Post Trip Reflections

Through the Chiang Mai trip, I have gained much new insights about the perceptions of heritage through the lens of the locals. This opportunity has given me a fresh perspective about the symbiotic relationship between tourism and heritage.

I had certain expectations in mind with regards to how the events would have proceeded. Realistically speaking, not all expectations were met. However, there were unexpected gains as well.

Through our brief stay of one week in Chiang Mai, I had the chance to experience the culture of Chiang Mai first hand. There was indeed a lot of chance to interact with the locals there. However, I felt that the interaction was superficial at most parts, and it could have been done at a deeper level. Examples of such communication would involve small talk during transactions of goods and asking for directions.

There is no doubt that our presence in Chiang Mai is extremely immersive in the physical sense. However, it is my opinion that my team mates and I have been too inhibited or perhaps even too task oriented when it comes to interacting with the locals in Chiang Mai. The people that we talk to are mostly those that we are familiar with, or have been in a sense, preselected in one way or another. For instance, our tour guides, student co-ordinators have been predetermined before we have arrived in Chiang Mai. This inherently results in a biased sample of people that we interviewed with.

Although that is no fault of anybody under the circumstances, I believe that the true immersive intercultural experience would involve more of our own personal initiative in making more attempts to connect to the locals. Perhaps one way would be to make more small talk and try to establish rapport with them so as to get a better understanding of the true state of affairs of their perceptions of heritage.
The challenge of communicating effectively in face of a language barrier is very real indeed. Even with our student co-ordinators, we also face difficulties conveying our ideas across sometimes. They too, albeit always trying their best, have difficulty in expressing themselves in English especially when the ideas become more complicated. There seems to be a tendency for their answers to become generic in answer. Whereas for certain individuals who were proficient in English tend to give more varied answers to similar questions. These may seem intuitive, but it has possibly inherently affected the responses we have received.

Even though we are unable to discuss complicated issues at a higher level, we are still very fortunate that we are still able to connect with each other at a basic level given our short span of time together.

During our trip to Chiang Mai, I managed to learn a great amount from our professors, Professor Andrea Nanetti and Professor Michael Walsh with regards to the significance of culture and heritage, as well as the work that they have been working on. Previously, I was ignorant and maybe even apathetic with regards to the importance of culture and heritage because I thought that they served no practical value. However, Professor Andrea has showed us the importance to bridge knowledge across multiple disciplines, such that the knowledge in different areas could be understood by professionals in other areas. This was very thought-provoking as I have never imagined the relationships between different fields of studies. It was then he provided a suggestion that heritage studies to be treated as a science as well. This is to let heritage to also become a domain that gels other fields together and apply the integrated knowledge for higher purposes. Professor Michael Walsh also shared very interesting stories about Cyprus, a nation that is not recognized as a country by the United Nations and the challenges that are surrounding the preservation of heritage there.  He also gave a fresh perspective the functions of heritage in a society. For instance, heritage could play economic roles, as societies leverage it to promote tourism and thus generating revenue for the local economy. These sparked thoughts of what  functions heritage might serve a socially and politically in Chiang Mai. Throughout this trip, I have gained a lot of invaluable knowledge and newfound appreciation for heritage and cultural studies. It is thanks to these two professors that I am able to really grasp the importance of humanities in our everyday lives for the first time. It was certainly an unexpected gain from this trip.

During the preliminary research for the trip, we discovered that Chiang Mai recently launched a project known as the Creative Chiang Mai project. These efforts are aimed at transforming Chiang Mai into a creative hub, whilst preserving and leveraging on its heritage to create a new wave of innovative businesses and attract new foreign investments. It was to our pleasant surprise that our student co-ordinators are involved in the same project as well. However, the project is still nascent in nature and their efforts are still concentrated on drawing up plans to preserve the heritage of Chiang Mai. Plans for infusing the local culture into stimulating the local economy was said to be postponed after they manage to create a sustainable way to preserve their heritage. It was a pity that they could not give us more information about their current and future plans during our interaction. Nonetheless, I would continue to be on the look out for further developments.

One of the most important parts of the trip would definitely be the free time (OTOT Sessions) allocated to us to roam freely. For most parts, we visited night markets and bazaars and had to chance to be more independent from our CMU counterparts. During these trips, I learnt many new skills, such as how to haggle for lower prices. In one of the particular incidents, I was suspicious of how a vendor was willing to sell her T-shirts at less than half the price displayed. Although some of my friends thought that it was a steal, I still believed that the price was not at a reasonable level yet. A tell-tale sign that made me confirm, this was that she unintentionally revealed occasional micro expressions of lying. She was maintaining a stoic front, but she would have side grins periodically. My suspicions were confirmed when T-shirts of the same type were sold elsewhere in the area for even cheaper prices. Although I am still no master in the art of negotiation, the Chiang Mai trip has definitely allowed me to put my knowledge to good use.

In retrospect, there were three major events of the trip that left the greatest impact on me.

As a Buddhist myself, I looked forward to the visit of Doi Suthep as I felt that it would give me a greater insight to Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. However, the reality was vastly different from my imagination and research on the the Internet. The temple was overwhelmed by tourists, and I felt that the temple did not have the tranquility and serenity that I expected a pristine temple should have. When I was there, I was reminded by what Professor Walsh mentioned the day before. He mentioned that many cultural sites in the world now have transformed themselves into a type of heritage-theme park, which was very much akin to attractions such as Disneyland or Universal Studios. This notion led me to consider if the value of such culturally rich places like this have long been decayed into places redesigned to only fulfill superficial wants.

However, the situation is not as grim as I thought it would be. After several interviews with the tourists in the area, I was heartened to find that there are still people who visit Doi Suthep in an eager attempt to learn more about Buddhism and its history. I am still remain skeptical if most visitors could actually decipher even the basic cultural significance of the place. Such include the meanings behind its architectural designs as well as walking round the Golden Pagoda four times. Fortunately for me, we had tour guides who gave us aninformative explanation on the statue, the overarching history and design of the temple, as well as the lifestyles of the monks who resided there.

I was particularly fascinated by the White Temple for its intriguing architectural design and the way the artist portrayed the road to rebirth by foregoing all human temptations. The most provocative aspect was the mural inside the temple, where pictures of modern day fiction characters were portrayed. These included Doraemon, Transformers, The Matrix, Ultraman and etc. I never imagined that the artist would use such techniques to infuse modern day pop culture in his efforts to portray temptations. I found that although it was actually a really novel and creative way to connect visitors to the idea he was trying to convey.

On another note, we also got to witness the impact of tourists on the White Temple firsthand there. There was a disarray of visitors entering the temple, and the security had to use their loudhailers to keep order frequently. We also learnt from the tour guide that the Chinese tourists were quite savage in their actions, especially in destroying the toilets in the golden buildings  ( what feelings did you have )

Finally, I visited a Lady Boy Cabaret Show with several other USP scholars, on the second last day of the trip. It was an eye-opening experience for me, as I have never encountered so many transvestites congregate at one location at the same time. With conspicuous amounts of anti-gay sentiments existing in Singapore, it definitely felt a little unusual to observe how nonchalant the other locals are when they are around them.  The performers definitely put up an exciting lineup for its audience at the end of the day. However, what struck me was their apparent upbeat attitudes towards their work and about themselves. If given a chance, I would be very much interested to find out more about their lives, as well as the relationship between the transgender culture and the local heritage in Chiang Mai. It is pity that I could not have done so in light of our limited stay there.

Overall, the trip has been an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable one. Nonetheless, there were certain events that were more engaging than the others. For instance, I was rather clueless with regards to the messages the exhibits at the Black Temple were trying to convey. It seem like a huge exhibition of abstract art which I could not relate to. Perhaps, I should have done more in-depth research on the area prior to the visit so as to enhance my learning experience. It is in my opinion that I should also have attempted to engage in more small talk with other tourists and locals that we have met along the way, so as to obtain a more varied opinion on the true state of affairs. I have enjoyed myself tremendously working with my peers and professors, and I wish the same for the subsequent batches of USP students as well.