The Lost Boy

The Lost Boy returns to Bangkok

By now Facebook friends and observant Twitter followers will hopefully have worked out that I'm about to return to Bangkok, Thailand. I have completed my master's at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and — wait for it — I have a job, my first full-time job in more than three years.

In 2008 I left my job at the Phuket Gazette and vowed never to work full time again. I set off for Timor-Leste and spent two years working as a freelance journalist, with projects for ICFJ, ILO and the UN from time to time. I had a great run, saved enough money to put myself through grad school and came away with a decent portfolio. I worked when I wanted to, but rather than leading a life of leisure, I was usually on it all hours of the day doing one thing or another. In fact, I began to feel extremely uneasy if there was ever so much as a moment that I was unable to fill with frantic activity.

Being back in the UK for a year has been the final part of my coming of age, so to speak. I got out of my education exactly what I wanted: a deeper understanding of Southeast Asian government and politics. I feel that I wouldn't have been able to achieve this as fully if I hadn't done the master's. And the more I learnt, the more interested I became, focussing on Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and, to a lesser extent, Malaysia and Singapore. I did well in my exams and coursework and I'm just waiting on the marking of my dissertation now.

Truthfully, I find Southeast Asian government and politics far more interesting than European. It may be true that familiarity breeds complacency or it may be that Southeast Asian politics is just that little bit more unpredictable and exciting. Whatever it is, that's where my interests lie. But then of course I also have other interests, such as in human rights, development and so on, and these were issues I touched on regularly during my time reporting from Timor-Leste, as well as other countries.

I could have gone back to freelance reporting from Southeast Asia and this was in fact my original intention, but then I started thinking about the other skills I've acquired over the years and other things I'm interested in, such as social media, photography, video editing (at a basic level), radio and so on. I don't always get to use all these skills when reporting on a story. I then made the decision to start looking for jobs loosely bracketed as "digital media" and I applied for about 20 positions, mostly with NGOs. I figured it couldn't hurt to at least apply, but fo course it was all new to me so it was something of a learning process.

Of the jobs I applied for, I was called to interview for a handful of them. There were two I really wanted and I spent about two weeks preparing for them. I eventually made it to the final three for an SEO/social media job with a luxury travel website, but my real focus was on these two jobs with large NGOs. One of the jobs was in London, the other in Bangkok. In the end, I got the one in Bangkok.

The job in London would have been fab and I was disappointed not to get it. I had been extremely nervous at the two-hour interview, not least of all because I was wearing a suit and tie, which is something of a rarity. But still, it was a good experience and it's something to learn from.

The job I did get, however, is perfect for me in so many ways. I am now employed as the Web and Social Media Editor for Plan International, an international organization focussed on children's issues. I'll be working in the regional HQ in Bangkok, overseeing the website and social media campaigns.

There's huge scope for doing some really interesting things. Half of my job will be the website itself and the other half will be the social media side of things, all with the intention of spreading the good word of Plan, which has projects in 14 countries in the region. Over time, I hope to visit most of those countries and help them create content that promotes the work they've been doing while giving the general public something of interest, be it a video, story, photograph or whatever, all with the intention of raising Plan's profile.

I will travel to Bangkok towards the end of next week and am really looking forward to meeting the Plan folks out there. Having a full-time job will mean a change of pace but I feel that freelance journalism in Southeast is somewhat unstable and unpredictable at the moment, especially for younger journalists. There are a few exceptions, of course, but at some point you have to question long-term goals.

I wrote a lot of stories out there for some pretty big publications, but I have to face the fact that the majority of money I made came from other work. I have to think about my future and having a salary is remarkably tempting, especially after a year at uni. I also get to do a job that really excites me for an organisation that I trust and respect. It's really a no-brainer.

This blog will continue as before, with a focus once again on Southeast Asia, but I've learnt from my mistakes as The Lost Boy in Bangkok the first time around. There is a big difference between the person I was then and the person I am now. I'm no longer infatuated by Thailand. I'm not going back there because I feel I have to or because I wouldn't be able to succeed anywhere else. I'm going because I have landed my dream job in a region of which I have specialist knowledge and a genuine interest in. Whereas before I wouldn't even have considered living and working in the UK, I now feel that I would be happy to do so at some point in the future should the right opportunity arise.

In short, I'm excited.