Day 4

Today we had the chance to go to Chiang Mai University for a lecture in the morning and some interviews and focus group discussion in the afternoon.

During the lecture, we were able to learn more about the effect of globalisation on Chiang Mai where increased liberalisation has resulted in “border fluidity” where there is a threat to the traditional Thai culture from the influence of the global community. One aspect of it would be tourism, where Chiang Mai depends heavily on tourism to boost its economy.

However, the increased influx of tourists in Chiang Mai has also been a threat to local heritage and history in Chiang Mai. For instance, historical monuments have become increasingly commercialised from my own observation. Thus I believe more can be done to balance the need for tourism as well as the preservation of culture and heritage in Chiang Mai.

Following that, we were able to conduct a focus group discussion with the students of Chiang Mai University arranged by our student guide, Mhon. Besides the fact that we learnt more about their perception about nutrition, I felt that the most interesting part of the interaction was when we had the chance to talk about our own university lives. That gave us a greater insight to what the young people in Chiang Mai enjoy doing in their free time. What I learnt was that the university students in Chiang Mai are more like us than I thought! I came to Chiang Mai with the impression that the city will be underdeveloped, but I was surprised by how modern the Chiang Mai actually is. There were many cafes and bars all around the university campus that had very modern concepts to attract the young people of Chiang Mai. This just goes to show how Chiang Mai is undergoing a transformation to become increasingly modernised than I initially thought.

I really look forward to going back to Chiang Mai again to see how far Chiang Mai will continue to develop but I also hope that a fine balance between development and preservation will be achieved where the richness of culture and heritage will also be maintained.