WORDPRESS BLOCKED IN THAILAND

Last night when trying to access my main blog at Baan Jochim Phuket, I was greeted by the page above. This translates as:

Sorry. TOT Plc., as an organization of Thai people, has restrained the access to this website as it contains content, text, and/or picture that is unappropriated which affects the mind of Thai people all over the country and cannot be accepted.

Apparently my internet service provider, the government-owned TOT, is blocking all blogs on the Wordpress domain in the latest example of Thai censorship of the media. According to articles on FACT- Freedom Against Censorship Thailand and Global Voices Advocacy, this block has been in effect since 22 August. As with all things that TOT has a hand in (i.e., frequent downtime once they finally connect your service -- it took a couple of months from the time we placed the order to the time they installed the line and connected our ADSL despite us living less than half-a-kilometer from the service center), this blockage seems very haphazard. Until last night, I'd had no problems accessing various Wordpress blogs and they're all coming up fine this morning.

Still, the blatant censorship practiced by the Thai government gets extremely tiring. Readers may remember that I began this particular blog as a result of the Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology's ban of the Blogger domain and my inability to access my longtime blog, Goodnight Phuket. We finally just got the ban against YouTube lifted but we always have to wonder what will be next...

Additional articles about the TOT blockage of Wordpress:
DBTB Protests Against the Wordpress.com Blockage in Thailand
Wordpress Blocked in Thailand as Well
wordpress.com Blocked in Thailand

BAAN JOCHIIM PHUKET

With the Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology still blocking the entire Blogspot domain I've started a new blog over at Wordpress, called Baan Jochim Phuket (บ้านโย้ค้ำภูเก็ต).  In some ways, I hope that it will complement Goodnight Phuket with some duplicate posts.  However, I do intend for it to focus more on Phuket itself — history, current issues, off-the-beaten-path attractions — rather than on my day-to-day family and work life.  When I do write about my wife, son, teaching experiences, etc. I'll continue to do so here.  Everything else will be posted at the new blog, at least for now.

To explain the name:  baan (บ้าน) is Thai for "home" or "village" while Jochim (โย้ค้ำ, pronounced "yo-kim") is my German surname derived after Saint Joachim (father of the Virgin Mary).  And, Phuket (ภูเก็ต, sounds close to "pook-get") is of course where I live.  It’s similar to calling one’s home something like Casa de Jochim back in New Mexico (where I lived before moving to Thailand) and one sees a great number of homes, guesthouses, etc. named Baan something or another around here.

Please add Baan Jochim Phuket to your bookmarks.  While there's not a lot of content right now aside from a history of our island (still a work in progress...) I hope to change that in the near future.