Day 4 – We did a whole lot of things today too

Today, we set off for a lecture at Chiang Mai University in the morning. Truth be told, the professor was talking about something she’d done lots of research in and was an expert on – but I was too groggy to pay full attention. Even at the parts where the information was related to my group work, I easily zoned out. I really wish it was more interaction-based.

Also, even though the packages of cakes and fruit juice were really kind of them, I thought all that plastic and paper put into the packaging was quite unnecessary. At first, I thought the school was not very environmentally friendly. But, after reading this blog post (http://zenhabits.net/judgy/), I realize that I really shouldn’t have judged them this way – I can now think of a variety of reasons why they gave us the food packaged all separately. Perhaps it was something about hygiene, or maybe that bakery just happens to be one of the better ones in town.

That afternoon, we interviewed veterinary students at CMU about the state of the elephants, and realised that, even though they had shared insightful methods with mahouts on how to help the elephants, the vet students did not seem to understand the operations of an elephant camp as much as I thought they would. I wondered if, perhaps, because of this lack of knowledge, these vet students may appear to be checking on the elephant parks on their stints at the parks, instead of coming across as genuinely concerned experts who wish to help the elephants, mahouts etc. Perhaps, if there were such a gap to be bridged between the vets and the mahouts, the camps where elephants were mistreated would be more receptive to advice that recommends change in their system, all because they now understand that the vets truly care. However, I stopped myself short thinking this way, because the students we interviewed were only in their first and second years, and perhaps when they are officially attached to the camps, they may be able to build rapport using their own ability. I may have jumped to conclusions too soon, because I didn’t have sufficient knowledge of how vet schools and the camps collaborated.

We headed down to a Sakura garden afterwards, and even though I don’t have much of a thing for flowers, it was nice to stroll through the garden, observing the reactions people had to the scenery at a close distance, while taking some pictures along the way. We walked deeper into the garden, stopped by a lake for a bit, and walked further in. I decided to break apart from the group for just a while, and walked in to fully absorb the atmosphere of the place. It was then that I noticed lots of coffee cherries planted at the sides of the path. I love coffee, and it was interesting to see its original form in front of me, and how these cherries are picked before they land in my cup. In retrospect, I realize that after I had some quiet time, it was easier to notice what was actually there – shoots of bamboo towering over us were in plain sight, but yet camouflaged because they were so dense, unlike how they’re represented in lots of literature and art – sparse. When my friends caught up afterwards, we took some really silly and hilarious videos, and those moments were honestly some of the best memories of the trip.

At one point, I climbed quite a large fallen log a little more than a metre off the ground and stood up on it, even though I felt afraid to do so. But I’m happy I did it – I feel like it is the little obstacles that you overcome that can gradually mould you into somebody who tastes more and more of life each day.

At night, we headed down to a night hawker market, which boasts of the best stewed pork trotters in Chiang Mai. That meal was, in my opinion, the best of the trip. We tried the ‘roti’ for the first time – it’s essentially thick roti prata with the filling of your choice (bananas, cheese etc.) drizzled generously with condensed milk. (Basically a recipe of delicious trans fats that tastes insanely good.) It was quite a cultural experience to hang out at the market at night with good food and company.

We interviewed the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary manager afterwards, and were glad to be given a different perspective on how elephant parks were operated. This was the first time that we heard that the chain and hook were essential in deterring the elephants from being hostile to humans, and it was then that I realised that I had been approaching the entire issue a little too subjectively; analyzing the situation as a bigger picture would have probably presented a more well-rounded view on it, and possibly allowed more insightful ideas and solutions to be thought up for the little bumps we met on the project. As I write this, I am also reminded of certain times in life that I have been too absorbed in a certain perspective, and oftentimes my emotions have prevented me from stepping aside to take in the situation as it is first, before deciding what to do about it. The fresh opinions and facts the manager shared with us helped me do just that – step aside, and approach the issue from another perspective.

As we walked back to the hotel, we heard really good live music, and found out that there was some sort of alfresco dining fest, where people (mostly tourists) chilled out to food, drinks and live music. I’m glad we made the spontaneous decision to hang out there for a bit for our discussion rather than just doing it back at the hotel. Even though we left after a while when the music got way too loud, that spontaneous decision still left us some memories that definitely adds to the variety of our experiences in Chiang Mai.