If you’re a UTS student with commitment issues to your degree that prevent you from going on a longer exchange, you should apply for a Global Short Program. They’re funded by the New Colombo Plan, which seems to be a nation-wide strategy to try and stop exchanges from being a prolonged ‘Euro-summer’ and instead spend more time learning with our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region.
In November and December I went with a group of Jumbunna students to study tea production economics at Chiang Mai University. At the same time, there was a Global Short Program of UTS Journalism students that we crossed over with.
On one of our weekends we went to Mae Kampong village, which has become known for its small scale eco-tourism model. The image on this page is of Thiramet, who has been a leader of the village for decades.
In Northern Thailand tea has traditionally been eaten, in the form of Miang. It is made by fermenting tea leaves and then packing them into a dense brick which is then broken apart and chewed. Although the Miang trader historically was always known to be pretty well off, consuming tea in this way has largely fallen out of fashion.
Mae Kampong shifted away from agriculture and into tourism, yet aimed to maintain its cultural identity and agricultural practice by implementing homestays instead of resorts.
After my program had finished, I travelled to Hong Kong and then mainland China (Yangshuo and Guilin) for a few weeks. While I was in the area I met up with a couple of UTS fashion students who were also doing a Global Short Program in Hong Kong. You’ve got to make the most out of that government dollar.
There are big construction efforts at the moment. They’re putting all the power lines under the street. We all thought that it was a shame because it was one of the things we appreciated about Chiang Mai instantly; their haphazard makeshiftness is beautiful and fascinating. Although when I mentioned them to Ice, one of my buddies from Chiang Mai University, he told me he found them embarrassing.
Our Chiang Mai Uni buddies will be visiting Sydney in February.
