Day 0 3/01: Jetlagged

We have finally reached our destination – Chiang Mai! Having to mingle with a bunch of people I did not know made me more apprehensive about the trip. But I guess, with everything that takes you outside of your comfort level, you learn about others and yourself on a deeper level. This what I told myself whenever I felt a little moody about my situation. I was still very jet lagged from travelling. For the past 3 weeks, I had been travelling with my family, and only got a day back in Singapore to pack for the next trip.

I was also initially sceptical about how much we could actually achieve. After all, we are attempting to understand an entirely new culture – Chiang Mai, with its rich tradition and ethnic backgrounds. It seemed like experiencing a culture through first hand interaction would lead to a greater level of understanding than what we were doing. However, I was very much interested in the impact of globalization on the culture in Chiang Mai, and how much of their heritage has been preserved. Perhaps even if we could not understand a culture in its entirety, the appreciation, or even just a little of it, could be enough.

But as we sat in our respective tour buses, I started to become more hopeful. Maybe, on another level, I would be able to learn much more about the culture, academically and historically, than I could have on my previous community trips where I interacted with the locals. This trip was really giving us the opportunity to conduct research on our own, and I should make use of this to learn more and keep an open mind.

My knowledge of Chiang Mai was still rather limited. I just knew that it was a more rural area of Thailand, compared to what I know of Bangkok. I tried to fill myself in whilst listening to the guide in the bus. He said that there was a lot of transmigratory influence in northen Thailand, with the Burmese and Chinese. Chiang Mai was also previously under the control of Burma.

It was interesting to hear how different northern Thailand is from the South/Bangkok. Here, they were more conservative. The city structure was also different and water canals surrounded the city. it was a little more rural and laidback, and renowned for its rich heritage. It was to me in contrast with Singapore. Back home, we urbanised quick and focused on survival and productivity. Now, the government is trying to plant back the importance of our culture back in. I appreciate this newfound interest in the arts but I wonder if it will actually be sustainable, or feel overly commodified, artificial or forced.

Chiang Mai is facing a different kind of tension between globalization and heritage. I hear talk of temples where monks come to pray, disturbed by the growth of pubs and ladyboys right across the street. It seemed like it was breaking some kind of peace here.

After the logistics of getting into our respective hotel rooms and so forth, we had our first meal in Chiang Mai. Located within the Kalare Bazaar, we decided upon a restaurant-bar with a couple of tourists in it. I had vegetable curry and coconut, and was glad to be back in Thailand with the abundance of chilli and coconuts, 2 of my favourite kind of food.

We talked amongst ourselves and had a sharing about first impressions. I still felt like everything was very new and I barely knew the people here. Back at the hotel, I had to skip the night bazaar. My body was suffering from the lack of sleep and jet lag, and the back-to-back flights. At this point, I was very drained and just could not wait to get back home to Singapore where I could rest, and not knowing what to expect for the next coming days.