War at noon
We woke up early today, at 8am, and went straight out to get a roti for breakfast, as is standard nowadays. Today we were going to go on a tour at a World War 2 command centre. This is called the Battlebox and is inside Fort Canning Hill in the centre of Singapore. Fort Canning Park is a lovely park area with trees and a reservoir. It’s a little pod of nature at the centre of the metropolis.
Click here for more info on the Battlebox tour.
The tour itself was guided by a local chap, who looked the part, and lasted around an hour. There were quite a few old tourists who went around with us, several from the UK. I never realised how much involvement the UK had in Asia during World War 2, and this command centre was indeed a British base. The Battlebox consisted of quite a lot, starting with a tour around the actual base underground. We were also able to see some remnant ‘relics’ that were left over, as well as hearing about the different characters who played an important role during the war.
Unfortunately, it turns out the British underestimated the Japanese, and this caused Malaysia and Singapore to be captured by Japan.
Swimming in Singapore
After the Battlebox tour, it was time to head over to the S.E.A. Aquarium. This is one of the largest aquariums in the world. We took the subway towards the aquarium, and when we got off, we were at a large shopping centre. More importantly, there was a huge food court. We immediately pounced on it and managed to get some cheap grub.
Once we’d had our fill of food, we caught the shuttle bus to Resorts World Sentosa, which is on a small island off the coast. This resort consists of large hotels, a theme park, a water park, and also the aquarium. I must say, the aquarium was pretty damn amazing. Right from the get go we saw huge fish tanks filled with all manner of different sizes and species of fish. What was better, was that there was a lot of written info around all of the tanks, so you knew what you were looking at.
There was one tank in particular that was ginormous in size, and had hundreds of fish, rays, crustaceans, sharks, and more. Towards the end of our visit here, we visited the shark tank, and were lucky enough to witness the shark feed. However, this only happens twice per week, and we were in the right place at the right time to observe it. A couple of divers went in with chainmail armour on to feed them.
For more info on the aquarium, click here.
Winding down
After a long and eventful day on our feet, we took the subway back to our part of town. When we got back we resigned to our hostel room for a while. In our room, we got talking to a Ghanaian fellow, called Wayne, who’s lived in China for 8 years. As time went on, we decided to go for dinner, and wanted to go back to the Italian restaurant in the nearby shopping centre. Wayne came with us and the 3 of us enjoyed a delicious meal for the second time.
We also went to the cheap chocolate shop for a cheeky chocolate bar for pudding. After this, we decided to call it a night and turned in.
