Feelings about a trip

The first thing the delegation felt when arriving in the country famous for its smokeless industry was the feeling of the Thai people - gentle, calm, honest, enthusiastic and really approachable. Perhaps that is because their culture and lifestyle are deeply influenced by Buddhist ideology. According to the arrangement of the Organizing Committee - Bansomdeij Chaoprayar Rajabha University, our teachers and students, along with 11 delegations from other countries, experienced many destinations in Thailand, each destination brought us surprises and excitement with the landscapes, people associated with the history, culture and beliefs of the Golden Temple country.

On the first day of the trip, we left Bansomdeij Chaopraya Rajabhat University at 5am to Suphanburi province, about 3 hours drive from Bangkok. Here, we visited a secondary and high school. The surprising thing at this school is that all female students are required to have the same short haircut, which looks very funny and cute. Here, the delegations organize cultural exhibitions. This activity is a very practical and meaningful form of visual education to promote the culture of ASEAN countries to young citizens of other countries. In the following days, the Organizing Committee cleverly arranged students and teachers from different countries to mix and bond into groups. From there, it creates opportunities for members to develop confidence, have opportunities to interact, exchange cultural and linguistic understanding with each other through common group activities such as: learning how to grow medicinal plants, make traditional medicine, how to make bean sprouts from sunflower seeds, how to raise worms, make banana cakes, learn traditional dances... In particular, students and teachers get to experience being real farmers, planting rice in muddy fields, under the scorching sun. Those are really interesting experiences. The next day, we went on a field trip to an ancient market called "Samchuk Market”over 100 years old. Here, they sell products from ancient times about Thai culture and life. At this ancient market, customers and especially tourists like us can see the goods and bargain comfortably without having to buy. The shop owners are extremely enthusiastic with friendly smiles always on their lips. The days of experience in Suphanburi province are summarized into a program“Brainstorming Programme” for all students and teachers when talking about “Amazing Thailand”.Once again, I saw the sophistication in the organization of the Organizing Committee. They created a program that connected the members, promoted and encouraged each member of the delegation to express their smart and creative ideas, so that the children could present about the surprises when coming to Thailand. The members of the Jury were teachers from the countries who scored and awarded the children. The program was really fun, youthful, dynamic and extremely useful because through it the children had the opportunity to express themselves. At the same time, through these activities, the Organizing Committee also indirectly promoted the image of the country and the gentle, friendly Thai people - "the land of smiles".

Returning to Bangkok, we continued with activities from 7am to 6pm such as visiting the Siam Museum, the Royal Palace, visiting sacred ancient temples, experiencing boats running on the beautiful Chao Phraya River to see the city of Bangkok on both sides of the river, seeing the magnificence of a modern city intertwined with ancient temples... But perhaps the most impressive thing for our whole group and also to end the 11-day journey was the traditional art performance at Siam Niramit, reenacting the ancient life of the Thai people through the reigns of kings from King Rama I to the following kings in a surprisingly vivid way. The end of the performance was the prosperous, abundant, modern life of today. This art performance helped us, our teachers and students, as well as the whole group, understand why the Thai people love and respect their kings so much, because the kings sacrificed for the people, loved and cared for the people, even more than themselves. Many people shed tears when the image of the king was re-enacted, they cried in respect, with love and worship.

The time for learning and exchanging was not too long, but the values ​​that the trip brought to each of us are difficult to express. Not only understanding Thailand, the journey was also an opportunity for us teachers and students to exchange and understand more about the culture and language between ASEAN+3 countries, to understand more about traditional culture through exhibitions, art performances showing the lifestyle of young people in each country. The connection was enough to create new names from the names of many participating countries such as Vieanmar (Vietnam - Myanmar), Comnesia (Combodia - Indonesia) ... The end of the experience left in each person's heart a feeling of nostalgia, regret with tears falling, warm hugs before saying goodbye and telling each other that"We don't say “goodbye” we only say “see you again”.

* Some pictures of the trip