The other side of Lanna

CNN’s headline special travel report “On The Road” is back on the screen this weekend and after informative looks at Myanmar and South Korea is now in Thailand with a new take on our history and culture that the producers say could even teach us something we don’t already know.
The show is hosted by seasoned Canadian correspondent Paula Newton, who spent several weeks exploring five locations in the Northern Thailand.
She stopped off at a hilltribe village, joined the Loy Krathong festival and got up close and cosy with some elephants but viewers shouldn’t expect a wealth of tired travel tips.
In “On The Road”, Newton takes us to not-so-secret but unique and underrated places and unveils different sides to familiar stories.
We caught up with her just before she left the capital.

How did CNN become interested in history, culture and lifestyle?
As journalists, we’re constantly trying to cover a wide range of topic, and we are certainly very immersed in current events no matter what they are. Most of the storytelling focuses on how people live, so it’s nice to be able to do more of that. We certainly don’t ignore the realities in life no matter which country we go to and we enjoy showing viewers how people are getting on with things that are important to them.

What’s the concept of “On the Road”?
It’s a really interesting concept. We choose to spotlight a country and then tell stories from that country that you normally wouldn’t hear. Our motto at “On the Road” is to tell people something they don’t know about their own country. For Thailand, we avoided going to the beach as wanted to give our viewers a richer and more multi-layered experience. People already know that Thailand has fantastic beaches; we don’t have to tell them that. Instead we are trying to tell them – maybe even Thai people too – that there are things to explore in Northern Thailand. It’s really the cultural heart of the country, and after having spent almost two weeks there, it’s nice being able to show that.

Were you personally familiar with Thailand prior to working on the show?
This is my first time in Thailand! It’s good to have background in places but it’s also nice to come as a new face. You want to explore because of everything you’ve read and learned about Thailand. I try not to hold preconceived notions about who I’m going to meet or what I’m going to see.

What were your perceptions of the country before this first visit?
Definitely the beaches! I knew about the chaotic nature of Bangkok and the fact that it’s a very large international city, I knew too that it’s a sprawling capital. And of course, I love Thai food. Besides that, I didn’t have much of a background about Thailand at all.

How do you get the information you need to construct the show, given that the programme is supposed to cover “undiscovered” aspects?
A lot of it, obviously, is research. We do the best we can with online research. We speak to the people who work for us who know Thailand well and have travelled all over the country. Because CNN covers politics so intensely, all our producers are dying to do something cultural. It helps news coverage too as because it gives you different perspective of what’s going on.

A lot of Thais might be sceptical about your claim that you are telling them stories they didn’t know about their own country.
The whole scepticism thing is healthy and it’s good to sceptical. I’m not saying that things we cover are things nobody has ever seen before in Thailand. But definitely the Lisu people or the elephant therapy that is going on in the North are things that a lot of people haven’t seen. The way we tell the story is much better we because we choose people who have a real passion for what they are doing in their field.

“On the Road” has been to many countries on all continents. How do you pick your destinations?
Last year we chose Myanmar after it had opened up and it was the first time we were allowed in to do something like that. There are a lot of interesting stories from Japan. South Korea was also very interesting; there our focus was on how they’re trying to come to terms with their new- found place in the economy. We try to pick countries where we believe a transformation is underway.

So why Thailand?
Thailand is of huge interest, and whenever we put stories about Thailand on our website we get a lot of traffic. A lot of people are interested in Thailand, and not just because of the news about the political situation. Many people love Thailand and want to visit Thailand. There are many expatriates looking to come to live in the country permanently or at least some of the year. And also being a middle power in Asia is a big deal for Thailand. It’s one of the top 10 tourism destinations in the world. You can’t ignore Thailand when you’re talking about travelling in Asia. We cover it so much in the news that it seemed like a good idea to come here and show a different side of the country.

Can you share the most memorable part of your adventure in Thailand?
There were a couple of things. One was the Lisu hilltribe. They live in a village of 850 families and don’t have electricity and yet they are happy and content with the way they’re living. We asked them if there were thinking of moving to the lowland, and they said no. The farming is amazing and the quality of life is getting better. They used to grow opium but now they’ve changed to different cash crops. The headman joked that before they had horses to work on the farm, and now they had the “Japanese ones” – meaning Toyota – to help them. It was an example of how prosperous they are now. They’re also relatively happy about the level of education their children are getting.

Any travel tips you’d care to share with fellow frequent travellers?
I got this tip from my mother-in-law 25 years ago and it’s incredible. I put all my clothes on hangers and cover them in dry cleaning plastic bags. I fold them – together with hangers and bags – and put in my suitcase. When I get to a hotel I just grab all the hangers and hang them in a closet. When you fold them in plastic it wrinkles a bit but not to a point that you have iron it. It takes slightly more room in the suitcase, but believe me, not that much at all.


Northern lights
>> “On the Road” screens on CNN tomorrow at 6.30am, 11.30am and 9pm, on Sunday at 11am and on Monday at 8am and 5pm.
>> For more information, log on to http://Edition.CNN.com/SPECIALS/on-the-road/thailand.