Another hot and beautiful day in Paradise brought us to Dicey Reilly’s for our monthly Coffee Morning, situated next door to the Marriott Hotel, that provided us with comfort and a delicious selection of savoury and sweet snacks with unlimited beverages.

It was well supported, as usual, by our PILC members, with ladies milling around in support of our charitable causes.

An excellent selection of used books were on display with many ladies taking an interest, wonderful craft work entailing a variety of beautiful fashion jewelry, and useful articles.

Lists and signup sheets for our upcoming July trips arranged by Peggy were displayed for those of you who would like a change of scenery or merely something different to do.  Places on these trips and activities are limited, so don’t leave it too long before putting your name down.

Announcements were made by our President, Anja, about this year’s Holiday Bazaar which will be held at the Royal Cliff in October.  Volunteers are required, so please enlist your services if you are able.  Also, the themed Hollywood meets Bollywood Ball on the 20th November, where dress is appropriate to either one or the other.

Today we welcomed new members Juliana Nurnberger from Brazil, Mary Kelly from America, Ilonka Nussbaumer from Austria and, last but not least, Eline Paawe from the Netherlands.

Lastly, anyone who feels they would like to give a cat a home, please feel free to contact Sandra and Paul from Pluetaleung, just outside Pattaya, who have house guests of 22 cats that are in need of loving homes.

Looking around Pattaya, one would never guess that an animal shelter exists in this fine city.  Sure enough, one such shelter does exist and it is called “Animal Shelter Pluetaleung”.

I took a tour of this facility on behalf of the PILC Welfare group.  I was rather pleased to discover that this shelter has been in existence for three years and it currently houses close to 1000 dogs and approximately 60 cats.  The dogs are housed in large pens, totally fenced and safe from the dangers of cars and motorcycles.  The flooring of the pens was concrete and therefore very clean.  The dogs are also protected from direct sun by a roof made of tarps.  Large vats of clean water were clearly available for the dogs to drink.  I was not permitted to take pictures of the facility, but that was fine since I have a photographic memory in any event.  LOL.

I was told by the tour guide and interpreted by my driver that the shelter currently has 10 full time employees, a veterinarian and a vet’s assistant.  I was also told that the animals receive shots for rabies (or fear of water disease as he called it) as well as other medical care that they may need.  I was also informed that the animals are neutered and spayed upon their arrival at the shelter.

These animals are available for adoption.  However, since they are mostly all adult animals, their chances are slim since most people prefer to adopt puppies or kittens.  If any of you are in the market for a family pet, please visit this shelter first and check it out for yourself.

Some food is provided by the government and it is delivered monthly.  Unfortunately, they are always in need of more food.  So, here comes my request.  If you are an animal lover, as I am sure most of us are, here is a perfect opportunity for us to do something for our four-legged friends.  Whenever you buy a bag of food for your own pet, please buy an extra bag (or two or three bags) for the animals at this shelter.  If you would like to deliver it yourself and check out the shelter yourself, the address for Animal Shelter Pluetaleung is:

Sattahip-Chachengsao Road, Soi Pleutaleung 40
Sattahip, Chonburi  20180
Telephone:  038-425795

In the near future, I would very much like to hold a club-wide food drive for this shelter.  Details will follow shortly.  Let’s support our animal friends.

Thank you all in advance.   Connie Kwok

The Annual Quiz Night held on 1st May at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital was a great success!

Moneys raised are still being calculated due to an over eager spending spree in the alcohol department.  Although I can already tell you the bar turned over Baht 21,900.  We raised Baht 15,290 in the “wheelchair tip box” where we collected fines for obstructing the judicators, heckling, lack of performance (Joe on the scoreboard), and generally just being there, buying a drink and being told the rest of your 100 Baht was going in the tip box.

Our generous sponsors were Four Winds Moving Company, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, who let us use the conference room for free and donated 2 gift vouchers for 2 annual medical check ups, Casa Pascal 6 dinner vouchers, Baramie Restaurant, 1 dinner voucher for 6 people, Shenanigans for supplying food at very reasonable prices and their staff, our own generous PILC donated 12 bottles of wine left over from last year’s ball, plus gift vouchers from a certian book store in Pattaya.

The day started with a bang at 2pm when we realised we had taken a bag of shoes from home instead of the bottle of Vodka, the traffic was horrendous, husband sent off on a motorbike to pick up flowers from Pattaya Tai where he promptly forgot one bunch, terribly hot room at the hospital, bar supplies had arrived with 7 bottles of red and no white wine, nowhere to put the drinks as there was no ice for the cool boxes, food arrived but no wine glasses or cups and saucers, only forks and spoons – no knives, stress, stress, stress.  No problem, wine can also go in soft drink glasses and in Thailand we eat with a fork and spoon anyway!  Sandra and I were just going to have a lay down on the comfortable couches in the room when our elves arrived!!

Joyce and husband Ray, who came to help with scoring and collecting sheets, were rather pleased they were also hired in together with Joe to be judicators.  Barry Upton, DJ/Quizmaster Supreme looked the part.  Our boys!!  Without them I am not sure how we would have managed the bar.  James, Jared and Marcel thanks so much!

At 6pm the first guests arrived, payment at the door was handled by Peter, Sandra and Joyce, and the bar was open, with one of our guests, Mike, showing how to serve drinks quickly.  Dinner was good and people had some fun filling in some random questions on sheets already on the table.

At 8pm the quiz kicked off and Barry launched into a machine gun rapid firing action – within 20 seconds the first 5 questions were done – Jesters Bad Boys objected and the pace slowed down a little!  High Hopes scored the lowest but were the most generous, Gillian’s table won after an exciting tie-break with Jesters Bad Boys, the tie break question was about a cat called Tiger who weighs 45 pounds.  Gillian’s experience as PILC Quizmaster for the last 5 years proved fatal for Jesters Bad Boys!!

The highlight of the evening?  The generousity of the Quiz participants in raising 15,000 Baht for the wheelchair fund.  The lowlight?  Well there were two really, clearing up after, wow those ice boxes are cold with melted water and ice, try pulling out the left over beers from that!  And also, unfortunately, 84 people had booked and only 59 turned up.  Which meant we lost Baht 20,000 in income.  So next time – no event without payment in advance.

Thank you everyone for making the evening a success, our next special event will be a Bingo Evening according to one of the Jesters guys – let us know if you are interested.

Bea Grunwell

Lela Aukes-Niemer and her husband have discovered a fantastic service here in Pattaya.  Roong Reuang Coach Company, located directly across the Theprasit Road from Pan Pan Restaurant, offers aircon van service to the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport for only 124 baht!  Transport leaves every two hours both ways beginning at 08:00 and last bus leaving at 20:00 on Theprasit; leaving 07:00 until 21:00 from Suvarnabhumi. No more worrying about parking, etc.!!  Pattaya tel:  086-324-2389.  Suvarnabhumi tel:  086-324-2391.

Susan Brown