Blogging 'motorsai' finds fame

Blogging 'motorsai' finds fame

The tagline on his Twitter account reads: motorcycle taxi, express document delivery, cheque collecting, bill posting and messenger service.

Dejchat: Making the media rounds

But Dejchat Puangket is no ordinary motorcycle taxi driver. He is also a blogger, sending out regular tweets about his daily life on Bangkok's mean streets and what he encounters when plying his trade.

And now that his photo of the Sukhumvit bomb suspect _ lying in debris, with one of his legs missing and the other barely attached _ has been splashed across the media, he can add celebrity to his resume.

Mr Dejchat, who blogs under the name "Blogger Rasisalai" and tweets from @motorcyrubjang, uploaded his photos and videos of the shocking aftermath _ some so vivid and graphic that he later blurred them _ at 2.32pm on Tuesday, minutes after the blasts occurred.

It is no surprise he received tweets from journalists from both the old and new media asking for the rights to use his images. And in the true spirit of citizen journalism, Mr Dejchat, who started blogging in 2007, allowed access to all.

"I did not witness the explosions myself, but I got there in time," Mr Dejchat told the Bangkok Post.

His win, or base, on Soi Pridi Banomyong 20 is a few blocks away from the crime scene on Soi 31.

Mr Dejchat's hectic schedule yesterday went like this _ a request for an interview from Matichon Online, talking to Rawangpai Channel about being a multimedia journalist, going on air on Channel 9 with Khun Kanok (Ratwongsakul, of the Chao Khao Khon news programme), posting bills at Idea Expert and ItalThai, going to Bang Po and then appearing on Blue Sky Channel at 6pm.

Mr Dejchat, who uses an android Imobile phone to take photos and often relies on a 15-baht per hour internet cafe to update his blogs, was so overwhelmed with interview requests that tweeted in the evening: "My apologies for all the calls I could not pick up na krub. I am on air at Blue Sky krub."

While he has been in the media spotlight before yesterday _ his blog has been seen by 907,745 people and his Twitter account has 2,228 followers _ his latest crime-scene reporting lifted it to another level.

"You are amazing! Are you a spy in disguise? (Just kidding)," one admirer tweeted him. Another said: "Phi motorcycle taxi overtook everybody including professional journos. Cool! The real citizen journalist."

Despite his overnight celebrity, his head is not too big for his helmet and he took time to tweet words of thanks to all of his new admirers.

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