Guide to Thailand - Expat Blogs

In my opinion, Expat Blogs are the best Guide to Thailand ever written. Expat blogs are a bit like mini Wikipedias with attitude and personality. Virtually every subject of interest is covered from news and current affairs, places of interest, humour, Religion and Politics to rural life, nature and food.

In many instances, the only information available on the Internet is provided by these Expat Blogs and without them I think Thailand would be a much poorer place. Here I must confess that many of these Expat Blogs put my own rather feeble efforts to shame. The average Thai Blogger unfortunately appears to have little interest in writing about the culture and heritage of their own country. Many of the most interesting places I have visited were as a result of reading about them on an Expat Blog. I think it would be true to say that I have learned more about Thailand from Expat Blogs than from any other single source. Daily life for me would not be the same without a quick look through some of these Expat Blogs. My normal morning routine tends to be Coffee, E-mails, News Headlines, followed by the Blogs I like, Coffee. Exercise used to follow this routine but as they say ‘the spirit is willing but…’

There are of course many hundreds, probably thousands, of Blogs about Thailand written by Expats and unfortunately there just isn’t time to read them all. Those I do read are written in English but of course there are many excellent blogs written in other languages as well. Having just recently entered the world of blogging myself, I realize just how much time and effort and sometimes real money as well, goes into writing these blogs.

Some of the blogs I enjoy reading, but by no means all, include New Mandala, Bangkok Pundit, Women Learn Thai, The Thai Pirate, Retired in Thailand and Loving it, Thai-Eyes, Frog Blogging from Chiang Mai and Beyond the Mango Juice. It is perhaps a little unfair to single out these blogs when there are so many other excellent blogs around but I’m sure everyone has their own list of favourites. In any case, it’s so easy to get distracted. I start reading an interesting article, see something else on the page and end up somewhere totally distant from where I began. I’m told meditation could help but there’s just too much to think about!

Many Expat blogs have their own individual style and put an interesting or unusual slant on everyday items as well as giving a personal insight on Thailand and all things Thai that otherwise might go unnoticed. Life is unfortunately too short to see and experience personally everything that Thailand has to offer but the hard work and dedication of the Expat bloggers has enriched my life and introduced me to many aspects of Thailand that I was previously unaware of. I would just like to say a big thank you to all of you.