So it serves a purpose after all

Blogging is a funny game.

Considering it doesn't pay (I run adverts on neither of my blogs, though the other one generates work on occasions) one is entitled to ask why we bloggers really bother?

Why do we regularly write, rack our brains for original ideas, scour the web for inspiration, remember the camera to even the most mundane social gathering, etc etc.

I'm not the greatest blogger out there, in fact this website has been somewhat neglected since my blog arrived but my reason for blogging are likely shared by many others - I blog because I enjoy writing (helps when it is your profession), arranging my thoughts and the interaction and engagement within the Thai-blogging community. Occasionally there is the unexpected bonus of seeing your content or name appear somewhere else, but this is the cherry that sits on the blogging pie, if you will.

Take for example this New York Times article from 'The Frugal Traveller' Matt Goss covering recent travel chaos in Thailand - which came in the form of both the current political unrest in Bangkok and the knock-on effects of European flight cancellations following after volcanic ash from Iceland covered the continent's skies.

Thanks Kat for tipping me off that this blog got a honourary mention (albeit without a URL link) in the article, which put a smile to my face.

In the case of Thailand, Mr. Waldman has done his research, following not just the news on CNN but going on travel forums (including LonelyPlanet.com’s Thorn Tree) and reading blogs by expatriates (like Jonny Foreigner, by a young Brit living 70 miles north of Bangkok). “Statistically,” he’s concluded, “I could get hit by a car here a lot easier than I’d get caught up in some protests in Thailand, because I’m not standing in the middle of the protest area.”

Don't get me wrong being mentioned in the article is flattering (even if there is no URL link - especially as I wonder why this blog has been picked out for special treatment when others are more regular and informative?!) but it gives me a greater sense of fulfilment to think that my oft-neglected blog has helped someone with the prepare for a trip to Thailand (I did say to check the blogsophere before you come over to Thailand).

That's given me the incentive to make more effort with Jonny Foreigner.

So thanks Mr Waldman for reigniting my blogging fire. To realise that people are watching is motivation enough for even the most inactive bloggers out there, all fingers pointed at me.

Reds and Yellows: dining at the last chance saloon

With the yellow-shirted PAD protesters now joining the red-shirted UDD supporters in taking to the streets of Bangkok a compromise certainly looks distant.

Perhaps that would chance if we could get the leaders together at a table.

Well look what I found at a recent event at my local วัด (aka temple).

It took these two chaps a while to figure out why we were laughing, look over and photographing them. Too busy eating their food, how typically Thai.

Fellas, maybe next time a quick phone call before leaving the house would avoid this mix-up.

Here comes number two

Been all too quiet on the Jonny Foreigner blogging front, however I'm back with news that the lovely missus and I are adding to our clan with a new arrival later this year.



Nong "Kidney Bean" - the placeholder nickname, which we will definitely not keep - is due in November, everyone around here is hoping, wishing, praying for a girl to 'complete the set' but we shall see.

In other news from the flock the first arrival ปลาทอง (Platong) is eighteen months and more grown up than ever.



[No plans for a third before you ask!]

Don't dump me

Spotted this t-shirt in a mall in Ayutthaya.

Love it!

It is classic Thailand, a slogan like this can only exist here.

My favourite bit: is a ladies tee only (well of course!) and the only size left is extra small.

SO either the t-shirt caters for XS girls only OR only the XS girls don't worry about being ditched.

Make of it what you will...

Big points for anyone with a picture of someone wearing one of these.