"The battle box was the underground bomb-proof bunker of Britain's Malaya Command HQ during World War Two. Situated 9 meters beneath Fort Canning Hill, it was also the site were General Percival reached the fateful decision to surrender Singapore to the invading Imperial Japanese Army on the 15th February 1942"
Aku and Aizat pun tau lah tentang kewujudan this particular bunker through Mat. Die tau aku ngan adik aku suka benda2 historical ni so die suggested that we go to this place to "suka history some more" - Itu ape yang Mat cakap lah. lol
Tapi my lawyer cousin nih cakap kt kami on our last night ever in Singapore. Agak useless kan? Might as well keep it to yourself Mat. Ma surely wont let us go to that place. alone. But we decided to try our luck the next morning over breakfast to ask them "boleh tak kami pegi?"
Suprisingly, diorang bagi. Tapi there's a catch. Well there are two actually. Kene ikot dorang naik HippoBus(Tour of Singapore) at 10am. Oke. Fine. Then, Kene balik kat hotel before 3pm. Sebab nak gerak airport pukul 4pm naik FREE SHUTTLE VAN TO THE AIRPORT. Oke then. Tapi HippoBus finished up at 12pm,which left us less than 3hr to explore the box.
Our Green HippoBus with Mat grinning menacingly at me at the side.
By the way, mase tour 1jam tersebut, it was drizzling all the time. So tak dapat dok kat upper deck.Therically lah.Tapi despite repeated warnings, Aizat, Mat, Aku and other tourists duduk kat atas.
More about the HippoBus can be found here. I will write more about this in my next blog posting.
Senang je nak pegi Fort Canning from our hotel in Arab Street. Lagipun Singapore kan covered in MRT lines. You can go almost anywhere in Singapore using the MRT. In our case, we got onto the train at 11:30at EW12 Bugis Station to get to EW13 City Hall Interchange. From EW13 kitaorang ambik the North South train to NS24 Dhoby Ghaut.
Interior of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries & Nippon Sharyo C751B rolling-stock used by the Singaporean SMRT.
The thing is, those MRTs are very2 puntual and diorang ada every 4 mins.so korang tak payah nak time korang nye daily schedule around the the train timetables like in Malaysia.
Green Line is EW. Red Line is NS. Purple is NE. The point where the NS and NE line meets is the NS24 Dhoby Ghaut Interchange.
After reaching NS24 around 12pm, we made our way through exit B which led us to Park Mall. Fort Canning/Battle Box kat blakang Park Mall je.haha. Ak ngan aizat pun walked up lah to the ticketing office only to be greeted with a "CLOSE.BE BACK AT 1PM".
Uweeeeee
So we went exploring the place out. It was quite big. With keramats, pagodas, spice gardens, gothic arches all scattered around the bunker. The was a reservoir located north of the bunker, but it was off limit to civilians because it is still in use. To find out more about the things listed above?Go Google them
A "Sally Hole" in Singapore's Fort Canning. They were used to slip out of the Fort if it was under attack - Sally as in "Sally Forth!"
On top of the bunker,which is open to visitors to merayau around.
The former army barrack/hospital being renovated into a hotel.
Typical surrounding view.
Tengok2 dah pukul satu. Ak and aizat pun jalan lah pegi front desk die. When we arrived there we found out dah banyak orang kat sane, mostly cacausians, all waiting to beli their tickets or "Regulation Security Pass".
Credits to Robert Steiner. The Front Desk or "The Guard Room"
Bila the guy finally opened the front door, sume serbu masuk. Inside ade 3 row of chairs with a LCD TV infront. Then ble dah penuh,die tutup semua lampu and suruh tengok TV 2.
Ok from this point on ak paste je ape ak bace kt Wikipedia. Ak dah sakit tangan nk type. Pagi tadi pegi Putrajaya buat keje sket sampai sakit tangan.
"For a price of S$5 for children and S$8 for adults, visitors can attend a guided tour of the location. The tickets are designed to look like security passes issued during the Second World War.
The tour begins with the screening of a historical-style video about the events leading up to the Japanese invasion of Singapore, held in the ticketing office pictured above. From there, visitors are led by the tour guide to the actual bunker located about a hundred metres away from the ticketing office. A wax figure of a British soldier, one of many in the bunker, points the way.
The underground bunker has been refurbished with an air-conditioning system installed, though with the historical value still greatly preserved. Besides a tour guide, the tour is also facilitated by an audio tour program. Wireless headsets are issued to the participants. The headsets can be set to seven different languages.
The participants are lead to the switchboard room, which was the communications centre during the time. Notes scrawled in chalk are still faintly visible on the bunker door. Participants are then treated to an audio presentation through their headsets, with a synchronised animatronics display (the animatronic switchboard operator plugs and unplugs switches).
Next on the tour are the rooms where the other communications methods such as morse code and telegram are used. Through individual viewing posts, participants watch a short video presentation showing the operators hard at work, accompanied by another audio track.
Next, actual Japanese script written by the soldiers, with translation texts pasted above, are displayed.
After that, participants visit General Percival's actual office(Gambar 1). A meeting between him and Simmons is in progress. The impending surrender is the topic. The two are actually animatronic figures whose mouth movements are synchronised with the audio tour segment.
A planning room with a simulated military strategy table and maps pasted on the walls follows(Gambar 2). This was where the British would plan sea and air operations around the Asia-Pacific area. Wall charts depict developments in other parts of the world at that time.
The last room is the bunker where the final decision to surrender unconditionally to the Japanese was made(Gambar 3). The crucial final command conference is portrayed as accurately as possible. Wax figures of Percival, and all the major officials with him at the time, are combined with a video presentation projected behind Percival's wax figure.
The tour ends, and participants are free to explore the small museum(Gambar 4) and the gift shop at the end of the underground bunker."
tiada gambar dekat bilik morse code sebab diorang xbg tangkap gambar.
Gambar 1a) General Percival dengan rakan baiknya Major-General Keith Simmons
Gambar 1b) Major-General Simmons.After the war in 1946 he retired and later passed away in 1952.
Gambar 2a) Gambar Planning Room dengan peta Malaya/Singapore kat tengah2 bilik.
Gambar 2b) Peta Malaya
Gambar 3a) The Surrender Conference (Right)
Gambar 3b) The Surrender Conference (Left)
Gambar 4a) The Mini Museum
Oke lah sampai disini sahaja. Internet lambat gle nak mampos and ak xdpt upload or letak gambar byk2 kt sini. If i knw, i should have downloaded the pics sume kt Singapore. Sorry klu post ni agak dissapointing.
