Inspiration, Discussion and Action @ TEDx Chiang Mai

Welcome to a global discussion about our shared futures.

TED Talks first came to my attention while I was at university. I was in love with Sir Ken Robinson’s talks on education and felt inspired by the many other speakers who have shared their thoughts through this forum. I often watch the TED clips online, have ‘liked’ the TED Facebook pages and of course value my little TED mobile phone app.

I never thought I would be actually able to attend one of the TED events. But then, I moved to Thailand. . .

A few months ago, during a visit to Chiang Mai, my husband pointed out a poster for TEDx (an independently organised TED event). As soon as we returned to Bangkok, I made the arrangements to attend.

  

It was fantastic!

Like a sponge, I soaked up each discussion. Appreciating their words and trying my best to think critically about the information presented – concepts revolving around education, technology, science, business, global problems and design.  Each speaker, an expert in their field, immersed us in their passion – providing us with a glimpse into their mind and lives.

Lee Ayu Chuepa discussed his journey of founding a fair-trade coffee plantation which supports his local village, Ruttikorn Vuttikorn detailed the educational games that she designs for children (including teenagers!), Boaz Zippor persuaded us on the relevance of poetry and Viritpol Sunprungksin shared his ideas about why Thai people should learn English. We learnt about ‘coworking spaces’ with Amarit Charoenphan, questioned our effects on others with Lisa Berteit and learnt about art movements in Chiang Rai with Somluck Pantipol.

These are but a few of the amazing discussions at TEDx Chiang Mai.

We learnt, we laughed, we were moved to tears. And I loved every moment of it.

At the end of the day, I found a lovely little restaurant and sat with a glass of wine staring into the busy Chiang Mai street. Reflecting on the entire event, I realised something that I have found to be true not only in such speeches, but also in many books (particularly those in education). Often, there is a lot of discussion on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of subjects. For example, education should be a creative process which inspires students, sanitation should be provided to more people globally to lower the prominence of some diseases or students should learn ‘…’. However, often the ‘how’ is glossed over or missed entirely. Rarely is there specific information and ideas on ‘how’ the ‘what’ can be implemented.

Indeed we were given great ideas from several speakers about the ‘how’. But I still find that too many speakers spend their time trying to persuade and inspire rather than advocate and spend time on the ‘how’; the specific actions that take their inspiration to the next level. I do think that more value should be placed on this.

During the day, not only were there amazing talks, there was also an array of creative activities to participate in. My favourite of these was the elephant painting with Elephant Parade.

What an excellent event!

Bangkok to Chiang Mai: Escaping to the Country

Bangkok is an amazing place. Here, if you can dream it, you can almost certainly do it. Everything is at your fingertips.

It is a wild ride. A quick-pace. Between school responsibilities, weekly commitments and general life, there is little chance to stop and take a breath. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. However, with Buddhist Lent providing a long four-day weekend (last weekend), Drew and I took the opportunity to travel and escape into the country.

For us, it all began on Friday. We opted for the scenic journey – the overnight train to Chiang Mai, travelling first class. This was magnificent! During the remaining daylight hours, we saw some new sights (including a lot of monkeys and an amazingly huge gold Buddha sitting on a mountain), had dinner bought to our private room and allowed the train to rock us to sleep. I think I would be happy to live on that train!

 

Arriving in Chiang Mai early Saturday morning, we had the day to explore the city, watch some Muay Thai and investigate the huge variety of tours and activities on offer. We decided upon a zip line jungle obstacle course…somehow.

Sunday morning came, and so did the zip lining. To be honest, I really hadn’t thought about what this would actually involve. Heights as it turned out.

Once over the initial shock (ok lets be honest, the shock wasn’t so much initial as it was constant), we had so much fun! The guides were amazing, very knowledgeable and followed safety requirements to a tee.

That afternoon, we stumbled upon a wonderful little market. This market is noteworthy for one particular reason. . . here, we found the BEST street food that we have had so far! Purchasing something from almost every stall, we enjoyed Chiang Mai sausage, papaya salad, wontons, roasted potato skewers and mango on sticky rice. As food lovers, we just could not say no!

Our final day was spent exploring the rest of the city and spending time at the Doi Suthep temple (up high on the mountain, over-looking Chiang Mai), before returning that evening again on the overnight train.