Day One – A Slap in the Face

It was only day one and our impression of Chiang Mai and Thailand is completely shattered. Even though we had noticed it the night before, we only came into acceptance with the fact that Thais do not smoke much, at least not in the open when Dr Jirayu Maneerat told us during the interview. The subsequent fieldwork at Central Plaza further confirmed this notion, as we could only find one man smoking outside the mall (since it is illegal to smoke inside). Prior to the trip, we believed that smoking is very common in Thailand, perhaps due to our impressions of the busy capital, Bangkok and the many tourists who smoked there.

It was only day one and things got a little too depressing for our project. Our previous idea of investigating the use of different types of cigarettes is no longer applicable to Chiang Mai, or even Thailand, since the locals do not even smoke as much as we envisioned them to. (Our findings show low smoking rates but it could be due to Thais preferring to smoke in private.) I cannot ask for a better way to start this trip. It was easy to immerse in the feeling of dejection and discouragement, wanting to give up on the research during the fieldwork. We even aimed to collect 100 survey results from smokers during the trip, when in actuality, we could barely gather 10 responses. However, my group quickly got our act together again and reasoned that instead of the different types of cigarettes, we could research on Thais’ opinions on the act of smoking. For this, I am immensely grateful for my group mates, for influencing me to take up the challenge. This setback only made us want to try even harder.

It was only day one but yes, it is only day one.

There is still time.