Post Trip Reflection

The 7 days in Chiang Mai really went by fast. I am really glad to be in my group where we had such good fun going to so many places. We went to the Grand Canyon, Sakura viewing area, CMU’s lake, local street food stalls and the cabaret.

Reflecting on my post-trip, I realised I may not have achieved some of my goals but I definitely learned more about the people I’m travelling with. Nonetheless I learned much from the interactions with the people throughout this trip. Every time I push my limits and step out of my comfort zone is another time I grow as a person.

While I did not get the experience of interviewing others, hearing how my other groups mates conducted the interviews was relevant as well. Learning to hold interviews with foreigners is essentially the same as reducing your reluctance to hold conversations with people you are unfamiliar with due to language or social barriers. Being raised in an Asian culture makes us inherently uncomfortable talking to foreigners. However the people we interviewed were generally willing to be interviewed and open with their views. The key point is to have confidence, coherence and continuing the flow of conversation with directed questions that can be prepared beforehand or on the spot.

For the survey forms, on the subject of ivory poaching or trading, the formatting of questions to be more tactful was apparently not necessary as the local’s had a good impression of their handling of elephants in Chiang Mai generally. Chiang Mai was found to be one of the more elephant- friendly areas of Thailand. We interviewed tour guides, the elephant nature park, local professors and students that should eliminate any possible biases. Ivory trading is apparently already illegal unless the ivory is licensed. There are still shops selling ivory but they are claiming to use ivory gotten before the law was implemented.

Personally, the 3 most impactful experiences I had which I learned from: our conversation with Juelle the volunteer at ENP, the ride with Pro on his bike, and the sight of the bull elephants trapped in their enclosure.

Firstly, the conversation with Juelle and her daughter showed me how much people around the world can go out their comfort zone specially to help out something they cared about. While we had came with the expectation to find out about the Ivory trade from Juelle. In the end we came out of it feeling like anyone can make a difference. Juelle herself shows that it’s about the willingness to take action to help out that makes the difference in improving your society. Despite coming from a different country, her love for elephants led her to organise programs for elephants in both Africa and Thailand. She’s such an inspiration which makes her words carry much more weight. Her visionary leadership style is one I would love to learn from.

Secondly, I would like to say that Pro is an amazing guy. At first I had the bias that because Pro looked geeky, he wouldn’t be as good a student cum translator. However not only did he surprise us with his great general knowledge of the area around Chiang Mai, he also has an extremely wide circle of friends. His friends allowed us to finish the survey quickly as well as obtain an interview with some veterinarian students. What touched us the most was the ride with Pro showing Isaac and I the various scenes happening in Chiang Mai at night. He actually offered to give us a ride around town around 9pm when he could have been resting or going out with his friends. While the breeze on the bike was amazing, what was more amazing was Pro’s willingness to go the extra mile to provide us with an immersive feel of his country. Even generally, the people in Chiang Mai were really friendly and willing to take the time to do our surveys as well as being interviewed by us. In Singapore, you would be hard-pressed to find those willing to take the time to be interviewed by strangers. I definitely hope to learn from Pro and his fellow country man’s attitude of generosity and patience. Not to forget, my instinctive reaction to make biases out of people must be gotten rid of.

Lastly, at the ENP, Jen was giving us a talk on how these bull elephants had to be separated from the main herd. While he was talking, a bull elephant started rampaging in his enclosure and throwing stones at us. Essentially its actions show us these are still wild animals and not pets like dogs and cats. Especially since its aggressive behaviour can do so much more harm than what dogs could ever do. While people embark on conservation acts for elephants, we must also consider the extent of freedom they would like to provide the elephants without compromising the safety of humans.

A point to note about Chiang Mai however is the level of corruption or “flexibility” of the law in Chiang Mai. Looking at it positively, this lets many fun but dangerous past-times happen, such as 3 of us riding on a bike. However, further examination lets me reason that I’d much rather prefer Singapore’s safe and sheltered environment. Chiang Mai’s zebra crossings and traffic lights are more often than not ignored on minor streets. Bribing the police is also a common occurrence according to Pro. Going to Chiang Mai lets me appreciate how Singapore is well managed which will hopefully remain this way for years to come.

What could have been improved was to speak to the officials in charge of catching people smuggling ivory and get their viewpoints on this issue The authorities would be the ones to have the most details about the ivory trade operations. However the limitation of this idea is that the authorities would probably keep mum on this issue as it wouldn’t improve their reputation. However a silent answer from the authorities is still an answer hence it would have been good if we had the time to explore that avenue of information.

Lastly this is my conclusion and learning point from this trip. Honestly before this fieldwork OST came about, I was ambivalent towards how elephants or animals in general were treated. In general, school life itself made me focus more on myself, tending towards my cca, dragonboat, as well as my studies. Having friends who were constantly either on the topic of studies or the various activities planned out for themselves did not help much either. My focus was on improving and helping ourselves and our immediate surroundings, so much so that we lose sight that there’s a whole wider world out there.

Basically in the process of our Research and trip, I began to realise that i should start caring more about other parts of the world instead of just my immediate surroundings. The frequent bombardment of horrors overseas by newspapers and television has desensitized me from caring about the world around myself. Even the recent Paris terror attack flew by me like another piece of gossip floating about. The trip to the ENP opened up my eyes, in that what the news’ reports may be dramatized, but their injuries are real and they certainly do need our help. In ENP, there were elephants that had crippled legs or elephants that were human-shy due to some man-made accidents. These animals as well as many other less fortunates do require our help. Every cent counts and I hope my donation to ENP will count for something to help the elephants. There are many troubles in the world and we do not know them all. I’m not a saint or anything but what we do come across coulf be our simple step to improving the world. From now on, I will try to put in the effort to personally verify the situation and donate if possible but putting on a general uncaring façade is not acceptable anymore. Seeing is believing and the fog of ambivalence surrounding me will hopefully be forever dispersed.