This year, I accepted a position to teach as a volunteer at the North Chiang Mai University in Thailand. The schedule was open-ended, and I chose to start in July. Although this was during the semester break, I was assured that there would be many students still present who would value interacting with a foreign language teacher.
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| North Chiang Mai University Entrance |
This was not quite true as most of the students that remained were there for personal reasons and learning a foreign language was not one of them. In fact, when the new semester commenced, there were few students able to speak English, and even those majoring in the subject were few and far between. It was also notable that an unusually-large number of the faculty were not bilingual.
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| One of Many |
My overall, and general, opinion was a culture of laid-back students, and an easy-going population as a whole. I came to the conclusion that history had something to do with it, and there was a distinct difference when compared with other Asian countries. The subject for a useful thesis, no doubt. Nevertheless, a very friendly and peaceful community.
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| Old City Moat |
The result, for me, was the unnecessary 2 kilometre, rough gravel, trudge from/to my small apartment, and the opportunity to take time off to visit the interesting city of Chiang Mai.
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| Director of International Affairs and his wife, with Me |
The notable feature of Chiang Mai is the ancient walled old city surrounded by a moat filled with water. The Buddhist religion (or philosophy) is obvious everywhere because of the numerous golden temples (new and old) and the many monks in their saffron-coloured robes. One odd sight was the number of 7-11 convenience stores that, at times, seemed to equal the number of temples. I visited the Buddhist University at Wat Chiang Man which, interestingly, did not confine itself to theological subjects but excelled in modern subjects such as Computer Engineering (Fees not required for monks). The advent of the digital camera with a 1,000-picture memory was essential, and I felt quite sorry for those visitors with 35mm film cameras.
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Monks at Prayer |
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Entrance to Wat Chiang Man |
There are many good hotels and guesthouses within the walls of the city which I recommend, and prices start at approximately $15 per night, rising to $100 per night for sheer luxury (I would suggest booking for the first night and, then, looking around for the best value ... as if $15 isn’t good enough).
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| One of Many Processions for One of Many Holidays |
It was certainly an unforgettable experience.
Click each photo to enlarge.
