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| Nattawud
Daoruang has been interviewed many times by reporters from around
the world. Some came to the school and others interviewed him
by e-mail and telephone. In the photograph to the left, he is
being interviewed for television. It is for a Thai entertainment
show. On the right, he is being interviewed by Kat Tosi from the
Bangkok Post. |
The following are some of the newspaper articles about Nattawud that
we have found so far. Some we come across by accident so we are sure
there are a lot more out there. If you see Nattawud in a newspaper,
please let us know.
Farang
Magazine
Nattuwud “Gor” Daoruang has
been a novice monk, a drug addict, and, when he was 14, he pursued a
young woman for months only to find out that she was a ladyboy. The
Thai teenager relates all of these experiences in excellent English
on his website, which is updated weekly. His memoirs are the definite
highlight here and called “My Secret Diary.” (“Some secrets about me
and know about me and my girlfriend. Please don’t tell my parents or
teachers what you read.”) In a country where a popular saying is yah
sao sai hai gaw gin (“Don’t pull out your intestines to feed the crows,”
meaning, don’t air your dirty laundry in public), Gor’s brutal honesty
is refreshing, and also goes to show that Thai teenagers are casting
aside some traditions while they maintain other ones. After all, he
did become a novice monk for a month after his grandfather died. And
there are plenty of insights about Thai funeral rites, and photos of
the family taking his grandfather’s ashes to scatter them in the Chao
Phraya River. (“We are taught not to cry because it will make it harder
for him to go to heaven because he will be worried.”) Gor’s little virtual
home also contains heaps of information about Thai festivals, temples,
his holidays in Sukothai, Kanchanaburi, and Ayuthaya, how Brahmin priests
bless cars, and what it’s like to be a rice farmer. Image-wise, the
website boasts more than 800 photos, including pics of the contents
of his family’s fridge.
Macleans
Magazine (Canada), January 14 2002
Cool Site of the week: The
Internet offers just about anyone a voice on the world stage, deserved
or not. One who does deserve it is Nattawud Daoruang, a teenager in
Thailand who kicked his drug addiction. Nattawud, who goes by his nickname
Gor, keeps a diary at www.thailandlife.com, a gritty chronicle of his
ups and downs in words and pictures. The site, widely noted internationally,
offers a telling glimpse of Gor's country, culture and battle to clean
himself up.
Straits Times (Singapore), December 16 2001
Ex-drug addict shoots
to fame with Net diary. Thousands
log on daily to Thai teen's website which spares no details of his struggle
to escape a drug addiction. Nattawud Daoruang has been praised as 'Thailand's
youngest ambassador', described as 'legendary' and profiled as 'a global
citizen' by the Thai media.
Not bad for a 16-year-old
former drug addict whose father is a dockyard worker, mother a factory
worker and who spends most of his free time on a computer.
The secret to Nattawud's
growing fame is his amazing Internet diary that details his struggle
to escape an addiction to 'crazy drugs' - ya baa as it is known on the
street in Thailand.
Bangkok Post, December 2001
Internet Site of the Week. If you are a publisher or author who sells
a guide to learning the Thai language, then you had better diversify
quickly because you have some serious competition _ from 16-year-old
schoolboy Nattawud Daoruang. On the other hand, if you are learning
Thai or are interested in the language, then we have just the site for
you. Here is an array of extremely helpful advice about how to speak
Thai that uses MacroMedia's Flash so that you can click to hear exactly
how a word is pronounced. Nattawud encourages people to learn the Thai
alphabet and points out that phonetics or romanised Thai do not capture
the tones. In addition, there are sections on how to read and write
Thai. We bring you this site with a recommendation from reader Jane,
who writes: "I am finding (this site) extremely useful in learning
Thai as you can listen to a native speaker . . . Courses like this normally
cost a lot of money and it is really great that this student runs the
site 100% free. It is very innovative and I haven't seen anything like
this before. I can't praise it enough." In fact, the learn Thai
section is just one small part of the huge Thailandlife.com site that
has over 300 pages and 1000 images and which is making the enterprising
and energetic Nattawud a global citizen who has received endorsements
for the site from around the world. Tony Waltham
Newsbytes.com, June
2001
For the visually inclined, this online archive hosts a collection of
fine digital images of Thailand. Taken by and uploaded by Thai photographer
Nattawud Daoruang, hundreds of pictures of diverse Thai scenes come
thumbnailed ten to a page. Clicking on each delivers a larger picture
complete with description. The collection features fascinating architecture,
ancient temples, Buddhist monks, sports, country life, and more. World
Wide Web: www.thailandpictures.com
Guide of Bangkok, March 2001
ThailandGuidebook.com from a Thai student. I think the most amazing
thing about this site, excluding the content, is the fact the Webmaster
is only fifteen years old and has been building Web pages since he was
twelve. ThailandGuidebook.com is one of eight sites that belong to him
and he has received kudos from all around the world. There is a lot
of content on this site. The navigation isn't the most convenient and
it could take some time to get through most of the site, but it is definitely
worth a visit if you're looking for a source of good information about
the country.
The site is divided into six sections that include facts about Thailand,
highlights of the country, useful facts for visitors, provinces, learning
the language, and online shopping in Thailand. There is a huge archive
of information on this site, from attractions in the city itself, like
temples and the Skytrain, to information on the provinces. On the page
of each province, a list of attractions and pictures is available with
brief descriptions. Even the weather at the moment in the specified
province is displayed.
There are very good pictures on this site, taken by the Web master
himself, giving visitors a better grasp of what each location has to
offer. I was in complete awe of the quality of the pictures and the
beautiful way each landmark is captured.
For visitors to Thailand there is information on health issues, the
weather, general customs and traditions, and even tipping and the television
system.
There are also links leading to the Webmaster's other sites, covering
topics from the life of a teenager in Thailand (http://www.thailandlife.com)
to the phenomena of Harry Potter in the Kingdom (http://www.thaistudents.com/harrypotter).
Also online is his diary, which is surprisingly explicit for a site
that is as popular as his is. It just goes to prove that Thai teenagers
are not as conservative and sheltered as people like to think they are.
The collection of sites associated to ThailandGuidebook.com will give
you an in-depth look into the country, the capital city, and the life
of one Thai boy who has come very far in the virtual world that is the
internet.
Kat's Window on Thailand, Bangkok ,
March 2001
I met Nattawud Daoruang via email about three months ago (his friends
call him Gor). This 15-year-old Thai student asked me to check out his
website http://www.thailandlife.com. The more time I spent on his site,
the more awestruck I became. Over 300 pages and 800 pictures give a
comprehensive, honest, and professional overview of this teenager's
life and culture. (Click
here for more)
BangkokMouth.com, February 2001
I’d
like to introduce you to a remarkable young man by the name of Nattawud
Daoruang who is still a student at the Sriwittayapaknam school in Samut
Prakarn. Barely old enough to start shaving, this amazing guy has produced
a web-site which must have professional designers scratching their heads
and wondering just how this young whippersnapper does it.
In his spare
time, he plays chess, works on his incredible site, crashes motorcycles,
works as an amateur photographer, and revels in the spotlight as possibly
Thailand’s most famous internet teenager.
I implore
you to take a look at a site which has already attracted about 3 million
web-surfers, and take a peek inside the mind of a very special Thai
teenager.
Among the
site’s many treasures, Nat bares his soul by way of a very personal
daily diary, which while not quite in the same literary league as that
of Anne Frank, will guarantee to have you smiling at his interesting
lifestyle. In true Adrian Mole fashion, he was recently dumped by his
girlfriend, but with talents like Nat’s I’m sure they are
queuing around the block to take her place. Nat got in touch with me
to say how much he enjoyed bangkokmouth.com, especially the ‘are
you becoming Thai’ section. He obviously has a good sense of humor
as well as some amazing talents.
THAILAND web awards 2000,
The Nation, 9th January 2001
http://www.thailandlife.com
Webmaster: Nattawud Daoruang
Concept: With the idea behind www.thailandlife.com being to
showcase the Kingdom to people overseas, its 15-year-old webmaster uses
his everyday life experiences to describe the life and culture of Thai
people. Net users can learn about Thai people's daily routine, their
religion, and holiday activities, for example. Every aspect of Thai
life style and culture is presented through pictures, accompanied by
descriptions based on a young boy's activities.
Future plan: For Nattawud, the potential for developing his
site is endless. It has already been turned into a weekly online magazine
about Thai life, and he also has a monthly newsletter he sends out to
an ever-growing mailing list. He said he planned to continually update
the website over the next 10, 20, or even 30 years. "Keep coming
back, as in the future you will be able to see my graduation from school,
my first day at work, my marriage, the birth of my children, and their
first day at school," he said.
Comment: "Back in 1997, when I started creating websites,
not many people knew what I was doing. But now, there are thousands
of websites and many people can use the Internet. It's an exciting time
as things are changing so fast, with many new products and ideas to
play with. However, I will have to work harder as I now have more competition."
Nattawud Daoruang - Already an Internet Success,
Bamboo Shoots, Camboadia, August 2000
Nattawud Daoruang, a Thai child, has established many personal web
sites to attract tourists from different corners of that world. Based
on interviews with him via e-mail and some texts from his web sites,
Bamboo Schoots magazine would like to give some information regarding
the establishment and support used to develop these web sites. (Click
here for more)
Samut Prakan boy, 14, puts his life on the
Web, Bangkok Post, 5th July 2000.
At the age of 14, Nattawud Daoruang manages at least four web sites,
one of which receives frequent hits from teenagers around the world.
Thailandlife.com http://www.thailandlife.com has been reviewed and reported
on by the media both here and abroad and Nattawud has full confidence
that he would continue to develop the site to provide more information
about his personal experiences and also to provide more stories and
pictures from every province in Thailand. (Click
here for more)
Students make early start in e-commerce,
The Nation, 27th June 2000
Nattawud Daoruang, 14, has gained attention after launching his own
website, www.thailandlife.com, which has received more than 130,000
hits since being launched a few months ago. Nattawud's passion for the
Internet grew during his time at Srinai and now he has five homepages
in all, including www.thaiscouting.com and Thailandmovies.com. (Click
here for more)
Students on-line, Bangkok Post, Friday 23
June 2000
...Be sure to click the link to Nattawud Daoruang's "Thailand
Life" webpage, which is included in the site. It is as complete
an overview of the country and its culture _ presented with a very sharp
eye in a personal style from a teenage perspective _ as you will find,
and Nattawud has filled it with evocative photographs. Although Thai
Students On-Line is aimed at young people, adults can learn a lot from
it, and will find it hard to stop once they've begun clicking.
Internet Site of the Week,
Bangkok Post, Database (7th June 2000)
Here's
the fruit of the labour of one 14-year-old Thai student from Paknam
who has been called "Thailand's youngest ambassador". The
web site is called Thailand Life http://www.ThailandLife.com and you'll
be impressed by its depth of information. Webmaster Nattawud Daoruang
has already received a lot of media attention abroad and the site has
had over 120,000 visitors. (Click here
for more)
I
was a Student of the Week in a magazine called "Student
Weekly"
NATTAWUD Daoruang, a 14-year-old
student at Satri Samut Prakan School, has been addicted to the Internet
for four years. But this addiction agrees with him. The young student
has turned into an impressive webmaster, with fans all over the world.
To find out what all the fuss is about, log on to his site at <www.thaistudents.com/nattawud>.
(Click here for more)
-
On
ITV in Thailand (Click here for pictures)
-
- Cruel
Customs officials cheat students out of gifts
- Nation Junior (August
1-15 1999) written by Phoowadon Duangmee
"Mean Thai Customs officials
have refused to pass on gifts sent from Leonardo DiCaprio's mother to
Samut Prakan students! What is more, when the students told the officials
to send back the gifts, the stingy Customs men didn't. Now they're going
to auction the gifts and make money out of the gifts themselves!"
(Click here for more)
- Leo
and Learning - A Computer Age Tale in Thailand
- Words by Ron Gluckman.
Photography by David Paul Morris. Silk Road, May 1999.
"The eyes of the whole
world seemed to focus upon Phuket earlier this year, when international
heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio landed here to film The Beach, his first
new movie since soaring to mega-stardom with Titanic." (Click
here for more)
