3. Post-Trip Reflections Chiangmai Study Trip 2015/16 Sustainability

University Scholars Programme

Post-trip Retrospection

Connect Exchanging stories with my fellow batch mates, I learnt of the colourfulness of Chiang Mai and in a more humanistic way, the complexities of the human perspective. Although all of us were in the same city, our experiences were vastly different given not just our separate itineraries, but the differing group dynamics. It reminded…

DAY FIVE

Through a foreign lens During the Leadership Amazing Race, we had an interesting encounter with two German tourists. Deciding to share a taxi, we hopped onto one where we met the middle-aged couple. Our student leader then began to strike a conversation with them. We learnt that it was their umpteen time in Chiang Mai…

DAY FOUR

Rightness/wrongness We had several interviews today and were exposed to a diversity of opinions on elephant tourism. In the morning, we re-interviewed our tour guide to learn more about the attitudes of tour companies and tourists on elephant tourism. (He requested for a second interview due to details he was not keen on disclosing publicly.)…

DAY THREE

“Truth is relative.” This is a philosophy that I thought I would never subscribe to but today, I was reminded that there is truth in this statement (although relative). Doi Suthap It was my first time entering a temple at Doi Suthap. I was greeted by the smell of incense and the sight of crowds…

DAY TWO

Two days in at the Elephant Nature Park, and I was already getting used to the slow pace of life. The morning started with a big hearty vegetarian breakfast, followed by a tour around the park where we got acquainted with the elephants. We learnt about the stories behind their injuries and their behavior towards…

DAY ONE

Breaking Arriving at the Elephant Nature Park, I was taken aback – not by the magnificence of the elephants, or the close proximity to these gentle giants (don’t get me wrong, they were awesome too!) – but it was the brokenness and sheer dejectedness of the elephants that got to me. Broken backs, battered feet…

Post-Trip Reflections

In retrospect, I am thankful to have achieved some of the things I hoped to attain in my pre-trip projections. Yet, there are also areas I could have done much better in. I will elaborate on my post-trip thoughts in the paragraphs below. First, I feel that this trip has certainly given me chances to…

Daily Reflections – 8 January 2016

My group mates and I conducted the last interview for our trip at the Chiang Mai Tourism Authority this morning. I was really excited to visit the Tourism Authority as it would be my first time visiting a government organisation in a foreign country! I also believed that interviewing the assistant director to find out…

Daily Reflections – 7 January 2016

My fellow USP batch mates and I started Thursday with a visit to the Political Science faculty of Chiang Mai University (CMU) for a lecture on Globalisation in Chiang Mai. The lecture reinforced for me that globalisation arises from the greater interconnectivity of capital, people, as well as goods and services. In particular, I was…

Chiang Mai Post Trip Reflections

Chiang Mai Post Trip Reflections: Finally, we have reached the end of this trip. I’m proud to say that it was not a wasted trip, for I have interacted with so many wonderful people along the way and accumulated memories that I will never forget. It is really different to go on a research fieldtrip,…