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.