With a change in our daily cuisine from Cheese Prata to Pad Thai, it was clear that we were no longer in Singapore anymore! Leaving Singapore last Friday was bittersweet for many of us, who had begun to call PGP home, and who had no qualms about hopping on the MRT and getting off wherever we fancied. While saying goodbye to our Singaporean friends was difficult, we were glad to put final papers behind us and enjoy traveling! After a few short flights and a bus ride, we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand at our beautiful hotel in the center of town. The Chiang Mai night market was about 100 feet from the entrance to our hotel, and it proved to be an excellent source of evening souveneir shopping, and sufficiently ate up all of our baht! After our first huge and delicious buffet breakfast, we headed to Mae Sa Elephant camp where we paired up and toured the countryside by elephant! The ride was rocky, muddy and quite fabulous, and we all got our fair share of elephant pictures, hugs, and snotty kisses. We spent the rest of the day sampling the various handicrafts of Chaing Mai, watching local artisans make silk, umbrellas, jewels and silverware, and we ended the day off with a dinner at a cultural center where we saw traditional hill tribe performers dance and sing.

The following day we visited the Chaing Mai Zoo and saw live panda bears about five feet away from us, separated from us only by a small moat. They sat casually on benches, munching their bamboo and many of us were surprised at how calm and indifferent they were to our presence. After the zoo we toured the Ancient Lanna Capital ruins and then had the evening to explore the night market. In Chaing Mai there is a special Sunday market, which contained a wide assortment of sights, from rows of people getting traditional Thai massages right on the street, to vendors selling hot green curry and mango sticky rice, which became my favorite Thai dessert!

The following day was my favorite day in Chiang Mai, as it allowed us to see firsthand many of the issues we had been talking about in class for the past six weeks! We started the day off with a visit to two Burmese migrant schools, one for older teens and adults where we listened to a presentation from the founders of the institution. They were very informative, and open to our questions and comments about Burmese migrants, Thai-Burma relations, and the overall Burmese situation. After the presentation we walked to a nearby Burmese migrant primary school and spent about half an hour playing with and talking to the kids with our limited Thai; “Sa wee dee ka (hello)” and “Sabaidee mai (how are you)” combined with the never ending entertainment of digital cameras made the time pass quickly, and many people left with hopes to return back at some point, or at least were provoked to think more deeply about the migrant workers’ situation. Following the Burmese migrant school visit, we heard a lecture at Chiang Mai University by Ajarn Aung Niang Oo, a Burmese political commentator and writer who is very knowledgeable about the Burmese situation, and lectured us on Burmese history, contemporary Burmese politics, and prospects for a democratic future. After discussing political and economic transformations of Southeast Asia as well as learning the history of some Southeast Asian countries that have toyed with the concepts of democracy to varying degrees, our time in Thailand helped us explore many of the topics outside of the classroom in a more hands-on environment, which was really beneficial.

Aside from our daily excursions, we had some time in the late afternoons or evenings to explore Chiang Mai on our own, take “tuk tuks” (a three-wheeled taxi meant for three, but often filled with more), feed the elephants roaming on the streets, and sample a wide assortment of Thai spices and flavors. Our time in Chiang Mai was brief, but packed full of adventurous and unique introductory experiences to Thailand! While Olivia is going to comment more on the Bangkok part of the trip, it would be remiss for me to not thank our hosts at Mahidol University for accompanying us in both the Chiang Mai and Bangkok portions of our Thailand trip, and helping us get a quick but thorough peak into Thai history, culture and traditions.

Our trip came to an end really fast, and our group of twenty five split up yesterday with most people heading back to the states, but Nawsheen off to Bangladesh, Leia back to Singapore for a week, Professor Reynolds to Nepal, Dan, Raley, Carlee and Elaina to Vietnam, and Angela, Elliot and I still strutting around in Thailand for another week! I am sad that our summer as a group has come to an end, but I cannot even begin to describe how much this trip has challenged, educated, and inspired me, and I can say with certainty that we all will return to Chapel Hill in the fall with more stories and experiences than we could have ever imagined.