Reflection on Kite Museum

Overall, I think the Kite Museum was quite interesting as we get to see different types of kites that we never seen before. We get to know how kites are made and what are the materials needed. We also get to see kites from different countries and know the purpose why were they made. For example, in Japan, the kites have faces drawn on them in order to ward off bad luck. They also show how kites were made and designed. It was really interesting to see the man designing the kite. Although the pattern was simple, I can see that it takes a lot of skills to make the kite look attractive.

Although we were not given much time to explore the whole museum, I have learnt a lot because there were a lot of informations about the different types of kites. The kites displayed there was also interesting and fascinating. Some of the designs on the kites looks complicated while some has simple patterns on them. Overall, the kites look great.

I hope the school can organize more learning journeys to museums so that we can learn more about the history of for example kite. I really had an enjoyable time there and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about kites or interested in learning on how to make a traditional kite.

Video on Learning Points/New Experiences of Geog/Hist LJ 2010

Research on Learning Journey to Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum

Located at Jalan Air Molek, Johor Bahru, the museum was once an Istana Besar, better known as the Grand Palace.Johor’s present ruler, His Majesty Sultan Iskandar commissioned the Grand Palace in 1894. It was then completed in the year 1866. In the early 1990s, a decision was made by Sultan Iskandar to convert the Grand Palace into a museum where it is open for the public to view the collection of the Royal Family. At the same time, the museum still delivers the traditional royal and state ceremonial functions. Sultan Iskandar himself declared the museum open on May 11 of the year 1990.

The museum exhibits many artefacts that are important in the history, culture and the crowning of the Royal Family. Such artefacts are the arrays of treasures, works of art, antiquities, furniture, silverware, vases, gold traditional Malay weapons, silver jewelry, silver trophies and much more.The museum also has dedicated galleries focusing on :

· The Throne Room, where the crowing of the Royal Family takes place, and where they will be given the title of Dato’ and Datin,

· The Treasure Room, with an array of treasures of the Royal Family, and

· The Hunting Room, where there is a display of animals hunted at that time, as trophies were awarded to the hunters, making them seem powerful towards the society.

Open Hours of the Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum: 9.00am - 5.00pm daily except Friday.

Admission Fee: RM 1.00 for each gallery.

Reflection on The Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum

With white walls on the exterior and beautiful blue rooftops that compliment the walls, the grand Sultan Abu Bakar Royal Museum was a beautiful museum, and its beauty could not get any more exquisite once I set foot inside the museum. With its fascinating history, I felt closer to the Royal Family as I tour around the museum.

The museum would not look very attractive without the gifts and souvenirs from the countries and people that the Royal Family had interacted with. One example would be the plates displayed near the Throne Room. The plates originated from neighbouring countries such as China and India. Stories of Johor’s history were printed on the plates.

Rather than just attractive, the museum was informative too, for example, with information of the past Sultans and their lives. I now know the 1^st to 4^th Sultans of Johor; 1^st being Sultan Abu Bakar, 2^nd, Sultan Ibrahim, 3^rd, Sultan Ismail and the 4^th, Sultan Iskandar. I do hope to be able to visit such a beautiful and historic place once again.

Oil Palm plantations

Malaysia’s oil palm industry faced with two problems :

1) Lack of manpower resources
2) Incurable oil palm disease - Ganoderma Basal Stem Rot (BSR)

90% of the manual workers in Malaysia's oil palm plantations are Indonesian workers employed to do harvesting, weeding and other plantation maintenance works. The work is tough, long hours and lowly-paid.

The Ganoderma Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease is caused by bracket fungus Ganoderma. It is lethal and incurable for more than 50 years now. During replanting, if the old oil palm trunks are left to rot on the ground, various fruiting bodies of Ganoderma may be produced and thrive. Ganoderma Basal Stem Rot (BSR)is fast becoming a major threat to oil palm cultivation and palm oil production in Malaysia.

Reflection on Learning Journey to Oil Palm Factory

After the trip to the Oil Palm factory and the plantation, I realised that we can relate Geography into our daily lives such as the the ground that we are walking on, the warm weather that we are experiencing and the delicious rice that we eat. I saw how is the process of getting oil from the fruit. They did everything at that piece of land and transport to the different parts of the place. Although it was a little bit smelly, I think that it was worth it as we saw something different from the tall buildings that we see everyday. I think that it was a rare experience for me.

Research on Kite Museum

The Pasir Gudang Kite Museum was built as an appreciation towards the contribution of Malaysian and international kite flyers. It is also known as Layang-Layang Museum. It was opened to public on 9 February 2002 during the 7^th Pasir Gudang Kite Festival.

Bukit Layang-Layang is also the venue of the annual Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival, which attracts kite enthusiasts from all over the world. The festival usually takes place on the third week of February, and celebrated its 14th anniversary in 2009.

The museum houses a collection of more than 200 kites which once roam the skies of Bukit Layang-Layang as well as hundreds of the traditional kite heritage of Malaysia known as Wau. The museum also houses a collection of Ceramic Vases.

It is a two-storey building. On the first floor, they show the international kite history, international kite exhibition, international kite festival chronology, souvenir festival and audio visual.

On the second floor, they show the traditional wau history, traditional part of wau, Malaysia history of wau, wau of terminology, materials of wau, material to making wau, equipment to fly wau, workshop to promote wau, Johorcraft souvenir, traditional wau and an information counter.

The operating hours are shown below:

Day Time

Monday & Thursday 9.30am-5.00pm

Wednesday, Tuesday, 8.00am-5.00pm

Saturday & Sunday

Lunch time 1.00pm-2.00pm

Friday 9.00am-5.00pm

Lunch time 12.30pm-2.45pm

Entrance fee:

Adult RM2.00

Child (7-12 years) RM1.00