Your blog comments

Thank you for the response to yesterday’s post inviting more reader comments.

Readers have weighed in with ideas about where this blog has gone wrong lately, and what it’s doing right.

I have responded to almost everyone, in the comments section of the post. Let me put up a few highlights here, positive and negative. They comprise the name of the poster, a quote from what he/she said, and my response:

Anon 2:

--'As to what to write about, I believe that the majority of readers are interested in the daily life of Bangkok. For those of us who live in Farangland nearly EVERYTHING you see and do daily is different and unique to us. When I am in Thailand I feel like I am on a different planet. If you write using a little descriptive style, I believe virtually anything about life in Bkk holds interest.'

You make good points. I have to remind myself that life here is very different from what I could expect should I still be in the West. Sometimes I take it for granted, especially when I spend the day cooped up at home.

As you say, even humble excursions to the doctor can be interesting, if they are written up with a little style - highlighting those little details which point to the differences between life as we would expect it in the West, and what we get here.

Kriz:

'All I can say is that maybe you should get out of the house more often and explore your surroundings and take us along with you.'

I agree. I should.

I still believe that a story about a visit to the doctor (say), well told, is better than yet another humdrum post taking you on a tour of some part of Bangkok.

I am more interested in people, and what makes them tick, than I am in places, and I suspect most readers are the same.

Inbkk:

'I live in Thailand myself, and I like to read about other farang experiences. I see some new interesting blogs sprouting and some others losing steam...I am sorry to say yours is not in the first group...’

I am sure you do. Let me guess: Another cynical tale about Thai bureaucracy at the airport? The hopelessness of Thais in the classroom, as seen by a foreign teacher?

Why do so many foreigners living here just want to hear about other foreigners and their experiences of living in this place?

I would rather hear about Thais, thanks very much - I don't know about you, but that's why I'm here.

Many foreigners who live here are on a tourist visa, endlessly extended. Do they have much commitment to the place? They never know from one 90-day extension to the next how much longer they can stay.

Even those foreigners who work and live here legally are but migrant labourers. We are cut off from Thai life. Most of us get to meet few people of any note.

But if I was to write about those foreigners who stand out here, and have made a success of their lives, would you be interested in their stories, or would you try to take them down a peg (as so many other foreigners do) for having the effrontery to fit in?

Foreigners who 'fit in', or who lived here a while and are happy with their lives, might have less to say. Maybe I have been here too long to contribute anything much more interesting to a blog. Time will tell.

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Please keep the comments coming. Reader reaction shapes what this blog is.

A few readers reckon the blog has become more boring since I moved to my new place. I get out less, and meet fewer Thais.

I looked up my blog tracker to see if readership has declined in the four months since we left. Google Analytics tells me it is steady. It still pulls an average of 900-1000 unique visits a day.

Thank you for your support.