Several members of PILC and husbands set out in May for Beijing to see the sights, and for one to climb the Great Wall to celebrate her 60th birthday (she was the youngest of the group)!  A great time was had by all except for the compulsory factory visits.  Beijing is a large widespread city, with modern busy highways, very clean with lots of trees and many roses in bloom along the wide streets, and not the pollution that we expected.  As it was raining on the first day, the guide changed the plans and we visited Tiananmen Square and we had our health ‘read’ by Chinese Traditional Doctors.  Only one of us came away without a bag of something!  Every cultural site we visited (Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs and Temple of Heaven) were like the Russian Kachena Dolls – a wall within a wall, with only one way in, so the actual temple or tomb was the last building to get to.  Wonderful colours - red on the walls, green, blue and gold on the ceilings and roof overhangs. 
   

The guide pointed out the position of the building maker by the number of animals on the roof outlines (9 was for the Supreme Emperor).   As for the Great Wall it didn’t disappoint - it was a warm day with an ethereal mist hanging over the surrounding hills, but to imagine building the 6,000 kilometers of roads, steps and buildings from rock is an incomprehensible feat.  Lots of things to remember, including the wonderful and abundant variety of foods, the courtesy of the people, but the Beijing we saw was a modern city (very few interesting buildings), but this is not the real China perhaps, so visits to other Chinese cities are definitely likely.

Lindsay Topham

On the March 13, 13 of us, 8 ladies and 5 husbands, set off at 7am to the airport for our jaunt to Hanoi, Vietnam.  After arriving at the airport, and after introductions to everyone, it was time for the all important Starbucks fix for the caffeine addicts amongst us, check-in and investigate the duty free shopping before boarding the flight.  On arrival at Noi Bai airport the weather in Hanoi was a bit like a typical UK summer day, grey, damp and feeling much cooler than Pattaya, never mind, the forecast was for better weather from the next day and for the rest of the trip!  We met up with our Vietnamese guide Quan and boarded the bus to the hotel, as in the Thai language Vietnamese has several meanings for the same word, differentiated by the tonal pronunciation, which Quan demonstrated by the different meanings his name would have if spoken slightly differently, although the Vietnamese was easier to read (well to recognise the letters really) but just as difficult to speak.  Once checked in at the hotel we had plenty of time to explore or relax before it was time to meet and go to dinner in a local restaurant.  Dinner was very enjoyable, once seated we were all given a small ceramic bowl of saki and then what seemed to be a never ending supply of typical Vietnamese food, noodle soup, fried pieces of fish, prawns, noodles, pork, rice, whole fish, more noodles, prawn kebabs skewered on sugarcane and a dessert of fresh fruit.

Another early start for day two, we were off for the cruise and overnight stay on a ‘junk’ at Halong Bay, which was a three hour drive away.  An hour visit to an industrial unit which employed handicapped people making embroidery, pictures, linen items, handbags, carvings, furniture and clothing.  On arrival at Halong Bay our ‘junk’ was located and we had to negotiate down some very narrow, steep steps, luckily for us the crew took all our luggage, then at the water’s edge we had to do what can only be described as ‘walking the plank’ in reverse to board a boat then cross over from one boat to another until we reached ours.  Once aboard it was time to relax and look forward to our life on the ocean waves, setting sail we hoped all the luggage had made it and it had.  Luggage stowed in the cabins it was time for lunch, another multi-course meal with wonderful fresh prawns, crab and fish accompanied by a fine wine or three!  After our leisurely lunch we landed at one of the many small islands of Halong Bay with a lovely beach for swimming, unfortunately the forecast for good weather never materialised so a walk on the beach, and for the more energetic a climb to the top of what seemed to me a very high hill.  Back on board, and then it was a small boat trip (which I was press-ganged onto, good job too!) to a very serene and silent lagoon which is only accessible when the water is low, and where a General hid his troops in readiness for a surprise attack on the invading forces.  Back on board the ‘junk’ we were visited by several smaller boats selling supplies and cooking meals if anyone dared risk a snack before another marathon dinner was served.  All too soon and it was a final lunch on board before bidding a fond farewell to a wonderful crew and great experience, the general consensus was a longer trip onboard would be well worth doing.  Back to the hotel, time to spare before meeting for dinner at a restaurant which lit up Peggy’s eyes - a steak house – only to have her hopes dashed when served another Vietnamese feast!  After an early breakfast it was off to Hanoi for a city tour visiting Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum and the palace and house on stilts where he lived and worked, everything being left as it was from his last days there.  From there we visited the one pillar pagoda, temple of literature, son temple and gave up the last temple visit in favour of more time to explore the old quarter after yet another marathon lunch in a restaurant where our waitress spoke quite a bit of Thai, although when she said mia ow it was enough to convince Peggy she meant the beef was really cat!  After lunch it was off to the famous water puppet show which was very entertaining and amusing, although the leg room was a bit challenging for the taller of the party.  The old quarter of Hanoi is a rabbit warren of small streets full of very narrow, long high buildings, apparently land is expensive so narrow and high is best use of space.  Street names reflect the types of shops and businesses in them, embroidery, cotton, the street where pots are made, toy street, silver street etc.  Shopping is reasonable and fun, haggling expected and Mimi and Graham even gained new relatives along with their t-shirt purchases!  The roads of Hanoi have many more motorbikes than here, but crossing the road is better as they do not travel so fast, and the cyclo taxis, a sort of pedal bike rickshaw are more considerate to pedestrians than baht buses.  Traffic also stops at pedestrian crossings in the old quarter, as we embarrassingly found out when we stopped next to one to consult the map, and had to cross the road out of courtesy.  Nearly shopped out, we headed off to a restaurant for another Vietnamese banquet, and an early night was on the cards as it was a very early breakfast and start for the return flight.  A stop en-route to Pattaya had to be made at Starbucks, withdrawal was setting in as Vietnam has none.  We had a wonderful time, even the weather didn’t spoil it.  Vietnam is high on our list of must do again for longer, and would like to thank Peggy, Ann, Judy, Mimi, Graham, Kirsten, Jorn, Valerie, Alann, Jill and Don for being great traveling companions and making the trip most enjoyable.
Dot Knowles

This is another Welfare Project, it is a school in Rayong called Noang Koboag.

They had a fire in their canteen resulting in this damage.

The man in the white shirt is David Cotteral from Shedden Uhde, whom donated 95,000 baht toward the new electric sysytem.

PILC toghether with the Jesters have also built this month 10 new toilets that were desperatly needed for this school of 300 students and had only 4 toilets!!!

We will posting pictures of the opening ceremony as soon as we they are available.

Here are some pictures from a project called I SEE YOU, where a member has donated funds to get the childrens eyes tested, as she herself went undiagnosed for years and had such a hard time and feels very passionate about this.So far we have tested Bang Jing Jai Orphanage, with 11 kids needing glasses, The Fountain Of Life Center, where 17 needed glasses , the Drop In center, where 6 needed and the last center we managed to secure a mobile team from Bkk to test the 180 kids, with 40 needing glassses.

All in all a very worthwhile project that will contiue with the fantastic donation from Ivy, Khun Birachai and his team from Pattaya Optical on Pattaya Klang and Khun Viroid from Cheoreon Optical in 2nd road are the local opticians that we use and many thanks to them and their staff.

These pictures are at the Fountain Of life Center, off third road. PILC purchased the play equipment, 30,000 baht worth in Febuary this year.

This center houses up to 130 chidren of a day time. They are taught by teachers while the staff and sisters try and find their original birth papers, if they have any and then they can attend Government schooling.

PILC volenteers also help on a Wednesday at this center with card making with the older kids.

These pictures are of a local wat School, Wat Nong Keit Noi. This was the Pattaya International Ladeis Clubs first project for 2007!

The flooring of 4 class rooms and the foyer were in such bad condition. PILC funded the tiling and works at this school. A great job was done, and the staff and children of the school came back from holidays with BIG smiles and Big thank you to PILC.