Bangkok Before Polo, Part II
After Part I
August 2004
The countdown starts! The official poster for the 2004 King's Cup Elephant Polo event has just rolled off the presses.
Appetizers (crumbs?) for the press ...
From The Nation:
Elephant polo to kick off
Published on Aug 25, 2004
The Nation's crack elephant polo team will be out to defend the Press Cup they won last year when they again take on the Bangkok Post at the 1st Infantry King's Own Bodyguard Regiment grounds in Bangkok this afternoon.
In the first Press Cup last year, The Nation showed no mercy to their rivals, winning 1-0 after a brilliant goal from James Eckardt, who also had another goal disallowed early in the game through an off-side. The Post will be out for revenge this year, but once again The Nation have assembled a fearless team and are confident of another convincing victory.
For elephant polo fans, there will also be a celebrity match after the Press Cup featuring local band Mr Team as well as some movie stars and models.
Today's event kicks off the annual King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament, which will be held in Hua Hin from September 6-12. For those interested in watching this unusual sport, the Press Cup match starts today at 2pm and the grounds are off Vibhavadi Rangsit Rd, opposite the Channel 11 building.
Last night Bill Heinecke (the owner of the Anantara Resort and Spa at Hua Hin) and Christopher Stafford (Vice President and General Manager of the same) [*] hosted all of the elephant polo sponsors to a dinner on the Manohra Moon cruise boat [**].
In these two 'snaps' Chris is seen giving the welcome; Bill is raising the toast.
[*] Bill owns at least a dozen hotels in Thailand ... maybe more elsewhere ... all of them with a five star rating; including several Four Seasons properties (which used to fly The Regent flag).
[**] Yes, Bill owns the boat, too.
PS: On the poster for elephant polo that is Chris on the elephant.
PPS: Golf in black ... or Sandra Bullock?
I like this photograph of our apartment ...
.... continued ....
Watcharee had these two elephant prints framed ...
.... more ....
This from Diana Moxon, the press representitive for Anantara (and Elephant Polo):
Dear All
Thanks to everyone who came along to the sponsors dinner on Tuesday night. Fabulous to see so many familiar faces and all our new elephant polo friends.
Yesterday's Bangkok press conference was an outstanding success. We had every Thai TV station there, plus every channel from GMM Grammy and over 100 press. The press conference will be aired on next Monday's Morning Talk show (8am on Channel 11) and repeated on UBC 17 at 10.30am, 5pm and 8pm.
A small piece from yesterday's press match made it onto page 4 of The Nation this morning with more planned but the big news is we made it on to the front page of two of Thailand's biggest Thai language papers this morning: Post Today and Kom Chad Luek.
A great start to another great King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament.
See you all down in Hua Hin in two weeks!!
Bestest
Diana
Here is the final playing schedule (*) for this year's King's Cup Elephant Polo; hot off the wire from Christopher Stafford:
From: Christopher Stafford
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 12:08 PM
To: Supranee Nillpong
Cc: Diana Moxon
Subject: TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE UPDATE LATEST
DEAR ALL -
SPECIAL NOTE: FOLLOWING AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF THE TEPA COMMITTEE 2004 THE WILDCARD DRAW WILL BE DRAWN BY THE CAPTAINS OF THE SIX TEAMS OF LEAGUE A & B FOLLOWING THE ELEPHANT POLO PARADE ON MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER AT 4PM PRECEEDING THE FIRST MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT.
THANK YOU - CHRISTOPHER E. STAFFORD / PRESIDENT THAI ELEPHANT POLO ASSOCIATION
MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER
4 pm MATCH 1 - Mercedes Benz vs Bangkok Bank Ladies
5 pm MATCH 2 - Chivas Regal vs DBS Bank Ladies
TUESDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER
9am MATCH 1 - Sandalford Winery vs Screwless Tuskers
10 am MATCH 2 - American Express Thailand vs Element Sandalford
2pm MATCH 3 - British Airways vs Wildcard
3pm MATCH 4 - Mobile EZY Thailand vs Wildcard
4pm MATCH 5 - All Blacks Price Waterhouse/Qantas vs Mullis Capital
5pm MATCH 6 - St Andrews House vs Kuoni UK
WEDNESDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER
8am MATCH 1 - Element Winery vs Kuoni UK
9am MATCH 2 - Mercedes Benz vs British Airways
10 am MATCH 3 - American Express Thailand vs St Andrews House
11am MATCH 4 - DBS Bank Ladies vs Wildcard
2pm MATCH 5 - Bangkok Bank Ladies vs Wildcard
3pm MATCH 6 - Sandalford vs Mullis Capital
4pm MATCH 7 - Chivas Regal vs Mobile EZY Thailand
5pm MATCH 8 - ALL BLACKS Price Waterhouse/Qantas vs Screwless Tuskers
THURSDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER
8am MATCH 1 - All Blacks Price Waterhouse / Qantas vs Sandalford Winery
9am MATCH 2 - American Express Thailand vs Kuoni UK
10am MATCH 3 - Mercedes Benz vs Wildcard
11am MATCH 4 - DBS Bank vs Mobile EZY Thailand
2pm MATCH 5 - Mullis Capital vs Screwless Tuskers
3pm MATCH 6 - Bangkok Bank Ladies vs British Airways
4pm MATCH 7 - St Andrews House vs Element Sandalford
5pm MATCH 8 - Chivas Regal vs Wildcard
FRIDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
QUARTER FINAL 1 - WINNER GROUP A VS RUNNER UP GROUP B
QUARTER FINAL 2 - WINNER GROUP B VS RUNNER UP GROUP A
QUARTER FINAL 3 - WINNER GROUP C VS RUNNER UP GROUP D
QUARTER FINAL 4 - WINNER GROUP D VS RUNNER UP GROUP C
SATURDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER
MATCH 1 - 13TH PLACE FINAL
SEMI FINAL 1 - WINNER QUARTER FINAL 1 VS WINNER QUARTER FINAL 3
MAHOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
SEMI FINAL 2 - WINNER QUARTER FINAL 2 VS WINNER QUARTER FINAL 4
SUNDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
MATCH 1 - 11TH PLACE FINAL
MATCH 2 - 9TH PLACE FINAL
MATCH 3 - 7TH PLACE FINAL
MATCH 4 - 5TH PLACE FINAL
MATCH 5 - ANANTARA GOLD CUP
MATCH 6 - KING'S CUP FINAL
BEST REGARDS
CHRISTOPHER E. STAFFORD
Vice President & General Manager
Anantara Resorts & Spas
Golden Triangle - Hua Hin - Koh Samui
(*) This does not reflect the two Screwless Tuskers practice sessions that will take place at 4PM on September 4th and 5th.
PS:
The Screwless Tuskers will play Sandleford Winery on September 7th. After that, the Screwless Tuskers will play the ALL BLACKS on September 8th. The Screwless Tuskers' final game, before the payoffs, will be against Mullis Capital on September 9th.
Dear reader, please compare and contrast the team profiles of/between the Screwless Tuskers and the ALL BLACKS before you choose your rooting sections.
We visited Watcharee's grandmother today; tomorrow she is going to the hospital for an eye operation.
Watcharee's grandmother is 92 years old. She still chews beetle nuts (a mild narcotic) after every meal; as she has for the past 70 years ....
Her spirit house needs a paint job ... but she is not quite up to wading over to it to do the brush up. But, at 92 who can blame her. And, maybe at that age ghosts don't frighten her anymore.
PS: "From the Middle East through Asia to Solomon Island this fruit growing on palmtrees is even more popular than alcohol and cigarettes. The nut is wrapped in the leaf of the betel pepper and sprinkled with burnt lime, catechu gum from the Malayan acacia tree and nutmeg, cardamom or other spices. This is placed in the mouth and sucked on for several hours. Arecoline, a central nervous system stimulant, is released from the nut by the action of saliva and lime. It increases respiration and decreases the work load of the heart. Betel leaf has mild stimulating properties. Frequent use of beetle nuts stains mouth, gums, and teeth deep red. Long-term overuse of beetle nut is said to weaken sexual potency." - Anon.
PPS:
BELOIT COLLEGE RELEASES THE MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2008
Beloit, Wis. — This fall, a new generation of students is entering colleges and universities with its own particular view of the world. Most of them are about 17 and were born in 1986.
For the seventh year, Beloit College has distributed to its faculty and staff the Beloit College Mindset List, which identifies some facts of life that distinguish this generation from those that preceded it. One of its primary purposes has been, in the words of co-editor Tom McBride, Keefer Professor of the Humanities at the Wisconsin liberal arts college, an attempt to slow the onset of "hardening of the references" experienced by some faculty.
This year, the list was edited by Professor of Classics Art Robson who regularly teaches in the College's First Year Initiatives (FYI) program for entering students, along with Public Affairs director Ron Nief. Robson notes that "these first-year students were born in the year that Chernobyl melted down and the Challenger exploded. Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, Calif., and the Soviets had been bogged down for the seventh year of frustration in Afghanistan. Domestically we were preoccupied by the Iran Contra scandal, and internationally the Iran-Iraq war continued to reveal a disturbing list of atrocities."
"The entering class offers to us as teachers both a Rosetta stone of information and unique approaches to the world, and a tabula rasa – a blank slate on which to inscribe the knowledge they will need to pursue careers or further study. The joy of welcoming the new generation makes our work in the classroom rewarding. Each generation is unique, keeping all of us, whether we are teaching classical history or cutting-edge physics, prepared to look at our disciplines with a fresh eye."
With the help of hundreds of people who made suggestions, Beloit College is pleased to present the Mindset List for the entering class of 2008.
The Beloit College Mindset List® Class of 2008
© 2004 Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin
Pu was not yet a member of the Screwless Tuskers team when we made the team photograph a few months ago. At that time the Screwless Tuskers was planning to field Golf (Captain), Toktak, Jum and Keng for the 2004 King's Cup. But, Keng had to drop out due to a conflict with her university examination schedule; in her place Golf selected Pu. Though we were able to mount an informal photo of Pu shortly after her enrollment, we didn't get around to doing a proper shoot until today ... less than a week before we are scheduled to leave for Hua Hin.
Tomorrow THOCBDC will show the entire 2004 team with the new off-the-field uniforms.
This was the first time that all the Screwless Tuskers had access to their entire post-play clothes. In these three pictures they are seen checking themselves out.
OK, they have finished primping ... now the Screwless Tuskers have assumed the standing-in-front-of-the-curtain pose. Later this will be followed by the sitting-on-the-couch pose.
PS: Yes, now for the obligatory couch shots:
THOCBDC received this letter from Dr. Samanchi (retired):
"During the war in Vietnam I had the honor of treating John Kerry for two wounds he received in combat ... for which he was awarded Purple Hearts. It was my custom at the time to photograph all wounds to which I was called upon to give aid. These two photographs clearly show the seriousness of the Senator's injuries. Thanks to Asian folk lotions and special balms Mr. Kerry's wounds are no longer visible to the naked eye ... so, if you ask him to roll up his sleeve or bare his leg you will see nothing."
Thailand's Olympic athletes get a big welcome home in the Bangkok press! Later today there will be a big parade for them on Sukhumvit Road.
PS: Doctor Samanchi writes more:
"Yes, John Kerry's ass did take a beating, too. Enemy napalm pokes ... (via a Viet Cong fire-fight-enema tool ...) ... did blow out a few chunks of his butt before we were able to steam all of his orifices shut. Though, our East Asian medicinal juices did manage to keep his major ham slices just blistery (and not burnt off) before he had to go back to the States."
Next: September
