Society

After the Songkran festival, other festivities take place around town, and on the evening of the 20th April, Pattaya Mayor Ittipol Khunplome was guest of honour at Wat Nongyai in North Pattaya to take part in a Thai traditional event called Kong Kao or gathering of rice, where people come along with their food offerings to pay respects to their ancestors in the belief of gaining merit and good luck over the year.

Traffic during the Songkran festivities could have been a nightmare over the whole period of a week here in Pattaya. However, things ran smoothly thanks to the professional procedure by the Pattaya Highway Police and Volunteers, who together planned operations well in advance.

“Waterborne illnesses kill a child every 15 seconds and underlies much of the world’s disease and malnutrition,” reported Ann Venerman, executive director of UNICEF, in a recent global health report.

A number of intense police vehicle inspections took place on the 16th April along Pattaya Beach Road in the build up to the main Songkran festival celebrations which will be taking place in Pattaya on the 18th and 19th April.

On 14th April 2009, Hard Rockers of the Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe Pattaya, led by the General Manager George Hazard (front center), threw a rocking party to Pattaya Orphanage to celebrate the Songkarn Festival with the orphans. They danced and had a rocking meal with the kids to spread the spirit of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll’.

Pattaya is set to welcome a comprehensive master plan that promises to transform the resort city into an orderly, green and clean destination.

Members of the Foreign Police Volunteers (FPV) put on a special dinner party for visiting shore patrol officers from the Strike Patrol off the aircraft carrier USS Stennis, one of 4 ships on a few days visit for Rest & Recreation which were docked at Laem Chabang port during the past weekend.

With the Songkran Festival well underway here in Thailand, road deaths are of primary concern for the Police which is why checkpoints have been set up to provide drivers with water and a rest area.

A Big Cleaning Day was recently organised at Amari Orchid Resort & Tower, Pattaya, with the staff and management team, lead by Khun Prarinya Charoenrat, Director of Housekeeping (1st from left). This team effort event is held regularly to maintain tidy and spotlessly clean facilities and to help keep Pattaya looking beautiful.