Life in Chiang Mai: Fitting in

Considered a local delicacy, albeit in the street-food category, fried insects are sold on Chiang Mai’s famous Sunday Walking Street. Choose from grasshoppers, bamboo worms, silk larvae, crickets, weevils, ant queens and scorpions. The ‘menu’ changes according to the season while silk larvae and crickets are available all year round, scorpions are considered a rare delicacy…

I get asked for advice on a whole range of subjects in my role as CEC President and as an Expat myself, who has lived for 11 years in Chiang Mai. One of the issues that comes up again and again is, unsurprisingly, to do with cultural differences. There are far more grey areas in Thailand than there are in say, Europe or The States, and we, as Expats, have to learn to ‘fit in’ and accept that fact.

Now, I’m not suggesting you go as far as to enjoy eating bugs (though they are considered delicious and nutritious by the locals here in Chiang Mai), but fitting in here and going with the flow is a necessity if you want to enjoy your time as an Expat, and, let’s face it, guest, here in Thailand. I guess my main point is that you can’t apply U.S or U.K values here, you need to be much more flexible when dealing with Thai people personally or with the authorities.

A friend of mine recently moved into a place within earshot of a pig farm…he, in turn, started making noises about calling in the authorities to address the noise issue. For me, it’s a classic case of who was there first? That farm has been around for over 50 years providing a livelihood for the locals – I think it’s up to us to ‘fit in’ with them and not up to Thais to ‘fit in’ with us. Part of the reason we are here as Expats is because of the wonderful cultural diversity we find. Let’s not forget, the days of the British Empire are over…

For advice and assistance on any topic, Contact Alan Hall who is always happy to help.