It feels like that is more about me being told what to do by people I am paying to do something for me.” Ayana Resort and Spa in Bali, Indonesia, understands that, so it tries to meet guests halfway. Its winding River Pool bans phones between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. But it invites guests to take photos and post away to social media before and after those times.
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activities to earn back their phones. A timer placed in the lobby shows how long each family has lasted without their devices. Emily Evans likes the idea of rewarding people for putting their phones away. A senior at Eastern Kentucky University, she says she barely keeps her phone charged while on vacation, but her girlfriend is constantly checking her phone. “I feel most millennials would choose discounts and saving money over having their phone out to Instagram and Snapchat pictures of their meals,” Evans said. At Miraval, a Hyatt-owned resort in Arizona, the emphasis is less on family time than on mindfulness and tranquility. Miraval, which will soon open two more resorts in Texas and Massachusetts, bans phone use in most public areas. Guests are encouraged to tuck their phones into soft cotton bags and leave them on small wooden beds in their rooms. Staff wear name tags with gentle reminders that guests should unplug and “be present.” Some resorts encourage a total ban. Wilderness
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Pattaya Players entertain the PCEC On Sunday, December 16th, the Pattaya Players performed the pantomime “Puss in Boots” for the Pattaya City Expat Club (PCEC). Unlike previous presentations for the PCEC, which were short skits or excerpts from longer performances, on this occasion the PCEC audience was able to enjoy the full 80 minute performance in its entirety. For many of the audience that were not from the UK, they had no familiarity with
Princess Lil, Harry, King, Ogre, Puss, Nora, Squire, and Simple Simon.
As Nora and Simple Simon wander the stage looking for the Ogre, the audience helps out by yelling “He’s right behind you!”
this popular form of mostly British theatrical entertainment, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas. The show calls for large characterization, silly dancing and humorous song adaptations. All of these were provided by the Pattaya Players. The cast worked their over acting skills to provide a frivolous time for all.
Well, it wasn’t only the British members that were laughing after the performance got underway. Also, another unique experience with a pantomime was the audience participation; not only did they sit and watch, laugh and cheer but added their shouts of “He’s behind you”, “Oh no he didn’t” and “boos” for the evil ogre. “Puss in Boots” is a European literary fairy tale about a cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth,
Puss tells Harry to quickly destroy the Ogre’s transformation machine after he transformed himself into a harmless mouse, which will end his evil dominance over the King and his realm.
The Ogre gloats as he shows he has transformed himself into a cow in response to Puss’s challenge to use his machine to do so. But, Puss makes another challenge, can you turn yourself into a mouse?
and the hand of a princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master. A poor miller’s son named Harry has just lost his father. His older brother inherits the mill. His middle brother is also left well off. All Harry receives is a cat and a hut full of cat food. Ah! But we find out this is no ordinary cat. She can talk, walk upright and is clever indeed. Wearing Harry’s hat, bag and a beautiful pair of boots this puss comes up with a plan to make her master rich and happily married. An evil ogre is terrorizing the land, and King Erik feels he can do nothing to stop him. But when the King realizes his beautiful daughter Princess Lil might be the ogre’s next demand, he sends for a hero to help him out. Puss overhears this and makes plans to disguise Harry as the brave Marquis of Carabas.
MC Roy Albiston poses with the cast of Pattaya Players Puss in Boots pantomime after presenting them with the PCEC’s Certificate of Appreciation.
The plan works. Harry is able to defeat the ogre through guile and the guidance of Puss and win the hand of the Princess Lil. All of this is done with the clever plans of a Puss in Boots, who devises a means for the Ogre to take a challenge as to whose magic was better; this saw the Ogre use his transformation machine to become a cow, and then to become a mouse – the plan to then destroy the machine takes place leaving gruesome and fearsome Ogre a small frightened mouse. Many thanks for the delightful performance by the cast and crew: Wendy Khan (Harry), Mara Swankey (Puss), Michelle O’Dea (Princess Lil), Aom Hougen (Squire), Ann Ensell (Nora the Cook), Chris Harman (Ogre & Director), Doug Campbell (King), John Ensell (Simple Simon), John Khan (Lights and Sound), Gary Hougen (Producer), and Ray Lightbow (Prompter). After the presentations, MC Roy Albiston brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and then turned it over to the Open Forum portion of the meeting where questions are asked and answered and c o m m e n ts made about Expat living in Thailand, Pattaya in particular. For more information about the PCEC and their activities, visit www.pcec.club.
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Let battle commence Holst’s The Planets suite, Mars the Bringer of War which seems to evoke both the the horror and futility of warfare. Liszt wrote a heroic symphonic poem called The Battle of the Huns and Prokofiev wrote several works influenced by war themes. Composer Ottorino Respighi.
On Thursday 11th September 1591 John Baldwin added the finishing touches to his elegantly hand-written collection of keyboard music, entitled My Ladye Nevells Booke. He was one of the most famous music calligraphers of the day and this heavy, oblong volume of nearly two hundred pages must have been a gargantuan undertaking. It’s one of the finest Tudor music manuscripts in existence and contains forty-two pieces by William Byrd, the greatest English composer of the age. Strangely enough, the identity of Lady Nevell remains a mystery. She was clearly of noble birth because the coat of arms of the Nevell family appears on the title page. But that’s about as much as we know. The book contains music composed by Byrd during the previous fifteen years and most of the works are short pieces of dance music including some unusually
sombre galliards and pavans. But more importantly, the book also contains some of the first descriptive pieces ever written, a suite called The Battell. There are nine short movements with names like The Souldiers Sommons, The Marche of Footemen, The Marche to the Fighte and so on. To modern ears, it all sounds charmingly naïve, especially as the pieces would have been played on a tinkling clavichord. Nevertheless, the notion of music describing a battle must have seemed a novel idea at the time. There are other pieces of music which attempt to describe warfare of some kind. The 1620s saw the first performance of Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, a work for voices and instruments that contains a theatrical battle scene. Then there’s Tchaikovsky’s old pot-boiler, the 1812 Overture and of course the first movement from Gustav
Ludwig van Beethoven (17701828): Wellington’s Victory. National NKO Orchestra Israel cond. Shalev Ad-El (Duration: 16:01; Video: 1080p HD) Here’s a curious little work by a big name. It was written to commemorate the Duke of Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Vitoria in Spain in June 1813. It’s also known as The Battle Symphony or The Battle of Vitoria and it’s something of a musical novelty but rarely heard these days. The score calls for the usual strings and woodwind sections plus four horns, six trumpets, three trombones, timpani, a large battery of percussion including muskets, rattles and artillery sound effects. It was first performed in Vienna the same year at a benefit concert for Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded at the Battle of
Hanau. Beethoven himself conducted the performance and the piece was an immediate success, though probably less so with Vienna’s musical elite. The music attempts to describe approaching opposing armies and uses several national melodies, including Rule Britannia and God Save the King. Two French national melodies were also used though Beethoven wisely chose not to include La Marseillaise because playing the tune was considered treasonous in Vienna at the time. It’s an odd work, with random drum beats here and there presumably to suggest guns firing. But somehow it doesn’t seem to hang together terribly well and it’s been regularly panned by music critics throughout history. Beethoven himself evidently had no illusions about the work’s lack of merit, but it brought him quite a decent income. I have to admit that this is not a piece I’d want to hear very often but it’s an interesting musical curiosity that shows even the finest composers can make errors of judgment.
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): The Pines of the Appian Way (The Pines of Rome).
Book reflects on Rock Hudson’s stardom, closeted love life Had Rock Hudson not died of AIDS in 1985, he might be best remembered as the most successful of the postwar male stars who got into the movies solely on their looks. He remained on the screen for decades because of a likability that can’t be learned or manufactured. Instead, Hudson became the first celebrity to acknowledge that he suffered from the mysterious disease that seemed to target gay men. The potentially career-ending sexual secret he had protected was all but confirmed in the last months of his life. Mark Griffin’s perceptive and sympathetic biography “All That Heaven Allows” gives Hudson, both the movie star and the man, the kind of reassessment only time can allow. He improved as an actor yet never lost the fear that moviegoers would discover that their ideal leading man was only playing a role. While he needed time and experience to hone his craft, pretending for the cameras came easy to handsome, Illinois-born Roy Fitzgerald. With his new name, Hudson appeared in more than two dozen films under contract to Universal between 1948 and 1954. With the hugely successful epic “Giant” (1956), Hudson was an Oscar-nominated actor and soon Hollywood’s most
popular star. Routine dramas followed until 1959’s “Pillow Talk” with Doris Day revealed Hudson’s knack for light comedy. He remained an audience favorite for several more years despite undistinguished movies. Imagine what might have been had Universal followed through on its original plan to cast Hudson as lawyer Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” All the while Hudson lived and loved on the down-low. A sham marriage around the time of “Giant” quelled the gossip for a time. Publicly, he played along with the fan magazine image of the happy if lonely bachelor trying to find the right woman when he was actually trying to find the right man. Promiscuity as well as meaningful relationships marked his private life. Had Hudson been a straight star, he may have been married several times and envied as a ladies’ man. Griffin’s interviews and correspondence with many of Hudson’s co-stars — among them Doris Day and Carol Burnett — and many of his lovers show how protective they were of their warm, loyal friend. Had he lived into the next century, the abandoned and abused boy from Winnetka might have discovered a public ready to root for him to be who he really was. (AP)
Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Georges Prêtre (Duration 05:40; Video: 360p) This is the last movement of Respighi’s 1924 suite in which the four colourful movements depict pine trees in various parts of Rome at different times of the day. Ottorino Respighi is best known for his flamboyant orchestral music and especially the three symphonic poems: The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome and Roman Festivals. This final movement begins almost silently and portrays the Appian Way in the misty dawn, while in the far distance a massive legion marches
under the brilliance of the rising sun. As the marching soldiers become closer and closer, the intensity of the music increases. Respighi wanted “the ground to tremble under the footsteps” of the advancing army and at one point uses the lowest notes of the organ. The piece is a gradual crescendo which rises to a thunderous climax with joyous brass fanfares as the army triumphantly marches towards the Capitoline Hill. This video is getting on a bit in years but so am I, so I can hardly complain. Even so, this performance from the Stuttgart orchestra superbly conducted by Georges Prêtre, is as thrilling as ever.
To watch these YouTube videos, either use your Smartphone to read the QR codes or go to this article online, click on the “live” links and go direct to the videos. If you have a laptop, sound quality can be improved significantly by using headphones or external speakers.
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‘Transformers’ gets a great savior in ‘Bumblebee’ Mark Kennedy Los Angeles (AP) - The “Transformers” movie universe has lately been leaky and rusted out. It’s become shorthand for bad blockbuster moviemaking — male-driven, mindless spectaculars with sophomoric humor. How can it be saved? Just hand the keys over to some talented women. “Bumblebee,” the sixth film in the series, is a stand-alone origin story written with disarming skill by Christina Hodson and starring the gifted Hailee Steinfeld. It’s a charming tale of a girl and her adorable car-robot, flipping the script on the tired, bloated franchise. While hard-core fan-boys may complain it’s too soft, this film may turn out to be the perfect way to save “Transformers.” Could Bumblebee rescue Optimus Prime this time? “Bumblebee” is set outside San Francisco in 1987, where the loyal B-127 Autobot has
been sent to protect Earth and prepare the groundwork for the franchise (He’ll befriend Shia LaBeouf at the start of the first film.) Badly hurt while battling two evil tracking Decepticons, he loses his voice and memories. Then he disguises himself as a vintage Volkswagen Bug and waits for deliverance in a salvage yard (not unlike the entire “Transformers” universe). He’s discovered by goth-y misfit Charlie Watson (Steinfeld), who is fond of car repair, Motorhead T-shirts and listening to The Smiths. She is still mourning her dead dad and feels generally unheard. For her 18th birthday, Charlie drives off with the junked VW that has a whole bunch of secret options. Despite discovering that the car is, in fact, an alien, she feels a kinship to this mute metal giant with expressive eyes, calling him Bumblebee. He, too, is unheard, but learns to communicate using word snippets he hears on the radio. She warns that bad guys are sure to come and take him away, but she will protect him. “People can be
terrible about things they don’t understand,” she tells him. Thus starts a sort of “E.T.” for 2018, in which Charlie and Bumblebee outfox another pair of Decepticons, the entire U.S. Army (led by a mechanical John Cena) and her distracted mom and stepdad. If the film seems to have that kid-sized, wistful ’80s Steven Spielberg feel, it might be because Spielberg serves as an executive producer. (Franchise helmer Michael Bay has been exiled from the director’s chair to the executive suite.) Hodson is the first woman to originate and write a film in the $4.3-billion “Transformers” franchise and she proves extremely capable of blending loud action with human pathos, not to mention tart with sweet, though she gets dangerously close to maudlin when it comes to Charlie’s dad. “I can’t lose you, too,” the young woman tells the yellow robot. Steinfeld nails teen alienation but also can turn on empathy beautifully and has a winning cockiness. Plus, she sings the movie’s signature song (Talk about a transformer).
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie and Bumblebee in a scene from “Bumblebee.” (Will McCoy/Paramount Pictures via AP)
Hodson and director Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings”) take full advantage of the film’s late-1980s setting to give us visual and audio jokes. Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” plays during a montage as Charlie lovingly restores a muscle car, and Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55" blares during a car chase. This is the 80s, so expect plenty of Walkman, PopTarts, “Alf” and “Miami Vice” references. And look for a moment when it seems like the very internet itself gets created, a clever low-key touch.
Hits by Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, a-ha, Tears for Fears and Wang Chung are sprinkled throughout. (Bumblebee turns out to be quite a good music critic, too, hilariously rejecting some of Charlie’s options). Die-hard franchise fans also get to hear the power ballad “You Got the Touch” that appeared in the 1986’s animated “Transformers” film. (Well played, filmmakers.) They’re also true to the universe — Bumblebee will eventually change at the end to what he becomes when Bay was in charge, a Chevrolet Camaro.
After so many over-the-top battles in the metal-thumping series, it’s fun here to watch Bumblebee commit more small-scale mayhem, like egging someone’s car. The robot is rendered as a sort of distracted, flaky adolescent teenager and a sequence in which he’s left home alone is priceless. One caution: Younger viewers are advised to watch the 1985 iconic film “The Breakfast Club” — it comes up several times rather brilliantly, especially in one final scene with Cena which refreshingly doesn’t go trite. Hard-core fans may be unhappy that there’s not enough robot-on-robot violence or turned off by the meet-cute between teen and bot, but hopefully it will attract an audience either tired or turned off by the franchise’s past rigidity and addiction to spectacle. This is what we needed: Smaller, quieter, more human and sweeter. “Bumblebee,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG13 for “sequences of sci-fi action violence.” Running time: 119 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Lin-Manuel Miranda calls ‘Mary Poppins’ sequel role a dream John Carucci New York (AP) — Working on “Mary Poppins Returns” put Lin-Manuel Miranda in a comfort zone, sort of. The theater actor, composer and creator of the Broadway smash “Hamilton” knew the film’s director, Rob Marshall, from such stage and screen credits as “Cabaret” and “Chicago.” And he knew the work of the composers, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman of “Hairspray” fame. But there was one thing that didn’t come naturally to In this Nov. 28, 2018 photo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, a cast member in the film “Mary Poppins Returns,” poses for a portrait at the Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/ Invision/AP)
Miranda, even if he’s known as a musical theater pioneer — the choreography. “I think the dancing was the most challenging aspect for me, because if you watch ‘Hamilton’ carefully, there’s a lot of incredible dancing in there, Hamilton does almost none of it. He’s standing and he’s got a lot of words to say,” Miranda said. The learning curve was made a little easier thanks to the film’s generous nineweek rehearsal period. “What happens when you do that with the film company is, they become a company. We were a company of actors together by the time we were starting this journey,” he said. “We all rehearsed together and that was formidable and made me feel at home.” In the new film, Miranda
plays Jack the lamp lighter opposite Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins. This time around he got to bring a completely different character to the table, one that’s opposite from his stern and hard-charging Alexander Hamilton. “Hamilton’s pretty different from Jack the lamp lighter. Hamilton’s got no child-like innocence, whatsoever,” Miranda said. Jack, on the other hand, is “sort of child-like — he’s got this sense of wonder. He sort of never lost that.” Miranda said he’ll be forever grateful that Marshall saw those traits in him. “I make these movies because I think part of being an artist is being in touch with that inner child. That part of us that was drawing and painting and making
stuff when we were kids. Some of us specialized on those, and some of us grow up, and I feel like I’ve never grown up in a real way,” Miranda said. Miranda won Tony Awards for “In the Heights” and “Hamilton,” with the latter also earning him the Pulitzer Prize. He feels those successes set the stage for being cast in the “Mary Poppins” sequel. “I’ve never done a movie on the scale. But there are very few movies on this scale,” said Miranda, who recalled as a child watching Dick Van Dyke dance alongside animated penguins in “Mary Poppins.” “You know I grew up dancing along with those penguins in front of my TV like everybody else. It’s just a dream,” Miranda said.
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Budgie: ‘Never Turn Your Back On A Friend’ mott@pattayamail.com The release in 1973 of “Never Turn Your Back On A Friend” was Budgie’s third studio L.P. and proved to be a major milestone in the long, hard gigging career of the Welsh rockers. It also established the band’s hard rocking style, with the drums and bass thumping along and Tony Bourge’s lead guitar work ruffling even the largest feathers. The first song off the perch was to become Budgie’s standard bearer, “Breadfan”. It opens with Tony Bourge’s rocking guitar before the bass and drums come thundering in with the fuzzy crunch of twelve thousand banging heads. Add to this Burke Shelley’s very high pitched, quintessential 70’s metal singing (reminiscent of
Geddy Lee of Rush but much sharper), and this heavy metal bird takes flight. Metallica paid tribute to Budgie on their covers collection “Garage Inc.”, but even they failed to capture the great dynamics of the original. Budgie deliver this album in true hard rock style, but pacing it nicely with two acoustic songs to break up the heavy metal bluster. I’ll even forgive the one-minute thirty-eight second drum solo at the beginning of the fourth track as it’s so short, sharp and heavy. The final song “Parents” is a true supersonic power rock ballad that elevates you through the stratosphere and is very similar in structure to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven”. Burke Shelley sings of the torment of turning from child to parent, hitting the heart fair and square with Mott who has a few puppies of his own. This song alone makes this
album worth hunting down. The parents tell their children, “Wash your hands & up to bed, mind your manners or you’re dead, watch the cars ‘cos you got school on Monday”. Haven’t all parents at some time spoken in these jumbled spurts of love and warning?
Though they never reached the dizzying heights of success like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or Cream, Budgie did leave behind 10 hard rocking studio albums. Filling a void when the major bands were too big to tour, Budgie were always turning up at your local town hall
Burke Shelley performs with Budgie in this undated photo.
and their wild concerts were attended by a substantial live following. Budgie also specialized in wonderful album and song
titles. As well as the ones on this album, there was also “If I was Britannia I’d Waive The Rules”, “Impeckable”, “Nude Disintegrating
Parachutist Woman” and “Hot As A Docker’s Armpit”. This, at least, proves that the boys from the valleys had a sense of humour. Well, you try fitting those words in a chorus! Add to this, Roger Dream’s stunning artwork for the album cover and you always got the complete package with this bird. This is one budgie the Dog will never mess with. Rating: 5 Stars Track List: Breadfan Baby Please Don’t Go You Know I’ll Always Love You You’re The Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk In The Grip Of A Tyrefitter’s Hand Riding My Nightmare Parents Budgie: Burke Shelley - bass and vocals Tony Bourge - lead guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals Ray Philips – drums
Putin says rap should be controlled in Russia, not banned
Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) attends a high-tech forum for youth in Yaroslavl, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 13. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Moscow (AP) - Alarmed by the growing popularity of rap among Russian youth, President Vladimir Putin wants cultural leaders to devise a means of controlling, rather than banning, the popular music. Putin says “if it is impossible to stop, then we must lead it and direct it.” But Putin said at a St. Petersburg meeting with cultural advisers last week that attempts to ban artists from performing will have an adverse effect and bolster their popularity. Putin noted that “rap is based on three pillars: sex, drugs and protest.” But he is
Milan to showcase da Vinci to mark 500 years since his death Milan (AP) - The Ambrosian Library in Milan is planning a series of exhibitions to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, including the display of the most important pages of the Renaissance genius’ Atlantic Codex. The library, which has preserved the Codex since 1637, announced it will exhibit 46 of its most famous drawings, which encompass the artist’s career from his Florentine youth to his later years in France. The 1,119-page Atlantic Codex is an encyclopedia of technical knowledge from the Renaissance, representing not only Leonardo’s own inventions but his representations of technology as it existed. The commemoration will run from Dec. 18Sept. 15, and will be broken up into three sections, the first focused on Milan, the
Visitors attend a press presentation of the ‘Secrets of the Codex Atlanticus. Leonardo at the Ambrosiana” exhibition, at the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 18. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
second on civil engineering studies and the last on Leonardo’s French period.
particularly concerned with drug themes prevalent in rap, saying “this is a path to the degradation of the nation.” He said “drug propaganda” is worse than cursing. Putin’s comments come amid a crackdown on contemporary music that evoked Soviet-era censorship of the arts. Last month, a rapper known as Husky, whose videos have garnered more than 6 million views on YouTube, was arrested after he staged an impromptu performance when his show was shut
down in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. The 25-year-old rapper, known for his lyrics about poverty, corruption and police brutality, was preparing to take to the stage on Nov. 21 when local prosecutors warned the venue that his act had elements of what they termed “extremism.” Husky climbed onto a car, surrounded by hundreds of fans, and chanted “I will sing my music, the most honest music!” before he was taken away by police.
On Nov. 30, rapper Gone.Fludd announced two concert cancellations, citing pressure from “every police agency you can imagine,” while the popular hip hop artist Allj cancelled his show in the Arctic city of Yakutsk after receiving threats of violence. Other artists have been affected as well — pop sensation Monetochka and punk band Friendzona were among those who had their concerts shut down by the authorities last month.
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Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard: Back to the Future
Greg Watkins (left) with the presenters Graham Macdonald MBE, Jim Howard, David Nardone and Peter Malhotra.
by Special Correspondent On Friday, 14th December, the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) hosted a multi-chamber networking event at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club. Before the event, the BCCT organized a seminar to discuss the future of the Eastern Seaboard (ESB) and Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). Greg Watkins, Executive Director of BCCT, was the moderator and he introduced the presenters who were: * David Nardone – Group Executive, Industrial and
International, WHA Industrial Development PLC & Vice President AMCHAM Thailand. * Graham Macdonald MBE – Director, Macallan Insurance Broker Co Ltd; Senior Adviser PKF; Honorary Adviser to: BCCT, SATCC, South African embassy, Rugby School Thailand, English for All. * Peter Malhotra – Managing Director, Pattaya Mail Publishing Co., Ltd. * Jim Howard – past-Managing Director, Katoen Natie Sembcorp, EOC Polymers & SGS.
Heidi Gallant, Executive Director of AmCham with Tom Sorensen of Boyden Associates.
Camelo Sortino (Faurecia), Michele Tomea (ThaiItalian Chamber of Commerce), Federio Cardini and David Hitchcock (Red Wolf Global).
Jack Levy (Macallan Insurance Broker), Allan Riddell (South African Thai Chamber of Commerce) and Rosanne Diamente (Women with a mission).
The aforementioned were all on the original BCCT ESB Group which was founded in 1998 and Graham Macdonald was the first Chairman. Needless to say, all of them have seen many changes over the last 20 years. David Nardone started the evening off with a presentation on how the ESB had grown over the last couple of decades and how he expected this to continue. David showed statistics from the automotive industry which showed just how far the ESB has come since the early 1990s. The ESB was responsible for the first industrial clusters for certain exports, e.g. automotive, electronics and steel plus many others. It was also the first place in Thailand to integrate all the infrastructure for many different kinds of industry as well as launching the region’s inaugural energy and petro-chemical complex at Maptaphut. He also pointed out that private investment was more than five times that of the government but was the first to point out how vital the infrastructure was to the existence of the ESB and thereby the EEC. Reverting to the automotive industry David showed how almost continuous growth has taken it from producing just over 300,000 cars in 1999 to almost 2 million last year. This then showed how the ESB and EEC could offer a first class destination which also provided an experienced, skilled workforce to potential investors – especially when you throw in the special incentives offered for setting something up within the EEC.
Sponsors and representatives of the joint chambers gather for a group photograph.
There are 12 targeted industries for the EEC but anything will be considered. The twelve are: next generation automotive, smart electronics, medical & wellness tourism, agriculture &biotechnology, food for the future, robotics & mechatronics, aviation, logistics, biofuels & biochemicals, digital. Also, national defence and human resource & educational development will receive special consideration. Once everything is in place, the recent quote from Dr. Kanit Sangsubhan, Secretary General Eastern Economic Corridor Office of Thailand was shown as it summed up the whole project, “With the EEC development, Thailand will move up the global value chain towards becoming a value-based economy. The project is expected to kick start economic growth through new industrial and urban development, jobs creation and heavy public-private infrastructure investment.” David then handed over to Peter Malhotra who spoke about the human side. He reminded people that Pattaya was nothing more than a little fishing village fifty years ago and that Second Road was just a dirt track. He has seen the development grow exponentially since then – some of it good and some of it not. However, this was definitely the place to be in Thailand if you wanted to continue with progress. Nonetheless, it was vital the human element was considered by those who were planning the industrial and urban growth of the region. The educational system is old fashioned and must be
Sansanee J. Perandus (Troca Sta Legal), Supa Kukarja (Pattaya Mail), Natchanakarn P. and Sasithon P. (TPG IMMO).
Michael Usher (AT Interlaw), Joao Maluf (Skywave Technologies Thailand) and Graig McAvinue (Tenzing Pacific Services).
Jacqui Cuthbertson (InterContinental Pattaya Resort), Nicklas Moberg (Pinnacle Hotel & Resorts), Paul Crowhurst and Dirk Janovansky.
restructured. He stressed the importance of vocational training which will give opportunities for young people to get better paid high skilled jobs. “The EEC is great for business and we are looking forward to the day when all these wonderful plans become a reality. But I do encourage business enterprises to invest in vocational training centres too. It will not only be good for your business, but you will also ensure that the next generation of Thailand’s work force will be as knowledgeable and skilled, comparable to the best in the world.” Jim Howard concurred with Peter and added that the planning and creation should be monitored at all times. Too often, elsewhere in South East Asia, greed has
taken over and promises broken – to the detriment of all concerned but especially those whose lives and hopes had been dashed. Graham Macdonald summed up by agreeing with everything that his fellow panellists had said. He said that he believed a lot of the basic infrastructure was already in place but more was needed, particularly when such projects as the expansion of U-Tapao and the Sattahip Commercial port were so close to being awarded. He also worried about where all the skilled labour was going to come from as unemployment in Thailand is hardly at an all-time high. The evening ended with a Q & A session and a vote of thanks being given by Greg Watkins.
Anthony Harman and Boonyarat Zeewia, David Bell (Crestcom-Ra Kahng Associates), Grant Atkinson (Rocket Film Equipment) and Tim Fletcher.
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PSC Christmas party brings joy and goodwill to all Peter Malhotra More than 220 members and their families turned up to enjoy the Pattaya Sports Club Association (PSCA) Christmas Party on Saturday 15 December at the First Pacific Hotel. The PSCA was founded 40 years ago and is a registered non-profit association with the objectives of promoting sports and supporting local charities. Memberships are diverse from many parts of the world. This helps the PSC, as we fondly call our club. We acquire funds from membership fees and generous donations from private persons, and combine these with monies raised at sports and charity events to help us achieve those objectives. We express our gratitude to members and supporters by organising a Summer party in July and a Christmas party in December of every year.
Mayor Ekasingh presided over our Christmas party celebrations. Other dignitaries included Sopin Thappajug, MD of the Diana group, and Nittaya Patimasongkroh, both members of the Pattaya Sports Club Association registered committee. We were also thrilled to welcome Praichit Jetapai, president of the YWCA Bangkok Pattaya Center. Noi Emmerson, another member of the PSCA and charity chairperson, added glamour and purpose to the list of VIPS. President Peter Malhotra gave a short welcome speech, giving details of the club’s achievements, and invited Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh to deliver his welcome address on behalf of Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome, who unfortunately was not able to attend. Deputy Mayor Ronakit, who is a personal friend of the club, said he is very familiar with
Paul Conwell introduces the PSC Darts team champions Kenneth Magdalene and Rolly Gabiani, proudly holding their champions’ trophies won at the Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Lampang tournaments.
The PSC is well known and respected in both the public and private sector, and we are recognized by the city and provincial fathers for the good work that we do. This year, with the new management team back at city hall, we were extremely honoured when Deputy
the PSC. He said he was very impressed with both Thai and foreign members of the club who do so much to promote sports in our community. “Your efforts attract many visitors both Thai and foreign to come to Thailand to participate in a variety of sports, and most especially golf.”
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasing, Sopin Tappajug, Nittaya Patimasongkroh, Noi Emmerson, Radchada Chomjinda and Peter Malhotra present the children with Christmas gifts after their heartfelt performance.
“We have some of the best golf courses in the world located in and around Pattaya,” he boasted. This comment was acknowledged with loud applause from golfers in the audience. He went on to assure the guests that the Pattaya City management team is ready to give every assistance to any person whether they come to Pattaya for a visit or live here all their lives. He said, “Your wellbeing and safety are of the highest concern to us. We are available to assist you at all times.” As is tradition, children under the care of Radchada Chomjinda, director of the Human Help Network Foundation Thailand, sang beautiful Christmas carols, touching the hearts of the audience. Guests were treated to a sumptuous buffet consisting of a vast selection of Thai and international food. And as is the norm at PSC parties, drinks of every variety flowed freely. The evergreen and incomparable John Compare kept the audience in a nostalgic mood by singing songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Singer
The invincible PSC team. (Seated l-r) Nantida Thepsai (Tida), Kunnaree Promkoon (Wan), Kasamol Promkoon (Molly), Pajaree Srichat (Candy). (Standing left-right) Ngamjit Emmerson (Noi), Supawadee Suwannachairob (Wao), Ingkarat Chaimongkon (Ing), Watcharin Amnuayseri (Oar).
Natcha’s Thai songs were a big hit with the locals, especially the ladies, and when the time was right the 4-piece ‘Snakefarm’ band took to the stage and had the dancefloor pulsating vigorously. The highlight of the evening was the drawing of raffle prizes. Not only did the PSC sponsor many valuable prizes, but we also received many prizes from our generous sponsors. They included Parichat International Golf Links and Southpoint Condominium Pattaya, represented
The PSC Christmas party was as enjoyable as ever.
by Ana Wongsing, Wanwisa Suksamran, Pattarachok Tangcharoenworakul and Isara Uchuparp, who sponsored 10 cases of beer and 5 membership cards at Parichart-Bangpra worth 5000 baht each. Chartrium Golf Resort Soi Dao, represented by Vachiravit Thitiwattanajirakit, sponsored weekday green fee vouchers for two persons and weekend green fee vouchers for two persons. Pattana Golf Club & Resort, represented by James
Quilley, sponsored a gift voucher for one night stay & golf for two persons valued at 10,700 baht. Khao Kheow Country Club, represented by Orranis Pakkanutnunkul, sponsored 5 caps. Villa Valley Co., Ltd. (Rayong Green Valley, St. Andrews, & Silky Oak), represented by Phaiboon Pungamngen, sponsored vouchers worth 3000 baht for Café 35 at Poshland. Pleasant Valley sponsored 8 vouchers and Yupins Restaurant sponsored a beautiful yellow golf umbrella. For the success of this memorable party, our heartfelt gratitude goes to PSC Social Chairman Paul Cornwell, Acting Secretary, PR and Office Manager Ingkarat Chaimongkon, together with Watcharin Amnuayseri (Oar), Nantida Thepsai (Tida), Kasamol Promkoon (Molly), Supawadee Suwannachairob (Wao) and Pajaree Srichat (Candy), Pattaya Sports Club’s charming and hardworking staff. Last but not least, we thank the management of the First Pacific Hotel for their brilliant service.
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Pattaya preaches positive 1,000 clean Sattahip park thinking to seniors
About 1,000 Sattahip residents, administrators and sailors cleaned the Prince Chumphon Park area in honor of HM the King.
Patcharapol Panrak
Punnapa Thongphan preaches how people past their prime should practice the power of positive thinking as a productive pastime to promote preferable health and propriety.
Pattaya preached the power of positive thinking at a workshop for senior citizens. Deputy Mayor Poramet Ngampichet opened the Dec. 17 meeting of the Pattaya Elderly Club with Punnapa Thongphan, director of health promotion.
The meeting preceded three workshops held from Dec. 17-19 led by Saroj Pungthai, director of The One Trainer Group Institute, that espoused how positive thinking can keep seniors strong and healthy. About 130 people attended
each training session, which focused on helping seniors have a good quality of life, live happily with family members and in society, and how to access health care, social services and financial resources. (PCPR)
Huay Yai abbot under fire for discriminating against poor Boonlua Chatree A Huay Yai abbot is under fire after allowing traveling salespeople to stay in the funeral hall and allegedly discriminating against poor neighbors. About 30 patrons of Takienthong Temple protested outside the Moo 10 village wat, calling for Abbot Wichaiworawad Tamwaro to be removed from his post. Huay Yai police and soldiers responded to the rally, which remained peaceful, and Wikomsatsanakit, Huay Yai’s ecclesiastical chief, and police chief Pol. Lt. Col. Anan Purahong received the group’s written petition. Protestors became upset after Wichaiworawad was given only three months’ probation for improperly renting out the temple’s funeral hall to upcountry peddlers who needed a place to stay. Some of the protestors had come to the temple during the peddlers’ stay and requested to hold a funeral there, but were refused. They claimed the abbot refused
Huay Yai’s Ecclesiastical Chief Wikomsatsanakit and Police Chief Pol. Lt. Col. Anan Purahong receive the protestors’ written petition arguing temple Abbot Wichaiworawad Tamwaro has been discriminating against poor neighbors.
their request because they were poor and could not pay to rent the hall. Local resident Saipin Boonprakob, 49, asserted that it was not the first time the abbot had refused to help impoverished neighbors. Pinpitkitjaruk, Banglamung’s dean of monks, called the dispute a misunderstanding, claiming the 70year-old abbot misspoke and was not discriminating
against the poor. However, the use of the temple hall was improper and so he was placed on probation. The district ecclesiastical chief said the three-month sentence was unrelated to claims by residents that Wichaiworawad has consistently refused service to residents who could not pay. He said temple-goers who feel that way need to file a formal protest with his office.
About 1,000 Sattahip residents, administrators and sailors cleaned the Prince Chumphon Park area in honor of HM the King. Adm. Noppadol Supakorn,
commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Fleet, opened the Dec. 20 volunteer activity. Together, participants picked up garbage, cleaned sidewalks and streets, pruned trees, improved landscaping and spruced up
the park neighborhood. Noppadol said HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn wants to carry on projects begun by his father, HM the late King Rama IX, which inspire people to do good for society.
Banglamung runs market to bail out pineapple farmers who refuse to cut production As pineapple farmers continue to flood the market and push prices for their crop through the floor, Banglamung District continues to prop them up. Chonburi Deputy Gov. Thammasak Rattanathanya was on hand Dec. 18 for another last-ditch market to bail out growers in front of the Banglamung office. The Dec. 15-24 market promoted sales of Sriracha pineapples, a popular variety rich in juice and meat grown in Chonburi and Rayong. Two similar campaigns have been run in the past year. Pineapple farmers nationwide have struggled all year as prices for the country’s signature fruit have plummeted due to oversupply. Many farmers have been unable to sell their crops, leading many to donate them to animal farms or drop them in the jungle for wild animals. Rayong and Chonburi are the fourth- and fifth-largest pineapple-growing provinces in the country, respectively. Thammasak said Chonburi has 23,580 rai of pineapple farms that produced 144,144 tons this year. But farmers have ignored government directives to cut back on their growing and have caused the problems they now suffer. Preamanee Subchokechai, director of the Chonburi Provincial Commerce Department said officials have turned to processing factories, ordering them to scale back production to arrest the price fall. (CPRD)
As pineapple farmers continue to flood the market and push prices for their crop through the floor, Banglamung District continues to prop them up with another last-ditch market to bail them out.
Explaining yellow lines
Editor: Re: Jomtien traffic lines confuse (PM 7 December 2018). From the Highway Code, this is a box junction. Do not enter the box unless your exit is clear. Simple. Foo Smith Note: Letters printed herein in no way reflect the opinions of the editors or writers for Pattaya Mail, but are unsolicited letters from our readers, exE-mail: mailbag@pattayamail.com pressing their own opinions. No anonymous letters or those without genuine addresses are printed, and, whilst we do not object to the use of a nom de plume, preference will be given to those signed. Write to the Editor:
VOL. XXVI No. 52
Articles For Sale/Rent As611/01-52/ Pattaya Mail Cartoonist Michael Baird (M.J.B.) has 3 brand new cartoon E-Books out. These and his other 10 cartoon EBooks can be bought from www.amazon.co.uk or www.booksmango.com. You will now be able to see all of Mike’s cartoons in FULL COLOUR. His 3 new Kindle E-Books are “Pattaya
FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018 21
PATTAYA MAIL
Cartoon Memories”, “Ladyboy Book 3” and “Pattaya Unforgettable Memories”. These cartoons are for grownups and would be unique gifts. You never know - You might see yourself in them!
2 kitchenettes; 2-4 locked parking spaces; partly furnished; 4,900,000 THB or near offer; Joe: 092753 9309, info@gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Articles/Services Wanted Aw01/01-52/ Missionary in Rayong sponsoring Little Duck Nursery needs help. Please - Any unwanted items you have would be appreciated. (Eng) Rev Stephen 086 600 5682, (Thai) 0875 381 586
Businesses for Sale or Rent Bop03/31-52/ Spacious Double Shophouse, Thepprasit Road, Soi 5; very good business location; land 240sqm; business space 150sqm; 6 rooms, 2 bathrooms,
30 years; 11,950,000 THB o.n.o.; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info@ gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com Bop01/31-52/ Big Shophouse; located close Sukhumvit Road / Central Road; commercial space 200sqm; 19,950,000 THB o.n.o.; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info@goproperty thailand.com, www. gopropertythailand.com
Bop02/31-52/ Guesthouse in the heart of Pattaya, Thappraya Road; Land: 210Twah (840sqm) and approx. 800sqm business space on 2 floors; 14 rooms; tropical garden; family owned since
Read more news at pattayamail.com
Pattaya Emergency Numbers Notices No01/30-52/ Looking for a game of snooker with a retired ex-professional UK snooker player? Tel. Mike on 089 152 3202
Pattaya Call Center ................................ 1337 Police Station .......................................... 191 - Pattaya ................................................... 038 424 186 - Banglamung ......................................... 038 221 800-1 Highway Police ....................................... 038 392 001 Fire Brigade ............................................. 199 Pat. Int. Hopsital ..................................... 038 428 374-5 Bkk-Pat Hospital ..................................... 038 259 911 TAT Central Office: Region 3 Pattaya . 038 428 750 Tourist Police ......................................... 038 429 371, 1155 . .................................................................. 038 410 044 (FAX)
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ceiling fan; WiFi access; storage room; carport; very nice and clean place to live; 4,950,000 THB; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info @gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Pets Pets03/01-52/ Homeless puppies available for adoption to warm and caring homes! All puppies are healthy, vaccinated and acclimated to people. If you are looking for a friend for life, just call 088 402 6772 or e-mail to karin@carefordogs.org. Pets02/01-52/ **Free Cats and Kittens** We are still trying to find loving homes for over 40 cats and kittens. Please check the pictures on our website or ring Sandra. Call 085 287 5004 http:/ cats4youinpattaya.webs.com
Property for Rent Houses, Villas
Read more news at pattayamail.com
Prb07/52-11/ For Rent: Bt.10,900 Per Month, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3 A/C, Furnished, Pool, Clean, Beautiful, Soi 53 Nern Plabwan at Soi 45. Tel: 084-351-8254 Prb06/52-03/ TOWNHOUSE, Off Soi Khaotalo, Like new, quiet, safe, two bedroom, one bathroom, patio, carport, Thai kitchen, air-conditioned, FULLY FURNUSHED, Guarded Subdivision, Communal Pool, One Year Lease Minimum, Bt.9,5000. Monthly, Bt.19,000. Security Deposit. English, 087-805-5276
Condos, Apartments Prc217/42-09/ Royal Park Luxury Service Apartments and penthouse suite, Jomtien: starting at 15,000 baht/ month. 56-70sqm, one bedroom, large living area with balcony and European kitchen, Free internet. Enjoy our rooftop swimming pool. Short walk to the beach. Monthly and daily rentals, Contact 086 111 7414 or check on our website www.royalparkjomtien.com to see why we are number 1 in Jomtien Prc216/52-04/ Pattaya Beach Rd. Soi 13, Studio, Terrace, Kitchenette, Safe box. Penthouse style, pool. Bt. 13,500. - Tel: 091 504 1806 Prc215/48-52/ Markland studios, 48sqm, beachfront, sea-view balcony, furnished, internet, refurbished: 15,000 Baht/month, minimum 12 months. Contact owner: ian.thailand@hotmail.com, 087 137 1529
Property for Sale
big garage; the property was completely restored in 2015; new bathrooms, new rooms, new air-conditioners; new electric wiring; must see! Great Opportunity! Only 6,200,000 THB; 092- 753 9309, info@goproperty thailand.com, www.go propertythailand.com
Psb27/31-52/ City Villa in the heart of Pattaya; completely renovated; close to 3rd Road / LK Hotel; in walking distance to Soi Buakhao; 120sqm living space; land approx. 150sqm; 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchenette; fully furnished; 2 new Flat TVs; 3 air-cons; big storeroom; garden, carport & parking; NO THROUGH ROAD- very quite; 3,950,000 THB; 092- 753 9309, info @gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Houses, Villas Psb32/52-04/ Bargain Pool Villa needs to be viewed. Refurbished very specious, 3 bed 3 baths, huge living room. Separate Euro kitchen and Thai kitchen Luxurious salt water pool with Jacuzzi and remote gate parking for 2 cars. Land 125TW, House 300m2. SP3 village Siam Country Club with excellent security 5.7 M Tel: 083 102 9293, also available for rent 38,000 baht per month. Psb31/46-08/ House for sale: 1,850,000 Baht. Location in Soi Nernblabwan. Tel: 0963979541, Line ID: domicil24, Email: duangpee. domicil@gmail.com Psb29/13-52/ 1-storey single house, living area 130sqm, land size 300sqm, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fully furnished, European Kitchen, close to Satit School: 3.75 million baht. Tel. Heiner 081-8611907
Psb28/31-52/ 5-storey Townhouse in Pratumnak; lobby, 9 rooms and 8 bathrooms; total area 320sqm;
Psb26/31-52/ 3-storey Townhouse located in Pratumnak Hills close to “Royal Cliff Hotel”; living space 200sqm; fully furnished with high quality furniture; living room with dining area, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, guest toilet; 1 European kitchen; terrace; 2 balconies; Jacuzzi bath; 3 air-cons;
Psb25/31-52/ Villa located on Pattaya East Side, only 5 min. from Sukhumvit/Thepprasit Road; Land size 760sqm, living space 350sqm; partly furnished; living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, guest toilet; Jacuzzi; European kitchen, security 24/7; private pool; tropical garden; garage; parking; 15,500,000 THB; 092- 753 9309, info @gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Psb24/31-52/ Big Villa with 5,200sqm park similar land; located close to Huay Yai Road; living space 650sqm; fully furnished; 1 living/dining room; 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, full European kitchen; terraces; WiFi; private pool 10m x 5m; outdoor shower and toilet; small lake with sala; air-con in all rooms; fitness gym; many storerooms; 85sqm office in separate building; alarm; own well; pantry & laundry room; double garage; automatic gate; 3 BBQ’s; the property is completely walled in: 24,950,000 THB; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info@ gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com Psb23/31-52/ 3-storey modern “BAUHAUS-Style Villa” and a wooden “Traditional
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Thai Style house” on 1 Rai of land located in Pratumnak, Pattaya; 360sqm living space on 3 floors with gallery; Thai house has 100sqm living space; short distance to the beach; both properties are partly furnished; open living room over 2 floors; dining room; 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 kitchen; terraces; WiFi; storage rooms; private parking; 75,000,000 THB; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info @gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Psb22/31-52/ Big Villa located in a clean & well maintained Resort in East Pattaya, 12 min drive to Sukhumvit Road; quite & peaceful; 1,632sqm land; living space approx. 500sqm; fully furnished with custom made quality furniture; 1 living room; 1 dining room; 3 bedrooms, 3 ensuite bathrooms,
PATTAYA MAIL
guest toilet, 1 kitchen, maid’s house; pool 10m x 5m (salt water); many terraces; security 7/24h; double garage; fully air-conditioned; laundry, pantry, many storerooms; office; SOLAR hot water; double wall and roof insulation; emergency power generator; double glazed insulation windows; 25.000 liter water storage; 35,000,000 THB or best offer; 092- 753 9309, info@ gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Condominiums Psc95/51-02/ Beachfront Condo at Bangsaray Condominium: 150sqm, 2-bedrooms, 2-bathrooms, 300m from beach, only 137units in 20 rai of green landscaped surroundings in an exclusive residence. Excellent decoration, fully furnished, TVLCD 50". Hot Sale 7.9 mil. 4x,xxx baht/sqm. 0813358102 (owner), for photos: pitipity@hotmail.com, Line: piti.t Psc94/51-52/Jomtien Plaza, 126sqm, Conner unit, high floor, beach views, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 2 balconies, foreigner owner, 5.95 million (Negotiable) Tel: 094 461 2395 Psc93/50-02/ Urban Downtown Luxury Residence: for Sale/Rent. Pool view,
2 bedroom, 87-sqm, 2 Balconies, 4th Floor Corner unit behind Avenue Mall, Soi 15, near Walking Street, Royal Garden, Central Mall, Sale price: 6,500,000 baht, Rent: 35,000 baht a month. Phone: 084 820 3979 Email: JLKBEACH@MAC.COM Psc91/48-52/ The Grass Pattaya Tai, New Condo, 1 bedroom, fully furnished, kitchen, living room, balcony, garden view, 2 floor, 1.65 million (Negotiable) Tel: 080-776 0602 Psc90/46-08/ Condo for sale: 750,000 Baht. Location in Soi Nernblabwan. Tel: 096 397 9541, Line ID: domicil24, Email: duangpee.domicil @gmail.com Psc88/45-02/ PRATAMNAK, 2-bedrooms, 2-bathrooms, Brand New! Sale: 3 Million Baht. High Floor, Includes furniture and appliances. Foreign name. Tel. 064 7239972 Psc87/44-53/ Markland Studios, Soi 1, Pattaya beachfront road near new Terminal 21 shopping center: 48sqm, beach front balcony, furnished, refurbished, pool, fitness, foreign ownership, 3mio Baht, also finance options available by owner, details ian.thailand@hotmail.com, Tel. 087 137 1529
Psc80/31-52/ City-Studio Jomtien VIEW TALAY 1; 6th floor; living space 32sqm; 500m to the beach; fully furnished; 1 living-bedroom; 1 bathroom; kitchen; balcony; WiFi; security 7/24h; community pool; parking; restaurants, bars, supermarket 24h, laundry in the building; directly located at the 10Baht-Taxi route and Shuttle Bus to Airport BKK; 1,250,000 THB; (or rent 7,900 THB) 092- 753 9309,. info@gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Psc79/31-52/ Studio on the beach in Pratumnak, 50sqm, totally quite & peaceful, fully furnished; private access to
the beach; big sea view terrace; 1 living-bedroom, 1 bathroom, full kitchen; washing machine; security 7/24h; community pool on beachfront; restaurant on pool side, parking; supermarket and laundry; 2,450,000 THB; (or rent 12,500 THB) 092 7539309, info@gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Psc76/31-52/ Seaview Apartment in Pattaya, Pratumnak Hills with 2 bedrooms, 11th floor; 3 balconies; living space 101sqm; fully furnished; living room; 2 bathrooms, 1 European kitchen; 2 new air-conditioners, ceiling fans; double security door, security 7/24h; fitness gym; sauna; steam room; community pool; parking; restaurants, bars, supermarket, laundry; 7,495,000 THB; Go Property Thailand; 093 161 5995, info@gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com Psc74/33-52/ Studio located close to Pattaya Beach and “Rhompo Night Market”, Jomtien 2nd road, living space 47sqm, fully furnished, 1 living/bedroom, 1 bathroom, kitchenette, terrace, WiFi, Security 7/24h, fitness gym,
FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018 23
community pool, garage, “10 Baht Taxi Route”, supermarket, laundry close by: 1,600,000 THB; GO PROPERTY THAILAND 093 -161 5995, info @gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Land for Sale
speak English, to market solar systems and industrial products from stock held in Rayong warehouse. This position is available on a 10% commission basis only. Contact Mr. Lee 08-61548605 Sw/52-01/ Pool man wanted in Naklua area. Mon-WedFri. Must be able to clean pool at 6:00am. Call 094-4344163
Services Provided P02/31-52/ Land is located close to Chaiyaprueck Road 2, 629sqm (17m x 37m); completely walled inn with a 3m high wall; 13,000 liter water deposit; own well; 2,950,000 THB or best offer; 092- 753 9309, info@gopropertythailand.com, www.gopropertythailand.com
Staff Wanted Sw01/51-03/ Experienced Freelance Internet Sales Person required: Must
Sp01/52/PLANS DRAWN: Design & Construction, Condo Remodeling 085-083-4221
Vehicles for Sale & Rent Vc01/52/ Jay’s Rent A Car: Toyota’s & Honda’s. All top of the range, for your safety all serviced by Toyota/ Honda, all have A.B.S./airbags + 1st class rental Insurance. Rent the best. Please ring for details: (Thai) 084-865-5102 or (Eng) 085-283-4915
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PATTAYA MAIL
VOL. XXVI No. 52
Scott stars at Phoenix PSC Golf from The Billabong Bar Monday, Dec. 17, Phoenix Gold Stableford We were playing the Mountain and Lakes courses at Phoenix today in near perfect conditions. The course was in great shape with fast greens and the 6 groups out returned some pretty good scores. There was a count back for the minor places between Capt Bob, Emmett White and Sandy Chapo, all on 32 points, with Sandy taking fifth spot, Emmett fourth and the Capt. getting the bronze. Miss Sasicha filled the runner-up
position with 35 points, one behind the day’s winner, Bob Scott. There were no ‘2’a recorded today.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, Green Valley – Stableford The course was unusually empty for this time of year, which just added to an enjoyable day. The scores overall could only be classified as average for finishing in third place for the ladies was Miss Sasicha (H/cap 21) with 32 points, four points behind Miss Nu (16) whose
score could have been better but for 2 blobs on the way home. Miss Pin (20) had a good steady round for her 39 points but was kept below the 40 point mark with two 1pointers on the back nine. Selwyn Wegner (15) could only muster 7 points on the last 5 holes and 33 points for third place in the men’s flight. Peter Thomas (18) couldn’t believe his start to the round with 10 points on the first 3 holes, only to be brought down to earth with 9 points on the last 4 holes in each half. It is becoming difficult to unseat Wayne Cotterell (13) from the top of
Howden on form at Pattavia The Jomtien Golf Society Monday, Dec. 17, Pattavia - Stableford A totally deserted car park upon arrival here and we teed off 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The cut today in the two divisions was 6-17 and 18+ and posting 37 points for the highest score of the day, Dave Howden won division 2 ahead of Rick Assi in second on 35. Andres van de Laan took third with 34 points and in fourth position was Louis Wong who beat Jim Connelly on a 17/16 countback. Another back-nine countback (20/19) saw Jerry McCarthy beat Bob Poole in division 1 after they both came in with 36 points. Brian Keating was third on 35 points and in fourth was Harry Vincenzi. Near pins went to (Div 1) Manny Deftereos, Ron Miller and Chris Slota, and (Div 2) John Carlin, Lars Strom and Harry Vincenzi. Ron Miller birdied the 7th and Chris Slota the 4th for the only ‘2’s of the day.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, The Emerald Stableford Six groups teed off from the clubhouse and it was very busy behind us with at least 25 golfers waiting to follow. We had an almost identical handicap cut and with 36 points on his card, Pete Sumner topped the podium in division 1 after an amazing 22 points on the back nine. Harry Vincenzi came in second with 35 points while the mad dentist Les Smith
Capt Bob (from left), Bob Scott, Sasicha and Sandy Chapo.
the leader board at the moment and he came first for the third week running with 36 points. Surprisingly, there were no ‘2’s again today.
Friday, Dec. 21, Burapha - Stableford
We all know that the greens at this course are some of the
best you will putt on, but today was not the case and they were extremely slow. Now, in saying all that, the scores were not too bad and it was also a beautiful day for golf. Taking third place on the day was Bob Scott with 34
points, second went to Rick Culley with 36 and Colm Lawler took the main prize with 37 points. I might add that these scores were the exception as the rest of us lowly golfers managed to just get a maximum of 30 points.
Sweetnam shoots best of the day at PAGS monthly Brian Keating with Dennis Lea, Bob Comartin and Jim Connelly.
took third on 32 and Jerry McCarthy was fourth with 31. Ray Daws with 20 on the front nine won division 2 with 34 points overall, Colin Aspinall was second one point behind, Bruce Gardner third on 32 and Louis Wong placed fourth one point behind Bruce. Near pins were claimed by (Div 1) Brian Keating, Dennis Scougall and Les Smith (2), and (Div 2) Ray Daws, Frank Grainger and Louis Wong. Willy Van Heetvelde recorded the only ‘2’ of the day with a birdie on the 7th.
Friday, Dec. 21, Eastern Star Stableford We were one golfer short for three divisions so five places on offer in two divisions with the equal cut at 9-17.5 and 18.2 plus. Mic h a e l H e a l e y r e corded the best score of the day with 37 points to
win division 1. Harry Vincenzi was second five points behind Michael on 32 and Grant Dickson beat Paul Butler on a 18/16 back-nine countback for third after they both came in with 31 points. In fifth place Dennis Scougall beat Pete Sumner 18/14 after two 30-pointers were recorded. Frank Kelly was the winner in division 2 with 35 points, Ron Lavette took second on 34 and John Carlin claimed third with 31. We then had a 16/15 backnine countback where Andres Van De Laan took fourth and Dave Howden fifth after two score of 30. Near pins went to (Div 1) Grant Dickson (2), Brian Keating and Simon Kendall, and (Div 2) John Carlin, Bruce Gardner, Michael Healey and Harry Vincenzi. Grant Dickson birdied the 13th and John Carlin the same hole in division 2 so no rollovers to next Friday.
The day‘s conditions were perfect for the final Pattaya Amateur Golf Society (PAGS) tournament of 2018, with clear skies, a light steady breeze and a Greenwood course in overall good condition. Today’s field of 107 keen players, which included only the 7 ladies, were all set for a great finale. As with most months, there is generally a standout performer or two on the day. This month, although not a crazy low gross, Gerry Sweetnam’s (H/cap 12) 79 was good enough to win the gross and secure top spot in the A Flight with 41 points. The winners of the B and C flights were responsible for the best stableford scores of the day, outstanding 44s. The ladies winner, Amphai Noksa Vos (13) signed for a solid 37 points, to go with her Long Drive on B8 and her Near Pin on A2. A Flight minor prizes went to Robert Watkins (10) with 37 points, to go with his Long Drive on B8 and approach on A3, while Tommy Wickman’s (11) 35 points was good enough for third spot.
Gerry Sweetnam.
Mikael Andersson.
B flight, for handicap 14-22, was won clearly by Donal McGuigan (22) with a day’s best of 44 points, while Tony Bless (18) edged Phillippe Vos (18) in the minor prize battle 20/18, after both signed for 38 points. In the C Flight for handicaps 23+, Stephen Watkins (27) with the equal day’s best of 44 points was clearly ahead of the rest. James Sulavuori (29) with his 40 points picked up the silver spot, with Arne Wirdo (27) getting the bronze position on 38 points to go with his Near Pin on B5. Arne’s 20 points on the back 9 saw off both Pierre and Gabriel on
the countback to secure his placing. Honourable mentions for multiple technical wins on the day go to J o h n Ay l o t t , B r e n d a n Cope and Jeff Wylie. Although the Order of Merit winner, Mikael Andersson, was already decided, there was still plenty of jostling for the lower positions. Donal McGuigan’s 44 points secured him top OoM points on the day, moving him up to secure second. The third and fourth spots went to Craig Banks and Tood Fox respectively, while Ken price did enough to score fifth.
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018 25
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Hot Huw sets Christmas record PSC Golf from The Pattaya Links Golf Society
Monday, Dec. 17, Burapha - Stableford A Flight 1st Phil Davies (12) 41pts 2nd George Mueller (13) 36pts 3rd John Doyle (9) 35pts 4th Jason Pereira (4) 35pts B Flight 1st Darren Beavers (17) 38pts 2nd Martin Patch (17) 36pts 3rd John Coetzee (22) 36pts 4th Frank Riley (26) 36pts The society played its 150th competition round of the year on the A & B combination at Burapha on Monday, which was in its usual excellent condition with well grassed fairways and consistent greens. The field of three dozen golfers was divided into two flights at fifteen and under. In the second flight three golfers recorded 36 points and countback was invoked, relegating Frank Riley to fourth place, behind his mate John Coetzee and runner-up Martin Patch. The flight winner was Darren Beavers with 38 points. In the top flight, fourth place went to visitor Jason Pereira on 35 points, losing third on countback to John Doyle. Second place went to George Mueller with 36 points but the winner by a margin of five points was Phil Davies whose 41 points
Huw Phillips.
was his best round for a while. Here was one Welshman whose game was certainly on song. Near pins went to Gerner Lykke, Olivier Tahon, Darren Beavers and Paul Chesney and the consolation awards for the best front nine went to Tommy Marshall with 20 points and Michael Wright with 19 points on the back nine. The final presentation was a commemorative plaque which was donated by Burapha Golf Club to mark Maurice Roberts’ hole-inone there one month ago.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, Pleasant Valley Stableford A Flight 1st Huw Phillips (14) 40pts 2nd Phil Davies (12) 37pts 3rd Maurice Roberts (13) 36pts
B Flight 1st Stan Stewart (17) 36pts 2nd Derek Phillips (18) 35pts 3rd Niels Peter Kristensen (21) 31pts When you’re hot you’re hot, and Huw Phillips’ form right now is very hot. Scoring 40 points to win “A” flight today gave Huw his fourth green jacket for the month of December. Of course, the cries go out asking why his handicap doesn’t come down. It will in due course, that’s the system of USGA handicap. Phil Davies backed up his 42 points haul at Burapha on Monday to record 37 points to take second spot, while the other half of the Links Duo, Maurice Roberts, was right behind the lead pair with 36 points. Another who has been consistently in the winner’s circle is Stan Stewart and he took front and centre today to take out “B” flight with a very handy 36 points. Derek Phillips either has a very good game or a very ordinary game. Today was a good one, scoring 35 points for second place, and Niels Peter won a countback to secure third spot. This Pleasant Valley course seems to change from very good condition to just okay condition. This time the fair-
Phil Davies (centre) with Tip Briney (left) and Chris Walsh.
ways were drying out, and the ground staff had sprinklers in action, but at some places too much, resulting in some soggy patches among the dry. Greens had been sanded and, although quite quick, were patchy and varied. Near pins were claimed by Colin Smith (x2), Michael Wright and Niels Peter while the consolation nine awards went to Simon Kendall with 17 points on the front nine and Colin Service with 18 down the home straight.
Friday, Dec. 21, Plutaluang Stableford A Flight 1st Huw Phillips (13) 44 pts 2nd John Doyle (9) 41pts
3rd Michael Wright (10) 40pts 4th Stan Stewart (17) 36pts B Flight 1st Niall Caven (19) 42pts 2nd Gavin McDonald (18) 40pts 3rd John Heaney (33) 36pts 4th Tony Browne (18) 35pts On Friday, the society made a rare visit to Plutaluang to play a stableford round on the West and North nines, for many the best combination here. The course was in good condition, enabling some excellent scoring. Indeed the record was set for a PLGS competition score at
Plutaluang, the best in more than twenty years of golf there with the group. The eight groups of golfers were divided into two flights at seventeen and under. In the second flight, Tony Browne returned from a short trip to Cambodia to post 35 points for fourth place, one point behind third placed golfer John Heaney. In second was Gavin McDonald with an excellent 40 points, leaving Niall Caven’s 42 points the clear winner. In the top flight, fourth place went to Stan Stewart with 36 points, whilst Michael Wright took third with 40. The runner-up was John Doyle with 41 points then Huw Phillips, running hot at present, took his fourth win in his last five rounds with a record breaking 44 points, which included a one-under gross on the back nine. Near Pins went to Bart Bingham (W3), Darren Beavers (W8), Anders Pedersen (N3) and Mr Huw (N6) while the best front nine was 21 points (Peter Wallace) and the best back nine went to John Collias with 20 points.
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Thorogood in the mix for player of the year Traveller’s Rest Golf Group
Thursday we made the trip to Greenwood and for the first time in a long while we only required one division. Dominating the day was A.J. who came home on a wet sail to score twenty one points on the back-nine and beat his closest rival by three shots.
Monday, Dec. 17, Pattavia – Stableford Division 1 1st Paul Lanzetta (10) 37pts 2nd Jim Best (14) 36pts 3rd Terry Smith (12) 34pts Division 2 1st Kim Suk-Bum (18) 38pts 2nd John Welch (33) 37pts 3rd Roy Kim (17) 36pts With this year’s numbers exceeding 6000 rounds of golf, it’s no surprise that on Monday with thirty-four players we once again required two flights. In division one Paul Lanzetta, a very steady golfer, recorded his first ever win with a great score of 37 points. In division two our friends from Korea have been dominating and today was no exception, as Kim Suk-Bum (yes it’s his real name) posted a brilliant 38 points to also take his first ever win with the TRGG.
Tuesday, Dec. 18, Green Valley – Stableford Division 1 1st Greg Bates (14) 38pts 2nd Takahashi Akira (9) 37pts 3rd Jack Watkins (12) 35pts
Friday, Dec. 21, Burapha Stableford
Derek Thorogood.
Division 2 1st Derek Thorogood (16) 41pts 2nd Kim Seung-Hwan (17) 40pts 3rd Kim Suk-Bum (18) 39pts With the player of the year title still within Derek Thorogood’s grasp, he needed a good score Tuesday to close the gap and put some pressure on the current leader. Well, he rose to the occasion and smashed an unbeatable 41 points to win the day. In division one the leader in the clubhouse was the
Arnold Jones.
young and debonair Greg Bates who thought he had the best score of the day with 38 points, but it was still enough to win his division.
Wednesday, Dec. 19, Khao Kheow – Stableford Division 1 1st Takahashi Akira (16) 38pts 2nd Arthur Todd (15) 38pts 3rd Kim Seung-Hwan (12) 37pts Division 2 1st Kim Suk-Bum (19) 41pts 2nd Hojun Yoon (21) 40pts 3rd Lawrence Lee (18) 40pts
Wednesday we made the trip to Khao Kheow where in division two Kim Suk-Bum played some incredible golf and recorded his second victory in just three days. In division one Takahashi Akira made it to first place with 38 points, which was just enough to get him over the line by virtue of a countback.
Thursday, Dec. 20, Greenwood – Stableford 1st Arnold Jones (14) 34pts 2nd Arthur Todd (14) 31pts 3rd Jim Best (14) 31pts
Division 1 1st Neil Wilkinson (13) 40pts 2nd Kevin Labar(13) 40pts 3rd Seil Peter (5) 38pts Division 2 1st John Baxter (17) 39pts 2nd Roy Kim (17) 39pts 3rd Lawrence Lee (18) 38pts Friday and once again we witnessed the largest turnout for the week with forty-four players vying for the top spot. In division two it was the dancing queen John Baxter who powered ahead to first place with an amazing 40 points. John loves to jive and with the winnings securely in his pocket he danced the night away at
Traveller’s. In division one a much more reserved and consummate winner took out first place. Neil “under the radar” Wilkinson emulated John’s score of 40 points and with a strong twentyone points on the back nine held off Kevin Labar on countback.
Saturday, Dec. 22, King Naga Stableford 1st Rhys Minton (14) 38pts 2nd Danny Ford (9) 35pts 3rd Gerry Fernandez (12) 34pts Having heard so much about the King Naga course we decided to give it a go and while there was mixed comments on the condition, with the main criticism being the greens being a bit furry, overall the majority of players enjoyed it and thought it was great value for money at 1650 baht all in on a Saturday. Undeterred by the furry greens, Rhys Minton managed to score an impressive 38 points and take the final purse for the week.
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26 FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018
PATTAYA MAIL
VOL. XXVI No. 52
Magnusson gets first pick
The Viper scores a hat-trick
PSC Golf from Café Kronborg
PSC Golf from The Growling Swan Monday, Dec. 17, Treasure Hill Stableford
Monday, Dec. 17, Treasure Hill (yellow tees) - Stableford A Flight (0-21) 1st Bob Edwards (10) 36pts 2nd Ito Akitoshi (10) 34pts 3rd Ronnie Rattle (21) 33pts B Flight (22+) 1st Karen Brown (31) 36pts 2nd Elias Magnusson (25) 36pts 3rd Peter Hammond (29) 32pts Near Pins: Peter Bygballe, Rob Brown Long Putts: Ito Akitoshi, Dave Richardson Cafe Kronborg golfers played this top class golf course from the forward yellow tees, which meant the first tree on the left of the first fairway did not come into play and getting your tee shot on the second green was not so difficult! With the course playing at approximately 6,000 yards you would think the scores would be good but only three of our group played to their handicap. We welcomed Bob Edwards who thanked us by winning the ‘A’ Flight and thanked his playing partner for the beers he won from him. It was ladies first in the ‘B’ Flight with Elias Magnusson and his 36 points (16 on the back 9) politely standing aside for Karen Brown who also had 36 points but 18 on the inward half.
Elias Magnusson (left) with Dave Richardson.
Thursday, Dec. 20, Pattaya C.C. Stableford 1st Elias Magnusson (25) 36pts 2nd Karen Brown (31) 35pts 3rd Broad Gabe (18) 34pts 4th Peter Bygballe (19) 33pts 5th Kurt Sandgaard (31) 31pts Near Pins: Peter Bygballe, Tye Anderson, Ronnie State, Karen Brown. Long Putts: Daryl Evans, Kurt Sandgaard. Cafe Kronborg golfers held their annual Christmas Fayre at Pattaya Country Club on Thursday. In the good old days a glass trophy was on offer in memory of a staunch PSC supporter but this year we could only play for glory and the excitement of not knowing what your secret santa prize would be. Every golfer has to place a gift-wrapped prize on
a table at the presentation and in order of merit on the day, golfers select a parcel. The golf course today was in excellent condition - far better than previous winters - and no moans and groans could be justified. The speed of the greens rivalled the greens at Pattavia and the bunkers were neat and tidy and properly raked by our caddies - long may this condition last. After just missing out on Monday, Elias Magnusson took the honours today with 36 points, one ahead of Karen Brown in second (no chivalry shown by Elias on this occasion). Broad Gabe was a further point back in third while Peter Bygballe and Kurt Sandgaard completed the podium.
Devereux shines at Eastern Star PSC Golf from Siam Country Resort Pattaya Tuesday, Dec. 18, Eastern Star Stableford We went to Eastern Star on Tuesday with only 2 groups. The course was in very good condition and well maintained and it is always a real pleasure to play here. This course is not easy and the differences in the individual scores were not very big. Paddy Devereux was the most consistent and won with 35 stableford points. Willem Lasonder and Bob Edwards fought for runner-up spot but Willem was the lucky one on this occasion and beat Bob on the countback after both signed for 32 points The near pins went to Paddy Devereux, Bob Edwards and Jonathan Pratt.
Thursday, Dec. 13, King Naga – Stableford King Naga was our venue on Thursday and this course has a nice layout and the
Bob Edwards (from left), Paddy Devereux and Willem Lasonder.
playing conditions were acceptable. You must not go in the rough on this course with the long grass and on this day the bunkers were in bad condition, it seems the caddies don’t use the rakes. Willem Lasonder and Bob
Edwards battled for top spot all day but at the end was it Willem who kept a cool head and won with 38 points, beating Bob by two. The near pins were claimed by Bob Edwards and George Gamble.
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1st Mark Stapleton (19) 35pts 2nd Colm Lawlor (14) 34pts 3rd Dave Maw (18) 33pts Near Pins: Glenn Martin (x2), Dave Maw, Bill Steinmann. Long Putts: Tony Cook, Glenn Martin. We set out with thirteen golfers at Treasure Hill, not the easiest of courses but it is a good, well maintained venue and the price is also quite reasonable. The course today was in tip-top condition but the scores did not reflect that and there were some mediocre results. The “Viper” Mark Stapleton returned with a score of 35 points to put him one shot clear of his nearest rival, Colm Lawlor, who was beaten by the narrowest of margins and at one stage had amassed 33 points with 4 holes still to play! A further point in arrears was Dave Maw in third position.
Thursday, Dec. 20, Mt. Shadow – Stableford
Andrew Allen (left) with Mark Stapleton.
Near Pins: Keith Buchanan, Patrick Poussier, Martin Kempton, Glenn Martin. Long Putts: Rudy Regenass, Patrick Poussier. Mountain Shadow was our destination for today and out 20 golfers attacked the course from the white tees. The greens were true but fast and the bunkers were in good order. If you ventured from the fairways however you could find yourself in deep trouble. With today’s numbers we were able to play two flights and the A Flight saw Mark
Stapleton make it 3 wins from 3 with a score of thirty seven points. Second past the post was Dave Maw two shots in arrears and third home was ‘Buffalo’ Bill Steinman, giving away a few shots in the handicap stakes! B Flight saw Andrew ‘The Turtle’ Allen not at all slow out of the blocks and his score of 41 was the best by far on the day. Second home was Patrick Poussier a full 8 points behind today’s leader and in third place was Roger Ellis with 31.
A-Flight 1st Mark Stapleton (19) 37pts 2nd Dave Maw (18) 35pts 3rd Bill Steinmann (10) 34pts B-Flight 1st Andrew Allen (33) 41pts 2nd Patrick Poussier (29) 33pts 3rd Roger Ellis (30) 31pts
Everett on fire at Green Valley The Tara Court Golf Society to separate third and fourth and here Michael Healy (17) had a better last 6 holes to take the bronze from Craig Hitchens (12). Nick Caulfield and Joe McArdle shared the ‘2’s pot today.
Sunday, Dec. 16, Green Valley Stableford We had 6 groups out today on what was a busy course. We were away right on time and the round was just over 4 hours, which is good for high season. The course was in good condition and 2 players made the most of it. We had 2 divisions out with the cut at 17 and in the A Division there was a runaway winner with Michael Healy (H/cap 17) having a great 40 points. Second place went to Nick Caulfield (6) on 36 points while third and fourth went to a countback, with the decision going to Shaun Merriman (14) over Paul Butler (17), both with 35 points on the card. B Division saw the best score of the day with Don Everett (23) posting a very good 41 points. Taking second place and good to see him in the prizes after a very long absence was Richie Martin (30) with 38 points. Peter Henshaw (28) was third with 36 and fourth went to Glen Perkinson (18) on 34. Peter Henshaw added to
Thursday, Dec. 20, Eastern Star Stableford Don Everett.
his place money with the only 2 for the day.
Tuesday, Dec. 18, Treasure Hill Stableford A smaller field today for our monthly trip to Treasure Hill and with the yellow tees in play and them being well forward it made for some interesting shot selections. The course was in very good condition but the scoring was not so good, with no one able to play to handicap. The top spot was decided on countback with Donal Lyne (H/cap 16) taking it over Nick Caulfield (6), both with 34 points. A countback on 33 points was also needed
We were here at Eastern Star for our last game for this year on another very hot day for golf. We had two flights with the cut for the A flight coming in at sixteen. In the premier division Shaun Merriman (14) won with thirty-five points, beating Wayne Crooker (11) on countback. Nick Caulfield (6) came third with thirty four. In the B flight Kevin Page (22) was playing his first ever game with us and made an excellent start by returning the best score of the day, thirty-seven points to take top spot. Pat Carty (24) took second with thirty-two and Ken Hole (21) came third with thirty. We had three ‘2’s today, from Joe Mcardle, Pat Culloty and Pat Carty, one each
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Smith sails home at Riverside PSC Golf from The Bunker Boys Monday, Dec. 17, Bangpakong Riverside – Stableford 1st Gary Smith (8) 40pts 2nd Les Humphrey (28) 38pts 3rd Takeshi Hakozaki (13) 38pts The scourge of Thai golf, the ubiquitous six-ball struck us again today with not just one but two and a five-ball put out in front of us. Needless to say, the inevitable happened with a round of very slow frustrating golf. The course was as usual in fine condition, well grassed and groomed, the weather was fine and not too hot and the caddies were of a high standard. Despite the frustration of slow play many seemed totally unaffected by it and returned excellent cards, none better than Gary Smith who scored forty points. In second place on thirty-eight points was Les Humphrey with a completely new set of clubs. Clearly they suit him perfectly. Third place went to Takeshi Hakozaki also on thirty-eight points but beaten on count-back.
DATE:
Near pins were claimed by the cack-handed Ronnie Melvin, Gary Smith, Takeshi Hakozaki, and Keith Norman
the second par-three. Les Humphrey, who shot the lights out on Monday with brand new clubs had a Barry Crocker today, could it be he played what ought to have been Monday’s game today?
Wednesday, Dec. 19, Bangpra – Stableford 1st Michael Brett (13) 39pts 2nd Paul Lanzetta (3) 38pts 3rd Keith Norman (14) 33pts 4th Gary Smith (7) 32pts How does a man in need of a white cane get a near pin from one hundred and eighty yards? How does a handicap go from fourteen to twelve and back to sixteen all in the space of a week? How does someone snap their seven-iron in two around a tree no more than fifty yards from the first tee? These are some of the many questions we are left to ponder following today’s round at Bangpra. A round of three and a half hours today as the course was virtually empty, it seems many societies are reluctant to return following the midyear drama when bookings were canceled without notice and green fees raised significantly.
FRI 28
Apple’s Irish
Treasure Hill
Bunker Boys
Pattana
SAT 29
Friday, Dec. 21, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
Jimmy Carr.
Today’s winner Michael Brett had his best round for some time with thirty-nine points, beating Paul Lanzetta who on most days would have expected to win with thirty-eight points. Some distance back was Keith Norman of the white cane fame with thirty-three points, while Gary Smith couldn’t repeat his heroics of Monday came in fourth with thirty-two. Near pins went to Keith Norman, Daryl Vernon, Paul Lanzetta, and Kevin Labar. Shot of the day went to Daryl who put his tee shot with the driver to about eighteen inches from the hole on
SUN 30
All the Neils, Jones, Griffin, and Carter got near pins with the final one going to Mark Stanley. Our only lady member Kob Glover is about to take some lessons so we expect to see her back in the winner’s circle again very soon.
1st Jimmy Carr (15) 37pts 2nd Michael Brett (12) 36pts 3rd Neil Griffin (25) 36pts 4th Keith Norman (14) 35pts A reasonable roll-up of nineteen players for today’s round played in bright sunshine. One of our members complained before the game that he wasn’t capable of playing off thirteen, quick smart came back the reply, “well play off twelve then”, no sympathy here. Jimmy Carr took the honors today with a round of thirty-seven while second went to Michael Brett with thirty-six. Neil Griffin, who again started on fire with twenty-three on the front nine faded on the back and took third on countback, with Keith Norman taking fourth place with thirty-five.
MON 31
TUE 01
WED 02
Pleasant Valley
Le Katai
FRI 04
Khao Kheow
Crystal Bay Pleasant Valley
Crystal Bay
Green Valley
Growling Swan Billabong Golf
THU 03
Pattana
Cafe Kronborg Colin’s Golf
The race for “Golfer of the Month” is hotly contested and evenly balanced going into the final rounds, any one from Jimmy Carr, Neil Carter, Keith Norman or Michael Brett could win unless someone from the back makes a late charge.
Mt.Shadow Pleasant Valley
Treasure Hill
Burapha
Phoenix
Green Valley
Pleasant Valley
Mt.Shadow
Treasure Hill
Lewinski’s
Siam Old Course
The Links
Eastern Star
Burapha Pattavia
Pleasant Valley Siam Old Course
Burapha
Mt.Shadow
The Emerald
I Rovers Retox Game On
R.Lakeside/P.Valley
Plutaluang
T.Hill/Mt.Shadow
P.Valley/G’wood
Siam Country
Pattavia
Sugar Shack
Pattaya C.C.
Plutaluang
Harry’s Golf
Pattaya C.C.
Pleasant Valley
The Golf Club
C.Bay/Pattaya CC K.Kheow/Bangpra
Silky Oak
Eastern Star
Crystal Bay
Green Valley Green Valley
The Players Lounge Tropical Golf
Greenwood
Valley View Hackers
Green Valley
Pleasant Valley Green Valley
Green Valley
Green Valley
Outback Golf Bar
The Bunker Boys meet at the M-Club off Pattaya 3rd Road for golf outings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (www.bunkersociety.com). Transportation leaves from Cafe Kronborg on Soi Diana Inn at 8:15 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, (contact Dave on tel. 038 602 2117). Colin’s Bar plays golf Sun/Mon/Wed & Fri (www.colinsbar.com). The Growling Swan plays golf on Monday & Thursday (www.thegrowlingswan.com). Lewinski’s in Soi Pattayaland 1 (Soi 13/3), now have a new schedule, 5 days per week Monday thru Friday. Transport is available everyday, call Jack on 0815781956 for further information and booking. The Pattaya Links Hotel Golf Society departs from Soi Buakhao on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Call Phil on 0625 933 380 or visit www.thelinkshotelpattaya.com. The Golf Club is located on Soij LK Metro. Call Phil on 090 769 3778. Tropical Golf meets at BJ’s Holiday Lodge at 8am on Tuesday’ & Friday. Call Derek on 089 034 0629
28 FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018
PATTAYA MAIL
VOL. XXVI No. 52
Winners, losers heading into last week of NFL season Barry Wilner New York (AP) - The big winners in Week 16 were the Saints, Patriots, Cowboys , Seahawks and Ravens. The big losers were the Steelers, Dolphins, Chiefs and Texans. But wait. Then the Texans became winners hours later, earning a playoff berth as they headed back to Houston on Sunday following a last-second 32-30 loss at Philadelphia that handed the AFC’s No. 2 seed behind Kansas City to the Patriots — as if they need any help when the playoffs arrive. Houston sneaked in when Pittsburgh lost 31-28 at New Orleans, though the Texans still could wind up a wild card in the, well, wild AFC South. Here’s a road map as we head into the final week of the schedule. NFC New Orleans (12-3) secured home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs by beating Pittsburgh, dropping the Steelers into second place behind Baltimore in the AFC North.
The Saints won’t be playing outdoors again — the Super Bowl, should they get there, will be inside at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “Knowing that we’ve done it, knowing that the road comes through New Orleans, that gives us a lot of confidence,” Drew Brees said. “Obviously we love playing in the dome. ... We have goals throughout the season and this is one of them.” Also reaching their goal were the Cowboys, grabbing the NFC East with a 27-20 victory over Tampa Bay. Dallas (9-6) will be the fourth seed and host a wild-card game. “We can’t get comfortable,” Ezekiel Elliott said. “We can’t afford to take a week off next week. We’ve got to keep working and make sure we’re ready for the playoffs.” Chicago (11-4) needs to be ready next week at Minnesota (8-6-1). For one, the Bears have a shot at the second overall slot and a firstround bye with a win and a loss by the Rams (12-3), who are at home for San Francisco.
Tennessee Titans tight end MyCole Pruitt (85) flips the ball over his shoulder after scoring a touchdown against the Washington Redskins in the second half of an NFL football game Saturday, Dec. 22, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/ James Kenney)
For another, they could deny their division rival a postseason spot; a Vikings win gets them a wild card. But a Vikings loss and an Eagles win at Washington gets the defending champions (8-7) back into the postseason. Seattle (9-6) appears destined to play at Dallas in the
Warrington retains featherweight title beating Frampton
Josh Warrington (right) connects with a punch on Carl Frampton during their IBF featherweight title boxing bout Saturday, Dec. 22, in Manchester, England. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
Manchester, England (AP) - Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title by beating Carl Frampton by unanimous decision after a thrilling 12-round fight last Saturday. The pair engaged in one of the contenders for fight of the year at Manchester Arena. Warrington, an underdog with the bookmakers despite relieving Lee Selby of the world title in May, was rewarded for a huge workrate to earn his 28th win from 28 fights. The judges gave it to Warrington 116-112, 116-112, and 116-113 in his first title defense. Frampton came back into the fight in the middle rounds but couldn’t sustain the pressure and lost for only the second time in 28 bouts, and a second world title fight.
Whyte KOs Chisora in round 11 of heavyweight fight London (AP) — Dillian Whyte stopped Dereck Chisora in the 11th round of an all-British heavyweight bout at the 02 Arena last Saturday to make a claim to be Anthony Joshua’s next challenger. A largely competitive fight was instantly ended when Whyte threw a powerful left hook that left Chisora unconscious and down for worryingly long. Chisora
landed heavily on his head but gradually recovered after attention from his team, potentially leaving him facing retirement at the end of a tough career. Whyte beat Chisora on a split decision in 2016, but there was no disputing the result this time. Chisora led on the cards of two of the three judges but left his jaw exposed and
Whyte took advantage. Whyte improved his record to 25-1 with 18 knockouts. The one loss was against Joshua in 2015 when both were on the rise. Joshua has gone on to own the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, and his priority next year is lining up fights against WBC champion Deontay Wilder or former world champion Tyson Fury.
first round. The Seahawks beat the Cowboys in Week 3 for their first win of what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. They’ve rebuilt so quickly that Pete Carroll is in the running for Coach of the Year. “It’s not complicated,” Russell Wilson said after the 38-31 victory against the Chiefs. “It’s hard work, it’s having faith. We knew we had to battle throughout the season, it’s a journey and we’re still not done yet.” AFC For a decade now, the New England Patriots have owned the AFC East, and they had a huge weekend. The Patriots clinched their 10th straight division title when they beat Buffalo 2412. They got an added bonus when Houston fell to
drop out of the second seed in the conference, which New England grabbed — with a shot at the top spot. They are 7-0 in Foxborough — the league’s only undefeated team in its own building — and 3-5 on the road. “We didn’t have our best day in the passing game. But it felt good to win. At this time of year, whatever it takes to win, that’s what you’ve got to do,” Tom Brady said. Baltimore (9-6), fresh off its victory at the Chargers last Saturday night, has a halfgame lead on Pittsburgh (86-1), which has lost four of five. The Ravens will take the North with a home win against Cleveland next week. The Steelers host Cincinnati and need help to get into the postseason from their hated enemy, the Browns.
“We’re playing pretty good football, but it might not matter,” Ben Roethlisberger said. “Obviously we don’t control our destiny any more. We have to take care of business next week. “You can be as skillful as you want on both sides of the ball and special teams, but there is still a small element of luck involved in football. A play here, a play there. If that’s what it is, I don’t know, but it’s the game of football.” The game of tiebreakers also shows that should the Colts and Titans deadlock at Nashville in the prime-time game to end the season, and the Steelers win, Pittsburgh edges both of them for the final wild card, all at 9-6-1. In the South, Houston (105) is leading Indianapolis and Tennessee by a game. The Texans host Jacksonville (5-10) and could wind up a wild card with a loss and a non-tie in Nashville. The Chiefs (11-4) and Chargers (11-4) already are in the postseason from the West. That takes up one wild card. But Kansas City, once the darling of the league, could plummet from top overall seed to wild card if it flops versus Oakland next week and LA beats Denver. Miami was still in the mix before falling 17-7 at home to lowly Jacksonville. Shameful. What is clear is that there’s no overwhelming favorite. It’s been a while since a wild-card team, Green Bay for the 2010 season, won the championship. Right now, betting against the likes of the Chargers, Seahawks or Eagles should they get in would be foolish.
Pochettino still not sure Tottenham are real title contenders Liverpool, England (AP) - Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino still appears to need convincing about his team’s Premier League title credentials, even though the London club pulled off one of the best results of the season by thrashing Everton 6-2 last Sunday. Harry Kane and Son Heungmin scored twice as thirdplaced Tottenham closed within two points of Manchester City and six points of leaders Liverpool after their thrilling victory at Goodison Park. “I still believe Liverpool and Manchester City are the real contenders and favorites to win the Premier League,” Pochettino said. “I think there is still a long way to go for me to say we are real contenders. “If we are able to be consistent and play in the way we did here I think yes, maybe, we could then be a real contender, but there is
Everton’s Kurt Zouma (left) and Tottenham’s Harry Kane vie for the ball during their English Premier League match at Goodison Park Stadium in Liverpool, Sunday, Dec. 23. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
still a long way. Being involved in four competitions will be tough, but we are going to try.” Pochettino, whose side are also chasing glory in the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, who
last week decided to put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in charge for the rest of the season after firing Jose Mourinho. “There are a lot of rumors,” said Tottenham’s Argentine coach. “We cannot talk, we need to be focused on our jobs at Tottenham and do our best to try to be successful.”
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1,000 compete in first Navy triathlon
Navy commander-in-chief, Adm. Luechai Ruddit, takes to the water during the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon in Sattahip, Sunday, December 16.
More than 1,000 sailors and member of the public ran, swam and cycled in the inaugural Thai Royal Thai Navy Triathlon. Navy commander-in-chief, Adm. Luechai Ruddit, opened the Dec. 16 race, the first of five events to be held through Mother’s Day next year to demonstrate loyalty to the monarchy, commemorate HM the late King Bhumibol’s historic sailing win at the 1967 Southeast Asian Games, and honor the Dec. 19 birthday
of the “father of the Thai navy”, HRH Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse. The opening ceremony kicked off with Rear Adm. Apakorn Youkongkaew, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, rappelling from a helicopter to the stage on Dongtan Beach to present Luechai with the triathlon flags. With a salute from naval cadets, the two officers and Chonburi’s deputy governor sounded the starting buzzer
Pattaya to host 2019 IWF weightlifting championships
Over 1000 sailors and members of the public took part in the event.
for the “iron man” portion of the triathlon. The day featured four races of different lengths. Navy “warriors” competed in the “full iron man”, swimming 3.8 kilometers, cycling 180km. and running 42km. The “Olympic Triathlon” bracket covers 1.5km. swimming, 40km. cycling and 10km. running. The “duathlon” had athletes swim for 5km., cycle for 40km. and then run another 10km. Finally, the lowest tier was a 0.75km swim, 20km bike race and 5km run. The winner of each race earned cash prizes with scores rolling over to the next event next year.
Athletes compete in the cycling discipline of the triathlon.
Camaraderie on show as participants cross the finish line together.
Brown crowned golfer of the year at Treasure Hill PSC Golf from the Tropical Golf Group Tuesday, Dec. 18, Crystal Bay B & C – Stableford
World championship weightlifting heading to Pattaya next September. (AP Photo)
Strongmen from 197 countries will vie for a place at the 2020 Summer Olympics when the International Weightlifting Association brings its 2019 world championships to Pattaya in September. The Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association is hosting the qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics and chose
Pattaya’s Eastern National Indoor Sports Stadium as its venue after the city successfully hosted the 2011 and 2014 Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships. The first planning meeting for the Sept. 18-27 meet, held earlier this month, covered safety, traffic, first aid, public relations and facilities.
Twenty Tropical golfers headed to Crystal Bay and found the track here to be really deteriorating. The areas between fairways is very ordinary with tree trimmings from months ago lying everywhere and in a lot of places unplayable. But for 1080 baht green fee and caddie what do you expect. Some parts of fairways were squishy-wet while other sections brown and bare, greens rolled true but some had areas of blight. In the A-Flight (0-18) Tom Herrington (c/h 18) finally reappeared at the top of the list with the best score of the day – a most excellent 42 points. John Davis (12) as usual was right in the hunt with a proud 39 points. The returning Brad Robbins (21) announced his arrival in style by takin the B-Flight (19-25) with a no nonsense 40 points. Brian Gabe (19) holed a 100-yard wedge to help earn his 36 points and a place in the roll call. Lady Luck was no luck at all as Karen Brown (34) truly
Rob Brown (left) receives the champion’s trophy from Derek Brook.
earned her C Flight winning 35 points, a couple ahead of Gordon Clegg (28) with 33. Best nines (non-winners) came from Torsten Bischoff and Brian Parish, both with impressive 21 point tallies.
Friday, Dec. 21, Treasure Hill – Medal Many years ago Derek Brook was a founder of Tropical Golf and if it wasn’t for him Tropical wouldn’t exist. In recognition of many years of organizing and being a driving force of Tropical Golf till his retirement recently it be only fitting he be recognized by the Derek
Brook Founders Cup and on Friday, we presented the first annual trophy in his name. Only players that had qualified, by winning a Monthly Mug earlier in 2018, were eligible for this special competition. Everyone played in the regular event today, although we played medal, instead of the usual stableford scoring system. A total field of 22 players and only seven had the chance to win the golfer of the year while there were 12 other awards today in three flights. Treasure Hill is never easy and most scores were rather ordinary as half expected.
Rob Brown handily won the Derek Brook Founders Cup, shooting a fine 79 gross off his course handicap of eight, for a net score of 71. John Davis had not qualified for the golfer of the year competition, but took first in the A flight (0–18), scoring 64 net from his course handicap of 13. John’s exceptional round was highlighted by holing a 138-yard shot, for an eagle, on the difficult par-four, eleventh hole. Second went to Tom Herrington (18) with a net 74 over Steve Truelove (8) on countback. Alan Sullivan (15) was 4th with a net 76. In the B flight (19-25), Colm O’Donovon (20) was first, with a net 75, second was Torsten Bischoff (25) with a net 75, Mick Coghlan (24) claimed third (even with a 12 on the 1st hole) on countback over Brian Gabe (20), both humbled to place with a net 83. In the C flight (26 and up), Karen Brown (34) was first with a net 75, Don Carmody (30) took second on net 76, in third was Barry Elphick (29) with net 78 and Gordon Clegg (29) place fourth on net 80.
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Real Madrid’s players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Club World Cup at Zayed Sport City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Dec. 22. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) Dillian Whyte (right) throws a punch at Dereck Chisora during their heavyweight boxing bout Saturday, Dec. 22, in London. (Steven Paston/PA via AP)
Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe competes during the men’s Biathlon World Cup 15km mass start event in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, Sunday, Dec. 23. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Atlanta Hawks guard Kevin Huerter (left) goes to the basket against Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Dec. 23, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Canada’s Laurence St-Germain speeds down the course during a ski World Cup women’s Slalom race, in Courchevel, France, Saturday, Dec. 22. (AP Photo/Marco Tacca)
United States’ Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates on podium after winning a ski World Cup women’s Giant Slalom race, in Courchevel, France, Friday, Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Marco Tacca)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (right) is tackled by New York Jets strong safety Jamal Adams during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 23, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
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Elon Musk unveils traffic-free underground tunnel Amanda Lee Myers Los Angeles (AP) — Elon Musk unveiled his underground transportation tunnel last week, allowing reporters and invited guests to take some of the first rides in the revolutionary albeit bumpy subterranean tube — the tech entrepreneur’s answer to what he calls “soul-destroying traffic.”
“It’ll be smooth as glass,” he said of future systems. “This is just a prototype. That’s why it’s a little rough around the edges.” Later in the day, Musk emerged from the tunnel himself inside one of his cars. He high-fived guests and pumped his fists in the air before delivering a speech in the green glow of the tunnel about the
Musk said a new tunnel-boring machine will be able to bore four times faster than the one his company has been using so far. (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo via AP)
Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during the test tunnel unveiling event in Hawthorne, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 18. (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo via AP)
Last week’s reveal comes almost two years to the day since Musk announced on Twitter that “traffic is driving me nuts” and he was “going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging.” “I am actually going to do this,” he added in response to initial skepticism. Soon after, he began The Boring Company, tongue in cheek intentional. For the privately funded test tunnel, Musk acquired a tunnel-boring machine that had been used in a San Francisco Bay Area project and put it down a shaft in a parking lot at the SpaceX headquarters. Musk dismissed concerns such as the noise and disrup-
technology and why it makes sense. “Traffic is soul-destroying. It’s like acid on the soul,” he said to guests who snacked on marshmallow treats and hot dogs and hoped for a turn in the tunnel. He explained in detail how the system, which he simply calls “loop,” could work on a larger scale beneath cities across the globe. Autonomous, electric vehicles could be lowered into the system on wall-less elevators, which could be placed almost anywhere cars can go. The cars would have to be fitted with specially designed side wheels that pop out perpendicular to the car’s regular tires and run along the tunnel’s track. The cost
tion of building the tunnels, saying that when workers bored through the end of the test tunnel the people in the home 20 feet away “didn’t
A modified Tesla Model X drives in the tunnel entrance before an unveiling event for the Boring Co. Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 18. (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo via AP)
Guests boarded Musk’s Tesla Model S and rode along Los Angeles-area surface streets about a mile away to what’s known as O’Leary Station. The station, smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood — “basically in someone’s backyard,” Musk says — consists of a wall-less elevator that slowly took the car down a wide shaft, roughly 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface. The sky slowly fell away and the surprisingly narrow tunnel emerged. “We’re clear,” said the driver, who sped up and zipped into the tunnel when a red track light turned green, making the tube look like something from space or a dance club. The car jostled significantly during the ride, which was bumpy enough to give one reporter motion sickness while another yelled, “Woo!” Musk described his first ride as “epic.” “For me it was a eureka moment,” he told a room full of reporters. “I was like, ‘This thing is going to damn well work.’” He said the rides are bumpy now because “we kind of ran out of time” and there were some problems with the speed of his paving machine.
for such wheels would be about $200 or $300 a car, Musk said. A number of autonomous cars would remain inside the tunnel system just for pedestrians and bicyclists. Once on the main arteries of the system, every car could run at top speed except when entering and exiting. “It’s much more like an underground highway than it is a subway,” Musk said. The cars would have to be autonomous to work in the system but not Teslas specifically, and they would have to be electric because of the fumes from gas, Musk said. The demo rides were considerably slower — 40 mph (64 kph) — than what Musk says the future system will run at: 150 mph (241 kph). Still, it took only three minutes to go just over a mile from the beginning to the end of the tunnel, the same amount of time it took to accomplish a right-hand turn
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The modified Tesla Model X rests on an elevator above the pit and tunnel entrance. (Robyn Beck/ Pool Photo via AP)
out of the parking lot and onto a surface street even before the height of Los Angeles’ notorious rushhour traffic.
even stop watching TV.” “The footsteps of someone walking past your house will be more noticeable than a tunnel being dug under your house,” he said, The Boring Company canceled its plans for another test tunnel on Los Angeles’ west side last month after a neighborhood coalition filed a lawsuit expressing concerns about traffic and disruptions from trucks hauling out dirt during the boring process. However, Steve Davis, head of The Boring Company, said the interest in the tunnel systems has been significant — anywhere from five to 20 calls a week from various municipalities and stakeholders. One project Musk is planning on, known as the Dugout Loop, would take Los Angeles baseball fans to Dodger Stadium from one of three subway stations. Another would take travelers from downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport. Both projects are in the environmental review phase. Musk said he thinks the Chicago project has the most potential to open soonest and that he’s hoping an extensive network opens in Los Angeles before the city hosts the 2028 Olympics. “Wouldn’t it be incredible if you could travel around LA, New York,
D.C., Chicago, Paris, London — anywhere — at 150 mph?” Musk said. “That’d be phenomenal.” Musk’s representatives also unveiled a new tunnelboring machine they say they hope to have online soon, one that can bore four times faster than the one they’ve been using. Musk said it took about $10 million to build the test tunnel, a far cry from the $1 billion per mile his company says most tunnels take to build. Cost-cutting measures included improving the speed of construction with smarter tools, eliminating middlemen, building more powerful boring machines, and turning the dirt being excavated into bricks and selling them, Musk said. The tunnel will not be open to the public for the foreseeable future, Musk said, adding that regulations wouldn’t allow for it to open widely for demo rides just yet. Musk’s vision for the underground tunnels is not the same as another of his transportation concepts known as hyperloop. That would involve a network of nearly airless tubes that would speed special capsules over long distances at up to 750 mph (1,200 kph), using a thin cushion of air, magnetism and solar power.
Dr. Iain is currently on leave. The weekly car quizzes are postponed until he returns.
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Wonderfruit festival brings a whole new vibe to Pattaya
Wonderfuit co-founder Pranithan “Pete” Phornprapha.
Wonderfruit combined elements of Woodstock and Burning Man festivals to bring a whole new experience to Pattaya.
Jimi Morrison The annual Wonderfruit festival was created in 2014 by co-founders Pranithan “Pete” Phornprapha and Thai musician Montonn “Jay” Jira in an effort to bring a holistic festival experience to Pattaya and Thailand, with the emphasis being on arts, music, health & wellness and awareness of the environment. The first years saw a very limited attendance as advertising was only by word of mouth via the artists booked to attend, but by 2017 the numbers had swollen from a few hundred to approximately 11,000. The 5th annual eco-friendly Wonderfruit celebration of arts and music took place at Siam Country Club from December 13-18, 2018 and attracted a crowd estimated to be as high as 17,000. It was a trip back to the 60’s as seen by this reporters eyes; people wore their best tie dyed t-shirts (if they wore shirts), bib coveralls and floppy hats for the men, harem pants or less for the ladies, and of course a hipster attitude to complete the ensemble. This event was not attended by your average local, rather it was experienced by environmentally friendly hipsters from all over the
entrepreneur Ae and Eddie Behr, as well as a host of other F&B venues with everything from pizza to ice cream. Music was available everywhere and it was a real interesting mix of culture, music, style and attitude. Is this the future for festivals in Thailand? I think it’s a good start, beginning with environmental awareness and alternative music. In an hour I walked past a full-on reggae band, an Indian-disco DJ, a sci-fi mood band, a jazz chill zone, a Thai Grateful Dead tribute band, and a super chill DJ in a giant Tuk Tuk. Jazz, Underground House and Soul music were all available, but Reggae seemed to be most people’s popular choice. The 24-hour non-
world who are fortunate enough to be able to travel and take in events such as this that are held in various countries during the year. Much of the fabricated buildings in fact came from the recent Burning Man festival held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, and by Monday afternoon workers were in the process of dismantling the structures to be flown to Taipei for the New Years Eve celebrations, which will be much along the same lines as the one held here. At the main entrance a Thai Pavilion was located, where some general information Smoke drifts across the stage as festival goers enjoy th and history of the kingdom live music at the 5 Wonderfruit Festival in Pattaya. was on show, while bicycles There were swimming holes were available for rent as the at which the young children vast festival area was hard were taught paddle boardto cover on foot. ing, yoga tents, meditation and massage tents, several restaurants featuring street food as well as an area that showcased Thai cuisine by some of the nation’s top chefs. Also present was Mark Lloyd who holds two Guinness Book of World Records awards and he introduced a zerowaste bar as well as showing the crowds how to make cocktails from food scraps. Along with the list of notable celebrity cooks were a slew of western food stalls The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) set up a including the famous ‘Up To pavilion at the festival. You’ food truck run by local
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stop Techno and electronic DJ music meanwhile enticed people to dance at all hours of the day and night. There were several stages set up for live music and as the weekend was drawing to a close the throngs in attendance were urged to gravitate towards the main stage where at 20:45 the music stopped and Sean Rogg from the Waldorf Project took over the microphone to initiate the ‘World’s Largest Experiment In Empathy Engineering’.
As I wandered back to the Ziggurat Stage, I noticed that several hundred other people had formed the same idea. Better to watch from afar than to be sitting like a target. The omnipresent voice kept promising the experience of a lifetime but it soon became all too clear that nobody understood what this experience was, and by the way, who is Waldorf? After another 20 minutes of nothing, hordes were fleeing the scene and it became more apparent that the great
Everything was going so well, I mean real groovy until the electricity was turned off and a voice announced that some “amazing experience” was to be had at the main stage provided by Waldorf! Hoping it would be a salad I ventured over in the darkness, and people were stumbling and falling down because they couldn’t see. Then a drone was sent upwards, hovering over the audience. At this point people dressed in black started lining everybody in long lines facing each other. They were being quite forceful about it and it was at this stage I decided I had had enough. I wasn’t going to sit in a dark field at night just because some volunteer black shirt told me I had to. This is Thailand and all sorts of critters live in those fields, and it’s the ones that come out at night I’m not too eager to meet!
experiment was a total flop. People started flooding towards the gates, thinking this was the end, and at that point somebody turned the electric back on and thankfully the remaining DJ’s and bands went into action once again and kept things grooving until the early hours of Monday morning. Despite the ‘Waldorf’ letdown, the festival as a whole was really quite an experience, and being so close to Pattaya it is an event not to be missed. It’s a thrill for all ages and nationalities, if not for the sheer cosmopolitism of seeing live bands and flaming baton twirlers, tasting excellent food, seeing the hippies and the hipsters, but also an occasion to raise awareness of our impact on the environment and how we can lessen our carbon footprint. I highly recommend it to everyone to pay a visit next year, and don’t forget to wear some flowers in your hair, just not plastic ones!
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E-mail: comhaps@pattayamail.com
Events The next meeting of Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) will be held on Sunday, December 30. “Words and Music XI” will feature Tim Hedges and all are invited rock in the new-year with this accomplished Elton John show performer and jazz pianist. The program starts at 10:30 am with a buffet breakfast available from 9:00 to 11:00 am on the 4th floor of the Holiday Inn’s Executive Tower located behind the Holiday Inn’s Bay Tower on Beach Road. A Joint Chambers Eastern Seaboard networking evening will be held at the Holiday Inn Pattaya on Friday, January 18 from 6.00 p.m. – 9 p.m. (last drinks at 8.30 p.m.). Entrance cost is THB 600 on the door for members and THB 1,200 for non-members. Admission includes freeflow drinks and finger food. The Eastern Seaboard Businessmen’s Dinner is a monthly event taking place at the Mantra Restaurant at the Amari Pattaya Resort on the last Thursday of the month. It brings together business leaders from various backgrounds including Automotive, Aerospace, Real Estate, Architecture, FMCG, Electronics, White Goods, Logistics, Recruitment, Legal, Consulting, and others in a relaxed atmosphere. If you are interested in attending please contact Anuttra.Sukruen@tinfish.co.th.
A Farmers’ Market takes place every 2nd Saturday of the month at the Holiday Inn hotel on Pattaya Beach Road from 10.30 am - 3.30 p.m. Products range from wellness items, jewelry, freshly prepared food, organic vegetables and fruits. The next market will be held Jan. 12. A stamp market is held every Sunday from 10.00 a.m. till 3.00 p.m.at Rahnpintang Moe Kata Restaurant, Panji Place, on Soi Ponphraphanimit 7 (200m from the Bangkok Highway underpass). Here can you exchange stamps from the whole world. Call 089 091 3418 for more information and directions.
Dining Royal Cliff Hotels Group invites you to a sophisticated gala dinner offering a fabulous 7-course extravaganza to ring in the New Year at Caprice - A Taste of Riviera. Explore a selection of the most prestige and premium dishes cooked to perfection along with live music and a spectacular fireworks display. Price: THB 7,000++ baht per person (50% discount for children under 12). A New Year’s Eve Superhero Adventure celebration will also be held at the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel poolside with an amazing grand buffet, live entertainment, creative performances, interactive activities, engaging children’s corner and exciting lucky draw. Dance the night away
Indonesian Pineapple salad This is a very interesting recipe originating in Indonesia where it is known as ‘lalab menas muda’. The sweetness of the lemon is offset by the sharpness of the chili paste and the chives. This is very suitable as a different appetizer, and goes particularly well with a late afternoon sundowners beer.
Ingredients Pineapple, small unripe Salt Brown sugar Lemon juice Sweet soy sauce Chili paste Red bell pepper (seeded) Large lettuce leaves Chopped chives
Serves 2-4 1 ½ tspn 1 tspn 1 tbspn 1 tbspn 1 tspn ½ 3-4 1 tbspn
Cooking method Remove the outside of the pineapple and remove the core. Cut into bite-sized cubes. Sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander for 15-20 minutes. Make the dressing by mixing the brown sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce and chili paste. Cut the bell pepper into long slices. Place the lettuce leaves on the serving dish and place the pineapple cubes on them and pour the dressing over them. Finish with a garnish of chopped chives.
Fax: 038-427596
to the foot-stomping rhythms from the resident band and enjoy spectacular fireworks. Price: THB 7,000++ baht per person (50% discount for children under 12). ). For more information or to book a table for any of the festivities, call 38 250 421 ext 2037 or email: gro-main@ royalcliff.com. Big Fish restaurant at Siam@Siam Design Hotel Pattaya will host a New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner on December 31 including a complimentary final countdown at the Sky Bar later in the evening. Price: THB 2,444 net per person (includes welcome drink), Drink package: THB 700 net including unlimited beer and wine. Sky Bar invites you to greet the New Year with a countdown celebration at the roof top bar. Price: THB 1,500 net (including welcome drink) or THB 20,000 net for a VIP table for maximum 5 persons (including bubble and spirit). For more information and reservations, call 063 903 3754. Ring in 2019 with dazzling celebrations at Avani Pattaya on December 31: Garden Café will serve a huge buffet from 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm and priced at THB 2,019++ per person. Sala Rim Nam restaurant offers a Thai 4course dinner from 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm priced at THB 3,500++ for two persons including one glass of sparkling wine. Benihana presents 3 different set menus and live music 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm, priced from THB 2,500++ per set, including one glass of sparkling wine. Dicey Reilly’s pub will host a Throwback Party from 7:00 pm until the wee hours with a live band special: From THB 6,900 net per table including drinks and food. For more information, call 038 412120 or email: pattaya @avanihotels.com, www. avanihotels.com. Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya is ready to end 2018 with a rockin’ welcome to the New Year 2019. Party like it’s 1920, the theme this year is “The Roaring Twenties,” also known as the Jazz Age. The party will feature a New Year’s buffet with a complimentary welcome drink, live entertainment, fireworks and guaranteed fun and dancing to welcome in 2019 like a real rock star. Monday 31 Dec. 2018 from 6 p.m. onwards at Starz Diner, Price: THB 2,599 per person, THB 1,299 per
child (kids under 12 eat free). Entertainment only: THB 500 for adult, THB 250 for under-18s. For reservations, call 038-428755 ext. 8323 or e-mail: secfb.pty@ hardrockhotels.net. Hilton Pattaya invites you to the New Year celebrations with a choice of dining packages. Edge Restaurant offers Alaskan king crab, Canadian lobster, imported oyster, New Zealand mussel, caviar, rock lobster, river prawn, foie gras, Australian beef plus more international dishes and desserts. Price: THB 5,100 net per person for international buffet (7pm– 1am) and THB 3,550 net per person for beverage package. Experience the next level of celebration at the Horizon Rooftop Lounge on level 34 while enjoying a magical view of Pattaya bay and entertainment by a star DJ and premium selections of international cuisine. Priced at THB 11,500 net per person (dinner available from 7pm – 1am), the exclusive package is available for access after 8.30pm at THB 4,950 net per person. Flare Restaurant and Drift Lobby Lounge also offers some fabulous New Year celebration choices. For more information or reservations, call 038 253 000 or bkkhp_fb@hilton.com or pattaya.hilton.com. Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Dusit Thani Pattaya where the night will be filled with the glamour of Siam, the “Kingdom of Heaven.” Spoil yourself with a lavish buffet of global cuisine, non-stop entertainment, a special eastmeet-west music performance by musicians from Silpakorn University and dancing throughout the evening against the backdrop of a spectacular fireworks display. Join in welcoming the New Year 2019 with your creative “Thai Traditional Costume” amid a festive air and with fabulous prizes to be won. Price: THB 6,000 net per adult and THB 3,000 net per child. Advanced reservations recommended, call 038 425 611 Ext. 2149, 2150 or email to dtpafb@dusit.com. Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya will host a Wonder Mirage Fantasy Countdown New Year Party on 31st December 2018 from 20:30 – 01:00 hrs. Ticket price: Adult THB 8,000 net per person inclusive a glass of sparkling wine for countdown and free flow of soft
drinks; Children THB 3,500 net per person inclusive of free flow soft drinks. Book before December 20 and receive a 20% discount. For more information or reservations, please call: 038 30 1234, Email: cmbrfestive@ chr.co.th, secocmbr@chr.co.th. The Thai Garden Resort invites you to join a Gala Buffet and Program on 31st of December to farewell 2018 and welcome the year 2019 with an amazing Chinese Acrobat-show, the performance of the “Grand Opera Thailand” and a delicious Dinner Buffet. Price: 2000 baht net for adults and 1000 baht for children 4-12 years old (for kids under 4 years, admission is free of charge). Tickets are limited and selling fast, so reservations are highly recommended. Please call 038 370614, or email to guestservice@thaigarden.com. After 14 years as the Landlord of an Irish Pub, the name Kim Fletcher has not disappeared. Kim may have gone from Jamesons, but his wife Goy has ensured that the name Fletcher has not died by opening Fletchers’ Folly, a boutique pub on the Dark Side. Kim is trying to get used to being retired, but the new ‘pensioner’ loves regaling the drinkers with stories from his lifetime in pubs, punctuated with his characteristic laugh. Fletchers’ Folly is on Siam Country Club Road, opposite Maxxis tyres and 300 meters before the “Chicken Crossroads”. Food and drinks at very reasonable prices. Pizza and Pasta All You Can Eat at Mövenpick Siam
Hotel Na Jomtien: Twist Restaurant features Italian classics like creamy Carbonara or meaty Bolognese with a choice of pasta, or the delicious Prosciutto Pizza with your choice of regular or whole wheat dough. The menu also includes original Thai-fusion pizzas and pasta such as the Tom Yam pizza with chili paste, prawn, squid and Thai herbs or the tasty Green Curry Pasta. Available all day from Sunday – Thursday at only THB 500 per person, with a glass of soft drink. For more information or reservation, call 033 078 888. Special culinary nights at Persimmon restaurant, Pattana Golf Club & Resort: Pizza Pasta Night on Tuesday at only 299 Baht or 399 Baht including sangria or wine, customers can choose ingredients for their pasta and pizza. Seafood Night on Wednesday at only 399 Baht, customers can choose varieties of fresh seafood cooked to order in the open kitchen. Carnivore Night on Friday at only 499 Baht offers a free flow chicken, lamb, beef or pork BBQ direct from the charcoal grill. In addition, for only 100 Baht customers can choose or combine lots of ingredients and level of spiciness to create your own Som Tam, all day, every day. Call for reservation at 038 318 999 ext. 11212/11230 or email restaurant@pattana.co.th. The Thai Garden Terrace Restaurant offers nightly dining presentations with Continued on page 35
34 FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018
Cheese and wine have been partners for a long time. Cheese tends to make wine taste better because it coats the palate and not only hides any inherent bitterness in the wine but also softens the tannins. The fats and proteins in cheese can mask unbalanced or harsh flavours of poorly-made wine too. There’s a saying in the French wine trade which goes roughly, “Buy with bread, sell with cheese” because the cheese makes it easier to sell a bad wine. Professional wine buyers, whose job it is to spot any flaws in wine, prefer water, apple or even a carrot to cleanse the palate. Never cheese. Contrary to popular belief, pairing cheese and wine is not as easy as it might seem. There’s also a common misconception that cheese should always be accompanied by red wine rather than white. I have no idea how this notion caught on, but it’s wrong. There used to be a bar in town at which the affable proprietor used to organise informal cheese and wine evenings from time to time. Having paid the appropriate fee, people would
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Ideal Partners
have swig of this and make a mental note of the ones they liked. The inspiration for each of these evenings was the arrival of an enormous hunk of Cheddar cheese which the bar owner managed to acquire and the wines were nearly always red. Now this was all very well except that to my mind, Cheddar cheese simply doesn’t work very well with most wine, especially reds. The problem is that the tannins in red wine clash with the cheese and the cheese biscuits. In any case, the bland “Cheddar” cheese that you find in these parts has probably come from Australia or New Zealand.
Many people seem not to realise that Cheddar is a place. To be more precise it is a large village on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, about nine km north-west of the small cathedral city of Wells. In the winter it’s a dreary place and in the summer usually packed with tourists who have come to visit the Cheddar Gorge and caves. My parents had a house in a small village only a few miles from Cheddar and the British comedian Frankie Howard lived just down the road. It’s in the heart of Somerset, in England’s West Country which is dotted with farms, country pubs and cows. Cheddar cheese
Concha y Toro old barrels.
has been made there for almost a thousand years and it’s the most popular cheese in Britain. But the Cheddar locals rarely drink wine with it. The two just don’t seem to “go together”.
Concha y Toro Chardonnay Reservado (white) Chile. (Bt. 499 @ Tesco-Lotus)
Aged farmhouse cheddar.
Concha Y Toro Winery.
As you might have guessed, or knew already, Concha y Toro literally translated means “shell and bull”. This pale yellow wine has a pleasing sweet aroma of fresh apples and pineapples but there are other more distant aromas in there too, possibly honey and melon. The wine is slightly sweet and not totally dry, as I was expecting. Of course, if I’d read the back label it would not have come as a surprise, but I avoid reading the back labels before tasting wine. They can be misleading. If we imagine sweetness on a scale from one to ten, with “1” being dry as a bone and “10” being syrupy, I’d put this wine at about number two or possibly three.
It has a pleasantly soft and refreshing mouth-feel, quite a bit of fresh fruit and a decently long finish. If you prefer your whites soft and round you’ll probably enjoy this attractive easy-drinker. Many white wines work perfectly with cheese. This one would go well with Brie, Camembert or Beaufort and you might enjoy it with blue cheese. It would work well with Emmenthal, Gruyère or any nutty cow’s milk cheeses. I mean cheeses with a nutty flavour, not cheeses from the milk of nutty cows. Naga Red Wine Siam Red Blend, Thailand. Bt 399 @ Big C
Now here’s a budget wine that’s been around for some time and described as being “blended from several wellknown grape varietals such as Shiraz” but what the wellknown grapes actually are is probably anyone’s guess. I was interested to compare this wine with that old work-horse Mont Clair Bin 5 which is a blended Cabernet Sauvignon from the same company, Siam Winery. Incidentally, although the word “bin” originally meant a part of the cellar reserved for particular wines, it’s now only used as
part of a trade name. Many Australian wineries like to brand their wines as “Bin 390” or some such thing, to give the impression that the wine is more prestigious than it actually is. This light-bodied budget is pretty basic and has a rather sweet aroma of red currants, plums, touches of herb and a slightly peppery quality that presumably comes from the Shiraz. Compared to the Mont Clair, the wine has a softer, gentler mouth-feel but it’s not quite as dry. There’s plenty of fruit and a lively tang on the taste yet virtually no tannin on the palate, so the wine could well appeal to wine beginners who are reluctant to try reds. The lack of tannin would make it a good cheese partner too and it would probably go well with quite assertive cheeses. Oh, and you may be wondering what wine would go with your Cheddar. If it’s a typically bland Australian Cheddar, try a dry acidic white wine like Sauvignon Blanc or even a dry Chardonnay. Dry sherry works well too. I have to admit that my personal choice for Cheddar, especially in a lunchtime sandwich, would be a cold, dry beer.
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018 35
E-mail: comhaps@pattayamail.com
From page 33 different themed “all you can eat” buffets at the resort poolside: Monday – Italian buffet; Tuesday – BBQ buffet; Wednesday – multi-cuisine buffet; Thursday – German buffet with roasted pig; Friday – Thai buffet; Saturday – international buffet; Sunday – steak & skewers buffet. The buffet starts from 6 p.m., runs until 9 p.m. All this for just 399 baht net per adult. What you see is what you pay, no additional service charges or VAT. For reservations call 038 370 614 or make your booking at www.thaigarden .com under “buffet reservation”. Thai Garden Resort is located on North Pattaya Road, 200 meters from the Dolphin roundabout and 200 meters before Tesco Lotus.
The happy BBQ chef at Thai Garden.
Yupin’s Restaurant in Jomtien Complex offers some fabulous culinary
options including Fines De Claires Oysters arriving fresh ‘Par Avion’ from Normandy in France. Served on ice with lemon and on request a spicy Thai sauce for dipping. An amazing experience. Only 595 baht per six oysters. Yupins is also taking bookings for Christmas dinner at 995 baht per person. For more information or reservations, call 038 250394 or visit website: www.yupins.com.
Fines De Claires Oysters at Yupins.
Linda’s Restaurant is large with seating for 200 people, with a covered al fresco verandah outside for those who wish to smoke. Inside, in air-conditioned comfort, there are comfortable chairs and decent sized tables, with white starched napery. Linda’s Restaurant, 315/177-180 Moo 12, opposite the Jomtien Complex. Thappraya Road, Jomtien. Open seven days from 7.30 a.m. until late. Tel: Reservations: 038 252 726, www.lindasrestaurant.com, street-side parking. Email linda@lindasrestaurant.com . GPS 12.901655 N 100.869.
Fax: 038-427596
most famous European Jazz guitarists, playing live every evening (except Tuesday) from 6.00 p.m. - 10 p.m. at the Sugar Hut restaurant on Thappraya Road, call 038 364 186 for details.
Community Services BBQ Pork Spare Ribs & Jasmine Rice for only 195 baht
Yamato Restaurant located on Soi Yamato has been around for more than 39 years and the soi was named after its oldest tenant. This is a restaurant to take a few people with you. The prices are certainly not over the top, and the quality is superb. Yamato Japanese restaurant, 219/51 Soi Yamato (13/1), close to Beach Road end, telephone 038 429 685 or 038 421 618. Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner. The legendary Somsakdi Restaurant has been in operation in Pattaya for more than 40 years. Proprietor and Chef Somsakdi is still cooking and running his amazing restaurant at 78 years of age. The menu is probably the largest in Pattaya, with 374 individual items. Each dish is in Thai with an English explanation underneath. Rather than be swamped by choices, let Somsakdi guide you. After all, who knows his dishes better than he? Somsakdi Restaurant, Pattaya Soi 1, tel. 038 428 987, 038 423 284, 038 429 869, limited parking plus on-street parking in the soi. Hours 11 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days.
Spa & Hotel Promotions eforea spa at Hilton Pattaya introduces a 120-minute spa package ‘Total Bliss’ for your ultimate relaxation and facial skin nourishment: Priced at THB 4,300 net per person and THB 8,000 per couple and available until January 31, 2019. For more information and reservations, call 038-253-000. AVANI Spa offers a spa buffet package: 90-minute AVANI signature touch massage and International Buffet Dinner at Garden Cafe for one at only THB 2,700 net. Advance reservations required, contact AVANI Spa at Tel. 038 412 120.
Entertainment Enjoy great music from Thomas Reimer, one of the
The North Star Library on Sukhumvit Road, north Pattaya holds regular Thai language classes Mon - Fri from 10.30 a.m. till 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. Cost of admission is 100 baht per session for library members and 200 baht for non-members. Private lessons are also available for 200 baht per hour. In addition, the library also holds Yoga training every Tuesday from 1 - 2 p.m. at the Father Ray Foundation. Cost is 1200 baht for 6 sessions (first session free). For more information, call 081 575 4854 or email wan_nujan@yahoo.com
Groups & Associations Rotary Club of JomtienPattaya (English) meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at Royal Cliff Grand Hotel, Pattaya City. Fellowship begins at 18.30 hrs and Dinner meeting at 19.00 hrs. President Vutikorn Kamolchote Email: <vutikornk@hotmail.com> Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard (English) meets at the Siam Bayshore Hotel, 17.30 hrs for 18.00 hrs on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month, followed by dinner (Fellowship) President Brian Songhurst Email: <bjs2904 @yahoo.com> Rotary Club Phönix Pattaya (German) meets every Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Pattaya at 19.00 hrs. President Peter Schlegel Email: info@rotary-phoenixpattaya.org. Le Rotary Pattaya Marina, seul Rotary Francophone d’Asie, vous accueille les premier et troisième vendredis de chaque mois, début des réunions 19h, à l’hôtel Pullman G Pattaya Wongamat - 445/3 Moo 5 – Soi 16 – Pattaya Naklua Road. Venez agir avec le Rotary pour changer des vies. Pierre Yves Eraud Président 2018-2019 Email: < info@ rotarypattayamarina.org. Rotary Club of Pattaya (Thai-English) meets at the First Pacific Hotel, Central Road on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month. Meetings begin at 19.00 hrs. President Stephen Devereux Email: < stevecarlow@gmail.com>
The Thai Stamp Alliance is a new internet and social media group created to share information, including posts of events like Exhibitions and Auctions. If you live on the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand and have an interest, email thaistampalliance @gmail.com. or find us on Facebook. Post 12146 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States of America (Ban Chang – U-Tapao, Thailand) meets the second Saturday of each month at 13:00 at Sinthavee Park Condo, 2/ 1 Moo 5, in Ban Chang. If you are interested, please contact Membership Chairman Dan Morgan at <ban changvfw12146membership@ gmail.com> or visit website: www.banchangvfwpost12146.org. The Royal British Legion Thailand meets the last Saturday of every month from 2 p.m. at the Tropical Bar on Soi Khao Noi (Watboonsampan near the Temple entrance) in East Pattaya. You do not need to have served in the Armed Forces to become a member and can join in the many social events arranged throughout the year. The Legion’s primary aim is the care and welfare of those who have served and/or their dependents. For general enquiries send email to <secretary@rblthailand .org, www.rblthailand.org>. Alcoholics Anonymous: The Pattaya Group meets Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. All meetings are closed (alcoholics only) and are held at Soi Skaw Beach (off Pattaya 2nd
Rd). Contact Carl 08-456-31671. The Good Morning Pattaya Group meets 9 a.m. every morning. All meetings are ‘open’: contact 084 564 8479. The Jomtien Group meets every day at noon at Jomtien Long Stay Hotel: Contact, Andrew 086 107 6631. The Scandinavian Group meets on Tuesdays and Fridays 6 p.m. at the Norwegian Seaman’s Church, Thappraya Road Soi 7: contact Hans 085 135 7755 or Rune (Rayong) 089 754 9515. 10.30 a.m. meetings every day at Satree Pattana Centre on Soi Skaw Beach off Second Road. Call 084 564 8479. The Samaritans of Thailand English Help Line operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide support to the expatriate community. English-speaking staff, trained in crisis intervention will provide active, non-judgmental and empathetic listening services on the phone. All calls will be handled on an anonymous basis and are free of charge. (02) 713-6791. Overeaters Anonymous The ‘Up to You’ group meets Wednesdays 9:30-10:30 a.m. in the housing area just behind Pan Pan Restaurant in Jomtien on Thappraya Road. Call Steve at 038-364-207(h) or 089-250-1359 (cell) for directions or more information. Narcotics Anonymous Hotline: 082 811 2686. 3 English speaking meetings in Pattaya near Central Festival and 2 in Jomtien each week. Also regular Thai speaking meetings at 12 noon every Sunday, and Persian Farsi speaking meetings at 5.30 pm on Thursdays. Please call the Hotline for details.
36 FRIDAY DECEMBER 28, 2018
PATTAYA MAIL
VOL. XXVI No. 52
Thailand beats Japan in thriller to win inaugural Friendship Cup
Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand tees-off on the opening day the 2018 Amata Friendship Cup. (Photo by Naratip Golf Srisupab/SEALs Sports Images)
1,000 compete in first Navy triathlon Turn to page 29
Hosts Thailand defeated Japan 15-13 to capture the inaugural Friendship Cup at the Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi last Sunday, December 23. Leading 10-6 from the first two days of foursome and fourball play on Friday and Saturday, the Thai team needed just four and a half points from the 12 singles matches on Sunday to secure the $1.2 million title and trophy, but the home team struggled to get across the line. The talented Japanese squad fought back to get within a point of Thailand at 14-13 after current women’s world number one player Ariya Jutanigarn was surprisingly defeated by teenager Nasa Hataoka. With just one match left out on the course, featuring Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, the tensions rose among players and spectators alike.
Team Thailand poses with the Friendship Cup after beating Japan at the Amata Spring Country Club in Chonburi, Sunday, December 23. (Photo by Naratip Golf Srisupab/SEALs Sports Images)
World No.38 Aphibarnrat was one down after 16 holes but back-to-back bogeys on 17 and 18 from Kodaira cost Japan dearly. As the pair took it down to the final hole, the Thai favourite made sure it was the home supporters who went home smiling by sinking a 4-foot putt on the 18th green to clinch his match by 1-up and also seal a 15-13 victory for Thailand. “It came down the stretch. I play on this course a lot but the last three shots were so difficult. I was so nervous and excited making the last putt as it was for myself and my team,” said Aphibarnrat later. Thai captain Boonchu Ruangkit said: “I didn’t expect it to be this close. The Japanese girls putted so well and really put up a fight. Luckily Kiradech won the crucial point to help us win.” The Amata Friendship Cup is the first mixed-gender team event for professional and amateur golfers with a similar format to the Ryder Cup. The Thai and Japanese teams consisted of five male professionals, five female professionals, one male amateur, and one female amateur.
Japan’s Erika Hara flashes a smile for the cameras. (Photo by Naratip Golf Srisupab/SEALs Sports Images)
Thai players react after Kiradech Aphibarnrat makes a putt on the 18th green to secure victory for the home team. (Photo by: Naratip Golf Srisupab/ SEALs Sports Images)
Spectators crowd around the first tee during the singles play at the inaugural Amata Friendship Cup. (Photo by: Naratip Golf Srisupab/SEALs Sports Images) PATTAYA MAIL is edited by Nopniwat Krailerg for Pattaya Mail Publishing Co., Ltd. Printer, publisher and owner Offices: 62/284-286 Moo 12, Thepprasit Road, Pattaya City 20150. Advertising and Administration Office: Tel: 038 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax: 038 427 596, E-mail: ptymail@pattayamail.com www.pattayamail.com