The Final Post

Field Studies is all over. This is the final post of my excitingly named blog 'Thomas' Field Studies in Thailand'. I have now been back in the UK for nearly a week and I have started doing some ad-hoc hours at work, which is most exciting and of course I am back with my girlfriend Eleanor. I got back to the UK fine, except that when I arrived at Leeds Railway Station because of what I am calling the Yorkshire Monsoon (BBC News). So after going 1000s of miles on 3 planes (Chiang Mai to Singapore, Singapore to London and London to Manchester), it was the last 20miles from Leeds to Harrogate that meant I was delayed.

Well anyway, Field Studies is all over and so is this blog. However, I can't forget about it because I have to write my dissertation based on it over the course of the next year.

Goodbye

Thomas

The Last Week

I have not updated this blog for a while, because I have been so busy with the final project of Field Studies. As I told you last time I spent my project in the Akha village of Doi Chaang. This village is very famous because it has been successful at growing coffee and has become an internationally known brand. The project that I completed wanted to examine what impact this 'economic' success had, had on the identity of the people and whether this had changed the culture of the village.

The project went very well and will provide a really good starting point for my dissertation. One of the most interesting parts of the project was that I used an usual method that as far as I am aware isn't very commonly used particularly in developing nations. I basically asked the participants to take photographs of things that are important to them. This worked quite well but there were some limitations. If you want to know more you can read my dissertation that will be published on 29th February 2008.

Here is the low down of what happened in the rest of the final week.

Wednesday

Returned to Chiang Mai from Doi Chaang.

Thursday

Project Write Up.

Friday

Project Presentation
In the evening was the Farewell meal with the Thai Buddies.

Saturday

Coach from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai
In the evening, I went to shopping at the Night Bazaar

Sunday

HOMEWARD BOUND

Photos

Chiang Rai Orientation http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2136562&l=1ded4&id=61201497
Chiang Rai Project http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140081&l=8fbce&id=61201497

STILL TO COME ON MY BLOG:
MY RETURN TO YORKSHIRE

Off into the Hills

Today I am leaving the relative comfort of Chiang Rai (TV, Air Con, Comfy Bed, Shops, Restaurants & internet). OK, I am getting ready to leave the comfort of Chiang Rai to make my way to a Hill Tribe Akha Village. I will be staying in the Doi Chaang Village and examine how the village has changed since the village started to grow coffee and become very successful. I am going to examine whether this new found wealth has changed their identity. This work will form the basis of my dissertation and is the main reason why I came on this trip.

Because I will be in the village this blog will not be updated until the end of the next week.

Friday 15th June 2007

Today was spent writing our project proposal for our week in the hill tribe. This actually only took us a couple of hours, so it was quite nice to have the rest of the day of and relax before the work starts tomorrow.

All Along the Border

Hello and welcome to the 'All Along the Border' edition of my blog. This blog covers the four day orientation period in the far North of Thailand, that is meant to give us inspiration for our final and biggest project. Even though this is 'GE3230a Field Studies in Thailand', this period saw us entering three different countries, 'Thailand', 'Myanmar (Burma)' and Laos.

All of the photographs from Chiang Mai are now on my Facebook and you can view them at ADD http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2136562&l=1ded4&id=61201497

Monday 11th June 2007: Baan Thoed Tai Village & Khun Sa

The first day of the Orientation saw us leaving Chiang Rai and going up into the hills first of all to Mae Salong. The Rough Guide (2006) describes the road leading to Mae Salong as a rollercoaster. The area is a stronghold for the KMT (Chinese Nationals) who for two generations have fought against communism in China. The Thai government allowed them to stay in Thailand during the Cold War, just because they were fighting against communism. The area use to be very famous for growing opium but due to a royal project they have started to grow tea, which is very nice. We went to a museum (which was basically propaganda) about the Chinese martyrs (KMT).

After lunch we made our way to have a look at one of the many tea plantations before making our way to Baan Thoed Tai Village traveling across very hilly terrain as can be seen in this photograph. This use to be a stronghold for Khun Sah who at one time was the US' most wanted drug criminal. However, he wasn't just a drug criminal who was trying to make money. He was fighting for an independent Shan State. Shan is an area within Burma, which has long wanted independence but has never received it. We stayed the night in BTT village.

Tuesday 12th June 2007 Maesai & Entering Burma

Today was one of the most exciting days so far on Field Studies. We drove from BTT to
the border post of Mae Sai. However, instead of taking the direct route we took the road that went right along the border between Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. Along the way we went past a Thai Army Post and we actually got an opportunity to have a look inside. This first photograph shows the trench that they have dug to protect themselves from the Burmesse.

This next photograph shows why they need protection. This is a photograph of the Myanmar Army post that was only about 100metres away.


After this excitement and the realisation that borders were a completely stupid and arbitrary thing we made our way to Mae Sai. This is one of only two border points along the whole border between Myanmar & Thailand. We had a couple of hours to kill so we thought we would pop across the border into Tachilek in Burma. This photograph was taken by me as I crossed over the river that separtes the two countries. Perhaps unsurprisingly Burma wasn't very nice. The town on the other side was full of people trying to sell you dodgy cigarettes, bootleg DVDs and dangerous drugs. So, it wasn't too long before we turned back into the safety of Thailand. In the late afternoon we had a Dr. Carl lecture all about the exciting geo-political issues of the area.

Wednesday 13th June: Golden Triangle & Entering Laos

The Golden Triangle in the past referred to the Opium producing area of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. However, in an effort to attract tourists the authorities have tried to change the meaning of the Golden Triangle so that it refers to the single point where the borders of the three countries meet. With the help of the useful text I added to this picture you can see how the three countries are sperated by the mighty Mekong River. After a lecture and photo taking session we went to the House of Opium Museum where we learned about the area's opium history.

It was now time to leave Thailand again and make our way to Laos via the border point at Chiang Khong. This time there was no bridge so we had to make our way across the river in = little boats. This photograph shows is arriving in Hua Wiang, the small town on the Laotian side of the river. To be perfectly honest the town was quite boring, but most travelers use it merely as a stepping stone to the rest of Laos.

After Dinner there was quite an exciting activity. Because half the group was still across the other side of the river we took part in an International Firework and Lantern Show. This was quite spectacular as both groups set off their lanterns from their side of the river.

Thursday 14th June: Phouvantai Village & Back to Chiang Rai

This was the final day of the Orientation. Before we left Laos we made our way to Phouvantai, which is a village about 30miles from Hua Wiang. This is a very interesting village because the Government of Laos forced the residents to settle here and stop their nomadic habits. There is a possibility that I will be doing a project here, so if I do I will tell you more.

It was then time to travel back to Chiang Rai, which was easier said then done. The roads in Laos weren't very good and the vehicles (Tuk Tuks) were were traveling in struggled to go across the terrain. It then took about 15minutes for the Lao authorities to check us out and on the boat ride back across the Mekong one of the boats broke down, started drifting down and had to be rescued. Then, the Thai Customs were really slow as they had to check that everyone had flights booked out of the country, even though we were all in one big group who had a single booking. We were then worried that we would miss the last bus to Chiang Rai but luckily we managed to get to the Bus Station just in time to catch the bus. Then it was a nice relaxing two hour journey back to our hotel in Chiang Rai.

NEXT ON FIELD STUDIES........

The Final Project
Farewell and Back to England

Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai

Welcome to the first blog entry from Chiang Rai. The final photos from Chiang Mai are now online at http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2129415&l=4da80&id=61201497. Also the photos from the first two days of Chiang Rai Orientation are online at http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2136562&l=1ded4&id=61201497.

Due to lack of internet this blog is running a couple of days behind, but I will update it more tomorow to bring you all of the excitments of Chiang Rai Orientation.

The T-Shirt

On Saturday we all received our official Field Studies T-Shirts. These T-Shirts are a little bit unusual because I am going to have to explain what it mean because itas designed by someone quite clever who made it a little bit complicated.

F é A = Forget the A (as in the A-Grade)
Let it B = Whatever happens in fine.
You Will C
Field Studies D (this Thai symbol is pronounced D) = Field Studies Good.



The back of the T-shirt is a little bit easier to understand. It is a road with 'Field Studies' written at the bottom and a Thai Mini Bus driving off into the distance. 2550 might seem like a random number, however it is the year 2007 in the Buddhist Calendar.

Saturday 9th June 2007 Continued: Chiang Mai Farewell Meal

I was wrong in saying it the Chiang Mai farewell meal was at a Korean BBQ restaurant. I don't know where I got this idea into my head from but it was actually even better. It was a Steam Boat Restaurant and you had to cook your own food on little BBQs as shown in the photograph. You helped yourself to the raw food from the buffet and then went back to your table to cook it. Great Fun!

Sunday 10th June 2007 Onto Chiang Rai

The alarm went of just after 6AM, yes it was another early start on Field Studies. The reason for the early start was because we were catching the 8AM bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. The bus ride took about 3 and a half hours, so it wasn't as bad as the 15hour long bus ride from Krabi to Bangkok.

So, I arrived at the Diamon Inn Hotel at around 12Noon. The Hotel is quite nice but we didn't have long there because we had to head down to Chiang Rai Rajahbat University where we to meet our 'Thai Buddies'. Our 'Thai Buddies' were students at the University, who might be able to help during our final projects in Chiang Rai projects. We played some silly games with them for a couple of hours and then went back to Chiang Rai to have dinner. A couple of the students from CRU came with us to the Night Market to have dinner where we got the excitement of seeing a lady boy show.

Fat White Men on Motorbikes

Welcome to the latest edition of my Thailand blog from Chiang Mai. Quite a big one today, enjoy.

Thursday 7th June 2007

Today was mainly project work. So, as you may guess it wasn't that exciting. By now we had collected most of the data that we needed, so it was basically down to writing up the project. This basically involved sitting around the hotel all day writing up a report. We had a break for lunch and because I know you're dying to know what I ate, I shall tell you. I ate Chicken Hor Fun and because I know you all really care, if you look left you will see a photo of it.

After lunch we returned to Sri-Pat Guesthouse, where we continued to work. At about 6PM we left Sri-Pat because we had one more piece of fieldwork that we wanted to complete. This basically involved standing outside two Mosques and counting the number of people that went inside and making note of their ethnicities. Sounds exciting, doesn't it. We will repeat the process at two other Mosques on Friday, during the main lunchtime Friday prayer session.
In the evening we went to Jerusalem which is a Israeli restaurant. It was really nice (but a bit overpriced). I had a delicious pita bread with lovely fresh crunchy vegetables.

Friday 8th June 2007

Today, we continued working on our project. You can see a photo of my group on the right. This included our brief field work visit to the other two Mosques to observe the 'types' of people who attended the main prayer session. Because of a lack of food places around the Mosque, we had to resort to McDonalds for lunch, which take it from me is no better than McDonalds in other countries. The afternoon and evening was pretty much all taken up with writing up the report. But, at least we finished it by 10PM, when we printed it out. In the evening I had dinner at a roadside stall and had Pork with Garlic & Vegetables.

Saturday 9th June 2007

We had finished the project last night, so it was nice to have a relaxing morning with very little to do after a busy week of work. It was also a bit of a chance to explore the city of Chiang Mai and have lunch at a nice cafe. At 2PM we had the group presentations. It was actually quite fun, because all of the 11 presentations were only about 10minutes each and most of them were funny. Tonight we are having the farewell Chiang Mai meal at a Korean BBQ restaurant, which should be delicious because I love Korean BBQ food.

Another Random Thought

You may be wondering what is with today's blog entry title. This is connected to another 'Random Thought' I had this morning. Large, Fat, White Men look really stupid when they ride little tiny motorbikes. It is so funny.

Photos

The Complete Chiang Mai Photo Collection is available here:
http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2129415&l=4da80&id=61201497

The Official Field Studies Photo Collection is available here:
http://www.rainmuse.com/fs

Coming up Next on Field Studies

Tomorrow we are leaving Thailand's second city to make our way to the smaller city of Chiang Rai which is nearer to the Myanmar/Laso border. This is going to be our final base for Field Studies and we will spend the last two weeks of Field Studies in this area. We are going to complete one more project and also hopefully be able to enter the country of Laos. Because I don't know what the internet situation will be like in Chiang Rai, it is unclear when I will be able to update the blog next, but keep on checking back at http://www.thomasinthailand.blogspot.com or http://www.dur.ac.uk/t.c.jackson or my Facebook for updates.

Photo Special 1: Krabi & Khao Lak