STUDY TOURS TO MELAKA WORLD HERITAGE CITY BY HISTORY CLUB SEKOLAH MENENGAH KEBANSAAN TUN PERAK

In last school holiday, History club Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tun Perak

had organized a study tour to Melaka the heritage city. Our club chooses Melaka as a

study tours because Melaka is world renown for her long history, historical sites,

cultures and cuisines where she has charmed numerous visitors to her shores since her

founding in the 15th Century AD. Besides that, we also wants to feel her unique history,

see her sites, enjoy her cultures, hospitality and taste her delightful cuisines.

The history of this club was established in 2009, where the headmaster was

launching the club during the weekly assembly. This is the fourth time our club

organized a study trips like this. This is the origin of the establishment of our club to this

day. For this study tour, about thirty nine students participating and three mentors also

accompanied the tour. The trip is about three days and two nights. The place that we

have visited are Homestay Seri Tanjung, The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum, St.

Paul's Hill (A'Famosa), Menara Taming Sari, Melaka River Cruise, Mahkota Prade,

Kampung Hulu's Mosque, Melaka Tropical Fruit Farm (MTFF), and Zoo Melaka.

At the first day for the trip, we have gathered in the school square at 3.30 pm

after the ‘Solat Jumaat’ prayer. Before we move on our club chairman, Muhammad Abu

has presented a number of things before we set off as a rough description of the entire

tour, division of the group and mentors for each group. After the division of the group is

done, then we went to Melaka. Our first destination is Homestay Seri Tanjung. The Seri

Tanjung Village is located just 24km by good roads from Melaka town. It is about three

hours to get there from school. We choose this place as place for we rest and sleep at

night because we can experience the village or kampung way of life first hand. Besides

that what we get at there is the village is warm, hospitable, tight knit communities offer

the best home cooked meals and the villagers are eager to share their customs and

traditions with us. We can also see performances martial powered by villagers. About

12 o'clock, we slept for us to relax the body to wake up early in the morning on the next

day.

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For the next day, we woke up at 5.30 a.m. After a shower, we had breakfast

prepared by the villagers. At 8.30 a.m. we started off going to the Melaka town. The

Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum is our next destination on the second days. We have

made appointment with the Heritage Museum offers guided tours, for that we can saw

research facilities and audio visuals. From that audio visual we know the origin of Baba

Nyonya, they also knew by the names ‘Straits Chinese’. This is because the Chinese of

noble decent who have adopted much of the Malay culture in theirs life. Furthermore we

can saw historical artifacts unique to this heritage in the museum. For that we can learn

the history of Baba Nyonya.

After visited the museum, we go to St. Paul's Hill as known as A'Famosa. It was

at the center of the city. The history that we get is when Melaka was the center between

super powers of that time and suffered the constant threat of attack the A'Famosa

became fort and was critical in Portugal maintaining its colonial foothold in the Far East.

A seven-month attack by the Dutch just about destroyed the entire fortress, leaving only

the entrance fade and the structure of a church at the top of the hill that what we saw

nowadays. Furthermore, we can almost imagine the glories and miseries when we stroll

up St. Paul’s Hill to saw majestic trees and historical remnants.

Then we go to the Menara Taming Sari. Menara Taming Sari also at the center

of the town, so that we can easily goes there from the A’Famosa. From the top of the

Menara Taming Sari, we have been witness a host of interesting and historical sights of

Melaka from eight meters height. The 110 metre viewing tower was designed based on

the legendary Taming Sari Keris. Furthermore it can accommodate sixty six people at

one time. After that we went to Melaka River Cruise. Along the river are lined by old

villagers, or kampung and modern day building. Some building from that era still stands

majestically. We experience the frothy five minutes cruise by an entertainning and

informative commentary with just RM 8 and it’s a good bargain.

In the afternoon we went to Mahkota Parade for lunch and go for shopping. It’s

about three hour we spend our time at there. Mahkota Parade is one of the best places

for shopping at Melaka. Then we set up Zohor prayer at Kampung Hulu's Mosque. This

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mosque was built in 1728 during the Dutch Occupancy and the oldest mosque in the

country. Furthermore, its unique architectural style is a unique blend of Sumatran, Hindu

and Western architecture. Nowadays all of the building's original wooden structures

except the four main pillars and the roof structure were replaced with concrete. Within

the mosque compound, you can find the grave of Sayyid Abdullah Al-Haddad, a famous

religious teacher, whom many regarded as a "Wali" (Saint).

At the evening we went at Melaka Tropical Fruit Farm (MTFF). The Melaka

Tropical Fruit Farm, which was formerly known as the Sungai Udang Agro Park. This

was a perfect place to unwind and become one with nature. Furthermore we can

experience ourselves the cool and serene surroundings at the farm and having the

opportunity to savour fresh tropical fruits like durian, rambutan and others. The fruits

were so sweet that we never feel before this. Besides that we also learn about these

fruit tree, which many may not have seen before. Another attraction at the farm is the

mini zoo. For that we got the opportunity to interact and learn about animals like the

camels, ostriches, goat, rabbits and other. We also took some picture as memorable

time at there. At the night we spend the night at the farm because there are

accommodations such as chalets, a hostel and camp site. At the camp site we make

barbeque, change story, fire banked and sing a song together. That was an enjoyable

time we got at there.

The next morning before we go back home, we stopped at Zoo Melaka. It is the

second largest zoo in Malaysia. Melaka Zoo is situated at Ayer Keroh, approximately 13

kilometers from downtown Melaka. The zoo's total area is approximately 54 acres. At

there we can see at least 1200 animals from more than 200 species. The zoo's total

area is approximately 54 acres. Furthermore Melaka Zoo adopted an open concept and

maintains the natural green environment. For that we can still feel the natural

environment like wee in the jungle. Besides that we also try to riding horse, elephant

and tram rides for that such a wonderful experience that we get. We buy some souvenir

as we have gone at there. After the last visitor at the zoo we went back to school. About

12.30 p.m. we arrived at the school.

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We feel very excited about the trip this time. This is one of the beautiful

memories we've ever felt. We hope at the next trip we can gain more knowledge and

use that knowledge that can help us face our daily life in the future. Thanks to all who

have successfully helps for make this trip go smoothly for this time. We hope all the

memorable time that we spend together can make us closer to each other.

Prepared by: 11 August 2011

……………………………………

(MUHAMMAD FIQRY AIMAN BIN MD ZUBADI)

Secretary,

History Club,

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tun Perak.

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