Sean


Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is the largest and the most culture-rich city in Northern Thailand. Chiang Mai has been prospering on its aspects of tourism and modernisation. It is a globally connected hub and even though it is modernised, it still has a very well preserved culture.

 King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning "new city") in 1296 on the location of an older city of the Lawa People called Wiang Nopburi.

Chiang Mai has poor air quality, making air quality one of its environmental problems, the Environmental control unit for Chiang Mai is trying to find solutions to control the poor air quality at Chiang Mai.

Tourists are attracted to Chiang Mai by its diverse varieties of attractions such as Nightlife with bustling markets and numerous bars, and it also has a range of natural tour sites. 

In conclusion, Chiang Mai is a culture rich and modernised city.

Yupparaj School
The Yupparaj school is a public school situated in Chiang Mai, it is the first and best government school in Chiang Mai. This school
has both Thai and English programmes.
The Yupparaj school has managed to run tests on the air pollution in Chiang Mai,  mapping out the trends of the air pollution in Chiang Mai.

Reclining Buddha

The temple of the reclining Buddha is situated behind the temple of the emerald buddha, the reclining buddha is seen in a lying down position, the buddha is said to be representing the sleeping, resting or discoursing buddha.
 The figures of the reclining Buddha is impressive: 15 metres tall, 46 metres long, so large it feels like it has been squeezed into the building. The Buddha's feet are 5 metres long and exquisitely decorated in mother-of-pearl illustrations of auspicious 'laksanas' (characteristics) of the Buddha. 108 is a significant number, referring to the 108 positive actions and symbols that helped lead Buddha to perfection. You’ll need to take your shoes off to enter, and if you would like a little good luck, we recommend purchasing a bowl of coins at the entrance of the hall which you can drop in the 108 bronze bowls which line the length of the walls. Dropping the small pennies in makes a nice ringing sound and even if your wishes don’t come true, the money goes towards helping the monks renovate and preserve Wat Pho. As this is a revered image, all visitors must wear appropriate clothing; this means no exposed shoulders or skin above the knee.

Introduction

Hi I'm Sean Lim :D  Heres a picture of my beautiful face(s)



Day 1 - Let the trip begin
So today we set off for Chiang Mai, it was a fun journey. I was full of excitement when we met at the airport, looking forward to the trip ahead for us. The flight there was quite okay though some of us got let down by the boredom or some side-effects. So we arrived at Chiang Mai later at 8pm and we checked in to Lotus Hotel after a sumptuous meal. Tasting Thai food was amazing, I really do look forward to learning and eating more thai food. After that we arrived at the hotel where some things didn’t go right. We got reprimanded by the teacher for not listening to the guide. I learned that even though it is a overseas trip and we are all happy, we must observe respect at all times and listen up for instructions. Also I personally got to experience how it felt to make independent choices back at the phone shop. It was my money and I had to decide for myself, judge for myself. I got to learn that being independent was not simply just carrying your own bag, it was making decisions that were to change and affect myself. 

So here we are at the Lotus Hotel, we are all tired from the trip here so I am looking forward to the next day, we can rest up and refill our energy for the next day ahead for us! Hope we can learn and have fun for the rest of the trip.








Day 2 - Inthanon Royal Project
So it was a horrible night for me and Axel yesterday, we couldn’t sleep well , hope we can sleep well today. Alright, so me and Axel slept so horribly we woke up very early (5.45AM), we got dressed in attire and was the first one to report to the restaurant. But we were lost so we waited for a long time. After awhile, we ate breakfast and awhile later we set off on bus 4 to the mountain. The journey was long and boring, as I forgot to bring my iPod I was bored to death, however fortunately we had friends to talk to as we waited for the long boring trip to end. We arrived at the summit and took many pictures, we also got to do trekking across the royal project rice fields and plantations. While going on the trek we got to see what type of plants they grew there and how the people were living there. The living conditions were not that good at all, giving me a grim reminder to appreciate the home I have back at Singapore. We later visited the waterfall and had some fun together taking jump shots. After all the fun, we went for dinner and then back to the hotel.

Well, during today’s activities, I learned many many things. During the trek, the teachers were actively warning us from danger, I learnt that we should be aware of our safety and our surroundings even as we are having fun as well. Also I learned that even though we were assigned to each other to watch out for each another, we had to really watch out for everyone. During the trek, there were people who were not really good at physical movement, though their partners where far from them and couldn’t help, these people still received help from those who were around them. I could really feel the team spirit here and I feel that this is really good.

Areas that we could have done better on are probably the buddy system, some people still not looking out for each other. We really improved on the noise control area.

Well, I am looking forward to meeting my other school mate tomorrow though I am extremely anxious and excited, look forward to tomorrow. Peace










Day 3 - New partner
Axel and I slept like babies yesterday. We woke up before the wake up call 2 nights in a row, something we are proud of. Alright so today we went down for breakfast, everyone took pancakes and could not finish. We then went to the Yupparaj school to meet our buddies. My buddy’s name was Dokkhem, though it was a little awkward at first, we got along fine and communicated well throughout. She was very interested in the Arduino activity and we had a great time trying to put together the circuit. Despite our cultural differences, we still got along quite well and we got to know each other better. 

I felt proud to represent SST in this visit to the school, the students there looked up to us. I got to experience and learn how its like to be a global citizen, to actually make friends outside of SST and collaborate with them.

So Dokkhem got to learn how to operate and use the equipment that we use back at home to measure stats and she also got to learn about Arduino. Together we picked out two projects to work on.

Electronic Waste and how it affects our wellbeing was one problem that I suggested as the use of electronics are increasing globally and the EMF emitted could be dangerous for us, seeing this, Dokkhem agreed too and we decided that we would start to work on this project. 

Oceanic acidification was something Dokkhem suggested we work on and I found it reasonable as it not only affects all of us, it could be a very major issue. The increasing CO2 levels mean that the CO2 could dissolve in the ocean waters causing the ocean to become acidic and eventually uninhabitable.

After all that we went for dinner and then we went back to the hotel for shopping. After all these meals and activities together with the guys, I felt that I had made many new friends and I got to know more people from other classes. 

I thought that we improved a lot today, though my phone got taken for no reason, ( Jack was like “oh free wifi” and I took out my hp haven’t turn on then it got taken ) but thats okay, I don’t mind. All around, today was great as we got to make new friends and have fun.

Looking forward to the activities installed for tomorrow, Peace.

Day 4 - Overall trip
So Axel and I slept well (again) yesterday night, we woke up the usual time to watch Mr Fox on the TV and we woke up before the wake up call again. 
Today was our last day at Chiang Mai, we went to the Yupparaj school to attend the activities that they have arranged for us. We conducted an experiment to find out more about a type of fungi that grows throughout the city. We collaborated with Thai counterparts in groups and quickly collected data efficiently. The data we gained helped in some aspects of the school’s research and it certainly was a great experience delivered by the Thai counterparts. I got to better understand the culture and traditions of Thailand through further interaction with our thai counterparts. The Thai students’ presentation on the Fungi and their project was clear and impressive, it left me interested in it and the possibilities of how the fungi could be used.

Next, we went for our very first home econs class together with the thai counterparts. We learned how to cook basic Thai cuisines, being my first time attending this lesson and totally obsessed with Thai food, I was excited. The Thai counterparts were patient and friendly towards some of us which were more inexperienced in cooking. It was a very fun class as the thai counterparts were bonded with us and we had plenty of fun together.

We then headed to the computer labs in the school to obtain the stats for our recordings of the fungus, I realised that despite housing a hefty amount of students, the school was still able to have computers and many facilities. In fact most of the students there owned smart devices, I saw in this observation that technology is indeed advancing quickly and even agricultural citizens has smart devices and substantial knowledge about technology. 

After all that, it was time to go off for dinner, we exchanged gifts. Dokkhem and I exchanged gifts and we said goodbye to each other after that. The thai students sent us off to their doorstep as we waved goodbye to them from the bus. The thai students housed us greatly and they welcomed us and sent us off very warmly.

We then headed off for the final feast at a restaurant and after the sumptuous meal we had, we talked to each other and at that moment I realised that all the people I talked with and laughed with are those people that I completely didn’t know at all before this trip. We have come a long way together and have bonded well with each other. I mean, as roommates, Axel and I have to have this form of trust between each other and through this GCP we have gotten closer to each other and got to know more about each other. In fact, its not only taking care and bonding with the roommate, we took care of one another throughout the whole group and got to know other people from other classes down the corridor of our school. This is what I appreciate most about this trip.

Ever since the first day, I was excited for what came up next, from trips to mountains to getting to know and possibly innovate with another person from another country, ever since day 1. 

Day 1 was fun, we laughed and talked to each other and started to make more friends. I got a taste of how it was like to be independent, how it felt to make decisions for myself. In fact throughout the trip I had to make decisions for myself, I had to decide on how and what to spend my money on.

Day 2 was exciting, I got to learn more about the living conditions and thai culture, this let me become more aware of other cultures and understand the thai culture.

Day 3 was also quite fun, I got to experience how its like to be a global citizen, to be working with another person from another country. This was a very good experience.]

Day 4 was the day I stopped to observe and reflect on the whole trip, how I have changed, how the people around me have changed, and the impact we made on other people. 

I realised that what we do works, we are spreading the word about many things like Arduino, the thai students are talking about it, someone from that school is going to come to our school to present something about Arduino eventually, someone that got inspired about what we taught them, thats my I am proud to be the first few to head over to Chiang Mai.

This trip was amazing and I hope that the school can arrange more trips to make SST globally aware, to spread what we do to other people, and to prepare us for the outside world.

Peace.


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