CP 60th Anniversary - From Chuvej

Dear All,

Six of us CP'69 joined a party of about 50 people at the CP 60th Anniversary Dinner Reception at the official residence of Australian Ambassador to Thailand, H.E. Mr. James Wise. At the opening speech the amb said one of the reasons he chose 1 November 2011 was because it was an auspicious day 1/11/11. It was also the first Tuesday in November, the Melbourne Cup Day. He recounted how CP scholarship program helped introduce Australians to Asian students like us and gradually reshaped the thinking of Aussies about their northern neighbours. He also mentioned how the best-loved race horse Australians have ever known was named PharLap. The food, catered by Dusit Thani, was great and a good time was had by all. Two members of the first batch of CP alumni, Mr. Prasit Tansuwan and Mr. Niphon Saipetch, were at the event. Other luminaires are former Bangkok governor candidate Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, former deputy minister of education Sirikorn Maneerin, and internationally known economic professor Pasuk Phongpaichit. We also met some people we haven't met for some 40 years like P' Ajaree Phekanant Homsethi who trained us to dance the Soeng Kratip at the 1969 Thai night in Sydney (she's second right in the photo, next to Sutee).

Regards,

Chuvej

More about CP 60th Anniversary Evening

Dear Chuvej,

Thank you very much for the photo and the recap of the evening.

I could not join the function last night as I am being affected by the flood and could not get to the Aust Embassy eventhough I would have liked very much to participate in this getting together.

Best regards,

Winai

Thanks, Chuvej, for your concise yet descriptive narration of the event.

Wiwat

Yet-to-be-flooded Hat Yai

Dear All,

Thank you Chuvej for very good and very quick report.

I would like to add the following;

There were more than 50 alumni attending the party. I talked to Khun Radkao and she informed me that,before the flood crisis,more than 100 alumni confirmed to attend the party. Unfortunately,more than 50 persons cancelled due to the flooding problem. She also mentioned that Vute had to cancel his flight from Sydney. We know that many of our CP69 friends,such as Winai,Wiwat,Pongsak,could not attend the function due to the flood promblem. Anyway 6 of us were the biggest group to join the function.

I was asked(by Dr. Uthomporn,President of TATSC) to talk to the guests inviting them to join the TATSC. I also told the audience about our CP69 keeping in touch and have regular meetings and about our 40th Anniversary Book and gave one copy to the Embassador(for this action,I apologize to our CP69 friends for not getting your prior approval). Anyway,the Ambassador and his staff seemed very surprised that we could make such a book and they expressed their appreciation for our book. Vute,you should be very proud of yourself and we all are very proud of you for initiating and completed the book)

In the photo attached by Chuvej,may I add that the gentleman standing behind Tat is P'Nu,on Tat's left is Santi(CP70),next to Santi is P'Tum,wife of P'Sitthichai.

I attached some pictures taken by my camera.

Best Regards,

Wichit

Dear Friends,

Thank you very much Chuvej and Wichit for the lovely photos. May I add that there were two official photographers. One gave us instant prints which were of very high quality. However, they need to be scanned, so after we've done that, perhaps they can be sent out to friends as well. Another official photographer said he would write all the photos of the event on to CDs and Khun Radklao will mail them off to us later. May I also add, that the Ambassador's story about Phar Lap was new to me. Of course, everyone knows the famous horse, and movies have been made about him, but I never associated the horse's name with Thailand. The name is actually the Thai word for 'lightning'! Vute's collection of photos, sent by CD, was one of the highlights of the night. There was a slide show of photos that Khun Radklao was able to collect, and the largest collection was from Vute! In all, it was a fun event, and Wichit and I were conspiring to have the Embassy host something like this more often)

Cheers,

Ying

Dear friends,

I have made' reply to all 'to Chuvej's email and attached pictures taken from my camera.Last night,the Australian Embassy employed a team of professional photographers with computer and printer. After each picture was taken,they made hard copy prints of high quality for each person in the picture in just a few minutes,it was very efficient and impressive(oh yes,each picture was in hard-paper frame with the Australian Embassy Logo!-very nice). I heard they may organize the function again next year-if the Thai Government can quarantee no flooding!

Talking about flooding,the situations in and around BKK are only getting more serious(worse) . Without declaring the Emergency Decree,the Goverment could not contol people who break up dykes or water sluices or the fighting between people on opposite side of water dikes. Being unable to stop people from breaking key water sluices,the BMA can not now quarantee the heart of BKK city,such as Pleonchit,Ratchprasong,Silom and Sathon from flooding.

A reporter asked the Army Commander in Chief that the Government do not want to declare Emergency Decree(which will give more power to the military) because they fear a coup d'etat ? The Army C in C replied something like this."Are you crazy,the water is up to our necks now,how can we think of such thing?" The public acknowledged and appreciated the hard working and the displine of those soldiers who worked tirelessly helping the flood victims.

Stay tuned,as long as I can report from my office.

Wichit