Al Haraki Junior High School was holding its 4th International Student Visit Singapore event. The activity, which was first carried out in 2016, is an optional activity program at level 8 that will visit education and tourism destinations in Singapore.
This year, the Student Visit Singapore event was held on Wednesday-Friday, 11-13 December 2019. Participants consisted of 25 students from the Garvenios class year, accompanied by 5 teacher assistants.
Early morning on Wednesday, participants of the Student Visit Singapore activity departed for Soekarno Hatta Airport after being released by the Principal of Al Haraki Junior High School and their parents. Around 05.00 am Indonesian Time the participants were already in the immigration queue. The activity in the immigration section was one of the most memorable experiences for some participants who first went abroad. Exactly at 07.10 Air Asia aircraft with flight number QZ 262 took off to Singapore.
At 09.55 Singapore time, the group arrived at Changi Airport which is one of the best airports in the world. After going through a series of exits from the airport, the participants went directly to Universal Studio Singapore as the first destination. At USS the participant gets two tickets, one entry ticket and another meal coupon ticket that can be exchanged while inside. At USS there are a lot of rides that can be explored and almost all of them use advanced technology such as transformers which become one of the favorite rides there.
After having fun for almost a day, participants went directly to the Grand Pacific Hotel as a place to stay while in Singapore. This hotel is one of the favorite 4 star hotels because of its strategic location and is in the center of the city. After taking a break for praying and having meal, at 20.00 participants will head to Bugis Street Market. Bugis Street Market is a shopping place that is never empty in Singapore.
Stepping on the second day, after breakfast at the hotel the participants of the activity go to the National Library Building on foot because it is located close to the hotel. In NLB the participants were divided into two groups. They were guided to learn about Singapore’s past history at the exhibition section located on the 10th floor. After the participants’ touring activities they went to the Public Library section on the 1st floor. In this place again Singapore seemed to be showing that they implement the sophisticated technology at all aspects.
On the second day the participants had lunch at the Hj Maemunah restaurant located in Kampong Gelam. This restaurant sells typical Indonesian food which is very well-known in Singapore, we could see it by the long queues when we arrived there. After having lunch, the participants took a tour around Kampong Gelam, Haji Lane Street and Sulthan Mosque. In this place, participants learn about being Muslims as minority in Singapore but can still coexist with other religions.
The next destination was Flower Dome Garden by the Bay. In this 1.2 hectare area, participants were amazed with 30,000 thousand flower types taken from 150 species from around the world. And again technology plays a very important role here, even though it is so wide with the condition of the Dome made of glass but the temperature there was so cool because the Dome holds rain water which is then processed into air conditioning. Amazing!
No less cool is the Marina Barrage Sustainable Singapore Gallery. Singapore is a small country with a population of around 6 million. And water is one of the most important things there. Realizing the lack of natural resources, Singapore has planned various things, one of which is water treatment. Today Singapore with its technology is able to process sea water into drinking water and Marina Barrage is one of the witnesses of the extraordinary collaboration between superior human resources and sophisticated technology.
After finishing dinner at Joe’s Kitchen, participants will head to Orchard, a famous area as a shopping paradise in Singapore. Many world-famous brands are lined up along this Orchard Road, besides the colorful lights along the road increasingly beautify the Orchard area at night.
The second day’s activities concluded by watching the Spectra Light and Water Show at Marina by Sand. Surprising performances with outstanding technology. And around 22:00 local time, participants returned to the hotel by using the MRT. Each student tried himself to order tickets at a standalone ticket machine and it became one of the exciting new experiences.
The third day the participants went to the National Stadium which had recently been renovated. Afterwards, the participants headed for Merlion Park, where there are Merlion statue. In this place they had a challenge to interview tourists. This could be a practice in developing public speaking skills. In addition they also tried one of the typical street food of Singapore, which is known as ice cream uncle.
The next destination is the Art Science Museum. In this place the participants were shown that art and science could have a close relationship and if they were combined they would produce something captivating. Next is the Lee Kong Chian Museum located in the National University Singapore area. In this museum, participants can explore various types of animals and plants from ancient times.
Google Asia Pacific is one of the millennial generation’s dream workplaces. Al Haraki Junior High School had the opportunity to visit this place before heading to Changi Airport. At Changi Airport before checking in and immigrating, participants took a trip to Jewel Changi Airport located at Terminal 1. Jewel Changi Airport was opened in 2019 and reportedly was named the highest indoor waterfall in the world with a height reaching 40 meters.
At exactly 20:30 Singapore time Air Asia QZ 265 flight flew to Indonesia. Around 24.00 WIB the participants arrived at Al Haraki Junior High School. Hopefully this 2019 Student Visit Singapore activity provides participants with many insights and experiences which can then be applied both at home and at school.
