New Mandala turns 3 - New Mandala

Earlier in June, Bangkok Pundit caused quite a stir when he tantalisingly offered up the faintest sketch of a rumour and the intriguing idea that the clue was 15 June.

15 June? 15 June? We scratched our collective heads at New Mandala HQ and failed to come up with anything that resembled a breakthrough. Royal promotions, hospitalisations and all the other date-related randomness that history throws up didn’t get us any closer to the action.

But then it hit us. Somewhere along the line there was, we reasoned, a small astrological miscalculation. Even the biggest names in Southeast Asian future-gazing will tell you that it is possible to get things slightly wrong. In this case the clue was, surely, 16 June. “Why 16 June?”, you ask.

Sacred? Special? Great? All three!

This is the day back in (southern hemisphere) mid-winter 2006 when New Mandala was born.

On this auspicious third anniversary (3×3 = 9; 3-1-1=1; etc; etc) we have elected to offer up a small selection of New Mandala‘s greatest hits.

Enjoy!

Most commented post – The King Never Smiles? with 348 comments
Best action post – Crushing the Red Shirts by Nick Nostitz
Most out-of-place requests for a meeting – these two on a thread about Thailand’s crown prince
Walker’s favourite headline – Actress gives PM a longan
Anonymous commentators most likely to be big-name Thai Studies professors – Hang on…we can’t give that away…
Most widely read and translated interview – Interview with Paul Handley
Most effective Google bait – “Australian ladyboy sex tourist”
Coolest domestic scene – Rubber dub dub
Most cutting comment – “Are you sure…”
Earliest commentator still regularly writing under same name – Bangkok Pundit (back in pre-coup September 2006). An honourable mention goes to Aiontay with a comment a few days later.
Most bizarre thread – Volunteering to fight in Burma
Most offensive to middle America – Lunch?

Thanks to everyone who makes New Mandala possible. We don’t know what the year ahead will bring but when we started this enterprise we certainly couldn’t imagine it would go this far, or last this long. Thanks for all of your support, interest and appreciation.