Pottery field trip to Melaka

On a
journey
of
discovery...

All Aboard...
Potters Field
Trip to Malacca
on a bus.

Pottery Field Trip Contents

Melaka Field Trip

One for
the Album...

After a long fun filled journey on the bus...

A stop over for the local famous Malacca "Baba-Nyona" cuisine before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow will be another day of fun filled activities...

Shopping,
fresh seafood lunch and visiting local Malacca pottery studio with hands on participations.

Field trip potters enjoying a verity of renown local Malacca Baba-Nyona dishes for dinner and fresh seafood lunch.

Five hundred years ago, an extraordinary empire rose and fell here, its power and dreams suddenly caught off-guard by the dawn of the Colonial Era

Malacca or locally know as Melaka was so coveted by the European powers that the Portuguese writer Barbarosa wrote;

"Whoever is Lord in Malacca has
his hand on the throat of Venice."

Malacca with its seaside city of about 150 kilometers was a major port along the spice-route and its harbor bristled with the sails and masts of Chinese junks and spice-laden vessels from all over the hemisphere.

Along the shores of the Malacca river side part with sloping rooftops of traditional Malay houses hanging over the water that seem to call out sleepily from the past--was captured by the Portuguese in 1511 and they occupied the city of Malacca for more than a century.

The Portuguese influence is visible in the city's architecture. As they did in other colonies, they taxed buildings relative to their width, a policy that accounts for the deceptively thin facades

along the colonial streets.

A visit to a traditional Malacca Pottery Studio
A traditional Melaka master potter demonstrating hand carving technique skills with a vase on a table top hand wheel.

The touch of the master's hands

A building no more than twelve feet across can easily extend backwards two hundred feet with its hidden interior--a linear succession of high-ceiling rooms and long courtyards.

Over the centuries, the Chinese and local Malay cultures in Malacca intertwined, eventually producing a completely unique society called the Baba-Nyona.

This fascinating "Malacca" micro-culture reached its height around the turn-of-the-century.

Local Malacca Pottery Master demonstrating his unique advance
wheel throwing technique.

Some of his pottery's pieces,
craft of art inspired by nature.

Hands on participations
in a local Malacca Pottery studio conducted by the pottery master.

Notice the shop (right green door entrance)
with deceptively thin facade?

The Portuguese influence is visible in Malacca city's architecture because they taxed buildings relative to their width--a policy that accounts for the deceptively thin facades.

Because when the Portuguese occupied
the city of Malacca for more than a century,
they taxed buildings relative to their width.

Local Malacca Pottery Master
conducting hand building clay technique
to "Field Trip" students and their parents.

Two hundred feet of hidden interior with
high-ceilinged rooms and courtyards.

A building no more than twelve feet across
can easily extend backwards two hundred feet
with its hidden interior of high-ceiling rooms
and long courtyards.