day five: lateness, liability, lasts

Last full day in Chiang Mai did not start off well. I was late for leadership programme this morning :(. I was too caught up in editing my photos from the previous day that I only went to bed at 3.30 am. I did set my alarm, but I was too tired to hear it. I felt really bad because it not only reflects badly on me as a person but also that I made other people wait for me. Although I was not the latest, by being later than the pre-arranged time would have wasted other people’s time and might have caused unwanted delays too.

When we first started the amazing race, I tried to lead the group in finding directions to the first location. We quickly set off in search of the location, just based on our own sense of direction and using the hotel as the landmark. Unfortunately, I lead the group in the opposite direction and we made a big detour. Luckily some of the members thought there was something wrong and decided to check for directions with a local. After 30 minutes, we finally arrived at our first location.

I realised that I retreated into the background after making that mistake. I might have felt embarrassed (I cannot remember for sure, but possibly for a short while) for my mistake and for feeling quite sure that we were in the right direction. I also felt uncomfortable for taking lead and then failing the team. Luckily the team did not blame me for the detour or dwell on the fact that we made a mistake, if not I would have felt much worse.

This was what I was uncomfortable doing. I did not like putting myself out there when I was not sure what course of action to take. Especially if I might fail, that would most likely keep me away from leading others. On the contrary, if I was sure that what I was thinking of is the best for the team, I would step up and try to get everyone to follow my idea (to a certain extent).

However, I should not let the fear of uncertainty and failure be a stepping stone to my development as a person.

Although this may not be beneficial in the long run, as what Qinhui had said, “Being a leader is not just about leading others, but also to support the team in carrying out the tasks.” This is one of the takeaways and I hope to become a better leader, improve in the areas in which I am lacking.

On hindsight, we should have first looked at all three locations and asked the concierge about their locations. We can then plan our route to reach all three places in the shortest time. This incident taught me that looking at things from the big picture first is important, so that we will get the overall idea before looking into the smaller details. This can allow us to plan ahead and make better informed decisions about the next action to take.

What I realised was that when there is a clear goal, the group progresses much faster, since everyone is on the same page. Should there be any concerns, we should voice them out. This could alert the group of any thing which we missed out or unforeseen circumstances and allow the group to prepare for them.

Another thing I learnt today was that sleep is truly very important! I guess I would have function much better if I had enough rest and it is better for my health too.

During the leadership session, the seniors pointed out was that I played a good role at being a ‘motherly’ figure, constantly making sure that no one was lagging behind. This is not the first time where I have heard such feedback, but not as something of ‘leadership quality’. I used to believe that being a leader is one who can represent the team, lead the team to greater heights etc. but never did I think that a leader can also be a supporter. A good leader can also highlight other’s’ strengths and build upon them to make the team stronger, even turn that individual into a leader.

That concludes the leadership amazing race, and we went on to OTOT. Our group took the chance to finish up on some more surveys, after having modified and added new questions. We headed out to Central Festival Mall for lunch first, before working. We decided to station ourselves outside the cinema where most youths hung out. Within a short time, we completed our task (addition of 20 survey responses). Now, it was time to enjoy ourselves!

Having wanted to make a trip to Tesco Lotus a few days ago, Fye arranged for her boyfriend to take me and a few others to Tesco after we were done with our work. As the rest of the group were not interested, they went in separate ways with Fye. Some went to the Grand Canyon Chiang Mai, while some headed to Fye’s favourite massage place.

Upon reaching Tesco, I thought “YES! I can finally buy all the snacks/goodies I planned on bringing back home.” True enough, I spent quite a fair bit of money in Tesco. Local products were so cheap here in comparison to other similar products at MAYA mall.

Not only were things cheap, they were of a decent quality. Well, seems like “一分钱，一分货” is not applicable all the time, since “一分钱，一分货” means you get what you pay for when translated to english. This is not surprising since snacks such as seaweed, potato chips and durian paste are produced locally in Thailand. Not only are there cost savings in the area of transportation, it also ensures that the products are fresh. When we purchase these snacks in Singapore, the prices would have factored in such costs already.

On the other hand, shopping malls we visited failed to give us such prices for the same goods. Somehow, the malls seemed to be catered more to tourists/affluent families than others. The malls contained well-known international brands such as Daiso, American Eagle Outfitters, Levis, Adidas etc, whose products came along with hefty price tags. Their prices were comparable to that in Singapore stores, which is already pretty expensive in my opinion.

Looking back, I guess ‘cheap’ is relative. What may be cheap to us may not be cheap to the locals. We may be more well to-do as compared to the majority of the locals. This difference in perception of ‘cost’ could also easily exist between Singapore families of different levels of household income. Thus, most things are affordable and even ‘cheap’ to me.

If the malls are catered to tourists, then where do the locals go to? According to Fye, they frequent the local fresh markets (what we know as wet markets) to get their necessities such as food and vegetables.

Is this a price to pay for globalisation and the economic development it brings?

With that, my time in Chiang Mai is over. It has been fun, getting to know USPians better while working together, immersing ourselves in the local culture and activities. I will also miss the late night mango sticky rice suppers with my roommate.