In the context of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, I gained Chinese Government scholarship under the Master Program for Youth Talents on Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation (LMC Program) in 2018, conducted by Hohai University and the Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Center. First of all, I would like to extend my sincere and heartfelt thanks to all the people who have given me this chance to study abroad and enrich my experience. Preferably, as the only one representative from Thailand in 2018, I am honored to have this opportunity.

I came to China alone in 2018. I did not panic although that was my first time abroad. Before I arrived, the staff at Hohai University had given me sufficient advice to prepare for living in China. Furthermore, there were 4 Thai students from the LMC Program who studied in 2017. Later on they all became my friends. Even more, on the first day of my arrival, a senior who worked at the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, picked me up at the airport and escorted to the Student dormitory safely. I received a warm welcome in Nanjing. Moreover, he recommended some places popular with Thai students in the University, such as cafeteria, school buildings and supermarkets.

Life is diverse and interesting here.There are many seniors from the Royal Irrigation Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand. They suggested me about how to study in the first year such as how many subjects that I have to study and how to prepare each subject which was very useful to me. later on, I made lots of friends from many other countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Uganda, Mongolia etc., which helped and accompanied me in study and life. Usually, we shared academic and work experiences with each other because we are government officials with the main mission on water resources management of each country. It has improved our knowledge on water resources from each country when we discussed.

While living in China, I have more and more friends. Some are undergraduate Chinese students. They used to invite me to sports, exercises and various places in Nanjing and other cities. With the help of my Chinese friends, we went to Changzhou, Suzhou, Huzhou and Shanghai. I think if I travel by myself as a foreign tourist along, it may not be convenient like this. For example, I ate traditional Chinese food which I have never known like local people. I experienced modern lifestyle of Chinese people with full of cultural advancement which was different from what I had been aware of China before. Everything was a good experience to me and it is very worthy to live in China over the past 2-3 years.

For my impression of Hohai University, I believe it is “the Best Hydraulic Engineering University in China”. I am honored to study for a master's degree here. Lecturers are highly dedicated. The curriculum in the Hydrology and Water Resources are comprehensive. The content covers all aspects related to water areas, which are practical and can be applied for research and work in the future. The development of water resources in Thailand is still facing problems in many ways due to lack of new knowledge. I had the opportunity to visit a large project in China that transports a large amount of water from the south of China to the north. How amazing it is to develop the concept of water management and build this huge project. Besides the classroom, the teacher also arranged field trips, so that I could learn deeply in many locations from various subjects. Furthermore, as part of the course of water information collection and data processing, I also went to the flood management system that locate outside Nanjing City, and visited the runoff measurement station, the automatic measurement system of Qianhancun hydrological station. And I also got a special opportunity from outside agencies, a 14-day workshop "The Belt and Road International Workshop on Sustainable Development of Water Environment" organized by the Institute of Earth Environment of Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS) in Xi'an, which was considered to be highly honored had participated in this workshop. In addition, I was invited to attend the 2019 International Leadership Training Program for Young Professional in Water Resource Management (YGL-Water 2019) in Vientiane, Lao PDR. It was a very useful workshop during which I had a field trip to learn the cooperation program between China and Laos. Participants in this workshop came from many countries including those in Europe and Latin America. From this event I gained very good experience and enriched my knowledge.

In the field of research, I chose the topic of “Applications of Hydrodynamic Model for Evaluating Flood Boundary in 3rd Part of Chi River Basin in Thailand” with associate professor Zhang Xiuju as the Supervisor. Also, I worked with associate professor Chalermchai Phawattana at the Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen Universit where I achieved bachelor degree and he proposed this topic to me. More than just a teacher, Ms. Zhang is an expert in this field advising on the concept solution research studies in water resources. When I faced problems during my research, she always gave me advises. Ms. Zhang and I came up with the idea of academic cooperation with Khon Kaen University. But before we took action, the study was stopped by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. If I have opportunity in the future, I will make it happen in order to improve academic about water resources between the two universities.

Over the past 3 years, I have been deeply impressed by everything that I have achieved from Master’s degree by the LMC Program. I appreciate the LMC Water Center for offering me this opportunity. And I sincerely hope that I could take more chance in the future in either academic cooperation or international coordination that will benefit the development of water resources both in China and the sub-region of Southeast Asia and the future of our children and mankind. Shared River, Shared Future!