Steve Suphan in The Nation

[Stephen Cleary]

Thanks for the positive reponse.

Kinda funny that some of my more 'popular' blogs have been written on 'the spur of the moment'.

The wife was in Bangkok for the night visiting her mother. Sat on me own with no-one for company except my friend 'Beer' decided on putting some notes together for 'new provinces' which would include a lot of the stuff that i'd mentioned before in older blogs.
Well, 5 or 6 or 7 big glasses later - there was the result.

The guy who gave the story the finally go ahead was the paper's Managing Editor (Thai) and i was pretty chuffed by his response.

Thanks.

[Peter4]

.
Congratulations to Steve Suphan.

I laughed when I read his post about new provinces.
I sure hope Steve will write a sequel with more provinces and more laughs.
And I wish to offer a few, modest, suggestions to do my part in lifting the province count over 100:

How about a province dedicated to the endlessly suffering soi dogs?
Dog food would be carried in on the backs of trekkers hiking across the hills.

And if we think of the soi dogs, then we must give equal consideration to a province for NGO volunteers.
They could try to impose their utopian beliefs on each other, while the rest of us sat comfortably on our bar stools, watching to see which utopia wins.

And that province could be right next to the province for smelly backpackers
The name of course, would be Muang-Kao-San.
Plenty of jobs there for hair stylists who specialize in dreadlocks for Caucasians.
And plenty more jobs for seamstresses who know how to cut off trousers just below the knee.

What about a province for the lady-boy pick-pockets?
They could keep reaching for each others' trouser pockets, without any danger of encountering strong, farang men with martial arts training.

My personal recommendation is a special province for the Greenpeace touts blocking the sidewalks on Silom Road.
The condo-selling touts from Sukhumvit Road would feel at home there, too, with free clipboards on arrival.
And that province could extend a warm welcome to the fundamentalist missionaries who block the entrance of Nana Plaza.

What about another province for Isaan bar girls along with their beleaguered children who are now forced to live with grandmother in the village?
Of course, all the new houses and new pickup trucks in that province will be paid for by farangs from the bar-stool province.

As long as we're cleaning up the place, let's set aside a province for taxi-driver scammers, tuk-tuk driver scammers, jewelry shop scammers, and East-Indian tailor shop touts.
Easy to imagine them driving each other around to shop after shop after shop --in order to earn gas coupons, of course.

To be compassionate, could also set aside a province for dirt poor, but perpetually drunk, Isaan farmers and their endlessly gambling wives.
From all the stories we farangs hear out of Isaan -- usually when we happen to be sitting on bar stools -- that would need to be a really big province.
Since they are so poor, where the money comes from to pay for the whisky and the gambling remains a mystery.

Sad to say, but Steve's first essay on this topic has already offended about 5 million residents of the country by not offering a province exclusively for Muslims.
I'm sure he'll apologize for that in the sequel.

And, still on a serious note, Steve inadvertently neglected a province for the flocks of homosexual farangs and their boy-toys that nightly clutter the small sois around Sala Daeng in Bangkok and in South Pattaya.
Please, Steve, be a wee bit more careful in the sequel so as not to offend such volatile groups of men.

And don't forget a province dedicated to English language, Neo-Marxist newspapers.
That can be a very tiny province,.
Land area just the size of two newspaper pages would be sufficient.

But the biggest province of all should be reserved for those foreigners who post inane comments on Internet forums.
That province would need to be bigger than all the others put together.

I hope these small suggestions will encourage Steve to write a sequel.
I, for one, am looking forward to more laughs.
.

[FaranginPhetch]

Yes, Steve is a very funny man,, I have said that before.
Keep it up Steve,,we need some levity at times.

[Stephen Cleary]

Thanks for the great suggestions Peter4. 'Province of the stray dog' has to be write up there.

[Stephen Cleary]

The 10 Provinces article i wrote for thai-blogs and sold to The Nation must have been a hit.

I was delighted to hear from the Boss of the Opinion Page today that The Nation have asked me to write for them on a regular basis starting next month!

Again, a big thanks to everyone for their support and do hope that you will continue reading my blogs.

[Mike]

Congratulations Steve, look forward to reading it! Will there be any particular theme for your column or is it all up to you ?

[nam phyyng]

What are Greenpeace touts?

[BUCKY]

I was delighted to hear from the Boss of the Opinion Page today that The Nation have asked me to write for them on a regular basis starting next month!
Again, a big thanks to everyone for their support and do hope that you will continue reading my blogs.

Congrats! Does that mean I have to change my subscription from Bangkok Post to The Nation from now on?!
Keep us posted on when your articles will be shown on the Nation!

[Stephen Cleary]

As for 'Greenpeace Touts', I'm not too sure what they are!

Anyway, as 'Guest Columnist' at The Nation I have been asked to submit two articles a month - to be published on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

I was thrilled to hear that the Chief Editor said that my 10 Provinces Blog was "The funniest I have heard in ages"

[Khun Don]

Another idea for a Province -one for foreign reporters -and government spokespeople- who bang on about the "loss of democracy in Thailand " but have little idea as to what has been happening in Thailand under Toxin,(or if they do, have chosen to ignore such.)
This Province should be situated somewhere remote. So remote that Mai Hong Son seems to be the centre of the universe.