Dec 11, 2007

[Pinoy Gay Blogs] kawadjan

kawadjan


One of the best things about Pinoy Gay Blogs from a sort of "project" sense is how it manages to connect not just Filipino bloggers here in the Philippines but it also allows us to redefine the community to include those Filipinos living beyond these islands. We've already featured a few international Filipino bloggers and it never hurts to add another one to the list.

Today we travel to Thailand to discover another Filipino blogger living there. kawadjan is an interesting blog from Documentation Officer living there (at least that's what his Blogger profile says). He's certainly more than worth the read, believe me.

kawadjan is the personal blog of Girard (that's his name on Friendster at the very least) is a 27 year old Filipino currently living in Bangkok but originally from Surigao. That naturally explains the name of the blog, which turns out to be a Suriganon word for "bamboo" based on his translation thereof.

The blog has been around since 2006 as hosted on the Blogger platform and while he may not be the most prolific blogger around, he does post fairly consistently, which is always a good thing. It's a primarily English blog, which is always a good thing for international readers curious as to learning more about queers like us and his blog isn't that heavy from the bandwidth perspective. The blog is mostly Safe For Work (SFW) except for an odd image here and there that may have your co-workers eyebrows rising ever so slightly should the venture too close to your computer.

What strikes me most about the blog is definitely the quality of his writing paired with the very tasteful images that accompany most of the articles. I'm not talking about the stock photos were all known to use from time to time but his original shots of the various goings-on in his life even with the black bars used to censor the eyes of those in the photos with him (which is actually a very considerate gesture on his part to respect their privacy).

At times it seems that this is practically a travel blog since he documents all that places that he visits around Thailand which is always a treat. That is not to say that's all he writes about - I did say it was a personal blog for a reason. Most if not all of his entries retain that highly personalized slant to things, taking in the world and various events and such through his eyes and his unique point of view, which is what blogging is all about, really. If one just wanted to read a cold third-party account, we'd satisfy ourselves with Wikipedia articles or new feeds from the likes of Reuters and the AP.

Girard definitely feels like someone I'd love to meet in person, at least based on his writing and you may feel similarly as well after you've read a decent number of his entries. I guess the only puzzle that remains is to understand why he named his blog after bamboo - it's something I definitely intend to find out for myself.

4 comments:

  1. well it's a valid question, right?

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  2. omg, i'm flattered you noted my blog. unbelievable really! thanks a lot.

    hope to catch up with you soon in BKK.

    cheers!

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  3. It was my pleasure to feature your blog - it's rather well-written. best of luck to you and I do hope to meet you someday.

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