Singapore flag.
The Exhibition is new and it's free (to me as a Singaporean 'Permanent Resident', which I capitalise because it is not a comment but a government status). The exhibition is temporary. I had been very pleased when I signed up for the free preview of the Jewel shopping Mall, attached to the airport with a giant waterfal in the atrium, and was delighted with that visit, so I signed up for this event, too.
Getting There
My mistake was to go along with my husband's idea that the most direct and speedy route to Fort Canning was via Dhoby Ghaut station, one stop from Little India. I swanted to see the new escalators up Fort Canning and never made it. I think the planners have made a mistake, an omission. They urgently need an escalator up the other side from Dhoby Ghaut.
The route we took was from Dhoby Ghaut, past the noisy and dusty, dirty and depressing redevelopment of Park Mall. Then about four flights of steep stairs. No problem for my husband who treks up volcanoes, Everest, Kilimanjaro and more. To him a flight of stairs, or four , or ten flights. is just part of his useful daily routine. However, as I trudged up, gasping, I was thinking, how many poeple like us, over fifty, over sixty, over seventy - surely not seventy, life has cheated us, can cope with these steep stairs.
Visitors
When we reached out destination, we older folk were in the minority. We were addressed as 'members of the public' in a group with pre-schoolers, tiny tots, all holding hands with their Mums, Dads, nannies or minders.
Guides
The volunteer ushers were excellent. They managed to apologise yet be positive about our experience of the noise. One of them said, "The pre-schoolers are noisy but you will forgive them because they are so cute."
After a brief queue wait we were given a free booklet about Singapore's history.
The Guide, which we later read over coffee in the Hotel Fort Canning. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Film Featuring Pirates
We were ushered in to watch a film with subtitles. The excited babble from the children is such that I watched an entire run-though of the film before it stopped and started again and in a momentary lull as group A ahead of us (were group B) I realised the film had a quiet sound track. I moved to the front row, my usual policy to hear and see better, and by watching the subtitles and trying to follow and predict I could work out the gist and actual words of most of the commentary.
Cartoon Drawings
The history of Singapore is told is a cartoon, in the modern fashion, showing the pencil drawing the figures from the outline, adding in the features and finally the shading. Mesmerising. You can buy an app which does this for you. Quite expensive, a big investment or a commitment to monthly payments, if I remember rightly. I sat thinking, I must buy one of those caligraphy pens.
If you come in during the middle of the film and can't hear the commentary it may seen disjointed. But the whole history of Singapore is reapeated at least three times, once in this opening introductory cartoon, again in the booklet, and then in two more exhibits.
I felt this cartoon should have been screened off from the noisy babble outside, which would encourage concentration on the film.
History Brought To Life
Having watched it through one and a half times, I began to get the gist of it. I have learned about assorted parts of the history of Singapore and the area. Unfortunately, I seemed to have only a hazy notion of the order of events, dates, and names of people except for Raffles. However, this exhibiton sets out to bring everything into persepective.
By the end of the first film I had recalled that Singapore started as a dot on the map, uninhabited with ruthless nomadic purates in the surrounding waters, passed through the hands of assorted people, the Portuguese and Dutch were fighting nearby, a Malay leader sold it to somebody, finally the British East India Company headed by Raffles appears.
Actors, Accusation and Escape
Next our group moved into a room with a long three part screen and actors playing swashbuckling figures from the past march reolsutely, stop to fight, and march forwards, or run off backwards. The main story I remembered was the man who accused his concubine or wife of being unfaithful. Her father launched a battle, so our leader races off to Malacca in the north, a part of the land which became Malayasia, of which Singapore was a small part.
What horrified me was how murderous everybody was. Admittedly the moments where nothing happens don't make for action. Drama is drama by definition.
Wonderful Water Display
We then moved to a water display. Wonderful use of modern technology. In the centre of the room is a floor to ceiling fountain. Projected onto it are pictures. The brochure I have been given is getting wet from the spray so I quickly stuff it into my waterproof backpack.
After this we are given umbrellas for even more water.
Rain On Independence Day
We are in a 360 room. I went to the front as usual and missed most of the circle of events to my right, left and behind me. In an ideal world I would have been dead centre but raised above the crowd.
One character I recognized was Raffles.
The highlight of the rain scene is the finale, Singapore's Indepence day in pouring rain braved by the crowds, and we are in the rain under umrellas, made to feel part of it.
I now see that this is not really an exhibition for tourists, but part of an ongoing campaign to create in the Singaporeans of today and the futruere - starting with pre-schoolers, a feeling of national identity. Solidarity with each other. Awareness the wars and battles with your neighbours can result in massacres.
WWII Massacre
Yes, here we are in a screen showing WWI, another on WWII. A personal acount from a survivor of a mssacres of the able bodied Chinese on a beach. One survivor, with his wrists bound, and knees bound by ropes, marched into the water (by Japanese captors) dived underwater just before the machine gunning started, and stayed underwater when a search boat passed overhead. The water swelled and loosened the ropes so he was able to wriggle free. Estimates of the dead vary from 5,000 to 50,000.
Numbers?
(The same disaparity of figures occurs with the Holocaust. You take the figures of the missing from most recent census, birth rate and birth recors, and tax and employment and housing figures, and victims' families, which is the higher figure, the known dead, the estimates from the killers, which is the lower figure given when they are asked to account for war crimes or pay compensation. Numbers go up when you find unrecorded births, bodies of people not in the original list, parents and children with the same name. Numbers go down when you find miraculous escapes, people wandering as down and outs or in mental homes with amnesia who can't rmember their own names, families nor homes or even country of birth, adopted children whose ancestry is revealed, those who escaped and changed identity to forget or escape pursuers, or people counted twice because they appeared on two lists.)
Out of the indoor exhibition in the building to the open sided and open ceiling exhibits in the park outside.
Lunch - Prosecco Champagne?
First we stopped for lunch. A bit chaotic. Confusing. The first confusion was the offer of Prosecco Champagne. What? Champagne is a region of France. Prosecco is a region of Italy and a grape from that area. Maybe they mean Champagne style Prosecco? Or just bubble white wine? Both Champgne and Prosecco are protected brand names. Anyway, the price was behond our budget and we wanted to stay awake, so I was persuaded not to waste money on the drink nor even time trying to see the bottle - which would inevitably have led to the temption to try and buy.
Chicken choices
Our first choice of chicken in oriental style, satay, would have taken half an hour. So we opted for local style chicken in batter. A quick way to ruin your diet and the chicken.
Kaya Butter Sandwich!
Since we had a credit of two Singapore dollars I chose to try to Kaya toast. A great choice. Not only do I love totally unealthy kaya butter toasted sandwiches, this one had a thick filling and was excellent.
Yes, it is plain white bread, not good food for you, any more than the colorific filling. But I needed calories because For Canning was making me climb a lot of stairs.
Turmeric in the seeds area. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
I did not learn anything new in the seeds area but it was very restful.
Outdoor Exhibits
My favourite outdoor exhibit was the seeds in Singapore. I loved the displays in the glass tubes and the surrounding greenery, which did not match the seeds.
Another exhibit was on history around the world at the same time as the history of major events in Singapore. For example, Gutenberg press; Galileo proving that the little earth goes around the big sun, not the other way around, the self-centred view that the big sun goes around the little earth. Also Mona Lisa. How clear are you on what happened in which century, where and when?
We decided to forego the walk to see the escalators, and instead went for coffee in the grand five star nearby Hotel Fort Canning. See next post.
Top Travel Tip
To use the new escalators and avoid lots of stairs, go to Bencoolen station on the blue Downtown line instead of Dhoby Ghaut. Yes, it looks longer on the map. But how long will it take you to climb several flights of stairs.
Verdict
Read up on the history of Singapore. The major street names, Chinese and British, are not covered. Mainly long ago history.
If you want to visit the Hotel Fort Canning, you could still start or end at Dhoby Ghaut MRT. If you can get tickets, see the exhibition.
Useful Websites
https://www.bicentennial.sg/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Fort_Canning
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-s1-g294265-d1822389-Reviews-Hotel_Fort_Canning-Singapore.html
singaporeair.com
About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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