A Photo-Story of our Malacca Trip (by Mrs Tay)

Our journey begins...

In the coach, to while away the time, we play 'Battleships',...


read books,...

look out of the window and count the miles...



At the bee farm,...

'Can you see the queen bee?'

Tasting the honey...

Cheers!

Lots of food for lunch at Orna Country Club,
but Victor's favourite is the chicken wings.

At the Malay Village, we learn a little about Silat.
First you stand firm,...

Then show your 'claws',...

Now, you punch!

Shawn trying his hand at spinning a top.
First, you have to twirl the rope round and round...

Then you bend down a little and flip the rope with the top.

Hey! It's spinning!

Batik painting is fun!

Parents and siblings join in.

In the beginning, Zhi Sheng is a bit shaky...

... but he perseveres...

... and hey presto! What a lovely piece of art!

Isn't this cool?

Our completed work.

We learn about rubber tapping too.

Come, touch the latex and smell it.
Yup! It smells like coconut milk.

We also smell the curry plant leaves.
It smells like... curry, of course.

The guide then shows us how to turn the latex into a piece of rubber.

Leona and James helping to knead the 'dough'.

Then you have to squeeze out the liquid from the rubber using this machine.

Hui Tat is sliding the rubber sheet through while Matthew is turning the wheel.

The finished product is a tough sheet of rubber.

Next, the guide leads us into a typical Malay Village house.
She is dressing Kelly up in a sarong.

This is another way to fold the sarong.

Let's play some traditional Malay games.

You can't enter this miniature replica of a Malay house.

This is where the Malay groom and bride sit during their wedding ceremony.
Zhi Yong and Mavis are just the models, hee hee.

Zhi Sheng and Jun Loong showing us the tools found in the Malay house.

Mr Yaidi showing Hmu how to make a ketaput.

'Look at our lovely ketaputs!' (Well, just look at Vanessa's and Leona's.)

Hey! We can reach the mango! But no plucking, please!

A Nonya dinner on our first evening in Malacca.
Do we remember how to cook the dish?

Nope! But we remember how it tastes like!

Yummy!

A sumptuous spread...

... followed by a sweet dessert.

It's shopping time... at the Mahkota Parade.

The soft toys are a good buy!

Four in a room is cosier... um... I mean seven, including the soft toys.

Checking out...

One for the school album...

Under the Malacca tree.

'Hello! Anyone down below?'

Going up St Paul's Hill.

'Can anyone translate this?'

James and Shawn looking on as the master craftsman skilfully
makes another teeny weeny shoe for women with bound feet.

Lunch at Straits Meridian Hotel. Free flow of ice-cream for dessert!

Let's practise our performance item. I think our soft toys need the practice too.

Now we're all ready for our performance at the orphanage.

'I think they like us' :)