Skywatch Friday - Visit to the National Museum - Part 9

I almost done posting with my series of photos for the museum...lol. Hope you are not bored with museum now.

These are my contributions for Skywatch Friday.

The ceiling of the new museum (extension of the old museum) are also made of glass.

You can see that the museum is so big and spacious.

If you are an older Singaporean, you should recognize this spooky spiral staircase. I remembered when I was a child, I saw this staircase at the corner of the museum with a no entry sign. It was rumoured there were hidden secrets above. There were ghosts or mummies, etc hidden in there.But the truth was is just a staircase leading to the roof of the museum...lol.

A sculpture of a red pepper in the garden located on the highest floor of the new museum.

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

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.