| Pattaya, Thailand | 22 Oct 2015 | Asia Samachar |

The sole gurdwara in Pattaya celebrates its silver jubilee this week with an akhand path starting tomorrow (23 Oct) and an evening celebration on Oct 25 which includes a gatka performance by a team from Malaysia.
Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Pattaya, opened on 28 Oct 1990, is located in south Pattaya, the Thai city facing the Gulf of Thailand and well-known to international tourists.
The gurdwara caters to the local Sikh population with a sizeable of them involved in the tourism services sector.
On the evening of 25 Oct, the Sikh sanggat will get a chance to watch the performance by the Malaysian Gatka Federation group.
“All preparations have been done. We eagerly await the commencement of the akhand path,” one gurdwara official tells Asia Samachar in a telephone conversation. “We have many Sikh homes here. They are all in chardi kala.”
In the mid-1970s, there were only three to four Sikh families in Pattaya, according to information on the Thai Sikh Organisation website.
When made into a tourist spot, Sikhs began moving to Pattaya from provinces like Ubol Ratchthani, Udon Ratchthani, Nakorn Ratchsima (Korat) and Sattahip.
In addition, more Sikhs moved to Pattaya due to the withdrawal of the United States troops from the Vietnam War and the US base in Thailand. At that time, the Sikhs were mostly businessmen trading with the US troops and other officials, who began returning to their country, thus making many Sikhs move to Pattaya and Bangkok, according to the information the website.
With the population growth, the Sikhs decided in 1985 to build a permanent gurdwara. Until then, they had been operating from rented premises.
The new gurdwara is a three storey building, with a golden dome and lotus petals, and a few golden domes along the sides of the building. The building involved a mixture of Persian and north Indian architecture, the article adds.
[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]
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