Chiang Mai

Had a really long day today. We left for S.P. Chiang Mai right after breakfast, because the lecturers booked the conference room there for us to give our presentations. They refuse to let us know which group is going first just to be fair to all. I seriously hate this suspense thing. Everything is so last minute. We don't even know the schedule of this entire trip and we won't know where we are staying/ the condition the place is until we arrive.

So anyway, the lecturers hired a few Songthaews to bring us to S.P. Chiang Mai.
Again, we saw the roads being flooded, but this time it was worse. All of us were so excited, taking out our cameras, going Wow, so cool! The flood was really quite bad. The shopkeepers had to use haversacks to prevent the water from entering their shops and people were just standing on these haversacks by the road. These people were amazed by us because we were so amazed by the flood.


Imagine a bus going by you while you're waiting to cross the road in Singapore. You see students going Wow, so dry! and everyone's sticking their hands out of the windows to take pictures because they're amazed by how no floods occur after a rain in Singapore.
Yeah, I bet those people thought that we were funny. I saw a few of them laughing.

The presentation went pretty well.
As usual, I was nervous but my group was the 4th to present so I could sit through the rest of the presentations comfortably. And my group was so lucky! Instead of asking us questions during Q&A, he gave us a comment and said that's just his comment. We can add on to his comment if we want to. Hahaha. We didn't need to answer any questions!

 
Dead snake right beside us while waiting for the Songthaew to send us back





After the presentation, the Songthaews were still there waiting for us to send us back to Chiang Mai residence. But a few of us wanted to do something instead of just staying in the guesthouse Plus it was some of our last days in Chiang Mai already. So we went for massage again.


Sala Chiangmai, the massage parlour we've been frequenting was full, so we had to walk a few streets down to look for other massage parlours. Cheap and non sleazy.
We finally found one after walking down the next street. 150 bahts for foot, head, shoulder, back. How cheap is that! It was actually 180 baht because of some promotion but the lady boss said 150 baht for us when we wanted to walk away.

Instead of an hour's massage, all of us ended late. So we had to rush back to the guesthouse to meet the rest for a group dinner.

The silly Songthaew driver drove us here again. It's not the first time Songthaews drivers have drove us to this hotel. Instead of Chiang Mai residence, they bring us to Johnnie Walker President Hotel, even after we told them the street name Chiang Mai residence is at. Now, all we do is pass the namecard of the guesthouse to the drivers. It worked well so far.


So we met at the guesthouse and everyone went for Northern Thailand dinner.
It was supposedly good, but being geographers, all we can think of is commodification of their culture and exploitation of females.

Right after we alighted from our Songthaews, we were invited by a group of dancers.

 
Dining area

We were thinking how little the food on the table is. 6 dishes, plus a plate of raw vegetables in the middle. Turned out that everything was refillable.

Then there were dances to keep us entertained.

This dragon like thing with a dog face was kind of scary. It galloped around the yard where the performances took place and went to the customers. It smelt one of the diners' neck, just like how a dog does. It was really freaky. I don't enjoy these kind of stuff.


It was worse when a man wearing a mask performed. His mask was devilish and it freaked me out a little. And these performances were supposed to be interactive so the performers went around the dining areas. Of all the performers, this guy with the devilish mask had to come to me. I didn't even dare to look at his mask. Gah! I know it's silly, but I couldn't stand looking at him. I didn't even want to take a picture of him. He was that scary. And everyone was laughing at me because I was cringing when he knelt beside me.

After the dinner, everyone headed for the night bazaar.
I went only because I needed long sleeve shirts, long pants, long socks and a hat for the mountains. All I managed to get was the long pants. ): Prepared to be bitten by mosquitoes tomorrow.


Everyone bought the same Chiang Mai shirt at the night bazaar!
One group bought the shirt for presentation today and all of us liked it, so we went to buy it as a group. That shirt is unofficially the 2nd Field Studies shirt. Hahah.


Will be getting back our results for our presentation tomorrow morning.


Anyway, I'll be leaving Chiang Mai tomorrow for the mountains. As far as I know, there wouldn't be any internet access nor reception for phone. So I'll be out of touch with everyone!
Goodbye world.