Visit to the National Museum of Singapore - Part 8 -

These exhibits are really very old and I get to see them when I was young. I remember these green spot and F&N orange bottles. Used to have them in our home especially during Chinese New Year and during those times, we really recycled them.

The F&N bottle could double up as rolling pin and we sold these bottles to the rag and bone man for recycling purposes.

This is a ice shaving maker machine. I used to buy ice ball from the drink stall near my school.

Ice ball is made from ice shavings and some ingredients like red beans are added in the middle of the ball and the drinks vendor would then shaped it into a ball and then pour some sweet syrup and coconut milk all over the ice ball. I remembered the ice ball cost ten cents and I would share with my friend by asking the vender to saw the ice ball into half. So we each paid only five cents. It is so cute and fun back then.

Tiffins used during the olden days. Nowadays the tiffin dont come with these beautiful designs on them.


Now this camera is really very antique. I remembered the cameraman using this camera and with a light bulb as a flash and it had to change the bulb frequently.



A very antique camera


Geez now I sounded like an antique myself ....lol

I bet these are things only people born during and before the 60s will be able to associate with.

Visit to the National Museum - Part 7-Jewellery

My last two posts on the exhibits are found in the new museum (a new extension of the old museum). The admission to the new museum is $10.

Today I will feature exhibits in the old museum and the admission is free of charge. It is very interesting to see these exhibits.

Some of the silver jewelleries used during the 1900s.

Visit to the National Museum of Singapore - Part 6 - Exhibits

I continued with the tour of the Singapore History. This flag is very familar, it is the Japanese flag.

The Japanese occupied Singapore between 1942 and 1945, after having defeated the combined Australian, British, Indian and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore. You can read more about the war from source.

The Japanese tricked the British military in Singapore, into thinking that they would attacked Singapore from the Sea but the Japanese soldiers cycled into Singapore from Malaysia i.e. North of Singapore.

Life during World War 2 is very difficult and the darkest period of Singapore History.

The Japanese issued ration cards(above photo) to control supplies of rice and other essential items. You have to visit the museum to see more exhibits associated with the war.

This is a replica of a coffin in a carriage used during the passing off a wealthy man. During those days, to be able to have such a grand funeral send off, it is very rare. Most are very poor during those times.

The museum guide was asking us to guess what this bucket is? Some guessed it is a bucket to feed animals.

Of couse, siblings and myself knew what this is....lol. It is a night soil bucket. Faeces is excreted into the bucket. It is one of the means of waste disposal, especially as much of the infrastructure was damaged and took a long time to rebuild following the Battle of Singapore and subsequent Japanese Occupation of Singapore. (Source: wikipedia ).

The collection method is generally very manual and heavily relies on close human contact with the waste. The collector would hang full honey buckets onto each end of a pole he carried on his shoulder and then proceeded to carry it through the streets until he reached the collection point. This was an unpleasant occupation and was predominately done by manual laborers.

I was lucky I was born after the war and I get to use the toilet with flushing system...Phew!

Can you see the museum guide in the dark? Noticed the cabinet in the background. It had wire mesh as doors and a hook on top, it is used to keep food to keep away flies and bugs. During those times, people could not afford fridge to keep their food. So this act like a fridge. I remember during my childhood, we had a cabinet that looked like the one in the photo but it is taller and it had wire mess door and we keep food and our bowls and plates inside the cabinets cause my parents were too poor to buy a fridge.

Appliances used during the 50s and 60s. They looked very retro and they are making a comeback.

I have done posting photos of Singapore history in the new building. Tomorrow I will post exhibits in the old musuem.

Hope you all enjoyed them. Please return tomorrow for more photos.

My World Tuesday-Visit to the Museum - (Part 5 - Singapore History

Follow me walked to the basement of the Singapore History Museum (new extension). The basement is actually part of the hill of Fort Canning Hill. So some of the exhibits are actually found in fort canning hill.

Admission to the national museum is free but this part of the museum which houses the exhibits of Singapore History costs us $10 per adult and $5 per child but if some schools are members of the museum so their students need not pay the admission fees. So we save $10 on our nephews cause their schools are members of the museum.

If you dont have a museum guide, you can grab one of these audio guides to explain the exhibits.

This is the Singapore Stone. Noticed there are some engravings on the stone. The ancient writtings are still not identified.

The Singapore Stone, sandstone slab, ancient relic, currently on exhibit at Singapore History Museum. The slab is one of three pieces of a large boulder discovered in June 1819 and blown up in 1843 to widen the mouth of the Singapore River. You can read more about the stone from source.

Some jewelleries and coins belonging to the 14th century found during Archaeological Excavations on Fort Canning Hill.

Most Singaporeans should be able to idenitfy the man in the portrait. He is Sir Stamford Raffles.

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was an eminent British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is one of the more famous Britons who contributed to the expansion of the British Empire. You can read more about him from source.

Some letters belonging to Sir Stamford Raffles.

The Revere Bell was a gift by Mrs. Maria Revere Balestier, daughter of Paul Revere and wife of the first American Consul to Singapore, Joseph Balestier.

It was originally presented to the first Church of St. Andrew in 1843. It used to ring for 5 minutes at 8 pm every day to signal the start of the daily curfew. The Revere Bell is now displayed in the National Museum of Singapore.

From time to time, the Revere Bell has been cited as a symbol of the friendship between the Singaporean and American people. (Source: wikipedia )

Now I know why there is a road named Balestier. It is named after Joseph Balestier. You can read why the road is named after him from here.

There are more exhibits of Singapore history in the 14th century but I did not take photos of them all. I will post more photos of Singapore history during WW2 and during the 50s and 60s in coming posts.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Visit to the Museum - Part 4 - New Extension of the museum

Continuing from yesterday's post, after climbing the stairs, we could see that this part of the ceiling has been replaced by glass and we could view the dome from the inside of the museum.

The old museum has been extended with this new building which is made with glass panels.

It is so spacious and there is a basement (which is part of the fort canning hill) and there is a third floor which we could go up towards the hill too.

You can see the difference between the new building and the old museum.

Tomorrow I will post my tour of the basement in the new building but is so dark inside and I could not use my flash so I did not take much photos of the exhibits.

The tour is about the history of Singapore. So come visit tomorrow for My World, Tuesday.

Visit to the National Museum of Singapore (Part 3-Tour Guide)

The National Museum of Singapore is originally named the Raffles Library and Museum. The library is on the lower floor while the exhibits are on the second floor. Reason being the books are heavy and it is wise to be located on the lower floor.



She is our museum guide (she is a volunteer with the museum). It is funny cause she is an American and telling us (Singaporean) the history of Singapore...hahaha. But there are certain things we do not know and we learn some from her but we are very familar with some of the exhibits especially those in the 50s and 60s and we actually have some of those exhibits in our house during our growing up times. Siblings and us have a fun day telling the kids about the exhibits that used to be found in our home.

The top of the ceiling are these beautiful stained glass that beautified the dome.

Now this staircase leads to more exhibits on the upper floor. You need to return again to see my postings of the exhibits.

A short video of our lovely and friend museum guide.

Please return again for more posts on the museum.

Pink Saturday-Visit to the Museum (Part 2)-Art on Site

My pink contribution for Pink Saturday is this cute art exhibition in The National Museum of Singapore. This Rotunda on Level 1 of the museum always has different displays here. It is the centrepiece.

This artpiece is known as Love Tank (The Temple) and created by S. Teddy D (Indonesia).

Tanks, synonymous with the landscape of war, are instrumental war machines in the propagation of western supremacy.

Pagoda, adorned with lotuses and often part of a temple compound, believed to be the padmasana, the seats of gods and goddesses who rule this world, is the shape of temples and a symbol for the levels of pure love in Eastern cultures.

This work expresses the interaction between the East and West cultures – an interaction which often ends in clashes. The adaptation of these cultures is symbolised through the visual language of seven tanks stacked on top of one another forming a tall structure resembling a Pagoda. The tanks are decorated or camouflaged with red lotuses and the juxtaposition transforms the killing machine into one that conveys love and peace to humankind. (Source taken from National Museum.

For more pinky participants, please visit Beverly of How Sweet The Sound.

Please return for more postings on the museum.

Skywatch Friday-Visit to the National Museum of Singapore (Part 1)

Today I begin my series of my visit to the National Museum of Singapore. It's been a long time since I visited this museum. There's a lot of changes to it.

The dome is still there, a familar sight.

Love the beautiful windows and the doorways and how the arches are the same.

The museum has a long history, it used to be a library on the ground floor and the small museum on the higher floor. It's history dated back to 1849. More about the museum could be found in here.

Now we have a new extension to the museum which is made of glass, will come to that in later posts. Please return to see my later posts on the museum.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.