Post-trip Reflections

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain

The USP trip to Chiang Mai has far exceeded my expectations for many reasons. With every travelling experience, I find myself thinking more critically, becoming more tolerant and accepting of differing opinions and developing a broader and more flexible mind. It is evident to myself how my view of elephants and elephant camps have morphed throughout this whole trip. From rigidly thinking of elephant camps as “ethical” and “unethical” to understanding the possible motivations behind their different modes of operation to reconciling myself to the proposition of riding and non-riding camps perhaps coexisting together for economic reasons, I do find myself having a less narrow outlook than before. Thinking more critically and having an open mind are characteristics that I perceive as befitting of an USP scholar and thus, I am highly appreciative of the opportunities the trip has presented me with to develop and strengthen these valuable qualities.

Other than becoming a more critical thinker, this trip has also managed to turn me into a more resourceful and sensitive individual. To counter the difficulties that came along with the more elusive nature of my group’s topic of poaching and the ivory trade, we had to be even more proactive and resourceful in trying to identify any possible occasion of gaining helpful data. From random street passersby to shop owners to even our bus tour guide, we tried not to let any tiny opportunity slip past us. From our interview of the bus tour guide, I am now also more aware of the importance of sensitivity. Having already completed the interview with us once, I was slightly surprised when the tour guide actually requested to redo his interview with us the following day. Then later, I realized that the tour guide found himself in a quandary. His eagerness to help us with our project and give us answers most reflective of the truth on the other hand also brought him worries of the possible detrimental implications of his honest responses. We immediately acceded to his request of a re-shoot as it is against our wish to cause him any discomfort. Nonetheless, it was a worthwhile lesson to me as it made me think harder about the complexities of doing real field research, of the importance of ensuring the anonymity of our respondents and confidentiality of their responses so as to be sensitive to the concerns of our interlocutors.

Reflecting on the entire week in Chiang Mai, I find that what has left the greatest impact on me throughout this whole trip was not any one specific incident or event, but rather the people I have met and the interactions I have had with them. From meeting the manager of the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary and the professors from Chiang Mai University, I have learnt that we should always look and probe beyond the surface level of things. As a specific example, we can consider our impression of elephants. Very often, the image we get of elephants from nature parks is that elephants are relatively docile and gentle; the fact is that elephants do still have wild animal instincts. There is a need to question the definition of domestication. “Domesticated” elephants are vastly different from other typical domesticated animals like pet dogs and cats we are familiar with. While our house pets have through selective breeding processes become biologically adapted to human environments, elephants that are described as “domesticated” are just tamed and kept by humans but are still inherently wild animals. Considering the potential danger elephants can pose, perhaps we may then rationalize why certain parks use metal restrictions to control the elephants instead of bashing them for their cruelty without attempting to understand their viewpoint. I now better comprehend the significance of delving deeper into issues. To be truly evaluative, unbiased and critical, we should not be easily satisfied with what is most apparent or available.

Why do people feel so strongly against chaining and caging elephants when they seem to passively accept the same treatment of other animals like dogs? This was a question that I have been pondering over and having some difficulty with for some time. However, a short discussion with the NTU professors attached to our group proved to be highly illuminating. The professors suggested to us to consider the IQ of elephants, which made me think back to what I have learnt in my major. From my own knowledge, animals like primates and dolphins have been proven to pass self-awareness tests in mirrors and I was surprised to realize that it is also the case for elephants. Elephants have also been tested and shown to understand the idea of cooperation and may pull ropes together with another fellow elephant to get food towards themselves. In my opinion, perhaps these suggestions of elephants having higher intelligence or understanding teamwork and altruism move them up a notch nearer to humans. Consequently, this may provide one possible explanation why people find constraining elephants relatively harder to accept. The discussion with the professors have enlightened me when I found myself at a standstill with my ideas. With every interaction with different personalities, I find myself becoming more open, more aware, more uplifted and more inspired. It was not any one specific event, or specific place, but rather the series of interactions I have had that left the greatest impression and influence. For this, I am immensely thankful.

One thing I anticipated the most before going on this trip was the chance to be able to use the Thai language to converse with the Thai locals. However, upon much reflection, I realized that most of us ended up using English most of the time rather than making the most out of where we were to practice another foreign language, which to me felt slightly disappointing. I still remember during the Amazing Race, there was a mini task that required us to speak to a Thai local entirely in Thai for 30 seconds. Our group ended up throwing out the most basic of Thai greetings that we know of and even had to seek help from our travel booklet. I regret not studying the language more before going on the trip so that we would not have been as lost and flustered as we were. If there shall be another similar opportunity in the future, I will be sure to make more necessary preparations before embarking on the trip.

One of the most treasured takeaway from this trip is however the friendships we have forged. This trip was able to encourage all of us to step out of our comfort zone and mingle with other peers we were not as close to before. By working together, I was able to glean more into each and every of my group members’ personalities. Other than sharing opinions and correcting one another’s mistakes, the group spent much time together even outside of doing work. We had singing sessions every time the group took a tuk tuk to travel from one place to another and we also spent some late nights just hanging in one another’s rooms to chat. On the whole, the USP trip was truly enriching and memorable and definitely one of the best highlights of my time in NTU thus far.