Day 1 / 4th January

“Wow, this is really different from Bangkok.”

This was the only thought I had as I surveyed my surroundings the moment I stepped out of Chiang Mai’s International Airport. Thinking back about it now, this simple thought that went through my mind reflected how ignorant I was of Chiang Mai as a whole. Of course they are different! They have developed at different rates, differing in not only their cultures and traditions, but also in their economic status and lifestyles. As Bangkok was the only city I had visited in Thailand, I was accustomed to the modern city infrastructures. However, this time round, the land was slightly bare, with buildings that appeared to be less-developed or slightly run-down. Even so, there was something that sort of struck a chord within me. I guess, it was the more down-to-earth and tranquil atmosphere that the surroundings exuded. It strengthened the feelings I had that this trip was an opportunity for me to escape from the hectic life I have back in Singapore. But boy, was I wrong about this too! The upcoming days were filled with activities one after another, with barely enough time to rest besides during the long bus rides.

Our first night in Chiang Mai was spent shopping at the night markets.  Our group was wandering around the market near our hotel when we met some ‘Lady Boys’, or so called Kathoeys in Thai. As a way of commemoration for our trip, our group excitedly went forward for a photo with the Lady Boys. As the girls in the group urged the boys forward for a photo, the Lady Boys picked up on their names and started calling for the boys too. One of the Lady Boys was in-charge of receiving the payment, and she only requested for Yong Jia to proceed with the payment, by stuffing the Thai Baht into her top near her chest. At that moment, she took the opportunity to sneak a quick peck on Yong Jia’s cheek.

It was really a memorable, shocking, yet funny experience for all of us, except for Yong Jia, who I believe must have felt slightly traumatised.  However, this made me think of how and why are the Thais so acceptive towards the practice of Transvestism or of Transgenders in their country. How did the Thais start to embrace such practices? None of the locals showed any signs of disapproval of the Lady Boys’ acts in the public, and it is so prevalent all around the country. Furthermore, several popular Thai models, singers and actresses are Transgenders. The Thais even have Kathoey Beauty Contests. This is unlikely to happen in Singapore where such acts may be highly condemned by some. What is the reason for such a difference in attitudes between the two countries? I have yet to find out why, but based on a simple search on google, it appears to be because of the notion of Karma. Some Thais believe that Kathoeys deserve pity rather than blame as being a Kathoey is the result of transgressions in past lives.

After touring the whole market, our group decided to head down to the Sunday Night Market even though it was closing in an hours’ time as we did not want to lose out at our only opportunity to visit the place. This was the night when I had my first of the many upcoming Song Thaew rides in Chiang Mai. I enjoyed riding on the Song Thaew as besides breathing in the badly polluted air, it was overall an enjoyable experience. We get to relish in the sights, sounds and sometimes, the smell of delicious street food in Chiang Mai all at the same time as we travelled from one location to the next, all for an average of 20 baht.

Following up, our first official Fieldwork day in Chiang Mai.

Today was the day that we had to start our fieldwork in this beautiful city of Thailand. I must admit my feelings of nervousness outweighed the excitement that I had for the research to be done. On the long bus ride to Chiang Rai, I found myself worrying about how the interview was going to be like later. After all, this was the first ever interview that our team would be conducting. I wasn’t sure if we were sufficiently well-prepared for the interview and I was unsure of what to expect too.

However, it was reassuring since our first interview went really well. It was with a general practitioner, Dr Jirayu Maneerat, who kindly agreed to come down to our hotel for an interview. She had a lot to share with us that gave us new perspectives towards our topic. However, she actually shared with us that there is a lack of nutrition education campaigns in schools or in the public which is due to low governmental focus on the people’s health in Chiang Mai. Noting that this is not specifically on our topic of nutritional labelling but on the broad range of nutrition as a whole, I was honestly slightly shocked at this information. I expected the country to have some basic form of education on nutrition, as after all, isn’t the health of your people important?  I reflected on the health education I had received in Singapore, remembering that I had to attend compulsory health education lessons that taught me about eating food from the different groups of the food pyramid and the importance of exercising regularly.

This was one of the textbooks I remember owning when I was in primary school. I believe that receiving such education at a young age is important as it builds the foundation for incorporating healthy tips into our lifestyles such that it becomes a good habit in the future. If what the doctor said is true, it worries me that Chiang Mai may be lacking these forms of basic health education as it concerns the general health of their people and the future generations.

However, it was important that we had to constantly remind ourselves after the interview that no matter how useful or valuable this interview was to us, it was merely one out of the many we had to conduct in the upcoming days. We could still try to cross-reference this information through the many upcoming interviews and survey questionnaires with the locals.

The conclusion from this interview was that the locals are health conscious, however, it can only be translated into their behavior given the right opportunity and knowledge. The doctor believes that the locals lack awareness of actual nutritional facts or values behind healthier choices of food. Even if they were aware of the presence of the labels, many could not understand them due to the lack of education. However, the doctor was optimistic towards the idea that with more comprehensive labels, more stringent regulations, better education and understanding of labels, many would be able to adopt the healthier option more successfully.

At the second stop, we planned to conduct interviews and surveys at a Shopping Mall, Central Plaza, However, as it was the first time that we were conducting interviews with the public, we faced difficulty in deciding on the way that the interview should be conducted, with the group split between two different views. Furthermore, the survey questionnaires were not yet printed due to our lack of preparation before the trip itself. We hoped to find a printing shop in the Shopping Mall but to no avail. There was also a sudden issue with filming at the venue, as we realized that filming in the mall was prohibited and even having the security guards discouraging us from doing so. Faced with so many pessimistic circumstances, it was hard for our group to discuss and reach a consensus at that point in time. I was really overwhelmed by our lack of preparation as things went opposite to the way I hoped for it to be. Furthermore, I did not manage to accomplish my personal goal, as stated in my pre-trip reflection, on how I wanted to overcome my shy personality to approach the locals. I still felt uncomfortable and nervous due to the unfamiliar environment and language barrier. I felt really disappointed as we failed to accomplish any interviews or survey questionnaires at this stop and we were off to a bad start. This meant that we were already lagging behind. Knowing that we could have done much better than that, we headed on to the ASEAN Flower Festival.

The ASEAN Flower Festival was a whole wonderland of dazzling flowers. The flowers were used differently and creatively to form various beautiful models and structures, which made it an even more than pleasing experience for the eyes and the soul. However, we decided to make work our priority due to the disappointment we received at the previous stop. I was impressed by how our group got it together so quickly. Different members took up different roles as we interviewed the public one after another and received various perspectives from the different age groups. It was evident how we managed to turn the previous stop as a stepping stone as it was a learning experience for all of us. We managed to overcome our differences and to reach a consensus, and I felt that that was when we started being more productive. We tried to conduct the interviews such that it would be more engaging and interactive by allowing the interviewees to do a taste test with two different brands of potato chips, thereafter bringing in price and the nutritional labels, seeing if that would affect their prior decision. This change in interview format was devised to cross-reference to the information given by Dr Jirayu Maneerat. We had to learn how to be adaptive

Overall, it was a fruitful day 1 as there was a lot that I had learnt. One of them being that the Thais take pride in their traditions and hence, are unwilling to make changes to their daily lifestyle and habits. This would mean that it would be difficult to convince and influence them to change their diet of eating salty and fried food. Another learning point that I had was, that similar to Singapore, the hectic lifestyles is the reason why people would rather opt for convenience and purchase readily-prepared food instead of going through the trouble of preparing their own. However, in contrast to Singapore where restaurants are making healthier food their selling point due to the recent general focus on healthy living, Chiang Mai lacks these healthier choice restaurants and shops. These shows that given our differences in culture and tradition, we are affected in our daily lifestyle and preferences, in this case, for the food that we consume.