Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sentosa - Fort Siloso Part 5 - Surrender Chambers

There's a museum above the souvenir shop at Fort Siloso. It showcase the history of both the surrenders of the British to the Japanese and then the Japanese to the British during World War II.

When the Japanese invaded Singapore, they moved their headquarters from Malaysia to Ford Factory in Singapore. It is in this Board Room where the surrender documents were signed. The Board Room remains intact in Ford Factory but the table at which both the British and Japanese delegations sat is now in the Australian War Museum in Canberra, Australia. The seven teak chairs were moved to the Surrender Chambers in Sentosa where a replica of the event is displayed.

The above and below photos are wax figures which show the Japanese surrending to the British when they lost the war.

You can read more about the history of the surrenders from infopedia and mindef.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Skywatch Friday - Sentosa - Fort Siloso Part 4

Oooo, look who is greeting me at the end of the tunnel. It's not real just a wax figure of a British Soldier.

As they anticipated the Japanese would attack Singapore from the Sea during WW2, all the guns were facing the sea. So this command post was very important as they could spot the enemy from afar.

The guns were never used as the enemies came from the North (via Malaysia through the thick jungle) instead of the South from the sea. So sad, and they occupied us for about three years till they surrendered when America dropped an Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima, Japan. You might like to read more about the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This is the peaceful sea now that the guns were facing. I was standing there all alone now admiring the beautiful peaceful sea.


A short video of the surrounding. Hahaha, you can see that I walked very fast while videoing cause it is so scary to be all alone out there...lol . Am afraid cause there are many wild monkeys in this forested area too. (Will show you photos of the wild monkeys in later post.)


A bit shaky here and there in this video but after staying out here for a while, I am not so afraid anymore. But on the way out, I ran all the way up the stairs of the dark tunnel to catch up with my tired relatives...hahaha



Thinking back of the incident, really made me laugh again, it's kind of funny. I think I should not have brought my tired Cambodian Relatives to visit this Fort. They have just recovered from a war and there's a lot of war museums in their country. I should have plan better.


Above another short video showing the peaceful sea.


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


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sentosa - Fort Siloso Part 3 - There's Light at the End of the Tunnel

It is true about the proverb. There's light at the end of the tunnel. So when everything dont seem to be going smoothly for you, dont despair, something good might come up one day and slowly your problem will go away one by one.
Sometimes we need to walk the tunnel alone to see the light (meaning ...at times, we need to solve our own problem alone)....I found this so true cause noone wanted to follow me walked through this tunnel to view more exhibits...lol. My relatives were all too tired to continue the walk. So when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, it was a delight to me.


I wanted to take photos of the exhibits to share with my cyber friends, so bravely I went in the tunnel and am so happy when I saw the light...lol. It was like a horror movie, I was so worried something or someone in the tunnel, will suddenly touch or appear before me...yikes!

You have to visit tomorrow to see what is at the end of the tunnel.


A short video of me walking in the tunnel. I cant even see my camera or my hand....hahaha. As I was so afraid, I made a lot of noises as I made my way down the stairs. You can also heard the echo of my relatives talking in the background, they were sitting in one of the bunks resting and waiting for me.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Sentosa - Fort Siloso Part 2

Continued from yesterday post on Fort Siloso, there are so many things to be seen in here.

The best part was going into the bunks and fort to visit. There are wax figures to show us the history of the fort.

There's a small museum too. I spotted a samurai sword in the museum.


More photos coming in later posts.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

My World Tuesday - Sentosa - Fort Siloso Part 1

Today, I will begin my new series on Fort Siloso on Sentosa Island.

Fort Siloso is a coastal artillery battery and one of twelve coastal artillery batteries which made up ‘Fortress Singapore ’ at the start of World War Two. Although there are remains of other batteries to be found on Singapore, Fort Siloso is the sole restored battery. ‘Siloso’ is a Philippine word meaning ‘Jealous Person’. You can read more about the history of Fort Siloso from its official website.

Fort Siloso was heavily armed in anticipation that the Japanese would attack Singapore via the south from the Sea during World War II but the Japanese soldiers came via our backdoor i.e. from the North of Singapore via Malaysia. So the guns in Fort Siloso was never used for the fighting during WW2.

So sad that we lost the war and was under Japanese Occupation for about three years. I was not born then but my parents did suffered during the war.






A short video taken when I was on the tram going up the Fort. The tram ride was about 5 minutes ride and sadly we need to do most of the walking in the hot sun.....lol.



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



More photos of Fort Siloso coming up in the later posts.