Thursday, June 3, 2010
♥ Take Note !
Pls note that the earliest post is at the bottom of the blog... if it's not there pls refer to the archives( In this case the past-rawring) Click on June 2010 and the earliest post and all the other posts would be displayed but the earliest post would still be at the bottom of the page. Thanx for your kind attention :D
7:14 AM
♥ Research for the Oil Palm Plantation and the Palm Oil Factory
1) Oil Palm Plantation
Facts,facts and more facts :) But please don't fall asleep
Well, let's start with a little background history...
Oil palms originated from Africa and were introduced by William Sime and Henry Darby in 1910.
Harvesting
An oil palm fruit bunch contains several hundred fruits which do not ripen all at the same time. The period between the first ripen fruit and the time at which all fruits of a bunch are ripen is 18 to 20days.
Harvesting is carried out using a pahat.
The palm fruit provided two source of oil :
1) Palm oil (from palm fruit) - This Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is the primary product derived from the red seeds of the oil palm. Used to make detergent,cooking oil etc.
2) Palm Kernel oil (from the fruit seeds) - Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) from the fruit’s nut/seed is considered to be a secondary product and the Palm Kernel Meal (PKM) is used for animal feed mainly.Used to make cosmetics.
Palm oil is high in saturated fats and thus semi-solid at room temperature.
Malaysia produced almost 50% of world palm oil production.
World demand for palm oil has been increasing rapidly. Most of this palm oil was consumed in Asia.
Did you know that there was such a thing as Palm Kernel Cake?
PALM KERNEL CAKE (PKC)
Palm kernel cake (PKC) is a by-product of oil extraction from palm kernel. This by-product is ever increasing due to the increasing growth of the oil palm industry in Asia and Africa.Currently, most of the Palm kernel cake (PKC) produced in Malaysia is exported at a low price to Europe for use as cattle feed typically dairy cows.
Palm kernel cake (PKC) is an established feed ingredient for ruminants, supplying valuable dietary sources of protein, energy and fiber. Palm kernel cake (PKC) has also been successfully tested in poultry feeds at low levels of incorporation. The low cost and availability of Palm kernel cake (PKC) in many tropical countries where aquaculture is practiced have recently generated much interest in its potential use in fish diets.
The big trees
Mature trees are single-stemmed, and grow to 20 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, and reach between 3-5 m long. A young tree produces about 30 leaves a year. Established trees over 10 years produce about 20 leaves a year.
2)Oil Palm Mill
So let us go deeper into the subject of oil palm while talking about the oil palm mill.
Did you know
that a cluster made out of these small fruits can be 40-50kg?!
and every part of the fruit can be made use of without wasting anything. The oil palm fruit is able to be processed into crude oil, soap, or even edible vegetable oil, and the empty fruit bunch(EFB) also has its purpose.
When the Palm Oil fruit reaches the Oil Palm Mill, they go through 4 stages of extraction of oil, but the more detailed processes are:
1)Bunch Reception-It is generally fruit bunches or loose fruit arriing from the fields after harvest.
2)Bunch Sterialisation-It is when the fruit itself is separated fom the bunch.
3)Bunch Threshing- It is used to destroys oil-splitting enzymes and arrests hydrolysis and autoxidation.It is also used to weakens the fruit stem and makes it easy to remove the fruit from bunches on shaking or tumbling in the threshing machine.
4)Fruit Digestion-It is the process whereby palm oil is released from the fruit by rupturing or breaking down the oil-bearing cells.
5)Pulp Pressing-It is basically the extraction of the palm oil.
6)Oil Clarification-It is when the oil is refines from thicker fibres.
The production plant in the oil palm mill is designed to use industrial wastes from the palm oil industry such as EFB and palm oil effluent to produce useful resources such as pulp, electricity and industrial steam. Palm Oil EFB Fibre is a raw materials similar to wood base fibre which can be used to produce paper pulp, MDF board & particle board. How cool is that?!? These many ways of finding a purpose for the different parts of the oil palm fruit makes sure that nothing is wasted and thus is environmentally–friendly!
East Sabah, in Malaysia presently has 58 palm oil mills producing crude palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. The Oil Palm Sector in Sabah is an important sector for the economy in terms of export earning. Oil palm contributes more than 30% of the total income from exports. No wonder Malaysia is investing a lot of its money into this trade as this special trade is connected to its financial economy!
Palm oil is produced from the pulp of the fruit. The oil is light yellow to red in colour and is rich in carotenes (the precursor of vitamin A) and Vitamin E.
Palm kernel oil is produced from the seed. The oil is almost colourless and is used in making margarine, ice-cream and in the baking industry.
There is roughly 1 oil palm mill for every 10,000 ha of oil palm planted.
For each hectare of oil palm, which is harvested year-round, the annual production averages 10 tonnes of fruit, which yields 3,000 kg of pericarp oil, and 750 kg of seed kernels, which yield 250 kg of high quality palm kernel oil as well as 500 kg of kernel meal. The meal is used to feed livestock. Some varieties have even higher productivities which has led to their consideration for producing the vegetable oil needed for biodiesel.
Looks like the growing industry in palm oil isn’t going to die down anytime soon...
Done By: Tay Pei Ling and Joanna Loh
Facts,facts and more facts :) But please don't fall asleep
Well, let's start with a little background history...
Oil palms originated from Africa and were introduced by William Sime and Henry Darby in 1910.
Harvesting
An oil palm fruit bunch contains several hundred fruits which do not ripen all at the same time. The period between the first ripen fruit and the time at which all fruits of a bunch are ripen is 18 to 20days.
Harvesting is carried out using a pahat.
The palm fruit provided two source of oil :
1) Palm oil (from palm fruit) - This Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is the primary product derived from the red seeds of the oil palm. Used to make detergent,cooking oil etc.
2) Palm Kernel oil (from the fruit seeds) - Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) from the fruit’s nut/seed is considered to be a secondary product and the Palm Kernel Meal (PKM) is used for animal feed mainly.Used to make cosmetics.
Palm oil is high in saturated fats and thus semi-solid at room temperature.
Malaysia produced almost 50% of world palm oil production.
World demand for palm oil has been increasing rapidly. Most of this palm oil was consumed in Asia.
Did you know that there was such a thing as Palm Kernel Cake?
PALM KERNEL CAKE (PKC)
Palm kernel cake (PKC) is a by-product of oil extraction from palm kernel. This by-product is ever increasing due to the increasing growth of the oil palm industry in Asia and Africa.Currently, most of the Palm kernel cake (PKC) produced in Malaysia is exported at a low price to Europe for use as cattle feed typically dairy cows.
Palm kernel cake (PKC) is an established feed ingredient for ruminants, supplying valuable dietary sources of protein, energy and fiber. Palm kernel cake (PKC) has also been successfully tested in poultry feeds at low levels of incorporation. The low cost and availability of Palm kernel cake (PKC) in many tropical countries where aquaculture is practiced have recently generated much interest in its potential use in fish diets.
The big trees
Mature trees are single-stemmed, and grow to 20 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, and reach between 3-5 m long. A young tree produces about 30 leaves a year. Established trees over 10 years produce about 20 leaves a year.
2)Oil Palm Mill
So let us go deeper into the subject of oil palm while talking about the oil palm mill.
Did you know
that a cluster made out of these small fruits can be 40-50kg?!
and every part of the fruit can be made use of without wasting anything. The oil palm fruit is able to be processed into crude oil, soap, or even edible vegetable oil, and the empty fruit bunch(EFB) also has its purpose.
When the Palm Oil fruit reaches the Oil Palm Mill, they go through 4 stages of extraction of oil, but the more detailed processes are:
1)Bunch Reception-It is generally fruit bunches or loose fruit arriing from the fields after harvest.
2)Bunch Sterialisation-It is when the fruit itself is separated fom the bunch.
3)Bunch Threshing- It is used to destroys oil-splitting enzymes and arrests hydrolysis and autoxidation.It is also used to weakens the fruit stem and makes it easy to remove the fruit from bunches on shaking or tumbling in the threshing machine.
4)Fruit Digestion-It is the process whereby palm oil is released from the fruit by rupturing or breaking down the oil-bearing cells.
5)Pulp Pressing-It is basically the extraction of the palm oil.
6)Oil Clarification-It is when the oil is refines from thicker fibres.
The production plant in the oil palm mill is designed to use industrial wastes from the palm oil industry such as EFB and palm oil effluent to produce useful resources such as pulp, electricity and industrial steam. Palm Oil EFB Fibre is a raw materials similar to wood base fibre which can be used to produce paper pulp, MDF board & particle board. How cool is that?!? These many ways of finding a purpose for the different parts of the oil palm fruit makes sure that nothing is wasted and thus is environmentally–friendly!
East Sabah, in Malaysia presently has 58 palm oil mills producing crude palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel cake. The Oil Palm Sector in Sabah is an important sector for the economy in terms of export earning. Oil palm contributes more than 30% of the total income from exports. No wonder Malaysia is investing a lot of its money into this trade as this special trade is connected to its financial economy!
Palm oil is produced from the pulp of the fruit. The oil is light yellow to red in colour and is rich in carotenes (the precursor of vitamin A) and Vitamin E.
Palm kernel oil is produced from the seed. The oil is almost colourless and is used in making margarine, ice-cream and in the baking industry.
There is roughly 1 oil palm mill for every 10,000 ha of oil palm planted.
For each hectare of oil palm, which is harvested year-round, the annual production averages 10 tonnes of fruit, which yields 3,000 kg of pericarp oil, and 750 kg of seed kernels, which yield 250 kg of high quality palm kernel oil as well as 500 kg of kernel meal. The meal is used to feed livestock. Some varieties have even higher productivities which has led to their consideration for producing the vegetable oil needed for biodiesel.
Looks like the growing industry in palm oil isn’t going to die down anytime soon...
Done By: Tay Pei Ling and Joanna Loh
7:13 AM
♥ Research for the Layang-layang Museum aka Kite Museum
The Kite Museum, located at the Pasir Gudang Recreational Park, was opened to the public on 9th February 2002 during the 7th Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival. It was opened as an appreciation towards the contribution of kite-flyers in Malaysia and Malaysian, as well as to preserve and promote the wau as part of the Malaysian craft heritage. It took RM4.5 million to build this museum.
It is the first kite museum in Malaysia and has a unique working windmill whose mechanism works to generate enough electricity to supply the daily needs of the museum. The museum is also the official site for the annual Pasir Gudang International kite Festival, attracting hundreds and thousands of visitors and kiting enthusiasts from all over the world. The festival usually takes place on the third week of February. Therefore, it becomes a tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors
<< Wau Bulan
Wau Kuching>>
The Pasir Gudang Kite Museum exhibits the international kite history and exhibition of the different kite types from all over the world. The most important three kites shown in the museum are Wau Kuching, Wau Merak and Wau Bulan. Besides that, the museum also showcases the art of kite-making and displays a collection of traditional kites or wau, in spectacular colours and designs.
The Itinerary of the Kite museum
The museum: details by floor
1st floor
-international kite history
-international kite exhibition
-international kite festival chronology
-souvenir festival
-audio visual
2nd floor
-traditional wau history
-traditional part of wau
-Malaysia history of wau
-wau of terminology
-materials of wau
-materials to making wau
-equipment to fly wau
-workshop to promote wau
-johorcraft souvenir
-traditional wau
-information
Done by: Jia En and Simone
7:12 AM
♥ Research for the Abu Bakar Museum
Research for the museum
The Abu Bakar museum was one of the oldest buildings in Johor and was commissioned by Sultan Abu Bakar who laid the fountain stone in 1864. This building was completed in 1866. It is in the Renaissance style and was built by local workmen under the supervision of a European architect. This palace was of course named after Sultan Abu Bakar. It comprises the main building or Grand Palace, which houses the treasures of the royal household, including four-poster teak beds. Even now, the bedrooms are still used for the lying-in-state of deceased members of the Johor royal family.
This building is an architectural wonder. Located within Istana Besar in Johor Bahru, this building had an Anglo-Malay influence. Many pieces of the furniture was ordered by Sultan Abu Bakar himself in 1866 in England. Even the laying out of the Palace gardens was directed by the Sultan. The gardens are filled with many varieties of plants and flowers. This building was opened to the public on May 11, 1990.This place was only founded by Sultan Iskandar in 1990 even though completion of the museum ended in 1866.
The palace is still used for state ceremonies and official functions today. This museum displays many artefacts which are important in the state’s history and the local Malay culture. The building has been enlarged and renovated several times. In 1912 the east wing was pulled down and the present Banquet Hall was erected in its place. Today the Palace is mainly used for State ceremonies and official functions, although since February 1982, it has filled an additional role as the Royal Abu Bakar museum, displaying the art treasures of the Royal collection and historical relics of the Sultanate of Johor. Among the collection of beautiful rare antiques, the exhibits that awe visitors at this royal museum are the Chinese and Malay carved wooden pieces. The museum expanded its collections of artefacts very actively during this era up to 1997. The locals eagerly surrendered and provided as gifts certain unique artefacts to the museum. One example of these is a Keris (a type of Malay dagger) which was found by a young man in a river about 20 km from the town of Pekan. This particular Keris drew a lot of attention, coupled with strange stories of its mystical prowess. The Keris is still on display at the museum. Among the collection of beautiful rare antiques, the exhibits that awe visitors at this royal museum are the Chinese and Malay carved wooden pieces.
This museum has many rooms displaying crystal ware, silverware, gold and silver ornaments, priceless vases, furniture, traditional Malay weapons, silver trophies, family treasures etc.There is a library, dining room, drawing rooms,bedrooms,reception area, banqueting hall, throne room, hunting room and many other rooms there too.
The throne room continues to be used every year for investiture ceremonies on the Ruler’s birthday. The patterns of the carpet here are repeated. There is a pair of gilt thrones in the front with the bigger one for the king and the smaller for the queen. This room is located in the North wing. The banqueting hall can seat up to 250 guests whereas the reception room has much breathtaking Baccarat crystal furniture.
There are also the weapon room, hunting room, cutlery room etc.
The hunting room is filled with animals the Sultan had hunted. The animals he hunted include the elephants, tigers, turtles and a crocodile etc.The cutlery room is where many ceramic, glass and metal cutleries were displayed. There is a room for textiles and costumes. There is also a room for silverware. The silverwares include the egg stand, coffeepot, cups, jugs and teapots. Some of them were electroplated with a layer of silver. There is also a room for gold and silver collection. There is an ice-pail from the Great Britain displayed there. There is yet an area showing all the medals the sultan had achieved.Lastly, there is a place selling mementoes.
In the front of the building lies a large garden.
Done by:
Jia En and Yi Juan
<< The Throne Room
<< The Banqueting Hall 
7:11 AM
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
♥ Haha... The Toasts' Funny Moments
We: Hahaha...(hysterical)
You: Okay... LOL much ? Why are all of you laughing to yourselves?
We: Hahaha... (tears coursing down our cheeks) We{gasp} can't help it, these are all our our funny memories! [Starts another series of laughter]
You: Really ? Is it that funny? [looks at the funny moments post and {maybe} starts laughing hysterically...]
You: Haha... the above picture is so funny but I don't get it ...What's Pei Ling and Joanna doing?
We: (Breaks out in laughter) That... that was Pei Ling and Joanna having a cat fight over who was to take theshy Jia En's picture ! But Jia En took down this embarrassing moment instead!
You: Okay... LOL much ? Why are all of you laughing to yourselves?
We: Hahaha... (tears coursing down our cheeks) We{gasp} can't help it, these are all our our funny memories! [Starts another series of laughter]
You: Really ? Is it that funny? [looks at the funny moments post and {maybe} starts laughing hysterically...]
You: Haha... the above picture is so funny but I don't get it ...What's Pei Ling and Joanna doing?
We: (Breaks out in laughter) That... that was Pei Ling and Joanna having a cat fight over who was to take the
7:26 AM
♥ Final Destinations... The Oil Palm Palantation & Palm Oil Factory
1) The Oil Palm Plantation 
Hi everyone :) its me the crazy crazy toast. Hahahahahahah (spongebob laughter) I had a lot of fun when I was at Johor. When we were on the way to the plantation plots and plots of plantations "speeded" pass us, I was actually gettingh bored. You see, being a typical city dweller, trees and greenery do not excite me as much as
the games I play on the computer. However, the plantation changed my opinion on the plots of land outside the bus' window. The tour guide told us a lot of facts about oil palms.(The facts are seriously nice, haha :D, I took down a lot of those facts)
I learnt that oil palms cannot grow where the climate is cold as it will harden. That's not very good news for the people who live in places with the 4 seasons as they would not be able to use it. When cooking, more and more people have been using palm oil rather than butter. This is definitely a more healthier choice as butter contains more fats in comparison with the palm oil.
Hey! Do you know that palm oil can be turned into soap detergent and cosmetics? I think this is seriously cool! They are able to make soap, detergent and cosmetic out of palm oil. Previously, these products are made using chemicals now that it is able to be made of palm oil is truly amazing. This is a more organic and environment-cum-skin friendly method! They are also trying to replace petroleum with palm oil! Imagine, how much more greener a world we be if this was to succeed! Thinking about it just makes me so excited! Oh, for your information, the pest control in the plantation is also very organic. The people uses barn owls to get rid of rats instead of pesticides! Instead of wasting time and energy in creating pesticides that might be harmful to the environment, the people have ingeniously used barn owls!
Do you know that the leaves would be attacked by pests if the palm is not healthy? Well... I sure didn't know that until I was told. I though that if a plant or a tree was not healthy the leaves would only turn yellow. There was also other things ... like how the bunch is harvested.
Watch the video below to see how the bunch is harvested using the Pahat...
Oops! The video is taken at the wrong angle. Well, hope you don't mind tilting your head :D
After the demonstration the people let us tried the fruit...raw. It was dangerous and Joanna bravely took a step forward and declared that she would try it. The declaration left us all in awe of her courage... okay, okay,I know that I'm exaggerating a little too much. Yes, alright I admit it. I exaggerated it by a lot. Anyways, Joanna tried it and declared that she didn't like it because it was too oily. Definitely not her type of fruit.
(TO Be Continued)
2) Palm Oil Factory
Hai’s people! I must admit that this trip to Johor Bahru was 1 of the most enjoyed educational trips I have ever been to. To be honest, before i had even stepped into Malaysia,I was already very reluctant about weather i was gonna gain anything from this trip... well, I definitely did not expect to learn soooo many facts from it all!!!XD
Well, enough of all that,i find the Oil Palm Factory the most interesting as that is where the Oil Palm fruits are processed into crude oil or food that we see in our supermarkets everyday,eg. Vegetable oil. I was very intrigued by it all and was sure to take as many pictures and notes of the Oil Palm Plantation.
When we reached the factory , no one had the intention of getting off the coach. Why, you ask ? Simply put it, it had rained and there was an unbearable stench in the air. Only after using up almost half of our tour guide's body spray and plenty of their assurance that we all piled out of the coach. Though a bit humid and hot, it really wasn’t so bad! All of us walked carefully towards the factory where there were guides to explain to us the details of the oil palm fruit.
When we reached the factory , no one had the intention of getting off the coach. Why, you ask ? Simply put it, it had rained and there was an unbearable stench in the air. Only after using up almost half of our tour guide's body spray and plenty of their assurance that the wasn't so bad we managed to reluctantly get down the bus. Sure enough, the smell was not as strong once we stepped out of the bus. Well then,lesson learnt- always trust your tourguides :). Hahas.. I'm getting off topic.
We paid a lot of attention to the smoke-blowing chimneys of the factory .
The spectacular sight left us all in awe. Anyway, the tourguides gave us some ointment to rub under our noses to get rid of the not-so-stong-as-compared-to-the-smell-in-the-coach stench. Aww...such sweet tourguides. The road that will lead us to an area where bunches of oil palm fruit would be lying on the ground, was very slippery. That was due to the oil the fruits produce. There, we met the manager ( I think ) of the oil palm factory. He answered all of the questions we threw at him. He was very patient even to the hard-to-answer-type of questions. We even asked how much oil can 1 small fruit like this >>>
produce ?!We also saw the cross-section of the oil palm fruit. 
It looked exactly like the cross-section of a coconut but only a smaller version.Then how did these smal, tiny fruit create so much oil that the floor was so slippery? Now do you know how much fruit was used to make the floor so slippery? 1 ton of fruit can make 20%of 1 ton of oil. It was that much! The toasts had a great time being crazy, acting shy, asking questions eating kueh and of course being ourselves.
I was amazed that people would put so much effort in making the world a more greener place.I can't help but have a strong impulse to start putting in my effort in saving the Earth, the Earth, is my home after all. The facts and the lessons in life I've learnt, the will in saving gaia, the bonds created between friends during this journey would be etched deeply in my heart. I know that all of those things I've mentioned would not be easily forgotten as the blog is here to remind us all of the wonderful times we had on our trip to Johor.
A joint : Joanna and Pei Ling XD
Hi everyone :) its me the crazy crazy toast. Hahahahahahah (spongebob laughter) I had a lot of fun when I was at Johor. When we were on the way to the plantation plots and plots of plantations "speeded" pass us, I was actually gettingh bored. You see, being a typical city dweller, trees and greenery do not excite me as much as
the games I play on the computer. However, the plantation changed my opinion on the plots of land outside the bus' window. The tour guide told us a lot of facts about oil palms.(The facts are seriously nice, haha :D, I took down a lot of those facts)
I learnt that oil palms cannot grow where the climate is cold as it will harden. That's not very good news for the people who live in places with the 4 seasons as they would not be able to use it. When cooking, more and more people have been using palm oil rather than butter. This is definitely a more healthier choice as butter contains more fats in comparison with the palm oil.
Hey! Do you know that palm oil can be turned into soap detergent and cosmetics? I think this is seriously cool! They are able to make soap, detergent and cosmetic out of palm oil. Previously, these products are made using chemicals now that it is able to be made of palm oil is truly amazing. This is a more organic and environment-cum-skin friendly method! They are also trying to replace petroleum with palm oil! Imagine, how much more greener a world we be if this was to succeed! Thinking about it just makes me so excited! Oh, for your information, the pest control in the plantation is also very organic. The people uses barn owls to get rid of rats instead of pesticides! Instead of wasting time and energy in creating pesticides that might be harmful to the environment, the people have ingeniously used barn owls!
Do you know that the leaves would be attacked by pests if the palm is not healthy? Well... I sure didn't know that until I was told. I though that if a plant or a tree was not healthy the leaves would only turn yellow. There was also other things ... like how the bunch is harvested.
Watch the video below to see how the bunch is harvested using the Pahat...
Oops! The video is taken at the wrong angle. Well, hope you don't mind tilting your head :D
After the demonstration the people let us tried the fruit...raw. It was dangerous and Joanna bravely took a step forward and declared that she would try it. The declaration left us all in awe of her courage... okay, okay,I know that I'm exaggerating a little too much. Yes, alright I admit it. I exaggerated it by a lot. Anyways, Joanna tried it and declared that she didn't like it because it was too oily. Definitely not her type of fruit.
(TO Be Continued)
2) Palm Oil Factory
Hai’s people! I must admit that this trip to Johor Bahru was 1 of the most enjoyed educational trips I have ever been to. To be honest, before i had even stepped into Malaysia,I was already very reluctant about weather i was gonna gain anything from this trip... well, I definitely did not expect to learn soooo many facts from it all!!!XD
Well, enough of all that,i find the Oil Palm Factory the most interesting as that is where the Oil Palm fruits are processed into crude oil or food that we see in our supermarkets everyday,eg. Vegetable oil. I was very intrigued by it all and was sure to take as many pictures and notes of the Oil Palm Plantation.
When we reached the factory , no one had the intention of getting off the coach. Why, you ask ? Simply put it, it had rained and there was an unbearable stench in the air. Only after using up almost half of our tour guide's body spray and plenty of their assurance that we all piled out of the coach. Though a bit humid and hot, it really wasn’t so bad! All of us walked carefully towards the factory where there were guides to explain to us the details of the oil palm fruit.
When we reached the factory , no one had the intention of getting off the coach. Why, you ask ? Simply put it, it had rained and there was an unbearable stench in the air. Only after using up almost half of our tour guide's body spray and plenty of their assurance that the wasn't so bad we managed to reluctantly get down the bus. Sure enough, the smell was not as strong once we stepped out of the bus. Well then,lesson learnt- always trust your tourguides :). Hahas.. I'm getting off topic.
We paid a lot of attention to the smoke-blowing chimneys of the factory .
The spectacular sight left us all in awe. Anyway, the tourguides gave us some ointment to rub under our noses to get rid of the not-so-stong-as-compared-to-the-smell-in-the-coach stench. Aww...such sweet tourguides. The road that will lead us to an area where bunches of oil palm fruit would be lying on the ground, was very slippery. That was due to the oil the fruits produce. There, we met the manager ( I think ) of the oil palm factory. He answered all of the questions we threw at him. He was very patient even to the hard-to-answer-type of questions. We even asked how much oil can 1 small fruit like this >>>
produce ?!We also saw the cross-section of the oil palm fruit. 
It looked exactly like the cross-section of a coconut but only a smaller version.Then how did these smal, tiny fruit create so much oil that the floor was so slippery? Now do you know how much fruit was used to make the floor so slippery? 1 ton of fruit can make 20%of 1 ton of oil. It was that much! The toasts had a great time being crazy, acting shy, asking questions eating kueh and of course being ourselves. I was amazed that people would put so much effort in making the world a more greener place.I can't help but have a strong impulse to start putting in my effort in saving the Earth, the Earth, is my home after all. The facts and the lessons in life I've learnt, the will in saving gaia, the bonds created between friends during this journey would be etched deeply in my heart. I know that all of those things I've mentioned would not be easily forgotten as the blog is here to remind us all of the wonderful times we had on our trip to Johor.
A joint : Joanna and Pei Ling XD
7:26 AM
♥ Next stop... the Layang-layang Museum aka Kite Museum
At 10a.m, we made our way to the kite museum (Layang Layang Museum). Before the visit to the museum, I know practically nothing about kite flying. Being born in a highly cosmopolitan world city of Singapore, I am sure many of us would not have the chance to revel in the joy that our parents once had, in kite flying. Till now, kites are still an important part of Malaysia. Despite their globalization, they have not abandoned their traditional kite heritage. There are many kites of different designs but the two major ones are Wau Merak (Peacock Kite) and Wau Bulan (Moon kite). Wau Merak is a symbol for Johor. Do not belittle them. Behind each kites, there is a different story to explain for its unique design. Take the Wau Merak as an example. Its peacock design is originated from the way the kite was used in the past. Farmers flied their kites in their padi fields to chase away birds and peacock from eating away their crops. Hence, the name. The people are really innovative and resourceful. Instead of using pesticides, they used kites which are environmentally friendly as water sources would not get polluted by the contamination of pesticides. I am thinking that, in the past, perhaps land constraint (Forests were not cleared) restrained them from many recreational activities. However, they did not allow these factors to deter them. Using their own resourcefulness, farmers sometimes also flied the kites in their drained padi field to celebrate on their harvest instead of leaving it barren after their harvest. “Kite Flying is a piece of cake. What could be so difficult about pulling and releasing some strings?” This was how I felt at the beginning of the trip. How wrong I was. Kite Flying requires high skill, speed, concentration and some scientific knowledge on how the kite works in order to fly it well. When the kite is launched, the rising force will overcome the gravitational pull, causing the kite to stay upright. The spaces on the surface of the ground will counter the wind pressure and allow the kite to rise upward. Wow! Science is indeed all around us! At the kite museum, I saw how the man drew the intricate design of the Wau Merak, using simple tools like compass and ruler. Imagine how serious and concentrated he was in doing it. After all, it is the symbol of the state and he must be proud drawing it. In Singapore nowadays, we do not have the open space to fly kites due to the obstruction of wind by infrastructures and buildings. However, it is still important for us to remember and preserve this culture so that we would not lose our cultural roots. Come’ on, what’re you waiting for? Let’s head towards a field now. Whoops, grab your kites along! Wrriten by: Simone =)
Edited by: Jia En =)
Designing the kite...
7:26 AM
