The ceremony was officiated by Khun Somchai Chaisakolpen,Director of Suan Long district. Accompanying the Director were His Excellency Dato’ Shaarani Ibrahim, Ambassador of Malaysia to Thailand, and Abdul Rahim Ismail, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS Retail Thailand Limited.

The ceremony was organised at PETRONAS’ service station at Sri Nakarin in the Thai capital and was held to coincide with the launch of the corporation’s range of lubricants in Thailand recently.

The 43-day PETRONAS Trans-Himalayas 2005 expedition was kicked off in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on August 17 and crossed the border on August 18. The 4-wheel drive expedition, made up of 23 vehicles will spend a week travelling in Thailand, passing through Mae Sot, Mae Hon Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. For the first time, the team will be joined by Thai participants in two additional 4-WD vehicles for the Thai stage of the expedition.

From Thailand, the convoy will travel to Laos and begin ascending higher altitudes as it travels through Western China, an ascent that will lead the team into the Himalayas toward Everest Base Camp. The record-breaking drive under extreme conditions will see the team travelling at altitudes of over 5,000 metres. The expedition’s final destination is Shenzhen, China on September 28, where the vehicles will be transported back to Malaysia over the next two days via ships owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd (MISC), a PETRONAS subsidiary.

Yesterday morning, 60 students from the Klong Krantan School located near the service station got up close and personal with members of the PETRONAS Adventure Team in a “science education” community programme, which was held at the same service station. The programme included science-related activities and games for the children, as well as an interactive science show by three members of the expedition to demonstrate basic science concepts through simple shows. The objective of the demonstration is to help nurture an active interest in science among school-going children.