Day 2

Today, we went to the White Temple. The temple was visually stunning. In the sunlight, it seemed as if the temple itself was shining due to all the sparkling fixtures/ decorations on it.

It was extremely interesting to note from the tour guide that the White Temple is extremely young (a mere 20 years old) and that the way it was designed can be seen to be very modern. There are artworks in there that emphasise the importance of religion through superhero motifs such as Superman, Transformers and the Matrix. I thought that for temples to be iconic, it usually had to be an extremely old temple with cultural significance. However, the White Temple proved me wrong as the White Temple became an iconic scene of Chiang Mai due to its embrace and ingenious incorporation of modern elements within its unique designs.

We were hoping to get an interview with a monk. However, we ran into some difficulties as it turns out that we needed official permission using the university’s authority, which we did not arrange beforehand. This was indeed an unexpected obstacle we faced and it was due to the lack of preparation on our part. However, the secretary was very helpful and offered to give us an interview. We managed to gain insightful information, such as the realisation that the White Temple could be built specifically with tourists in mind. This is seen in how there is the separation between the religious meditation and tourist-viewing sites. As such, the monks do no come in frequent contact with the visitors. Their spiritual meditation is not disrupted. This came as a surprise to me due to how there were articles on how the Chinese were being disruptive in temples. However, this was not the case when we visited. This thus highlighted the disparity between media representation and reality.

After returning to our hotel, we intended to interview a Chinese language class in order to highlight educational changes due to tourism. However, they refused an interview with us – a first for our group. This highlighted how invasive an interview can be. It also made me realise how lucky we have been to have had always chanced upon people who were kind to spare time for us. Our group also generalised that Thai people were generally very kind people. In contrast, if this research was in Singapore, our fast-paced lifestyle and impatience would have resulted in many rejections for an interview.

Despite the disappointment with the Chinese language centre, another opportunity came across in the form of a Chinese tour agency; we managed to get an interview with the shop owner who was a Chinese based in Chiang Mai. His interview highlighted an important point of how the Chinese market is also cashing in on this tourist industry and how the local Chiang Mai people might not be benefitting as much as they appear to. This interview was eye-opening because we have not considered this possibility.

During our free time at night, our group decided to watch a Muay Thai Ring Boxing Show. I was initially reluctant to go due to the amount of money (20 SGD). However, I eventually decided to go for the experience. After all, we do not get to experience such things in Singapore. The match was initially quite boring. However, after observing and understanding the fight a little, it became more exciting. The Muay Thai show also allowed me to understand some Thai culture, such as their practice of doing a ritual before a match.

Muay Thai boxing ring during a match

We also saw a lot of Europeans and Caucasians, an interesting fact of the audience make-up. It would seem that certain tourist entertainments are catered to certain nationalities, and the Chinese is not one of the Muay Thai’s. The Professor later explained that the Chinese mostly came as a family, and Muay Thai fights or bars would not have been an appropriate entertainment spot for them. This was an interesting revelation as I have always thought all tourist spots would be visited by all types of nationalities.

Furthermore, one of the Europeans/Caucasians behaved rudely to us by questioning if we really paid to sit in our VIP seats. This came as a surprise to me. I found it ironic as our research topic was on how Chinese tourists could be inconsiderate, but it turns out that the Europeans might be more rude and arrogant than the Chinese.

The last few Muay Thai matches also seemed pretty suspicious that we suspected they were rigged. Overall, it was a very interesting experience that exposed to me to a different type of tourist attraction. If I were travelling alone, I might not have taken the chance to experience it.

We ended the night by eating delicious noodles at a road side stall for 40 baht. 🙂