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Where is the Chiang Mai University Library?
When I first arrived in Chiang Mai, for whatever reason – maybe it was the language barrier as I had not yet progressed with my Thai, or maybe it was a mismatch between my Googling skills and everything not being available on an English search engine – but I could not figure out where exactly the Chiang Mai University Library was, despite the fact I live only a 15 minutes walk from CMU. I really wanted to locate the library because there were several gender studies books that I wanted to delve into for research into Thai mores and how that played out in female Muay Thai, but try as I might the location of the huge building was a mystery.
With the help of a fellow working at a library that was not the CMU library, I finally found it – including the location of the Center for Women’s Studies – and the Post Office which is nearby and which I have conveniently used several times, so I thought I should put it in a blog post so others might not have as hard a time as I had. Admittance to the library requires a passport or official form of ID and you need to fill out a very short form to leave with a security desk. I also believe that to check out books as a non-student you need to pay a modest fee (maybe 500 Baht for a year). As it turned out my book was not in the main library but in the Social Studies Library, which is only a 2 minute walk down the main road.
With the help of a reference librarian (whose English was great) I finally found the one book I really wanted to read: Toms and Dees by Megan Sinnott. It appears to be the definitive book on “Toms” and “Dees” – two of several classified sexual orientations found in Thailand, in this case Lesbian – written in English.
It seems that most people/students don’t check out books, they have them copied at a very cheap rate. So I took the books (I got two) to a copy place off-campus (although there is a copy shop right out front of the library, but they were too busy) and I’ll have copies ready for me tomorrow. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with this research but I would love to write something in depth. At the very least though I’d like to better understand the position of women in Thai society, and the position of women in Muay Thai.
the main library, not far from the on Campus Post Office
the Center for Women’s Studies is across the street from the Main Library
Post Office, CMU Main Library and the Center for Women’s Studies can all be found on my Muay Thai map:
View Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu – Muay Thai Map in a larger, interactive map
