On 23 August 2013, H.E. Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata, Ambassador of Thailand to Myanmar, attended the “Thai Day Festival” at the Yangon University of Foreign Languages (YUFL). The theme of the festival this year is “Loy Krathong”.

The “Thai Day Festival” is organized as part of the Thai Language Studies at YUFL, supported since 2009 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in collaboration with Naresuan University, under the Project “Curriculum Development in Teaching Thai Language at YUFL”. The Festival provided an opportunity for Myanmar students to practise Thai and learn about Thai culture, through cooking demonstration, songs and dances, among other activities.  Thai language is one of the 9 languages taught as a major at YUFL.

On this occasion, the Ambassador demonstrated how to make a krathong and shared with the lecturers and students the history and traditions of Loy Krathong so that they have correct information to compare it with the Myanmar Full Moon Day of

Tazaungdine (12^th month of lunar calendar) which is a Buddhist holy day.  He highlighted that in the old days, Thai people offered Krathong as a tribute to the Goddess of River as their lives depended on rivers.  It was also a smart way to make people take good care of these waterways.    

The Royal Thai Embassy attached importance to engaging YUFL lecturers and students in Thai activities as a means to further strengthen people-to-people relations and to expose them to Thai people and genuine way of Thai life.  Most recently on 9 August 2013, the Royal Thai Embassy, in collaboration with SCG Cement, organized a special career lecture to equip the final year students with necessary skills and working etiquettes to prepare them for their future careers.