Day 2: white temple, new friends

In full on crisp clean white, we were greeted by the pristine Chiang Rai White Temple upon getting off the tour bus. It was quite a sight as I usually associate temples with colours like orangey-brown, red and so on but right here in front of me, stood a temple that was all white which made it look extremely majestic. We spent some time exploring the place like all the other tourists that were present and I definitely enjoyed the simple pleasure of walking around the temple as I do not usually visit temples in Singapore.

Nonetheless, it was interesting to note how the temple, a place that is presumable sacred and important to people who are strong believers of that religion, have become so commercialized as it got transformed into a tourist attraction. It is actually kind of sad how temples as such are slowly losing their ‘identities’ and true essence but I guess this is the way of life as commercialism and the tourism industry slowly becomes the priorities of the governments all over the world.

Our next destination for the day was Wat Chedi Luang which was another temple where we engaged in a monk chat. It was my first time having a conversation with a monk because back in Singapore, I have only seen them walking along the streets but have never spoken to them before and hence, this was definitely a first. I found this monk chat system that they had in place an interesting idea as not only does it allow tourists like us to understand more about what they do, it keeps the monks connected with the outside world as well. The concept of being a monk in Chiang Mai was also different to that in Singapore and this highlights to me how different our cultures are and how there is so much more to learn about the rich culture they have over here. There was a group of Caucasians conversing with another monk while we were having the monk chat and it was nice to see how both parties were interested to learn about one another’s cultures and how having a common spoken language like English can help people from two different parts of the world connect with one another. Apart from us conversing with the Thais, this was definitely one of the rare moments where I witnessed an intercultural exchange going on which really warms my heart for some reason.

Arriving at one of the cafes along Nimmanhaem Road, we decided to conduct a focus group discussion with a group of Thai youths as compared to conducting street interviews which was our initial plan. Imagine being approached in Singapore by five students who have a stack of papers and cameras in hand along with a tripod. I am pretty sure most of us may frown upon the requests of these students, furthermore if they were foreigners. Approaching strangers to do our surveys seemed daunting initially but after a few initial tries, we got a little braver and bolder and managed to get quite a significant amount of surveys done. I guess it is really true when they say how there will be good and bad days when it comes to doing research and we are really lucky to have a good day today!

It is important to pick ourselves up after facing setbacks, especially minor ones because if we prevail, things will get better and I am thankful that our research has highlighted this point to me. After feeling down on the previous day, today was definitely a hundred and eighty degrees change and we were happy with our progress. I am also really touched by how nice and genuine the Thais are as they have no obligation to help us but yet, often do so and sometimes, even go the extra mile. The people in Chiang Mai are definitely a special bunch of people :’)