Begad’s Thailand Visit
Message from Begad:
I got the opportunity to present the research that I did at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls at SPC in Thailand. It was quite a bit of work to get all the paperwork done, but it worked out. Next thing, I found myself on a plane to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The trip there was a bumpy one, from finding out that I needed a visa to switch airports in Japan to have a 10 hours layover in Bangkok. I ended up finally reaching my final destination Chiang Mai.
It was exciting meeting my mentor who I haven’t seen for almost a year. She drove me to the hotel, where I am staying. I told her that I will clean up quick and we can go to her University where I got to meet two of her students and practice my presentation with them. Later my mentor had to leave for a meeting, so her two students (their names are “Gift” and “Ink”) took me for a tour around campus, which was really beautiful. We walked down a trail and we had this view.
I couldn’t believe that they had this view to themselves and it was 5 minutes walk from the physics department.
I talked with Gift and Ink for a long time, they were really excited meeting a non-Thai person and being able to practice their English with him. They told me how they would like to go to the US and see the culture there. It was fun for all of us to have had this chance to talk to each other.
Later that day, we all went to a Thai restaurant, and ate authentic food which tasted really good and spicy. Then we went to Suthep mountain and was able to experience one of the best views.
Later that night, we went to a market that is held every Saturday night in Chiang Mai. They have all sort of stuff, from delicious street food to handcrafted bracelets. We walked for about an hour looking at all the things being offered. We then took a “tuk tuk” to go get dinner, where we ate some Korean food for the last night in Chiang Mai.
The next day we were scheduled to leave for SPC (stands for Siam Physics Congress) 2018, which is held in Phitsanulok around 5 hours away from Chiang Mai by van. When we arrived, we went tour hotel and relaxed for a while before we went for dinner. We went to a nice Korean restaurant with some new students and professors that I met. We take pictures everywhere we go, so here is a picture of 5 people who can’t move from how full they are.
We finally went back to the hotel, where we got some sleep preparing for the big day at SPC tomorrow.
The next day we went to SPC where a lot of amazing students and professors present their work in the form of posters or oral presentations.
We attended the opening ceremony and listened to multiple talks and when it was time for my talk, I got a little nervous. My mentor told me that I can do it and not to worry, so I went ahead and presented and got positive reactions from the audience and got multiple questions at the end that I was able to respond to. This was a big success for me, I felt accomplished then. It was then time to relax, so after all the talks were done we went to get dinner and eat ice-cream in the city of Phitsanulok. Since it was a long day we went back to the hotel around 9 pm and slept right away preparing for another day of amazing physics talks.
Next day, we attended multiple talks the entire day, which were really interesting. Later in the afternoon, we had dinner with all the people that attended the meeting and a lot of chatter about the difference between Thailand and the US. Next morning, we left for Rayong, which is south of Bangkok. On the way there, we visited a factory with the Chiang Mai University students that is related to material science. It was interesting seeing how they operate the machines there. It was a fun experience overall. At night, we walked at the beach and had delicious sea food. It was fully of many fun moments.
Next morning, we left for another factory and did another tour there and got to talk to more students. We then left to get my last meal in Thailand which was really delicious seafood. We drove up to Bangkok for the last farewell.
It was a really fun experience that wouldn’t have been possible without Dr. Waraporn Nuntiyakul who is my mentor from Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and Dr. Madsen from University of Wisconsin River Falls in the USA.
