Hello everyone!
It’s been another great day. We slept fairly well and then headed off about 8am. We walked through Clarke Quay to Fort Canning Park. Lots of people were out doing their morning exercise, many with dark fluffy dogs that I felt very sorry for. It would be a hard life here in the hot weather!
Fort Canning was the site of the
royal residence of Singapura in the 14th century. More recently, it was home to
some bunkers and tunnels belonging to the British in the 1800s, and was the
site where Singapore was officially surrendered to the Japanese in the 1940s.
Today, we enjoyed a fruit juice in the cafe, and wandered around seeing the
rainforest surroundings of beautiful trees and interesting flowers. We saw the
fort gate that was the entrance to the complex the British built, that was
designed to protect Singapore from seaborne attacks. It was also interesting to
see the Fort Canning Centre, which had repurposed headstones in the walls of
what is now a park. These were from the Christian Cemetery located here which saw
burials between 1822 – 1865. In stark contrast to the fact that this area was a
place to bury the dead back then, kids were happily playing soccer in a school
holiday program in this huge grassy area today.
At the northern end of the park, we next went to the National Museum of
Singapore. The building was beautiful, and was opened in 1887 to celebrate the
golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. It’s been extended over the years with the
most recent extension occurring in 2006. A huge renovation happened in 2015 to
celebrate Singapore’s golden jubilee, so despite having visited in 2012, all the
exhibitions were different to what I had seen previously.
We spent nearly three hours here
and really enjoyed it. Level one was the gallery about the history of Singapore.
We learned that the first official records of Singapore dated back to the 14th
century, during which time it was called Singapura. At this time, Singapura was
a thriving port with items such as porcelain, stoneware and pottery being
traded. The elite class lived in the royal residence at Fort Canning.
The exhibition then skipped quite far forward to 1819, at which time Sir
Stamford Raffles and Major William Farquhar arrived in Singapore. They were
British, and struck a lucrative deal with Sultan Hussein to set up a British
trading port free of duties, which quickly became very popular. Singapore then
became a crown colony in 1867, along with nearby Melaka and Penang. It became
very busy with trade increasing eightfold between 1873 and 1913 due to steam ships
growing in popularity, and the Suez Canal making this area more accessible from
Europe. Major Farquhar was appointed by Sir Raffles as the Resident Commandant
of Singapore, but was eventually removed as he ignored some of Raffles’ town
planning suggestions and permitted gambling and slavery. He returned to England
where he challenged this and failed. If only this was the case with Novak in Melbourne…!
Between 1900 and 1941, ways of staying in touch with other parts of the world
became more easily accessible – radio, cinema etc. This promoted a questioning
of loyalties for those that had moved here from elsewhere. Were they loyal to
their homeland, or the crown? A few mutinies occurred but were unsuccessful. At
this time, the British empire were seen as almost invincible and untouchable,
but that was about to change.
On the 8th of December 1941, the Japanese bombed Singapore. After a
70 day campaign, Japan defeated the British and occupied Singapore. They
renamed it Syonan-To meaning ‘light of the south’ and made many quick changes
like changing the time zone to the same as Tokyo. Meanwhile, World War II
continued. There were food and fuel shortages in the area, as well as disease
and hostility. The Japanese made life hard for Prisoners of War here, and for civilians.
Many were tortured and many died. We learned about a woman called Elizabeth
Choy who ran a hospital canteen with her husband that sold food and medicine to
POWs. She was tortured and held captive for 193 days.
What struck us as interesting at the museum was that the British and their
Allies seemed cocky at this time. They had way more troops but way less
resources and leadership compared with the Japanese. The Japanese defeating
them seemed to come as a huge surprise, they were caught completely off guard.
Interestingly though, the Japanese made a special role for someone to look
after the museum during this time and preserve what was there, so the museum
was virtually untouched, as were its collections including some original
drawings Farquhar had commissioned of local flora and fauna in the 19th
century. We were very surprised by this seeing as they seemed hell bent on
destroying and abolishing other parts of the local culture.
Thankfully, the Japanese were eventually overthrown by the Allies in 1945.
However, the British defeat had destroyed the image of western superiority to
Singaporeans. There was a growing national consciousness after the Allies defeated
the Japanese, and in 1959 Singapore was granted self-government. Through a
merger with Malaysia in 1963, they left the British Empire. However, this came
with its own difficulties, and just two years later, Singapore became an independent
country on the 9th of August 1965.
After this gallery, we next went to ‘Sounds of the Forest’ a digital display by
a Japanese company called Teamlab. We were meant to visit their exhibition in
Tokyo in April 2020. Here’s hoping we can this coming April. It was wonderful.
You walked through a spiralling ramp in a dark room and experienced an
immersive video with speakers and projections that showed different animals moving
around the forest. It even rained in the video at one point. It really felt
like you were in the forest!
We then checked out a few smaller rooms that had similar themes to the history
gallery, before heading back to the apartment through the remainder of Fort
Canning Park. We saw a lighthouse that was dismantled and hidden during the Japanese
occupation, and then repositioned once the British were back in charge.
We had a rest in the apartment before walking to Raffles Hotel. Raffles is a
special place, as my Nan and Pa once stayed there when they visited Singapore.
In 2012 when I last visited, they paid for myself and my boyfriend at the time
to have high tea at Raffles as a Christmas present. I really love visiting places
that Nan and Pa enjoyed, and Raffles is such a beautiful hotel. So Mum, Dad and
I headed in for some afternoon tea. Since I last visited, there has been a
major refurbishment. I actually watched a documentary on it during the long
2021 lockdown which was really interesting.
Our afternoon tea was in the Grand Lobby, in 2012 it had been in a really large
room with a buffet and I was very very full!! This time – I assume due to
pandemic adjustments – the price was cheaper, but it was a set menu that they
brought to us. This included some sandwiches and cakes, all delicious, my favourite
of which was a kiwi cake. The tea we had was also lovely. We really enjoyed the
ambience in the lobby including the music and the décor.
Afterwards, we walked around the premises before heading back to the apartment for
a rest. We then headed back to Raffles once again, where we headed to the Long
Bar and each enjoyed a Singapore Sling. In 2012, the Long Bar was packed and we
had to wait for a table. Today, there were only two other couples in the bar aside
from us. It was ghostly quiet and the staff were standing around looking like
they didn’t know what to do. Luckily for them, our three Singapore Slings
probably paid one of their wages for the day. $42 Australian dollars EACH!
Absolutely crazy. But after the last two crap years – do things while you can,
and when in Singapore, why not!?
Our final stop for the night was to a shopping centre in Little India, where we
had to go to a medical centre for our day three COVID test. We then caught the
train back home.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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