From the archives...

Apropos of nothing in particular, I had occasion to look up some old threads tonight, they were on Chowhound, and it was the infancy of my chowishness and indeed, before foodie-ism had become the rampant cultural force that it is today. Hard to believe it's been nearly 10 years since happening into this nascent community. Anyway, I got a kick out of this one in particular, and thought I would encourage others to link to long past posts that reveal some distinct changes over time.

Of particular note here...

1) The affection for Thai Aree. I was pleased to see via search a few past-year mentions of Thai Aree, but it is odd to think how that affection was displaced in some measure by the secret menu frenzy and discovery of Spoon.

2) No photos. A question of functionality, certainly, and it's nice to read full-on reports rather than a pic and a one-liner. But it's not just functionality, there was a real spirit of information sharing, of exploration, of understanding that I don't see quite as much anymore--not just here, but anywhere. Pictures I think must be part of it, it's so much easier to upload a pic. But also, many people are a lot more knowledgeable than when we all started and, if you're not, the knowledge is so accessible. You can get countless accounts of nam tok in a way that you probably couldn't back in 2002.

Cheers, LTH.