Diary Entry: Day 7

Written By: Shafira Sahara.

Do you know how the beginning of something always feels so long and the end always too fast?

Signing up on this latest 'In Search of...' Trip, we were cleverly given seven days to spend in Chiang Mai. Today is day seven. I opened my eyes this morning thinking "where has day one to six gone?"

However I did not think for long. At 11 am we all met at the guest house lobby to have our final practice for the cultural performance. At first, the Saman group started. Our pace was growing faster and faster as our confidence increased. I was smiling proudly until I heard Cici and Bats whacking each other during the windmill segment. Everything is fine though. We knew the consequences when we agree to do this Acehnese dance.

The result of keen Bhangra practice for the last two weeks

  

Afterwards, the Bhangra group practiced. When the Indian music started playing everybody jumped around. It's the first time the Bhangra group had practiced with the music on, so their pace was increasing as well. A fan was highly required then because the weather was burning hot. In fact, some of us actually dominated the fan by sitting right at the front of it. Sweat was dripping like the impending rain.

After the practices, some of us went to lunch. It was quite funny though, because we all went mad about the food. There was a kind of nostalgic taste to the sweet and sour Tom Yam, the deep fried crispy garlic fish and even to the mouth-watering Thai Ice Tea, shanom. It might be the fact that we were extremely hungry; or the fact that this taste would be the last one we have in this beautiful city.

The beauty of the city and the food faded when we got back to our guest house. Reality kicked in. We had tons of work to do. Most of us spent the day working; writing our pieces, editing our videos and choosing photos to go with the articles.

The clock struck six and our lut dengs were ready to take us to our farewell dinner. All of us were dressed more culturally than when we attended the cultural dinner. On the one hand, the Bhangra dancers were wearing long scarves around their necks and everything was very colorful and alive. On the other hand, the Saman dancers were dressed in black shirts and dark pants with colorful sarongs. The leader of the pack, Dr. Yeoh, was wearing a Batik shirt. Although we had rushed to reach our destination in order to welcome our guests, it turned out to be an unspoken rule in Thailand for guests to arrive an hour after the invitation. In complete excitement with pre-performance nerves we waited.

 A collage of people that this year's episode of In Search Of brought together

The guests started to come, one by one. The first to arrive were from EMPOWER--which is understandable since they work just across the street from the restaurant. After that, a steady flow of guests continued to arrive and the show began.

Hosted by our student guide Jutha Srivatananukulkit and our very own Cyren Wong, the programme was packed. It started with a performance from the student guides, a Thai dance. This was followed by an energetic Bhangra performance by Monash students. After that, a series of performances lighted the stage, including a Taylor Swift rendition by Juree, the slapping performance of Saman dance, a lady-boy dance performance by Cyren and Juree and two photo slide presentation by Joe and Dr. Yeoh.

Rapid, intricate movements of Saman

Before the end of the night, Dr. Yeoh grabbed the microphone and went up to the front of the stage. As much as we hoped for him to do a rendition of AC/DC or Simon and Garfunkel, he was there for a speech. He emphasized the importance of opening our hearts and minds, in that it would be the key to our understanding things beyond our comfort zone. He also emphasized the need for us to be careful because these study trips can change our lives.

 Dr. Yeoh switching gear from his usual wittiness to a wise old man

We wrapped up the night with a performance of Dikir Barat, a traditional Malaysian dance. In the dance, everyone sang a couple of verses and chants while we moved in synchronized movements. The air, then and there, felt like it belonged to us. The past seven days that we've spent together seems to have been both long and gone too fast all at the same time. It's long because every day was productive. Even on a free day like day seven, we woke up early for practices and breakfast. But it was also short because there were still places to see, things to do. The days passed-by too fast and we were at the end already.

We came on this trip smuggling different cultural background into one tuk tuk (or maybe more than just one tuk tuk in this case). We met new friends, embraced new cultures and maybe even found a new dance partner. We've eaten worms, gotten sick, did not sleep and made our own experiences. We laughed a lot and cried a bit. Yes, we made our own experiences and loved them.

As we finished the Dikir Barat, we sang the famous song Rasa Sayang. And I really felt it. And I think everyone felt it as well. The love. The Rasa Sayang.

 Weiyan and Sze Jia expressing their Rasa Sayang to our pathfinder

This has been a great trip, overall. Chiang Mai, may your beautiful city and your welcoming people be blessed. We have learned a lot, things that people learn in a lifetime we have learnt in seven days.

Now we go back to our hometowns, with open minds and opened hearts.

Diary Entry: Day 6

Written by: Anthea Haryoko.

I’m not gonna lie. I dreaded the prospect of getting up this morning. Four places to visit, up at 8 am, back at 8 pm. Our busy schedules with keeping up with the blog didn’t help either and I even contemplated faking a ‘sicky’ to get out of it, but I pushed those demons out of my head as we headed to our first NGO.

We pulled up to Friends Without Borders, away from the tourist traffic. The organization utilizes main stream media outlets to spotlight the issues of refugees in Thailand. I thought the organization was relevant to many of us, since many of us come from Communications backgrounds and that main stream media holds the ability to reach out to a vast audience including many of the youth who have the potential to play a vital role in shaping social perceptions of refugees in the country. We were shown a touching film produced by FWB, about a Burmese refugee boy, Hongsa’s School Bag, whose dream of saving up for a school bag was beyond his grasp due to his stigmatized status in Thailand. My mere whims of wanting to get more sleep this morning were now so petty in light of his story.

After the ritual group photo in front of the FWB building, we headed to Wat U-Mong, a temple dug into the ground and of sprirtual reflections. At first glance it seemed an eerie place, orange cloth with writing were wrapped around seemingly random trees that lined the road. Later I found out that the writings held words of wisdom and deep inner reflections. We wandered about, feeding the cat fish with bread rolls which Jo, our student guide, kindly shared. Pigeons flocked to Cyren, our resident ‘bird-man’ and the man with the ice cream cart provided us much relief from the day’s humidity.

Lunch was an interesting experience and I think it’s worth appreciating local eating places, away from food made palatable to tourists. To get a sense of Thai food, one needs to eat where the Thai’s eat. And so Juree, our very outgoing student guide, led us to a popular eatery mainly frequented by many university students. She also introduced us to the Thai version of ‘Cin-Cau’. It’s interesting to note the many different countries around Asia have their own twist of the jelly drink. Thai ‘Cin-Cau’ adds evaporated milk to the black jelly and sweet syrup. Its popularity among our group was enough to say it was pretty darn good.

MAP was next on the list, an NGO who helps in the legal aspects of migrants workers. One of its aims is to bring justice to migrants who have been wronged, as well as to advocate their legal status in Thailand since many are forced to find their way illegally into Thailand. MAP also allows a space away from the fear and isolation experienced as a refugee, and into an area where they are able to discuss their feelings and experiences among other migrants across many ethnicities

EMPOWER was a great organization to visit and personally had the most effect on my perceptions of sex workers. As students who have explored the sex industry, we tend to look upon them with pity, as victims of exploitation and slavery. Sure there are many places where this may be the case, but EMPOWER was not one of them. I had noticed that the girls who worked there were very confident about themselves. They want to work in the sex industry by choice and they also know their rights as sex workers. They were a very outgoing bunch, teasing us about how beautiful they were and were quite cheeky about the trade. The bar was a wonderful place of learning and empowerment; education of safe sex practices and essential urban life skills. The stripper poles in the bar were also a hit among us. It made sex seem fun, with the knowledge of safe sex practices at the same time.

Last but not least, to tie up the day, dinner was held at a popular steak house and buffet. Jo chose the place this time. I also noted the many university students who frequented the eatery, which again like lunch, was a good experience to get a glimpse of Chiang Mai’s student culture that our student guides are also part of. A mellow atmosphere with a small live band (in Thai of course) allowed us to unwind from the long day, finally getting us away from the tourist circus, today we experienced a small window of Chiang Mai’s students culture, which we were fortunate to have glimpsed.

Diary Entry: Day 5

Written by: Bats Mohsinali

Once again we started the day half asleep and cranky. Having spent our night watching the world cup finals, we gathered together at the lobby of the guest house and piled into the two taxis waiting to take us to our first destination of the day; AIDS Network Development Foundation (AIDS Net). Phi, who is a master’s student at the University of Chiang Mai and one of our student guides, assisted us in translating the entire session. Nan, the president of the organization, shared with us that AIDSNet is essentially a network that connects all the other NGOs together, while they do their share of awareness. Hence, they leave the more detailed concerns to other more capable NGOs that target and handle those issues and concerns. Their aim is to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. The conference room that the talk was held at was filled with boxes of condoms donated by US AID, where Lamduan Mahawan the regional manager of the organization explained that a lot of help and aid comes from the United States and other countries in Europe. With regards to the hill tribes in the Northern regions of Thailand, where AIDS is growing at an alarming rate due to a lack of knowledge of the disease itself, Ms Mahawan also stressed their wish to eradicate the problem of ignorance amongst the hill tribesmen. Our talk ended with AIDS Net gifting us with two boxes of condoms and some magazines that raise the bar by spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS and practicing safe sex.

Outside the AIDSNet building

As we left the AIDS Net building, we piled back into our taxis and headed to our next destination which was situated on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. We decided to stop for lunch at an all you could eat buffet. The open space area held an array of local Thai cuisine, at a buffet rate of 49 baht per head. The place looked great and the food looked good. But sadly we were deceived. A funky yet unidentifiable smell wafted through the air as we ate, making it hard to go back for seconds and thirds that we had paid for. The drinks too were deceiving, vibrantly coloured orange and pink cordial that turned out to be strangely both sweet and sour. Most of us left the restaurant feeling unhappy and suffering from indigestion. And to make matters worse, we ended up getting lost on our way to our next destination. Thankfully we finally reached the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB), where our host, Aung Myo Min, who is also the director of the organization, told us about the difficulties faced by the Burmese people- the reasons why they have to exile themselves from the country- and the faith of those who stay back to try and change the military regime.

We were served fruits and water while we watched a documentary about the current changes in Burma and the things that are being done to help push and implement these said changes like the human rights violations, child abuse and women abuse. These are the three main problems to be tackled by them.

Myo continued his talk, describing his own story of exile from his nation where he cannot return until peace has been restored. Otherwise, he risks going to jail and therefore, losing everything he has already fought for.

“My mother watches the news, and from there she knows that I am okay. Apart from that we do not have contact so that it is safer for them to live in Burma.” Said Myo.

Our talk later ended with a jump shot for peace outside of the HREIB house.

We had another half n hour to spare and therefore made our way to the mall nearby. This was the first air conditioned building with shops that we had visited in Chiang Mai. The outer part of the mall was decorated with the typical Thai architecture but the starbucks made it clear that it was modern. But with all the night markets, days markets and Sunday markets available, shopping in a mall didn’t seem right. After an hour of aimless roaming we went for our meeting at Gabfai.

Our final destination that took us back into the city was the NGO called Gabfai, a community theater that is also linked with HREIB. Gabfai means matchboxes in the Thai language; their motto is “a single flame can light a thousand candles.” Spreading the news is what Gabfai is about and lifting spirits when they are down. Generally, Gabfai uses the art of community theatre to tackle taboo issues that cannot be made blatant in the media and the public. Through theater many underlying problems faced by a community can be made into theater. For instance, this organization teaches the refugee women about their rights through theater.

Working out what community theatre means

After a routine wam up exercise that had us moving and making fools of ourselves, we sat down to learn about the past of Gabfai, and how it evolved from a mobile theater to a community of people alike.

Our visit to Gabfai marked the end of the day. We went back to the guest house where most of us dispersed to finish our stories and edit the videos.

Logo of the Thapae stadium

The rest of us caught the Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) show. Muay Thai shows a spiritual side of Thailand when the boys and girls do a dance/warm-up before each game, with the stimulating background music increasing the adrenaline, intensifying the atmosphere of the match.

This really was the icing on top of the cake. Even though it was not the real Muay Thai, and was more orchestrated for the benefit of the tourists, the fights were still intense and showcased children fighters from the age of 10. For instance we watched girls between the ages of 13 to 18 years fighting. The expressions on their faces when they were fighting were somewhat daunting. They looked as though the very life had been taken out of them. Then comic relief came in the form of four guys being blind folded, boxing each other senseless.

Adrenaline pumping as the tension rises

Diary Entry: Day 4

Written By: Marsella Agatha.

After three activity-filled days of learning about and exploring Chiang Mai, the fourth day of the study trip was ours to do as we pleased. At approximately six am, a few members of our group were up early to see the monks go about their morning ritual of collecting alms. However many of the group decided to forego the opportunity and sleep in instead.

Young monks

After brunch, the members of the In Search of Chiang Mai group separated to spend the day pursuing their own interests. As yesterday was spent cycling around the city, a few of us indulged in Thai massages hoping to rub the exhaustion away, eager to re-energize themselves for the rest of the trip. The Saman dancers on the other hand decided to indulge in some light exercise as they rehearsed for their performance on the last day hoping to perfect the routine. Lochna decided to take part in a Thai cooking class learning to make dishes like the traditional green curry and even learning how to make spring rolls.

Sipping on Thai iced tea

In the afternoon, many of us made our way to the Sunday market which started outside the three king’s museum and extended out until one of the gates of the old fort wall. Filled with a number of trinkets and souvenirs we spent hours fulfilling our shopping addiction. An interesting and embarrassing incident that occurred while the members of the Saman dance were bargaining for sarongs when they suddenly realised that everyone around them had gone both quiet and still. It turned out that the Thai national anthem - the Phleng Chat Thai - was playing to signify the opening of the market. This patriotism and nationalistic feeling present in the Thai people was simply amazing as they stopped everything they were doing in order to show respect to their king and country.

Another anecdote that occurred at the Sunday market definitely put a ‘spark’ in the evening’s adventures as a stall’s light bulb exploded next to Anthea when she stopped to examine a bag she found interesting. What was most amusing was the fact that through the smoke and flames she was found to be holding on to the bag, protecting it from harm. Truly a bag to die for?

Saman rehearsal

Jelly paradise

Bangles at the Sunday market

Even in the short time we have been here the city, its diversity in terms of its culture, food, historical places, breath-taking architecture and scenery never cease to amaze me. With three more days left to discover Chiang Mai, we hope this is enough time for us to dig up more knowledge and discover new sides to the city. The FIFA world cup final between Spain and Holland provides the perfect ending to another day in search of Chiang Mai.

Diary Entry: Day 3

Written By: Cici Wei Jia Xi.

Today, relative to prior ones thus far, was such a busy day for all of us. We went to three Buddhist temples, visited one local Muslim community, flocked Waororat market and attended a cultural dinner performance in Chiang Mai Cultural centre.

Knowing that we are going to cycle around the walled – city for the whole day, everybody gathered this morning armed with comfortable shoes, helmets, water, and scarf all ready for battle. Lacking the ability to cycle was not a disadvantage because we had generous student guides offering the back of their motorbikes to people who could not pedal to save their lives.

At nine thirty, we are on the way to our first destination - Wat Phra Singh temple. Along the way, we passed by the famous city wall, Three Kings Museum and many other interesting places. After 15 minutes of cycling, Wat Phra Singh Temple was at sight.

Wat Phra Singh in its golden glory

There, we spoke to one of the oldest monks that serve the temple and community, Reverend Phrakrupwittan, who has been a monk since he was 17 years old (presently 67 years old). According to him, this temple is approximately 660 years old, in which it serves as a place for blessings, good fortune, and allows for people commemorate the memory of their loved ones. These devotees make an offering almost every week when they come.

Reverend Phrakrupwittan, like many monks, speak fluent English

At the second Buddhist temple, Wat Chideeluang, we had the pleasure to witness a special mechanism for offering. Offerings, often flowers, incense or fruit, are placed in the white container, and then with a string and pulley, brought up to the apex of the temple.

Offerings with a string and pulley

Cyren and Cici at Wat Chideeluang

And at the donation stand, Julie our student guide showed us an interesting way of folding flowers used as offerings during prayers or rituals.

Ice cream in a cone, plastic cup or bread roll

And we all got to eat delicious coconut ice cream sandwiches (which isn’t new for everyone, but it still tasted really good).

Antique gramophone

Next, we visited a local Muslim community, many of us got lost on the way. It took half an hour for the student guides to gather all of us, just in time for lunch at Masjid Al-Taqwa. In between bites, we had some time for little entertainment- “table tennis war” between, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Philippines and Zimbabwe. During the session, we met up with the Muslim representatives from the mosque and youth members of the community. They engage in various activities, such as charity event for elders, HIV campaigns and also run their own religious high school.

The last temple we visited had in itself a museum; the museum exhibited many antiques of which most once belonged to the monks of the temple. There are also many other vintage items, such as an old gramophone, a 70 year-old fan, many different currencies from different times, old photos of many famous monks and so on.

Various animal skulls in the community museum at Waororat

Our next destination, the Waororat market, we went with intentions to try some street food. Most of us loved the Thai “ice kacang” with green and red syrup, and it only cost us 10 baht (RM1). We also had another incident of missing person; but unlike the previous incident of a misguided intuition (turn left, not right!), this particular traveller purposely lost himself in the sea of food.

When we reached home (I supposed, after four days, a guesthouse does start to morph itself into one), everybody was exhausted yet excited by the idea of going to watch different Thai dances in the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre. We reached there at 7pm and everybody enjoyed some food while nicely and comfortably seating on the ground with cushions; a total juxtaposition to a full day of heavy cycling. Apart from getting leid* (pun intended), we were also allowed to join the dancers on stage before the cultural performances formally ended.

ISOCM's travellers dancing on stage

When we reach our hotel, it was nearly 10pm. Even the loud music of the bar nearby our hotel would not spoil our mood for such fine night and everybody was more excited than exhausted for the prospect of the rest of the trip.

Editor's note: Getting "leid" is an act of having someone put a jasmine lei around one's neck.

Diary Entry: Day 2

Written by: Low Weiyan.

Filming the Chiang Mai roads from the lut deng

Most of us woke up to the sound of knuckles on the door. Others properly awoke later when news broke that we were lost on our way to IMPECT, (Inter-Mountain People's Education and Culture in Thailand Association). Such was our fate that getting lost was by no means a minor set back. We grabbed the opportunity to snap our first jump shot and stood in awe outside a Thai Buddhist temple, admiring the architecture from the outer premise. We wanted to explore a little more while the van drivers bickered over the route, but the temple dogs weren't too happy with the idea. Three jumping jacks and concurrent snapshots later, we were good to go and soon found ourselves in what reminded some of a very nostalgic primary school setting.

The school-like hall at IMPECT

We were told IMPECT is not an NGO, but a people's organization, 3000 strong with members of 10 inter-ethnic groups in Chiang Mai alone. After exchanging greetings in our limited knowledge of the Thai language and a brief ice-breaking session, we found our heads bowed down for the first half of the session (more of a Malaysian rather than Thai cultural courtesy). The second half was more lively; our curiosity in regards to the rights and welfare of the tribal groups in Thailand was aroused drawing on what we had learned in regards to Thai national identity the day before. Before us, another world was unfolding, a world which painted a dualistic image of Chiang Mai in our minds. We left with questions on progress, modernity, globalization and other terms certain people would use at the expense of communities such as the highland tribes. We were also treated to coffee and mangosteens; like Chiang Mai, they were awesome.

Drum-line practice in a high school

We were granted the rest of the day off to do as we liked, some rolled back into bed, the rest of us headed out to hunt for food in the rain. A small plug here if I may, and everyone agrees:

MANGO STICKY RICE F(or)T(he)W(in)!

After stuffing our faces with the-best-dish-known-to-man-woman-and-small-children, the Banghra group practiced their routine in the open, embracing the fresh air and confused glances from passing tourists.

After dancing around ala Bollywood, we met up with the others and headed off to explore the Thai take on pasar malam, the Chiang Mai night bazaar! Clothes, clothes and clothes galore! Every image ever copied from Google images were seemed to have been slapped onto T-Shirts, triggering short bursts of laughter and we discovered what was the FIRST McDonalds we saw in Chiang Mai. The night was still very young for many, while Sze Jia, Wui Jia and I headed back to get started on this Godforsaken diary entry, the rest left for a "one-off' experience"; and from what I've been told, it was just that (money on that post being over 3000 words in length).

Signing off for the day,
Weiyan.

OH! Right, some stuff I scribbled while deciding how I was going to write all that...

Every step we take forward, we leave apart of the world behind,
Turning doesn't help, not if you are blind,

and indeed we are, we are blind!
born into a world unkind!

always reaching for the sky, the stars,
too quick to trade out beliefs for money and cars,

but these people, they insist,
their identity remain, and persist,

to the changes of the world, till we wake,

and realize...

our hands, our lives, our dreams are fake.

Jump shots as per In Search Of tradition

Diary Entry: Day 1

Written by: Jillian Ng.

Having arrived at the Chiang Mai Airport, we were immediately captivated by the mesmerising scenery just beyond the airplane windows. Right next to the landing strip was a big mountain accompanied by several hills. Chiang Mai was already treating us well with its warm weather, and a gift in the form of SIM cards.

View from the airport runway

After gathering our luggage, we headed to the amusingly named Yourhouse Guesthouse, a place Dr. Yeoh dubs as the Shangri-la of all backpackers; and indeed we agree. Our mode of transport was a “lot tang” (which literally translates to red car). At first, everyone was shocked by the choice of transportation as these trucks were no more red (magenta maybe?) than they were cars – they looked like a swanky hooded pick-up trucks, sans the swanky. However it is not to say the ride was not an enjoyable experience; it seemed like the vehicle shown in the Korean drama “Goong” during the one of the episodes when the characters were in Bangkok.

The lut deng fits up to 12 people

On the way to the guesthouse we saw remnants of the old Thai fort at various points along the road; there was the Three Kings museum which is five minutes away from the guesthouse. At every corner we looked there was a cultural or a historical structure. This city and its cohabitants are literally living in a historical site, taking advantage of its past to make it part of the present. This was quite a peculiar site for many of us who normally only experience history in a commodified context.

The main agenda for our day was a visit to the Chiang Mai University and we were greeted by a sea of students in Uniforms; black, blue, white, and violet shirts able outsiders to distinguish the level of study of each student. Though we were fascinated by this uniformity (pun intended) we decided, first and foremost, to have lunch. Though it was a stuffy cafeteria, the food was ... simply awesome. The spicy food there was really spicy, the savoury really savoury, and the sweet deliciously sweet.

As we waited for our rides back to the guesthouse after an interesting lecture on Thailand Highland Minorities, we stumbled upon what is called a “thon poh toh” (which translates to the golden tree). Students make wishes by hanging a gold leaf on the tree and hope for them to come true (how useful it would be for assignment week in Monash!).

The golden tree in the middle of a cafeteria

A particularly distinctive feature of the University for me, was the vastness and intensity of the greenery which surrounded it; it seemed as though the institution was built around the trees. Once we arrived at the guesthouse, we were at liberty to do what we wanted – including sleep.

One of many green gardens in CMU

That was only our day one. We still have seven more amazing days to look forward to!