Day 1: Chiang Rai

Our morning was spent on travelling from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai.

We stopped by at a rest stop which featured hot springs, as well as eggs which were cooked in the hot spring. I took off my shoes and decided to try the hot spring, which was burning hot. I marvelled at how other tourists could be so tolerant of the heat and be able to soak their feet in the spring water. I tried to dip my feet in, but ended up wincing from the heat and decided to be content with touching the surface of the spring water. The hot water lapping up against the soles of my feet was therapeutic, and I could feel my nerves resonating with the heat favourably.

We got back onto the coach and continued our ride to Mae Fah Luang University. The entrance to the university was picturesque. The university was set at the foot of the mountain, and had a huge lake at the entrance. It was a unique blending of golden rays of the sun, the majestic mountains, and sparkling reflections of the lake.

We got down to eating our lunchboxes, which was a pleasant surprise. Unlike Singapore’s usual lunch, which usually consisted of one or two side dishes and rice; we had a variety of muffins, sandwiches, cakes, bananas, and hard-boiled eggs. There was no rice provided in the Thai lunchbox. It was apparently normal for Thai people to bring such simple lunchboxes when going on school trips. However, Fye said that she was shocked at such a wide selection, as there would usually just be a fruit, sandwiches, and eggs. Well, it was doubtless that I thought I’d robbed a confectionary when I opened the lunchbox……

The university was squeaky clean (literally). As we walked through the polished wooden floors in the classrooms, my shoes were making mouse-like muffled music due to friction against whatever the floor was coated with. The windows were filled with a calming view of mountains and blue skies—definitely a dream place for studying.

Professor Chirada, professor of political sciences at Mae Fah Luang University, conducted a lecture on human security.  It was pretty obvious that majority of the people in my group, who were doing on youth culture, was caught off-guard trying to adapt and angle our interview questions towards the topic of policy making and empowerment. I was glad that I managed to adapt the questions I had prepared previously to suit the lecturer’s expertise. We learnt about how Thai youth have a culture of self-censorship, due to the reigning governance formed by the military junta.

Fye, the CMU student attached to my group, previously mentioned that youth are afraid to voice their opinions on political or social issues on social media as they are afraid of being judged by their friends and eventually falling out with their friends who may have differing opinions. While reaffirming this observation with Professor Chirada, she said that most youth want to present the best part of themselves. Wanting to leave a good impression of oneself is perhaps inherent in human nature, I thought. We all hope to avoid potential debate online as well. It seemed that self-censorship was a prevalent situation in both Chiang Mai youth and Singaporeans.

On the bus back to the hotel, I was in deep thought on whether we had hit a dead end in our research. After dinner, my group met for a short discussion. Reading our hypothesis and research question again, I realised that we could angle our research in a manner which explored why Chiang Mai youth were afraid to utilise social media, which was a platform with immense potential for inciting change. We tried to search for websites which voiced political and social opinions online, but to no avail. The forums we were searching for were unfortunately not actually written by locals, but non-locals commenting on the political scene in Thailand. Having a quick read of Bill 112 of Thailand’s constitution, we realised that it played an instrumental role in nurturing a culture of self-censorship, as news about people being jailed for violation of this bill due to voicing opinions against the monarchy was commonplace.

Adding to that, Professor Chirada had also mentioned about the education system requiring reformation which championed youth involvement, as well as education focusing more on students forming logical and cogent arguments, teaching them to critically evaluate the government. She said that as a lecturer, she also had to practise self-censorship when evaluating government policies, as she feared being jailed or facing other consequences. However, discussing of policies for the purpose of education was acceptable and relatively free of consequences if arguments are presented logically. I planned to reaffirm our findings with the Chiang Mai university students we would be meeting on Thursday.

After work, we went to explore the Chiang Rai night market nearby. I was troubled about choosing a gift for our CMU student, Fye. She’d wrongly assumed that the USP pack given to all the students were packed by her roommates, and Fay and I flatly denied credit of any sort. As such, after knowing that she liked earrings, I was on the lookout for something worth gifting. Yet, I was aware as to how preposterous and unacceptable it was to gift someone something from her own country—she could easily buy it herself.

Just as I was debating with myself, a large crowd was gathering as a Thai superstar ran into the night market, and started patronising the stalls. It was a variety TV show being filmed live before my eyes, and I was quite surprised at the sudden turn in events. There were camera drones flying overhead, and everyone was trying to push their way through to get a glimpse of the superstar. A random tourist walked over to me and asked, “Who is he?” I replied, “No idea.” The American tourist then proceeded to wade through the crowd to satiate his curiosity. I was left laughing at this authentic example herd mentality and human curiosity.

In all, it was a tiring yet fulfilling day.