Jump to content

Stickman Leaving Thailand Soon


Belem
 Share

Recommended Posts

In March of last year in his weekly column, Stickman announced he was leaving Thailand in a year. With the date approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to start a thread about it on this board, as he was by far most active on this board from its Delphi beginnings due to the Bangkok expat clique.

 

I remember first meeting him around 1998 when he was teaching English and started a Geocities nightlife information site as well as meeting WhosYourDaddy. I subsequently saw him at a few Nana Plaza Friday night board meetings at the Woodstock Bar in Nana Plaza.

 

His website first started out as an encyclopedia of Thai nightlife information breaking it down to cities like Bangkok and Pattaya and bar areas like Nana Plaza. It was a plethora of info that convinced many people to take the plunge and go to Thailand.

 

Around 2001, he made a genius move starting a weekly column that enabled him to get more hits and attract more advertisers giving him more of an income stream to supplement his English teacher salary as well as other ancillary income from his bargirl investigation service. Over time he dismantled the nightlife sections, and his website evolved into other sections like book reviews, photography, etc.

 

He has stated some of his reasons for leaving are wanting to live a more active lifestyle and wanting to have animals. I also suspect that another reason is Thailand has changed and not for he better with changing attitudes, declining Thai nightlife web traffic, and an ever changing tourist mix among other things. He also said that he may not go back to his home country, New Zealand. It wouldn't surprise me to see him settle in Australia, where many Kiwis have relocated.

 

Stickman first arrived in Thailand to settle around 1998, and it's now 2015. He is now in his 40s, and I'm sure his experiences would make for an interesting book, although he has said he has no plans of writing a book. From his beginnings of being a participant in the nightlife and venturing to the dark side for a time to getting married to a Thai national and his subsequent divorce to embracing health and fitness, he has evolved like many expats do.

 

His departure from Thailand is the end of an era, a big part of Thailand nightlife history becoming the Internet's version of Bernard Trink. I know I will be reading his final column with great interest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the Internet's version of Bernard Trink.

 

He'll be thrilled to read that...

 

I have to say, when thinking about websites that were part of sucking me into Thailand, there was one that I think was called Bangkok Phil - a bunch of thoughts on Thailand, nightlife, culture, foreigners - very interesting to me at the time, i wonder how well it stands up these oh-so-many years later - but I recall it as a good one that piqued my interest.

 

YimSiam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was in the early days of the Internet, and Thailand's nightlife was still unknown to many people. Nowadays, most bars have their own sites, plus Thailand is no longer such a cheap destination (in part due to the recovery of the baht from the exchange rates following the 1997 crash). It takes time and effort to do a weekly column, and I give Stick credit for keeping it up so long and so well. Still, it beats a 9 to 5 job any day. He may well find that out once he does finally depart from our shores. :surprised:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

"Credit to KS for keeping NanaPlaza-Thai360 going for this long!"

 

Thanks, but in my case it's not really that much work. You guys do all the hard work by creating content :)

 

Stick's weekly is a lot of work though I would imagine.

 

Sanuk!

 

Funny before you said it was the same rehashed shite every week and you couldn't be bothered reading it. It's really a plug for his advertisers like fill in the blank Irish or English bar with an all you can eat Sunday carvery, Sunrise Tacos, any bar affiliated with Dave the Rave, or Secrets in Pattaya having an event. He's been going through the motions for awhile with very mundane opening topics. Like I said, he caught lightning in a bottle and started a nightlife website when no one else stepped up....and I give him credit for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Credit to Stickman for keeping it going this long!

 

Credit to KS for keeping NanaPlaza-Thai360 going for this long!

 

I know I couldn't do it and doubt most of us could...

 

The name change from Nana Plaza to Thai360 was almost the death knell for this board, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...