sà-wàt-di khráp (Welcome to Thailand)




SEA MEO Agreement

Assalamualaikum Wr.Wb

Welcome to Thailand. At this very beginning, I would like to express how grateful I am, being able to participate in this students-teachers exchange under SEAMEO program.

This students-teachers exchange is a project under Southeast Asian Ministers of Education through the SEAMEO Council. This project was embarked in order to achieve better quality of education in Southeast Asia. The project is called Pre-Service Student Teacher Exchange in Southeast Asia (SEA-Teacher Project). The program calls for Science, Mathematics, and English teachers. The aim of this program are (cited from SEA Teacher official website):
  1. To enable pre-service student teachers to develop their teaching skills and pedagogy.
  2. To encourage the pre-service student teachers to practice their English skills.
  3. To allow the pre-service student teachers to gain a broader regional and world view.

Universitas Tanjungpura Pontianak
My university (Universitas Tanjungpura Pontianak) is part of the program. There were two students who were assigned to participate from July 18 to August 15. The first one was Olivia who was hosted by Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University, and myself, Rahmad Hidayatul Kalam who was hosted by Surat Thani Rajabhat University.


Olivia and Me
Our baggages

A look near the flight departure in Kuala Lumpur Airport

In short, we flied together from Pontianak to Kuala Lumpur, and separated the next day where she took a flight to Bangkok, and I took a flight to Surat Thani. When I arrived in Surat Thani, Mr. Potjanat (the head of academic service) picked me up at the airport. Then, he took me around to tell me what they have in Surat Thani.
Mr. Potjanat Khoprasert 

As I would express my first impression of Surat Thani, this is a beautiful place which seemed not crowded and fresh by nature. After driving around the city, Mr. Potjanat took me to the mansion where we live. The mansion is called Chonkasiam. This place locates at the central of Surat Thani which is close to the downtown. We have food night shop which locates nearby.

A look near to mansion


A view of the mansion


In the evening, my new friends and I were taking a walk to the river. We tried to find halal food and a place to hang out. The river is quite clean. We did not notice rubbish floated the city and the river. There must be some points where people put a big plastic bag of rubbish together. There was one thing that surprised us on this day. In the evening (around 5 p.m), there was a shop that broadcasted a song. We noticed that all people nearby were standing up and likely impress a reverence in honor of something. This is kind of culture that we never see in Indonesia. 


An uncrowded road near the mansion

Tapee River

A stall next to the river

Food night shop

A view from aside of road

It was been a lot of fun since our coming to Surat Thani. This is my personal first impression about Thailand, especially Surat Thani, and I feel very glad to be able to participate in this amazing program. Khop Kun Khrap J

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