Day 3 / 6th January

We visited Doi Suthep, one of Chiang Mai’s most well-known temples today. Doi Suthep was filled with visitors from different countries, all waiting to offer their humble offerings while praying for themselves and their loved ones. Hoping to be able to make some prayers, I contributed a small amount for donation and held a flower and a candle in my hands as I followed our tour guide, Patt. She guided us and taught us of the correct steps for the prayers. We had to walk around the Pagoda for 3 rounds, while making our prayers continuously. Apparently, this was in tradition, a way to pay respects to the deities.

However, it was upsetting to see that there were people who were exploiting the temple for their own benefit. I spotted a few men carrying professional cameras on one hand, and the other grabbing onto sample photographs as they went around seeking for customers. They were businessmen who were hoping to make a living by photographing visitors and selling the photos to them thereafter. They were riding onto the popularity of temples as a tourist attraction, eyeing after the tourists’ pockets. At a place of worship, such behavior seems unacceptable to me. This made me reflect on how the tourist industry has eroded the culture and traditions of this country. Tourists flood Thailand year after year, which I believe is because of the affordability, but not only that, for it is rich in culture, history and tradition. Isn’t it ironic how tourists are travelling to Thailand for its culture, but are also the ones that end up damaging it? Be it the businessmen exploiting the temples, the elephants that were injured in the midst of training for performances, or the women lining the red light districts, these are all evidences of how the tourism industry has affected the country. Of course, Thailand relies heavily on the tourism industry for its economic and social development, tourism helps with generating income, employment, investment and exports for the country. However, the question here is, how does Thailand achieve a balance between preserving its culture and benefiting from the inflow of tourist? As we can see today, it may be lacking in its preservative efforts.

At the temple, one of the CMU students taught us how to pray in Thai to get our fortune predicted for the New Year. Despite making the prayers, I was unable to obtain the number for my fortune due to the long queue. I was disappointed but I started to wonder if missing out on that fortune prediction was something good or bad. It would definitely be interesting to see how my luck is in the New Year. However, should we let it dictate our future? After all, the future is in our own hands, it is up to us to determine how we fare in various aspects, be it career, studies, health and even in our relationships.  Not receiving my predicted fortunes may be a blessing in disguise as I would not be over-reliant on the predictions made.

For the research done that day, our group thought that we could possibly rephrase our questions for the interviews such that we do not put pressure on, or limit our interviewees to a specific answer. We thought that perhaps adopting the fresh mango vs. dried mango method could possibly work in seeing whether nutritional labels were a factor that the locals would consider when purchasing snacks. The fresh mango vs. dried mango method is conducted such that first, we would ask the interviewee how he chooses the best mango out of all the fresh mangoes at the market. His answer could possibly be from the look of the mango from the outside, from the smell of the mango or probably, by his sense of touch on whether the mango is hard or soft. Thereafter, we would ask the interviewee, now, how about choosing between the various dried mangoes? Hoping for the answers to range from price, taste, habit or nutritional labels.

However, after conducting one interview at the Central Airport Plaza Shopping Centre, we realized that there was a problem with this method. This was because in Thailand, dried mangoes do not usually have any nutritional labels on them and do not differ much in taste. People just tend to go for the more well-known brand, or one with the cheaper price. Hence, it may not necessarily be a suitable food product to be used to represent all the other snacks. This experience taught me that sometimes, even after planning and preparing for something, we may still be faced with unexpected situations. We just would have to learn how to adapt as quickly as possible to minimize damage to our research. Therefore, we decided at the spot that our interviews would return to its old format.

Following up, we decided to conduct behavioral observations at TOPS supermarket in the Shopping Centre. After entering the supermarket, our group members split up according to plan, taking charge of the different aisles so that we would be able to cover a variety of different food products. During the observations, I felt like I was a detective or a spy in the latest Hollywood film. It was really difficult to observe them and at the same time be discrete about it, so as to not attract their attention. This is because it is hard to observe from far if I wanted to check in detail the specific product that they are looking at and whether they have looked at the nutritional labels. Therefore, I had to act as if I was a shopper myself as I quietly approached them while nothing down any observations. I felt that it was a really amusing experience, probably because it was my first time being a spy…

During our OTOT, the healthcare group decided to split up to pursue different activities. One group went for traditional Thai massage, while the other chose to freely explore the city. I joined the latter and we managed to explore Chiang Mai a little bit better as we wandered along the streets. We discovered different shops and held pleasant conversations with the shop owners, even taking photos with some of them. Two of the shops that I distinctively remember out of the many we had visited was a shop selling wooden ornaments and a shop selling denim apparels. These two shop owners were extremely friendly and welcoming, which played a part in helping us integrate better in a foreign land. It was a really enjoyable experience as we explored places we haven’t been to, such as a street filled with breathtaking cafes, and a small market with loads of street food.