Fundamental Tourism Course @ NP

Alright, I'll just give a chop chop no-pic post for this..
After our O Levels, Grad Night, it was this.

Day One

The first day was short, it ended by 3pm due to the later Graduation Dinner during the night.

It was a whole new experience for me to go to Ngee Ann Polytechnic for a fundamental course. I did not expect the tourism module to be that interesting.
What I thought before was a boring course just for time killing.
In the first day I've learned that this course was pretty 'IN' for people like me since it was a research for the latest developments all around the world.
I bet the rest of us also had a great time there for the first time too.

It was overall an eye opener for me to visit the Tourism Resource Centre at Tourism Court, 1 Orchard Spring Lane.
I'd never go there if I didn't went for this fundamental course.

In the Tourism Resource Centre was something like a library that is meant for researching on tourism developments.
I remembered that all of us was given a individual assignment to give a presentation on the latest tourist attractions or the latest tourism developments. So, all of us were all looking for informations in that resource centre.

There were many sections in that resource centre. One of them was like a 'bank' for the old news about the developments all around the world.
There was also a section for the M.I.C.E which has magazines about it but too bad it was published on 2006 otherwise I would have taken that for my presentation.

In the resource centre had a computer section for visitors to do their research. I tried my search there through the Google search. Finally, I've found an interesting article about Taiwan - Taipei's latest food fever for faeces shaped like Ice-Cream and as well as Toilet-Bowl Bowls and also, Toilet-Bowl seats.

I can't wait to present my presentation about this latest food trend in Taiwan - Taipei.
In addition, I also learned that I MUST be up to date especially to the newest developments all around the world including FaceBook!

Day Two

It was the second day and all of us that had attended the Graduation Dinner were all tired.
But nevertheless, I still continued to do my best to stay awake since I kinda felt enthusiastic for the later trip to the National Museum of Singapore.

Alright, before the trip all of us met the other teacher. This teacher was also very interesting as well as the previous teacher.

She somehow gave us the energy to strive since she was giving such an interesting lecture about the Marketing of destinations and attractions.
It was useful for our very own individual assignment since what she had taught us was all about tourism marketing.

After that, we finally went to the National Museum of Singapore.
It was really an eye opener because it showed that how Singaporeans could be that creative.

The first thing that we saw was the chandeliers. It was interesting because it was programed to swing in 9 different patterns.

I remembered that there was a wet paint feature on the floor which really looked wet but it wasn't!
The other ones were the clothes of the 80s and as well as the old music products of the 80s. Something that really awestruck me was the Chinese coffin and the room for opium smoking. But of course they were all fake!

The tour guide Mr. Lim was very enthusiastic about bringing us all around the museum because he kept telling us about every single aspect of the building even the ceilings. He also told us about the old ghost stories of the building like for example, there was once a baby child that went up the spiral stairs and never came back again.

The most interesting part of the whole building was that it was actually a separated building and it was all reconstructed and air-conditioned.

The greatest gratitude for Mr. Lim was that he even brought us up the the 3rd floor which was actually not opened yet. From the 3rd floor, it was somehow the roof and all of us were able to see the other neighborhood buildings.

It ended well and we went back for the rest of the lecture about visitor attractions, casino & gaming , Dark, Sports, Medical ,Shopping tourism.

Day Three

Wow! It was already the 3rd day of the whole entire fundamental course.
Day 3 was interesting because it was a lecture about the newest developments of the Hotels & Resorts.

This day we've all learned about how may hotels be classified according to location, price types of services offered. I think the most important part of the whole lecture was to showcase how advanced hotels had developed.

This was also classified as "When Science meets Art". The structure of the Hotels shown in the presentation were pretty amazing! Especially the Hotel that is going to be built in China, Songjiang. It's design of the whole building is like a piece of puzzle sticked onto the walls of mud and soil.

The other one was the Bearfire Resort which would cost approximately $375 million! I've also learned that there are also cheap "motels" in Singapore. The teacher also shared a short experience in the Motel which she thought it was a dirty place *ahem*

The other thing about a Hotel/Motel or a Resort was not only a place for living but also it was for commercial purposes. It could include conferences, meetings and even conventions!

After all these was the time when all of us had to present what we had researched on over the week end.

Finally when it was my turn, I was quite nervous after all, I am the last person that day to present my research.
I did not really had enough source for my topic because it was really a new development and it didn't had sources even on the Internet!

Despite of what I didn't have, I only had to use what I had.
So my power point presentation only contained pictures and descriptions of the pictures and only a slide with words.
Luckily my presentation turned out to be fine since it was kinda funny due to the faeces shaped like ice-cream.

Well? It kinda ended well overall despite I was actually quite nervous and I didn't end my presentation well enough. Despite our amateur presentation, the teacher complimented us and even promised us that she would not fail us!

Day Four

Finally its day 4, 1 more day to go!
On day 4 was all about food and & beverage industry and as well as the tourism trends. These trends consists of classification of restaurants, types of food and food preparation.

I feel that among all the categories of the tourism industry, food & beverage industry is the most important factor. Why? Because I feel that when a tourist goes overseas, no matter what they would like to have a pleasing meal instead of a meal that they dislike or might make them feel sick.

The service and menu price is also very important. An increase in service usually equals an increase in menu prices too.
And of course, food preparation method is also as important. Food can also be categorized into two, food that starts from scratch or the pre-prepared ones. For me, I would choose food that starts from scratch. Through that, then I could really taste the chef's real skill of cooking his dish that he is presenting it to me. Also I believe that cooking is part of the art genre.

After the presentations, we were all given newspaper articles to read and tell the class what is it actually about. We were given around 10~20 mins to prepare ourselves. I've chosen an article about an assistant manager that really engages into his customers. He doesn't only manage the restaurant but he also takes charge of a waiter's job. He categorize his customers into 4 types, the Sharks, the Teddy Bears, the Owls and the Lamb.

The sharks are customers whom are difficult and fussy who know precisely what they want to eat and expect the taste of the food to meet their expectations.
The Teddy bears are customers that wants to be pampered. They like to talk to you and you have to take good care of them!
The Owls are customers that only listens but don't accept your suggestions and always order what they want.
The Lambs are customers that are very shy and diffident. They don't want to make a fuss and you have to reach out to them.

This is what I call REAL passion! He doesn't only do all these and he even had a small diary to note down each of his customer's habits and which dish is their favorite etc.
This guy had won many favors from many of his customers and he even won the national Excellent Service Award.

After that we had our lunch at canteen 2. The chicken rice there is great! And after our lunch it was our trip to the Esplanade. We were all given a piece of worksheet to complete.

I did it with my other friends and we managed to finish the worksheet quickly.
This worksheet is all about the Esplanade, showcasing the history of Esplanade and why, how is it built.

Through this worksheet, now I understand what is Esplanade is all about, and even why does it look like a durian.
Do you know that the Esplanade wasn't meant to look like the Durain? It was actually taken from the eye of a bug. If you would notice, the Bug's eye is exactly the same as the Esplanade's features.

Inside Esplanade, there are many different sections. It also includes 2 halls, the concert hall and the concert theater.
They are truly amazing because each of these halls could contain thousands of people. Its structure of the whole hall was really meant to be for Symphonic bands, Orchestral Bands and concert bands to perform in. The facilities and the body structure is built in a way that the sound could be so contained as if you are very near the musicians.

The concert theater could even park a plane on its stage! The whole entire structure for this theater could be adjusted, its first 5 rows could be extended even.

Through Esplanade, I've known that it was actually built by a passionate architect. His designs are all mainly built for the musicians to be able to hear themselves even when they are performing.
I had once performed in the Esplanade concert hall during the year 2004.
I could also remember that when I played the triangle, just hitting it gently could even be amplified louder by the special boxes all around the hall.

I really had a great experience to know how amazing the Esplanade was.
Oh ya, it costs $600,000,000SGD to build the entire Esplanade!

You replied to your post on Nov 21, 2007 at 5:06 AM.
Day 5

Finally its the last day of the whole entire course.
The last day all of us have to learn everything about Itinerary planning.
The whole class was given an assignment, we are all required to give a presentation on our very own Itinerary plan for 20 students from Tokyo Japan.

Of course its just an example!
An itinerary is the logical, interesting and step-by-step organization of the elements of a tour on a daily basis. My group had came up with a short plan finally after the 1 hour given.

Before going into planning, we also learned that we ought to determine our client's wants and quickly establish what tourists prefer to visit, eg. heritage sites, hawker centers, discovery centers and even the Esplanade.

We also have to plan the duration of the entire tour, how long it will last and how many days it will last. The teacher also tipped us that we must not pack too many activities in a day to avoid travel fatigue.

Of course, among all the visiting and enjoying, meals is the most important part of the whole entire tour in Singapore. I remember that there was a survey showing that 'Lao Pa Sa' is the must-go-before-you-die place to eat.

After all the tips and lectures, it is our time to plan and present.
It was assumed to be at mid December period when the Japanese students would reach Singapore Changi Airport by 9.30.

My group's plan was pretty good in my opinion because we didn't pack too many activities in a day. We also analyzed that on the first day, we should not tire the students therefore we planned for a short tour around Singapore. We also planned to bring them to 'Lao Pa Sa'.

Our "hotels" that should be planned for them to stay in was actually our own HDB flats at Potong Pasir. We've planned that 4 students are able to stay in each of our own HDB flats. This could also allow them to have a taste of living in a HDB flat and the neighborhoods.

Finally we are done, my group was the first to present the plans.
I was pretty nervous and I did not really know if I did well. I've done my best though. From this presentation for the Itinerary planning, I've learned that having the skills of public speaking is very important. If I didn't had confidence, I might start to stutter or even stand there and not talk.

I'd thank the students in the class and the teacher that gave me and my friend which was presenting it with me a smile and showing that they are interested of what we have planned.

Overall, this course has actually given me the chance of experiencing public presentation and a short poly life before I even step into polytechnic.

I'll end here, Thanks for reading this whole thing!