2. Daily Postings Chiangmai Study Trip 2015/16 Heritage Sites

University Scholars Programme

Daily Reflections Day 2 /หนึ่ง/

The first thing on our research itinerary was a lecture at Chiang Mai University, done by one of the professors in the department of history and culture. We had a good night of shopping and bargaining in the Walking Market last night to initiate ourselves into this beautiful city, but it was time to get…

6/8.01: In Perfect Memory

Finally, I was able to check out the photography exhibition of 19th century Chiang Mai at the Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Centre. It was an exhibition by John Thomson, a Scottish photographer and travel writer who documented Chiang Mai during the periods of 1865-1866 during his travels. Professor Walter, who visited the exhibition…

5/7.01: A Warm Bowl of Vegetable Noodles

Quiet, rather peaceful. Those were the impressions I got off the small glimpses of Chiang Rai. No longer a hub for drug trafficking during the Opium Wars, it is now an attraction site for tourists to experience more of Thailand. Today, we were to visit 2 of the more popular heritage attraction sites, the white…

4/6.01: Coming and Going

300 steps, and we would reach Doi Suthep. A top tourist destination in Chiang Mai, this sacred temple is a familiar sight for school children in Chiang Mai, where they will come here for luck before their exams. Being a tourist hotspot, we were hopeful to document and conduct more interviews with tourists. I managed…

Looking back

Although this Chiang Mai trip was supposed to be a research trip, it turned out to be so much more than that. Unexpectedly, the research process of the trip turned out to be very interesting. It became an invaluable chance for me to interact with the locals. While I had been on a school trip…

In retrospect: post-trip reflections

It has only been a while since we got back, yet it feels like the 7 days in Chiang Mai were a distant dream. With school work piling up and course readings running after me to be read, how I wish I could teleport back to the days in Chiang Mai. Although I knew that…

Post trip musings – ROOTS

As I summarize the trip and end off my reflections, I aim to keep this in mind: “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical…

Day 5 – a lesson on Leadership

People are always intrigued by the unknown, and we are always to curious about figuring out more about ourselves. This explains the increasing popularity of personality tests and quizzes, and even astrology. But yet, many of us remain clueless about ourselves, and there begins our perpetual quest of understanding ourselves. Today we had the opportunity…

Day 4 – the voice of Youth

Today is work day. We spent the entire day at Chiang Mai university, first attending a lecture followed by conducting focus group discussions and interviews with students and faculty of CMU. We conducted our focus group discussion with a group of 3 CMU students, majoring in political science. Their command of English was impressive. I…

Day 2 – Monk Life

What i remember most about today is the Monk chat. We had the opportunity to visit young monks at the temple, who were kind and willing to converse with us in English. I was particularly looking forward to this activity as I have a great interest in philosophy, and religion. Speaking with the monks…