Post Trip Reflections

This was a trip of many firsts for me; first time going to Thailand, first time conducting street interviews, first time conducting an interview in Chinese, first time climbing a waterfall. With this many unknowns, the trip was a mixture of expectations and apprehension for me.

Firstly, the trip had been a realistic test of our fieldwork and documentation skills and it was a really good opportunity to try conducting street interviews, especially with the added challenge of language barriers. I had expected to face a lot of rejection and a hard time getting people to agree to be interviewed. I was also initially worried and unconfident of myself in conducting a Chinese interview with the mainland Chinese tourists. I stumbled at first (using a lot of English fillers such as ‘like’) but I knew I had to keep practising if not I would never improve.

Being able to practise and learn from each and every interview I conducted, was the type of experiential learning I had wanted from the trip in order to test my learning and understanding of the course material and see for myself what I could do out in the field. I think that we are all ultimately responsible for our own learning and I’m glad that I took the opportunity to try out new things and give myself a chance to actualise what I had learnt in class.

Skills and communication aside, the content of the interviews themselves were also another eye-opening aspect. The interviews with both the locals and the Chinese tourists have really let me get down to the ground and hear the sentiments from both sides and understand different perspectives to the problem, which allowed me to try to understand the motivations for their behaviour and emotions. Our findings and my experiences on this trip have also taught me a lot on how to be a better tourist and a better human.

From all the interviews we conducted, it is easy to see the immense socio-economic impact of tourism on Chiang Mai. With the kind of spending power that the Chinese tourists have, they contribute greatly to the Thai economy and many of the Thais understand this and I think this is also a factor why the Thais are trying their best to cater to the Chinese market. It is undeniable that the Chinese tourism market has brought about much economic benefit especially to those working in the tourism sector but at the same time, Chinese tourism also has significant social repercussions due to some of their behaviours in public places.

Apart from the socio-economic impact, I think that it is very important to understand and follow the culture and traditions of the place we are travelling to. This is a very basic form of respect and it minimises conflict between both parties. Culture, traditions and religious beliefs are sacred to the locals and as visitors, we should show the same amount of respect that locals have. As in Day 2 and 5, my major lesson about tourism is that it requires effort and understanding on both sides to make it a better experience for everybody involved.

As a Psychology major, studying behaviours, cognitions and emotions is my interest and the sphere of tourism was an interesting context to watch how they play out and interact. Observing tourist behaviour and trying to understand the locals’ mindset raised many questions for me. Why do social pressures and conformity not act as strongly on some Chinese tourists? For example, when they see others queuing up, what compels them to cut queues instead of forming up? (truth be told, a Chinese family cut right in front of me while we were queuing up to get our luggage checked at the Chiang Mai airport; the Chinese man had made the observation (out loud in Chinese) that there was a really long queue and they should just cut right there where they would be the first in line) Is culture a stronger motivation for these Chinese compared to social norms and situations and why? Are there other reasons behind why they do not follow local Thai norms? Is economic benefit or the Thai culture of hospitality a stronger motivation for the behaviour of Thai locals towards Chinese tourists?

When I apply what I have learnt about tourist behaviours and perceptions to myself, I begin to question my own personal stereotypes and assumptions of Chinese tourists. I understand from Psychology that the formation of my own stereotypes and assumptions is due to the representativeness bias (labelling individuals based on their association to a group) and availability bias (how readily examples of poor Chinese tourist behaviour come to my mind; this can be attributed to my own experiences as well as the extensive media coverage). In Singapore, we can also witness the same sort of behaviours (talking loudly, not queueing, spitting, reckless driving) and this contributes to the formation of our existing stereotypes and assumptions. Our discussion with the Tourism Authority director and my Day 5 reflections on the media reporting largely and singularly on the poor behaviour of Chinese tourists.

Hence, my takeaway about tourist behaviour from this trip would be that poor tourist behaviour is not just a problem by nationality. Generalisations and stereotypes are very natural tendencies (due to the abovementioned bias) and I think we are clouded from examining the problem at a more macro level. Poor tourist behaviour is something that we should attribute to the individuals themselves, rather than group them by nationality. We should move towards the mindset of ‘That group of tourists is loud’ over ‘Chinese tourists are loud’. Behaviours are a reflection of an individual’s own character and manners and not a reflection of their nationality, as should be the case of tourist behaviour.

At a personal level, stepping out of my sheltered bubble has been a really enriching experience. Lifting the self-imposed limits of my bubble enabled me to see more, learn more and appreciate more. The visit to the Hill tribes has been really impactful for me in changing how I view my own life. As I lapse back into the familiar conveniences of my daily life, I think my experience from this trip will be a constant reminder that water (let alone potable water) and electricity isn’t a given, that having an education is a privilege not an entitlement, that people out there are making choices between having an income or not having one at all. Growing up in such a protected and convenient environment like Singapore cultivates a sense of entitlement and I think we all need to learn to appreciate everything in our lives and not wait till we’ve have lost something to know that we have been taking things for granted. I can’t change my habits immediately, but I have learnt something that I had wanted myself to before the trip and I can continue working on becoming the better person I aim to be.

Lastly, amidst all the work and introspection, I managed to have fun and enjoy Chiang Mai; food, scenery, culture and people. I am thankful for my group and our CMU buddy, May throughout the week long trip and I am glad that we balanced both our work time and OTOT so that we could finish our work and have fun during the course of the trip.

Expectations would remain just that if we do not make an effort to fulfil them and I think that I tried my best during this trip to achieve what I had set out to do. Nothing would change if I stayed where I was comfortable being and I would never move forward, never know more and never see more. As my first dose of research and Thai culture, this trip has definitely left me hungry for more.

Michelle Neoh