This site first came to life way back in November 1998. It what was nothing more than a small hobby website, very much a homepage for friends of mine back home to keep up to date with what I was up to in exotic Thailand.
The site started with three main section, "Living in Bangkok", "Teaching English in Thailand" and a page about what I cheekily referred to as the "Naughty Nightlife in Thailand". Each page was an essay on each of these topics, not the full-length articles you find on the site today. There were no photos. They did not come until late 1999 when I pocked up my first digital camera, a basic Kodak DC240, a 2 megapixel camera with very few features, which cost me a cool 32,000 Thai baht at the time!
It would be a lie to try and pretend that the naughty nightlife section was not the most popular in the early days. It was the part of the site that many readers tuned in for, and it was the section that grew the fastest. I was fascinated by the naughty nightlife from an anthropological point of view and remain intrigued by the way poor, modestly educated Thai women from the countryside can make well-educated, worldly Western men fall in love with them and go on to do some really crazy things and behave so utterly bizarrely.
In 2000 "Travel In Thailand" was added. Back then it was pretty basic and to be honest, it is one section of the site that I have not put a huge amount of work into.
In 2002 the "Naughty Nightlife" section was removed. I was not comfortable with a lengthy article on that subject so I removed it. That annoyed many readers and I received a huge number of complaints, as well as requests to put it back online. At almost 100,000 words it covered many aspects of the way Western men become infatuated by Thai women. I didn't relent and the article is history.
The first photo gallery was added in 2000 and a number followed. Due to bandwidth constraints and my displeasure at the quality of the photos posted, I took most offline. That has been an unfortunate hallmark of the site over the years, parts go up, and then later get taken down as I reflect on what is there and decide I don't like it!
One of the major turning points in the site's development was the introduction of the Stickman Weekly column, which began in April of 2001. It was created so I could include news and views that were time sensitive and perhaps only really relevant for a short period of time. Each column was dated so it was obvious the news and views expressed were not necessarily current. There was so much happening that I wanted to write about, but which wouldn't really fit in to the larger sections of the site.
The Stickman Weekly column became very popular, very quickly, and had a large readership in late 2006 when I finally decided, after much consideration, to take a break from it. The effort required in putting together what was essentially a 5,000 word article each and every week just became too much for me and many aspects of my life suffered. I also removed the weekly archives down at that time. They were reinstated a few months later after huge howlings from the readership who said that was the most important and interesting part of the site. Today, the latest weekly column is always the most accessed part of the site.
My life has
changed a lot over the years and this has been reflected in the site.
I used to be rather cheap, and in the early days the site really did
read like a bit of an el cheapo guide to Bangkok. That's very much
because when I first came here I was on a limited budget and I didn't
know many people. I had to learn everything by experiencing life
in the city and trying things out. Internet resources were scarce
back then.
Without a
great deal of money, I was forced to learn Thai knowing that to do so
would give me a real advantage. That said, I very much wanted to
learn the language and learning it to a very high level is an
achievement of some pride. Over time, my financial situation
improved and as such I started to experience different parts of the city
and started to love into different levels of society.
I guess that
coincided with the Stickman brand, so to speak, really starting to take
off. Before I knew it I was being invited on to interview panels
on TV, quoted in the press, approached for various media interviews.
My social circles changed and where once I felt like I was swimming in
the toilet, now I found myself amongst, while perhaps not the true high
society, certainly a more successful bunch. With all these
changes, so did the feel of the site. Reviews and mentions of
cheaper venues fell away and more mid-range venues were covered.
In time, I even started to write about fine dining locales and high end
condominiums.
If there is
one area where I think this site differs to others, it is my
perspective. I started back when there were zero online resources
and with not a lot of cash. I knew nobody and I was completely
unknown. Over time I improved my lot, improved my skills,
particularly my language skills and got to know more people and more
places. Today, I can look back and say that I have moved in and
out of the different levels of Thai society and can honestly say
that I am truly comfortable at any level.
Back to the different parts of
the site, the readers' submissions section of the site started in July 2001, quite out of the blue really. I have always received a lot of email but I got one particular email that was so powerful, that I just had to include it in the site. Again, there was nowhere on the site where it quite fit in so I started the readers' submissions section. This is now a very popular part of the site and two or three new readers' stories are posted every day apart from Sunday, the day the weekly column is published. This means that there is something new and fresh to read every day. This readers' submissions section of the site is also very popular and there are some real gems amongst them. The quality of the stories sent in has got better and better over time and there are a number of regular writers including Dana, who has written in excess of 200 stories!
Other sections of the site have been added over time, including a section with interviews of Bangkok personalities which was later incorporated into the Stickman Weekly column. In 2006 I started what has now become the most up-to-date and comprehensive listing of free wi-fi internet connections in Thailand.
I do hope you continue to enjoy the site
as I continue to enjoy managing it and producing a weekly column.
Thanks for your support!
Best wishes,
Stick
