Places: My second time onboard: Secrets of the Red Lantern

Looking for a way to spend a Friday evening in Singapore learning about the secrets of Chinatown's past? If you are 18 years old and above, have an open-mind and are curious about the history of the darker side of Chinatown, the following post may let you decide to go for one of the Secrets of the Red Lantern tour!
Places: My second time onboard: Secrets of the Red Lantern

Places: An interesting tour: Cultured Leopard, Rising Tige...

In Jan 2015, I went for a tour by one of my favourite tour providers in Singapore and have had an interesting time learning about and exploring Haw Par Villa with the rest of the tour group. Here's a post that is overdue: Places: An interesting tour: Cultured Leopard, Rising Tiger: Finding Your Tao at Haw Par Villa.

Yet another Changi Museum War Trail: End of Empire

Kranji Memorials. Designed by Colin St. Clair Oakes.

For reasons I could not figure out, I felt an urge to attend the tour titled End of Empire - Singapore 1942™ (Battlefield Tour), A Changi Museum War Trail™ by The Original Singapore Walks about a week ago, on 12 Sep 2012. I had considered revisiting this tour since this year was the 70th anniversary of the fall of Singapore.

I was very pleased with my decision to go for this tour. The tour rewarded me with a much deeper appreciation of a part of my country's history, a needed break from the usual routine, the convenience to visit Mount Faber, Labrador Park and the Kranji Memorials on a weekday afternoon, and the company of wonderful people. Within the short duration of about 3.5 hours, I was rewarded with a meaningful and fulfilling tour of my country. This is one tour in Singapore that I would strongly recommend for anyone who would like a deeper appreciation of WWII history in the Southeast Asia region, specifically the then Malaya and Singapore.

A mural at Mount Faber depicting moments from the past.

Coincidentally, it turned out that I attended the tour on the 67th anniversary of a significant and related event. 67 years ago, on 12 Sep 1945, the Japanese surrender ceremony was held at the Municipal Building of Singapore (now known as the City Hall). That surrender ceremony official ended the Japanese Occupation of the Southeast Asia. (For more information, please refer to Singapore Infopedia: Japanese surrender.) This piece of information was perhaps an affirmation of my decision to attend the tour out of the blue.

The view from Mount Faber.
Keppel Harbour used to be located where Reflections at Keppel Bay now stands.
The island on the left is Sentosa.

Meeting point
The tour's meeting point was at Little India MRT station. From the starting point, our hospitable guide took us on a bus-tour which seemed to be a journey that took us to explore a significant part of Singapore's past.

The stunning view from Mount Faber
Our visit to Mount Faber offered a stunning view. Yet, it was the rich stories behind the significance of Mount Faber in the defense of Singapore that intrigued more. I felt thankful that our guide presented a complex part of Singapore's history in an accessible way and entertaining way. If this topic seems to interest you, do go for this tour. You are likely to love it like I did.

Labrador Park. Casemate.

Memories of Labrador Tunnels and more
One of the other highlights of the tour was the stop at Labrador Park. The casemate and the Labrador Tunnels were still closed to the public during the time of my visit. While I was at the casemate, I fondly recall one of my previous visits to the Labrador Tunnels when it was launched in 2005. Although I did not get to visit the Labrador Tunnels, my visit to Labrador Park helped me to better appreciate the kind of jungle terrain that the Allied forces (and the Japanese forces) would have to fight in seven decades ago. It was clearly not a friendly place to fight a war in the tropical jungle.

Labrador Park. This is one place where you can find a real 6-inch gun barrel. 

The view from Labrador Park.

A drive past the Alexandra Hospital 
During the tour, our bus drove past the Alexandra Hospital. I felt heart-wrenching to hear one of the most horrifying massacres that had taken place just before the the Japanese Occupation. It was a poignant reminder of the value of peace, and the deadly price of war.

A glimpse of Alexandra Hospital.

Kranji War Cemetery and the stories of the war heroes
Another highlights of the tour was the visit to Kranji Memorials. The interesting design of the War Memorial also left an impression in me. The Kranji War Cemetery is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is known locally as the Kranji Memorial.

There, our guide uncovered interesting stories of war heroes and heroines who were commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Some of these stories reflect the exemplary qualities of the human spirit. I was rather impressed by the amount of care that went into the Cemetery and Memorial Register so that the locations of the graves of the fallen soldiers could be traced with relative ease. These fallen heroes and heroines shall have their name liveth for evermore.

Kranji War Cemetery.
The Stone of Remembrance that bears the words "Their Name Liveth For Evermore".

The Cross of Sacrifice.

This is the resting place of Private Breavington who was involved in the Selarang Barracks Incident.

The Cemetery and Memorial Register at the Kranji Memorials.

I have found a sense of solitude and tranquility at the Kranji War Cemetery.

Suggestions and tips for visitors
Overall, this is an educational and entertaining tour for anyone who has an interest to learn about WWII in this part of the world. I strongly recommend this very tour, i.e. End of Empire - Singapore 1942™ (Battlefield Tour), A Changi Museum War Trail™, to everyone who has the intention to attend or has attended the tour Changi WWII™, A Changi Museum War Trail™. These tours complement one another perfectly well! Many thanks to the people from Journeys Pte Ltd for putting this interesting tour together.

Of course, if attending both the tours cannot be made possible due to time constraints, it is still equally wonderful to attend either one of the two Changi Museum War Trail tours.

Reservations are strongly encouraged for this tour. It helps to make reservation at least a day before the actual tour. It would help a lot to be dressed to do some walking even though this is a bus-tour. There are some parts of the tour which would involve some climbing some stairs. Yet, rest assure that not climbing the stairs will not affect the overall experience of the tour. Our tour guide was observed to be helpful to provide alternative options to guest who prefer to miss climbing the stairs.

It helps to bring sunblock lotion, mosquito repellent, and a bottle of water to the tour. Wearing a comfortable pair of shoes will make the feet keep themselves happy throughout the entire the tour.

Last but not the least, enjoy the. Delight in the companion of the guide and the other guests.

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End of Empire - Singapore 1942™ (Battlefield Tour)
A Changi Museum War Trail™
http://www.journeys.com.sg
Tel: 63251631/ 62142451

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Please also read a related post that I have written a month ago: Changi Museum War Trail, my experiences.

Changi Museum War Trail, my experiences

The Changi Chapel.

The Original Singapore Walks by Journeys Pte Ltd has been one of my favourite tours in Singapore. I was impressed by the well-researched tours that when one of my friends asked about visiting the Changi Museum, I suggested the possibility of going for the Changi WWII, Changi Museum War Trails.

This tour included a fully guided visit to the Changi Museum and the Changi Chapel. During the tour, the coach will also take the participants to have a glance of the old Changi Jail and the Selarang Barracks. These two locations had both served as internment camps for Prisoner-of-War during the Japanese Occupation. One section of the tour will bring participants to explore the Johore Battery with a replica of a WWII 15-inch gun battery. The tour also includes a walk on Changi Beach.

My favourite sections on the tour were those on the Changi Cross and the Changi Murals.

I had been on this tour more than five years ago. I thought it would be a good idea to go for this tour again. Eventually, I signed myself up for the tour together with a few of my friends and went on the tour on 11 Aug 2012. I was very glad that I did. Going for this tour reminded me that peace is invaluable and cannot be taken for granted. In addition, I was reminded of the faith and strength of the human spirit and how these had helped many of people overcame the challenges during the war and the internment.

The Changi Cross made by Harry Stogden.

Our guide, Janet, presented the various stories of the prisoner-of-war in an effective and touching manner. I could not help but empathize with the prisoner-of-war and their families for the pain and suffering that they had experienced.

A replica. Johore Battery. 

The tour was backed up by loads of good research. Somehow, as a participant of the tour, I felt that history came alive when I was learning about the British defence strategy, the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore during the tour. Going for the tour makes learning about this part of Singapore's history very interesting and entertaining.

One of my accompanying friends who was a nine-year-old child also found the tour to be interesting. He was paying attention throughout the tour.

A heritage marker at Changi Beach.

Overall, I find this a very educational and insightful tour. I felt deeply touched by the stories of how the war had affected the prisoner-of-war and their families. This tour gives a more in-depth understanding of challenges faced by prisoner-of-war as well as the pre-war and wartime history of the area of Changi. I think this tour is worth a good consideration for local residents in Singapore who would like to gain a better understanding of World War II history in this part of the world. I would say that it is a value-for-money and excellent tour.

Changi Beach.

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Changi WWII™
A Changi Museum War Trail™
http://www.journeys.com.sg

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For more information, please visit: http://www.journeys.com.sg/singaporewalks/tours_changiww.asp
Meeting point: Pasir Ris MRT station, outside Exit B

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A Clarke Quay Eccentric Pub Walk

Taken on Read Bridge.

Friends and readers who know me well enough would have realised that I am an ardent supporter of The Original Singapore Walks' tours, conducted by Journeys Pte Ltd. I am proud to declare that I have been to all their existing walks. Possibly, I may go for the coach tours for my second time because I have a fascination with World War II history in this part of the world.

The Original Singapore Walks tours are not just educational but entertaining. I have yet to find any other tour providers in Singapore who can present succinct and well-researched history and heritage related information in such accessible manner, at such affordable rates.

It brings me a lot of pleasure to share with my readers here about the recent Original Singapore Walks tour that I went for. The walk was officially launched on 20 Sep 2008 and so I would consider it a fairly new tour. It has a pretty interesting name: Of Dali, Barley and Hadhramis. The name is so interesting, that I was all ears throughout the entire tour just so that I can pay full attention to figure out how the name of the tour was derived. I am pleased to tell you that I think I have more or less figured out the answer. If you want to know the answer, go for the tour and find it out for yourself please. For S$25 per adult, I think it is very value-for-money for all the interesting anecdotes and history facts that I get.

The starting point for this walk, which is basically a walk about the Clarke Quay area with visits made to two pubs, is at Clarke Quay MRT station, outside Exit E. I think I was so excited to participate in the tour that I reached the starting point pretty early and was the first participant to report for the tour.

A glimpse of Clarke Quay. Taken from Central.

It is not the objective of this post to share with readers what I have learnt on this tour. Afterall, I think it is so much better that readers go for the tour themselves and learn about the history of Clarke Quay directly from the tour guide.

What I shall attempt to share in this post will be the many lovely sceneries that I had seen while I was onboard this tour. I can say that while my eyes are often not on the tour guide, my ears were listening to her as attentively as I can. I wanted to learn, to learn more about this country of Singapore that I call my homeland. The best way to do so was to be attentive and interested. In addition, I shall attempt to share what makes this walk interesting enough to deserve my readers' patronage.

Heading towards Coleman Bridge.

Yet, before I can share about the lovely sceneries of the present, I decided it would be necessary to have an appreciation of how Clarke Quay had looked like in the past. However, I don't grow up in Clarke Quay and have limited impression how it had looked like. The best I could do given my limited resources would be to point readers to read this post by Vickoo titled Second 2nd-Shot - North Boat Quay In 1979 And Now. Vickoo mentioned that the place in his photo was actually called North Boat Quay. I wonder why people of my generation now refers to the same place as Clarke Quay? Could anyone please enlighten?

A post by Cornelius-Takahama, Vernon written in the year 1999 might have answered my question. According to this post, Clarke Quay stretches from Read Bridge at North Boat Quay to Ord Road/ Ord Bridge and right towards River Valley Road. It was named after Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Clarke, the second Governor of the Straits Settlements.

Acknowlegment: This photo is taken from SGCool.

Ref: 2000-0682, NHB Collections, National Museum of Singapore.
It shows Singapore River and Boat Quay, with Fort Canning Hill in the background.
Clarke Quay is in the background too, and can't be seen clearly in this photo.
Early to mid 20th century, Singapore.

Anyway, if we were to compare what is referred today as Clarke Quay with how the very same place had looked like in at least three decades ago, we would see a stark difference. Nevertheless, some things remain quite the same. These, in my opinion, are: The large windows and doors of the godowns in the area, the height of Fort Canning Hill, and a couple of buildings in the area.












The redevelopment of Clarke Quay has given the area a major facelift. It is now managed and owned by CapitaLand. As I was onboard the tour, aside from appreciating the rich heritage of the area, I tried to savour the vibrant and colourful facade of Clarke Quay. Does present day Clarke Quay appeal to you?

Peddlers Walk.
There used to be a lot of peddlers along this stretch of pathway in the past.

I had walked across this fountain without getting wet.

One reason that I find worthwhile to go for this tour, Of Dali, Barley and Hadhramis, is that other than getting enriched with well-researched knowledge of the past, one gets very good discounts if one should decide to purchase drinks from the two pubs that the tour brought us to. Essentially, this tour is not a pub crawl, but it is a heritage-tour with an element that allow its participants to chill at the pubs at discounted rates. The best part for yours truly is that we don't just go to the two pubs to drink and to chill. Participants get to learn and acquire new knowledge while at the pub. I am pleased to share that while I was at the pub, I have learnt things that were new to me. For one thing, I have learnt about the people of Hadhramaut and how this group of people had been important in contributing to the development of Singapore during the earlier years.

A Middle-Eastern pub.
Marrakesh Moroccan Lounge & Bar.

Hummus and bread whose name I had forgotten.

Chilling out with refreshing glasses of cocktails at discounted prices.

Brewerkz.

Each participant onboard the tour could get a glass of beer of that size for $5.

By the way, inclusive in the price of my tour ticket was a tour of the Royal Selangor Gallery at Clarke Quay. Other than viewing the pewter wares displayed in the Pewter Gallery, visitors get to see the demonstration of Pewtersmithing. While we were at the Royal Selangor Gallery, we learnt about the founder of the Royal Selangor Pewter, Yong Koon, and the lady who was the wife of its founder.

Visitors get to try their hands on the art of hammering and knocking.

Concluding, I get to see a variety of interesting things while I was onboard this very tour, Of Dali, Barley and Hadhramis. If you would like to take a look at a building that used to be one of Tan Yeok Nee's houses, learn a bit about Tan Tye Place, find out what are tongkangs, hear about Whampoa's Ice House and enjoy the beauty of Read Bridge in the evening, this is a tour that is worth every bit of your consideration.

River House.

Read Bridge.

Read Bridge.

For more information about this tour, please visit: http://www.singaporewalks.com/clarkequay.htm This is one tour that I would recommend to everyone who wants to enrich himself/ herself with knowledge while chilling out on a weekend evening.


(This post was adapted and first published under the same title at Yesterday.sg.)

What could be better than beer?

Learning about heritage is way better than beer. The Original Singapore Walks has a new tour. The new tour, The Tipple Exchange, takes one to a walk about some of the pubs along Boat Quay, and as part of the tour, one gets to drink three specialty drinks.

Even though I don't fancy alcoholic drink, the heritage part of it is attractive enough to get me to go for The Tipple Exchange. Emily was my company for the tour. We reached the meeting place, outside Exit B of Raffles Place MRT Station, before 6 p.m. I looked around for the guide and spotted a lady holding on to a brochure of The Original Singapore Walks. It turned out that she was the guide for the day indeed. I could sense a smile on my face for having spotted the guide: that meant the tour would be on! Of course, it would be.

We have a nice tour group consisting of the guide, two participants from Singapore (i.e. Emily and myself) and two other partipants from Germany. The tour began with the guide sharing about the rich history behind the Raffles Place. I felt delighted and enriched to be able to know more about my own country. I recommend that other folks born in Singapore could check out at least one of The Original Singapore Walks.





As I hear about how Raffles Place and the Singapore River had been in the past, it was a fascinating experience for myself to realise how Singapore has changed and progressed with time. Folks, it is fun to tour Singapore like a tourist from time to time.

In addition to all the interesting anecdotes and the enriching yet entertaining information about Singapore's past, I also enjoyed the sights that I had seen along the way. 7 Aug 2007 was NUS Flag Day, and we could see many young people wearing pink T-shirts selling flags. Actually these people in pink aren't as attractive as the beautiful sceneries of the Singapore River and the many artistic sculptures that I had came across while I was on the walk.












I shall not reveal the details of the interesting anecdotes that had been shared during the tour. For one main reason, these are information that the organiser has derived through painstakingly research, we should respect it. Furthermore, I believe that I should leave my reader who are interested to join the tour to find things out for yourself.

In case you cannot wait to see the beer, here is a photo of my first drink for the evening on the tour. Emily told me that this ale is pretty good one. I beg your pardon, but I cannot tell. I did not even finish half of it.





The beer drinking endeavour was made complete with each of the participants sharing a little bit about ourselves, and the guide telling us some interesting anecdotes. I refrained myself from asking the question: "What makes some people like beer?" I suppose it is due to personal preference and choice.

We had some interesting drinks to drink at the second pub, Archipelago, that we visited. Trader's Brown Ale from Archipelago was made using Gula Melaka and ginger. My hold of liquor is weak, I barely drank a third of it. I also had a chance to sample Saison Sayang. I understand that Coriander, Star Anise and some other spices were used to create this brew. These beer are quite interesting and worth sampling.





By chance, we happen to see a temporary sculpture next to the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles located just beside Asian Civilisation Musueum and facing Boat Quay.



Do read the plaque of the above sculpture and compare it with the nearby statue of Sir Stamford Raffles. I have found the words on the plaque to be insightful and humourous.

By the end of the tour, the night skies were getting dark and that contrasted against the colourful lightings of the buildings along the river. The photo below was taken from Elgin Bridge. If I had heard correctly, Emily said that after the tour, she finds herself liking Elgin Bridge.





The guide probably realised that I did not like to drink. In the end, she kindly asked that the last drink for the evening, i.e. Tiger Beer, be replaced with a fruit juice of my choice. Emily did not fancy the beer either and she asked for fruit juice to replace the beer. I like the music and singing at the last pub that we had stopped by. However, I did not like the volume of the sound from the amplifiers. I was very close to putting on ear-filters at the last pub.




I can proudly say that I had managed to finish the entire glass of apple juice that was meant to replace the Tiger Beer. I don't think I can finish half a glass of beer however.

Summarising, I have enjoyed myself throughout the tour. It was an informative, enriching and educational tour. Furthermore, I have had great company for the evening. Of course, the tour is way better than the beers since I hardly drink. If you like beer, I am sure that you will find yourself having the best of both worlds if you were to go on the tour: food for the mind, drinks to unwind.

The Tipple Exchange™ is available on Tuesdays 6.00 - 8.30 p.m. (except public holidays). According to the published online information:

Meet at Raffles Place MRT Outside Exit B
Price: Usual rates: S$55/Adult
Promotional rates S$45/Adult (valid till 31st of December '07)

For more information, please visit: http://www.singaporewalks.com.

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For more photos, click here.

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Updates on 29 Dec 2007: Note: According to information from The Original Singapore Walks's website, there appear to be some slight changes in the tour programme and itinerary starting from 5 Jan 2008. To experience the change, you may wish to attend this tour.

For more information about The Tipple Exchange™ , please visit: http://www.singaporewalks.com.