Hello everyone,
Last night we went to the Night Safari Zoo. We caught a taxi as there is no
smooth way on public transport to get out there. We had a wonderful time! But
we couldn’t believe how hot and sticky the weather was, even being out at 11pm.
When we arrived, we first went on a tram ride that took us around the zoo. We
saw hippos, lions and much more. Then we walked the four walking trails which
took about 1.5 hours. My favourite animal was the tiger. It’s pretty rare to
see them active at Melbourne Zoo, so it was cool seeing three roaming around.
My other favourite was the slow loris. They were so cute, like little slow
monkeys with huge eyes. Apparently they are venomous so maybe their cuteness is
to lull you into a false sense of security! Finally, we went to the Creatures
of the Night show. You had to book this due to Covid limits and I somehow
managed to get tickets despite the system crashing whilst everyone was trying.
It was good too!
This morning, we set off to Little India for a walking tour with the same
company as yesterday. Our guide’s name was Angel, and once again we had a great
time learning about the area we were exploring. The first Indians arrived in
Singapore shortly with Stamford Raffles in 1819. They were part of a lashkar
(army unit) of the Bengal Infantry. Then, Tamil Indian convicts were sent here
to build roads and government offices for the British. They were seen as good
free labour. Voluntary immigration followed, as others heard of the
opportunities awaiting in Singapore. Today the Indian community in Singapore
makes up 9.2% of the population.
Originally, the area that is today referred to as Little India was populated by
the British, and home to a racecourse. The Indian population were given an area
in Chinatown in which to settle, which is why the Sri Mariamman Temple that we
saw on our first day is down that way, and is the oldest temple in Singapore of
its kind. Later on, the Indian population moved towards Serangoon Road, which
is where Little India is today. It was not officially named Little India until
the 1980s, but was named so to attract tourists.
Along the tour, our senses were assaulted (in a good way). We could smell
delicious spices and food, hear Indian music and people selling their fares,
and see lots of brightly coloured flower offerings, temples, saris and more. My
favourite building along the walk was Tan Teng Niah, which was a brightly
coloured bungalow that has been painted in bright colours since an art festival
began in Little India six years ago. Here, we stopped at a little food shop.
Mum, Dad and I each had a delicious mango lassi, and our guide bought us some
yummy Indian snacks. My favourite was banana inside a chickpea batter. We
continued on and went past the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, heaps of people
were heading in to worship so there were a lot of shoes outside and a lot of
people around. Apparently people sheltered at this temple during the air raids
here in World War II. Another highlight of the tour was all the colourful
murals throughout Little India. Many of them told stories about times of the
past in this area.
The area was a huge contrast to when I visited Little India in 2012. We just
walked around ourselves for 30 minutes or so and didn’t really know what we
were looking at. I also feel like due to it being a Sunday today, everything
was very full of life. Angel told us that another reason the area was so alive
was that currently the Pongal Harvest Festival is on for Indians.
After the tour, we walked to the nearby bus terminal for our day 7 Vaccinated
Travel Lane rapid test. Strangely, this clinic inside a bus terminal was far
more organised and legitimate than the swab testing at the unreliable medical
clinic we visited the other day! They had all our details on file already (the
other place had us fill out a paper form), sent us through to watch a video,
sighted our passports and then had us do our test while they watched. We
received our results via email within 30 minutes. The way it should be!
We had some tickets through the walking tour for something called ‘Slurping
Good’, which turned out to be some weird experience people usually pay $21 for,
and we walked through in five minutes as it was just props to take photos with.
Very strange! I played a matching game there and the lady supervising game me a
fortune cookie. I made her laugh by telling her I hoped mine would say “the
pandemic will end soon”. Sadly, it did not say this inside!
We enjoyed a kulfi afterwards, which was a yummy icy pole type treat. Then we
went to the Indian Heritage Centre, which was free admission this weekend due
to the Pongal Heritage Centre. We enjoyed learning about the influence of the
Indian population in this area, and particularly loved a mural on the wall here.
We also learned that Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by the Tamil
community. It is a celebration to thank the Sun, Mother Nature and the various
farm animals that help to contribute to a bountiful harvest. The festival goes
for four days.
Afterwards, we caught the train out towards the airport and then got a taxi
from the station to Changi Chapel and Museum. Our taxi driver was hilarious and
kept cracking jokes with us about Novak Djokovic. The museum has been updated
since I last visited, and was well worth a visit. The staff were so friendly
and gave us each a stylus to open the touch button doors and use on the
interactive screens. As Australians we wanted to come here to learn about the tens
of thousands of prisoners of war from Australia that were imprisoned here.
Changi Prison was built in the 1930s as a civilian prison. When the Japanese
occupied Singapore in the early 1940s, they took over it and used it as a
Prisoner of War camp. The museum and chapel here today were opened in 2001. The
prison complex over the road is still used as a prison, and is now five times
the size that it was in the 1940s. We jokingly wondered what people here are
imprisoned for, as everyone is so well behaved and follows the rules. The
compliance here of mask wearing is amazing – I have even seen children as young
as 2 or 3 wearing them here and not seeming troubled at all by them.
When Japan occupied Singapore, they made the Australian and British troops
stationed here march from the city all the way to Changi. This is an approximately
22 km walk in the baking heat and sun, likely with little water. The train and
taxi journey took us a while, so it would have been a really long, hard walk.
The conditions at the POW camp sounded awful – limited fresh water, chairs,
bedding, clothing, proper toilets and food, and rampant disease and
malnutrition. The prison was so overcrowded as well that I read that one
section meant for 900 people housed 15,000. By the end of 1945, 90,000 prisoners
would have passed through Changi. Aside from Australian and British troops,
many civilians were imprisoned here too. Men were often moved around to suit
the Japanese, for example up to camps towards Kanchanaburi to build the Thai-Burma
Railway. As horrid as the conditions were at Changi, these were even worse and
many of the men returned to Changi in worse condition than before they left. 100,000
people died during the construction of this railway due to the conditions, such
as working 18 hour shifts.
In the exhibition, there were life sized replica murals of the ones Stanley Warren
had painted at Roberts Barracks in Changi Prison during his time as a POW. We
also saw artwork by some POWs, and read about how they tried to keep their
spirits lifted by playing sport, and even opening ‘Changi University’ where prisoners
would educate each other in their various fields. At one time, 9000 POWs were
signed up for some kind of lecture or course at the ‘University’. After 3.5
years of imprisonment, the camp was liberated when the Japanese surrendered. Apparently
it took a little longer for this to occur at Changi Prison as many of the
guards working there were in denial that they had surrendered. Eventually,
Changi was then used to detained those awaiting trial for war crimes, and housed
one of the courts that was used for the trials.
Finally, we read about how Changi Airport started off as an aerodrome that the
Japanese had the POWs construct. The British then turned this into a military
base and it was later the site of Changi Airport, which opened in 1981 and we
flew into last week. The walk around the museum then ended with seeing the
replica chapel, made to look like some of the chapels POWs constructed in the
camps. When last I visited, you could write and leave messages of hope. Not at
the moment due to COVID. I feel like we could all use a message of hope right
about now…
Now we are back having a rest, but later we plan on eating at the hawker market
and then going to the light show at Gardens by the Bay. We are having full but
interesting days. I think we feel like we need to see and do as much as we
possibly can, because who knows when we can travel like this again!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
No comments:
Post a Comment