Dinner with the new Sri Lankan Ambassador to Thailand

We finally have the new ambassador to Thailand here and for those of you who don't know he is the renound Professor in Sinhala Language Prof. J.B. Dissanayake.

Though many were questioning the appointment as his services would not be available for the University students during his tenure I believe its his life and thus his decision to make. I believe that with his background he would be ideal to serve in this post as we have to do much to re-establish the cultural and religious tied between Sri Lanka and Thailand. With most Thai people not even knowing about Sri Lanka and even those who know having a negative and incorrect impression of Sri Lanka means

that there is certainly a lot to do.

I was invited by the Sri Lankan Association here to join in for the dinner the Ambassador has extended to the Sri Lankan association members in Thailand. It was a pleasant experience and what captivated me most ( that is besides the awesome Sri Lankan food layed out for us) was how simple the Prof. and his wife are, they have an authentic Sri Lankan charm in being very down to earth. The Prof. is very much an academic and not a really a traditional diplomat and I believe that is a positive that hopefully can help improve relations between the two countries that are most connected to my life.

I was slightly concerned over meeting the famous Prof. in Sinhala language as my Sinhala is not the most pure since the last few years, mixing English words as speak normally. ( Yes I can speak proper when I really want to). But the Prof. chose to keep most of the conversations in English taking in to mind that there were couple of Tamil/Muslim participants. ( I was really impressed of the fact he took this in to account)

I do wish the Ambassador a enjoyable and successful stay in Thailand.