Day 1 [Jan 4]

Photo Credits: Steve Skinner, 500PX

Being the first day of the trip, I honestly did not know what to expect out of the trip. I did not know if my group would be able to achieve whatever that we set out to complete. Although we had already set a pre-trip target of the number of interviews and footage that we needed to take for our media deliverable, we were also wary of the possibility of participants refusing to be interviewed.

When we reached the hot springs as part of our pit stop to Chiangrai, I was quite surprised at the fact that the locals were very willing to share their opinions and comments. In comparison to Singaporeans, I feel that it would have been much harder to obtain an interview from them. The Singaporean public are generally shy in nature and are not comfortable in sharing their thoughts especially if they are being filmed. We even managed to get an interview from a Chinese tourist who was on holiday. This was a piece of valuable footage for us because it gave us different perspective on the issue – Chinese tourist commenting on their own actions.

We headed to an eco-village set up to bring the various hill tribes to a more accessible location for tourists to visit. It was quite a refreshing experience as I visited a different village during my previous trip to Chiangrai. Although having paid a quite a decent sum as entrance fee, I felt that the performance put up by the various tribes lacked effort and gusto. It seemed very staged and routine. What puzzled me the most was that they sat around the performance area as if hoping that we could give them tips. I had a lot of empathy for them because I felt that they were forced to leave their tribes in the mountains to a tourist spot that seemed to “exotify” their cultures. After conducting several interviews with some of the tribeswomen, I realized that this village has been serving them well financially. However, I concluded that their decision between moving to this village and staying in the mountains was a decision between having a little more money compared to having no money at all. Up in the mountains, all they could rely on was their agriculture produce and such income was seasonal. However, at the eco-village they could harvest their agriculture produce during the good seasons and produce handicraft during the poor seasons. Moreover, the location of the eco-village made education in the city more accessible for the children as well as open up job opportunities for the tribesmen. I believe that providing education to the young is a good way to seek more sustainable ways of both preserving their culture and showcasing it to the world.