Richard Barrow on Life in Samut Prakan and Finding a Niche Online [S6.E28]

Greg and Ed meet the icon Richard Barrow in Samut Prakan and
interview him about his unusual life in Thailand. Richard begins
by explaining his life roaming Asia as a young man on his way to
Australia. By chance he made some connections in Thailand at a
small Thai school in Samut Prakan, leading to a quaint few weeks
experiencing 'real' Thai culture, wholly separate from the normal
touristed locations. The memory stuck with him and he
subsequently returned to become a teacher at the school, and
well, he's stayed there for over thirty years, never succumbing
to the allure of Bangkok or the more typical paths of
expats. 


After some prodding, Richard explains his background as an IT guy
who got into building websites and blogging early, documenting
his daily life in a provincial Thai town on the sea, as well as
his numerous travels around Thailand. He was also an early
adopter of Twitter and as his popularity grew, he began
documenting current events throughout Thailand, but especially
the political protests of the late naughts and early teens and
the floods of 2011. It turns out that his style of
straightforward stick-to-the-facts 'reporting' plus his knowledge
of Thai language and culture was a winning formula to say the
least. Richard became the 'go to' guy for thousands - and then
tens, and then hundreds of thousands - of Thais, expats and
tourists alike who wanted an on-the-ground voice to give them
some insight into what was going on in Thailand.


Check out Part 2 of the interview next week when Richard gets
into his stubborn refusal to monetize his success and why he is
viewed as 'controversial' by some netizens. 


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