Singapore Weekend- The Battlebox

When we first moved to the this part of the world this site in Singapore was closed. We learned that renovations would be taking place. We waited. A couple of years later we tried to get tickets for the newly renovated site but tickets were sold out. Finally, this year, we got our tour of the Battle Box-A Story of Strategy and Surrender: The Battlebox Experience.

Fort Canning Bunker (often called The Battle Box) was constructed under Fort Canning Hill, Singapore, as an emergency, bomb-proof command center used during the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore.

A little history. In the 14th C. Malayan Kings built their palaces on this hill. In 1819, the British set up a port and the hill was the location of the Governor's home.

In 1862, the British built an artillery fort here and named it Fort Canning. That name stuck.

By 1926, Fort Canning was declared redundant and was demolished to be replaced with a new command headquarters and barracks for the Malaya command, the army defending British Malaya and Singapore. Between 1936 and 1941, the British built an underground command center. It was top secret, self-contained and bomb-proof.

On December 8, 1941, the Imperial Japanese invaded Malaya. Allied Forces were pushed back to Singapore island. The attack was meant to exactly coincide with the attack on Pearl Harbor, but actually began over an hour earlier.

On February 15, 1942, Lt. General Percival decided to surrender Singapore and 120,000 men to the Japanese.

It seemed like a pretty large place and it is.

The British, Australian and Indian Army commanders had already endured 70 days of brutal fighting. Their forces were short on food, water, ammunition and fuel. We toured the actual room where Percival hoped his support team would talk him out of surrendering.

It was an interesting mix of history and intrigue as the tour guide informed us of some of the politics going on within Gen Percival's command. Also Gen Percival was sent to a Japanese POW camp and then transferred to Japan itself. When the Japanese general who defeated Percival and MacArthur surrendered at the end of the was, Gen Percival was there with Gen MacArthur to accept the surrender. 

Singapore Weekend- National Gallery

We were told there was an exhibit at the National Gallery that sounded very interesting. So off we went. A pretty church on the walk.

We had been to this Gallery previously but hadn't posted any photos of this interesting walkway. It is usually raining and this provides great cover on the walk from the metro station.

 Benches all along have engraved faces.

It turned out that exhibit we were interested in was not at the Gallery. Either the helpful person telling us about the exhibit had the wrong dates or the wrong museum.

We had hopped on the MRT and arrived at the Gallery so we did stay to take in a couple of current exhibits.

We might not have stayed because the place is expensive and we had seen the permanent collection on earlier visits, however, the entrance price for the temporary exhibits turned out to be not so bad. The entry fee dropped by nearly 50% based on dual discounts: we are not as young as we used to be and we have a frequent flyer number with Singapore Airlines.

Two paintings caught my eye. Boats on the Waterfront, 1965.

 And this one: Stalls Under Trees by Fullerton Building, not dated

Singapore Weekend

In early August, we hopped on a plane to Singapore again for a little break from the city.

We found out about an interesting craft type shop in Chinatown so we had to check it out. B said this sounded like it should be the name of a restaurant!

They did have a ton of stuff and it was tightly packed in the small shop. We also hit Spotlight as we have in the past.

While in Singapore we braved the crowds in the underground mall at the MRT station to have our favorite Vietnamese restaurant's beef hot pot.

The Wrap & Roll. So incredibly yummy!

We also went back to the Singapore Botanical Gardens and the Zoo, again, to enjoy the park-like settings for a few hours each.  We saw this bird. It remains unidentified. 

We were really excited to see the new Ethnobotany Garden which opened earlier this year.

Ethnobotany? The garden "explores the traditional knowledge and customs of SE Asian indigenous people and the use of plants in medicine, rituals, craft, culture and more."

There were several rock paintings depicting different scenes throughout the large garden area.

It was really hot on this day so we enjoyed the Centre for Ethnobotany which had air conditioning set to Arctic Blast. And look what we saw there! B already knew all of this, but I learned a lot. 

At the zoo

Some really well done critter statues... otters

hippos

A 10 meter reticulated python.

Some real critters...

River Toad

 Malayan Horned Frog

In the Fragile Forest mixed species exhibit:
(We didn't get any bird photos on this visit.)

This is where the zoo gathered a huge percentage of zoo visitors for a elephant demonstration. In so doing, we had a some quiet time for a bit.

 We saw this in a shop nearby. Saki flavored KitKat bars.

Interesting Story- Keumalahayati (Malahayati)

I can't believe my last post was late July. Where has the time gone? I have been really busy with the American Women's Association so much so that even my crafty time has reduced.

I am now, finally working on a few posts, but in the meantime, I had found this tidbit and wanted to share it. I assume it is true, but it could just be folklore. Sounds like it might make for an interesting movie.

Late in the 16th century a woman named Malahayati was an admiral in the Navy of the Aceh Sultanate which ruled the area of modern Aceh Province, Sumatra. She is labeled as the first woman admiral in the modern world. Her troops? Apparently mostly widows from Aceh.

She herself was a widow and the daughter of an admiral which probably influenced her choice to study at the Aceh Royal Military Academy. Before her appointment by Sultan Alauddin Mansur Syah as First Admiral, she had proven herself a legendary commander during battles with the Portuguese and the Dutch. She was killed in combat.