8th Jan/ Day 5

If we classified each day according to the number of big-ticket items, then this was it – we had the long-awaited interviews with the professors from Chiang Mai University, as well as the leadership segment. Both were, in their own rights, enlightening. Not to mention fun, too.

I would like to highlight two points that were raised during the interview:

1) Asian vs Western tourists

One of our questions dealt with the reasons why tourists still go for the traditional elephant camps. The professors mentioned that this was partly due to the relatively large number of Chinese tourists Thailand receives every year, with their preference for traditional entertainment, and partly due to the shorter packages on offer that caters to most tourists’ interests. We will touch on the latter when we deal with the solutions, but what really caught my eye was the former.

The issue of Chinese, or Asian, tourists, basically, versus Western tourists seems to be approaching something of a common theme (recall yesterday’s events). Is this distinction really all that real? Keep in mind the fact that both sets of tourists have access to the Internet and the same set of online reviews and articles. One explanation for this phenomenon is that Asians tend to be more conservative, preferring to visit camps that their friends have visited. Therefore, if one group prefers a traditional elephant camp, a lot more people would to go to said elephant camp rather than a new, untried one. We can then make use of this observation to craft targeted solutions for each set of tourists.

2) Traditional elephant camps are here to stay

The professors mentioned that these camps can co-exist, given the differing tastes and preferences of tourists. The real question is, should they?

Apparently, elephants don’t receive all that much damage – the only real trouble is having long-term health problems following heavy workload for prolonged periods, or maybe a cracked toenail or two. As long as the mahouts know what they are doing, it would just be like “educating children”.

More importantly, a thriving tourist industry is crucial to elephant welfare, more so than it is to the economy. We already know significant improvements have been made regarding their treatment, in terms of the acts they perform (chafing of elephants due to the usage of the cart) and training required (positive reinforcement as opposed to the phajaan ritual). The professors added on here that camp elephants actually have a longer lifespan and better health compared to those in the zoo or out in the wild, due to the interests of the camps to keep elephants healthy, and better treatment afforded by incoming tourist revenue.

Maybe, just maybe, we should keep some traditional elephant camps, with certain caveats, of course. This signifies a bit of a departure from our original stance – that they’re bad and should be converted wholesale.

After a hearty meal at the local noodle store, we headed back to the hotel for the leadership section of the trip. We didn’t know what to expect, but at the end of it all, I learnt a couple of things about myself too.

If I had to describe myself either as a ‘task-oriented’ or ‘relationship-oriented’ leader (something I learnt from one of the courses offered in NBS), I would pick the former. I like to get things done, and tick them off the checklist. Unfortunately, this precluded a lot of the relationship-building, which is just as important to team efficacy, and I have, on more than one occasion, put people off because of my emphasis on results, even though I do believe some of my ideas and drive will add value to the team effort. Thus, for this segment, I strived for balance – don’t talk so much, focus on people as much as I focused on results.

It wasn’t easy, but I thought it was a step in the right direction – actively trying to better myself, so that I may become a better participant and leader in the future. On several occasions I tried to, as it were, stop to look at the flowers – they were beautiful, by the way – while bringing my serious, achievement-oriented side to the fore when things got desperate, or were appropriate. I’d rather like to think I didn’t perform too badly, and got to know my group mates a little better too. It’s a nice direction to be heading towards.