We arrived in Chiang Rai, Thailand exhausted from a long travel day, but at ease. After a less then stellar experience in India, it was a relief to walk down the streets of Chiang Rai and not elicit any reaction. I wouldn’t say I “blended in,” I’m not Thai, but I was like any other tourist or expat there.
In India, I experienced racism and contempt like I have never experienced elsewhere during travel. There’s a fine line between genuine ignorance and racism, curiosity and exotification, appreciation and appropriation. No, this was racism stemmed in ignorance judging by the looks of contempt. In Thailand, I was able to breathe easily in peace and anonymity though.
But, as you’ll see from this video, my anonymity was short lived!
** This is a post that I’ve been wanting to do for a while about an experience I had in Thailand but I knew my amateur video skills couldn’t do the story I was trying to tell justice. So, after sitting on all the footage for months and months I brought in a talented young editor who worked wonders. You have to know and be humble enough to accept and realize, you can’t do it all, and to tell a story that doesn’t shirk your audience, bring in some help! So please let me know what you think! I’m super happy with the video.
Thanks for being open and honest sharing your travel experiences. We need to travel more to get people comfortable because we are perceived differently in many places.
Thank you! I completely agree. It really does build cultural bridges!
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