One of my daily activities used to be checking out on Thai-blogs for posts our regular contributors. Now besides Thai-Blogs, I check out on the http://www.millionbahtproject.com/ to see how it is doing. I guess this act is very similar to my checking on my garden nursery to see if the potato plant has grown another inch or not, and whether my fishes in the pond are healthy and grown bigger.
like most of you reading this blog, I am of the impression that Richard and his team must be doing very well with so many sites and hits per day. The Google Ads will be sufficient to make ends meet and help set aside some tidy sum for their early retirement, like one of reader said. Thanks Richard for being forthcoming and open about the needs for funding and let the community share his burden.
Last nite, I was in an upmarket Pub in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur having a drink with 2 Malay friends. By statute, the Malay friends are Muslims and in reality, they aren’t. One of them was very excited as his wife is pregnant. I have to leave early leaving the 2 the honor to pick up the tab. Easily the bill would be more than USD40, methinks. While driving back (I was still sober until I reach home and jump into my bed without clothes change), I was thinking that the physical community and forum are really expensive considering the time spent and discomfort (smoke) received.
The Thai sites and forums that Richard hosts give us so much enjoyment, learning experience, explosure, fraternity, and most of all, a virtual community (or PUB if you will) for all Thai aficionados to meet, get-together and share their experience in living virtually in Thailand. You have people virtually of all nationalities (Richard will have the statistics) and races living in this “virtual Thailand”, some spending as much as a few hours a day.
I must admit that I am quite disappointed to see that as of today, only 22 squares were taken. In fact on the first week, I expected the take up rate will be very encouraging so as to create a momentum to carry on.
Thais are known to be generous. I have the experience of putting up a night in a stranger’s house in a small village in MaeChan area. This guy whom I got to know me a few hours ago in the bus station invited me to his village and house. Though financially poor, he gave me his best – food and shelter. The villagers nearby came to have meals and chatted with me.
As foreigners and visitors, we really have to a lot to learn about Thai generosity. I believe if the regulars and silent visitors were to have the generousity of the Thais, the MBP will be a great success. Some of us are really fortunate to live in richer countries and earn a decent living. Compared to what the Thais get (see Richard’s blog on “Average Monthly Wage in Thailand” (http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php?blog=5&p=498&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1), we definitely have more loose change for a little merit making like the MBP.
We pay monthly for Sports or Golf club, and sometimes too busy to even use the green and facilities. My monthly Golf club membership fee is about USD20 but I seldom step into the club even it is of walking distance, sigh. The virtual Thai Community is like a club, we need people to upkeep the facilities and ensure the survival. There is a Chinese saying that roughly translates to “It is easier to build an enterprise than to maintain it.”
Let’s help to keep our virtual Thai Community going with our loose change. That reminds me of what my son said about tippings – Little money brings a lot of happiness, to the giver and the receiver. Good nite.
2 responses to “Support for Million Baht Project”