Went all the way to Bukit Timah today to visit the triple F; Former Ford Factory.

Former Ford Factory is one of the national monuments in Singapore due to the rich history of this building. It now houses a permanent World War II exhibition on the war, impact to Singapore and its legacies. Now you may be wondering why is an automobile factory turned into a war museum?

Well, originally the building houses a state-of-the-art factory for Ford Motor Company in 1941. The Art Deco factory became Ford’s first motorcar assembly plant in Southeast Asia. The factory was later taken over by the Royal Air Force during the Malayan Campaign (from end 1941 to early 1942) where it was used to assemble fighter planes.

On 13 February 1942, the factory was seized by Japanese forces and turned into the temporary headquarters of Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita (a Japanese Commander). Two days later, Lieutenant-General A. E. Percival, the British General Officer Commanding (Malaya), met Yamashita in the Boardroom of the Ford Factory, where the British surrendered unconditionally to the Japanese.

Shortly after the fall of Singapore, the factory was designated as a Japanese facility and was taken over by Nissan to assemble military vehicles for the Japanese war efforts. The British army then occupied the factory at the end of war in 1945 and it was only returned to the Ford Motor Company in 1947 where it resumed operations until 1980, when it was shut down. On 15 February 2006, the remaining portions of the factory was gazetted as a national monument.

I spent about one and a half hour visiting this museum earlier today. It is not huge but contains quite a lot of information (and texts!) depicting mostly on the Japanese invasion towards Singapore from south Malaya, British surrender, Singapore’s hardship during Japanese occupation, and political awakening after the war.

The exhibition is spread out across a single level only and admission is free for Singaporean and PR (it costs about SGD7 for foreigner’s admission). As I have visited some other WW2 museums in Singapore in the past already, I find that many information shown in this exhibition is pretty much similar and repetitive. I guess Singapore has too many museums choosing to look into this topic. It would be better if the exhibition has a segment that showcases the history of the building when it was actually an automobile factory where we can see old Ford vehicles on display, scenes of Ford car manufacturing in this particular factory in the past, etc.

There goes the end of another weekend. I will be heading to bed earlier than usual later as I was feeling unwell out of sudden from the late afternoon just now after my trip to Bukit Timah to visit this museum. Hope it is not getting worse…

(Reference: https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/former-ford-factory/overview/)

‘Borealis’ light and sound installation at Gardens by the Bay.

There’s something new to check out at Gardens by the Bay recently. It’s the ‘Borealis’; a new immersive light and sound installation at the Supertree Grove which begins this month. It is an outdoor art installation that combines layers of light and cloud particles to recreate scene similar to the Northern Lights (also known as aurora borealis).

Tagging along with an atmospheric soundtrack, variations in wind, humidity and temperature make this installation a fascinating blend of art and technology and an ever-changing experience. The show which is free for all takes place on every Monday (8 to 8.30pm), Saturday (9 to 9.30pm) and Sunday (9 to 9.30pm). Currently, the installation has no end date.

I brought a friend along to check out this cool installation just now in the evening. As expected, the area around Supertree Grove is fully crowded by 8.30pm. People were all getting ready, finding a spot on the ground to sit, some even having picnic while enjoying the artistic show. There is also this daily ‘Garden Rhapsody’ light and music show that occurred right before the ‘Borealis’ show. Main attention of the crowd is not on that one of course as it is a daily show that has been here for years. Have a look at some of the pictures and a video I took just now below;

Since I didn’t have the opportunity to see the real aurora (didn’t have the chance to see it during my working holiday stint at New Zealand two years ago too unfortunately), so I have to settle for this one for now. Haha…it does look cool and pretty impressive though (of course it couldn’t be compared to the real aurora). It definitely succeeded in attracting crowds to Gardens by the Bay in the evening.

I have just finished the last episode of The Amazing Race Season 36 earlier today. Oh boy…this season is among the worst that I have watched of this popular adventure-reality competition TV show. Understood the Covid-19 restriction during the filming of this particular season (way back in 2022) that has hugely put a limit to the regions that the teams can travel to to complete tasks and move ahead closer to the 1 million dollar prize.

(Image source: dryedmangoez.com)

However, most of the tasks & places in this season are easy (not challenging at all) and appear to be slightly staged for the winning pair – Ricky and Cesar (hence their win in the end). I find it unfair and some decisions leading to past teams’ elimination during the competition are also questionable. Hope they can up the game in the next season as I have been following this show for many years already.

Sunday’s afternoon well spent with bike ride along Marina Bay…and brief drama review for ‘Sinister Beings 2’.

Weather forecast had stated that it would rain the entire afternoon which would dash my plan for going to cycle with my friend today. Fortunately, the weather turned out to be just fine. It’s also windy and not too sunny today; perfect for outdoor activities. I brought my friend on my usual cycling route from National Stadium to Marina Bay Sands.

As it was a lovely Sunday’s afternoon, the path today was quite crowded with a lot of people cycling (like us), jogging, rollerblading, bringing their dog for a walk, etc. We also saw a lot of people flying kites from Marina Barrage. Is it easy to fly kites? (wondering if any skill needed?). Perhaps I could try this activity some day in the future. The location at Marina Barrage is also very picturesque for many such outdoor activities.

After our bike ride, we walked over to the Satay by the Bay to have our dinner. Couldn’t miss on ordering my favourite satay, grilled stingray and barbequed chicken wings at this hawker centre. These are my usual food here. Haha…At first we thought of heading to the Gardens by the Bay to catch the new light and sound installation beginning from this month onward at the Supertree Grove called the ‘Borealis’. It is an outdoor art installation that combines layers of light and cloud particles where the magical splendour of the Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, is recreated to illuminate the night skies of Supertree Grove. However, we were tired and so we decided that we will catch that next time instead.

Would like to end my post with a brief review to a TVB series I have recently completed watching; ‘Sinister Beings 2’. The 30-episode drama starred Ruco Chan, Rosina Lin, Alex Fong, Ben Wong, Joman Chiang, Jonathan Cheung, Moon Lau, Crystal Fung, Matthew Ko, Joseph Lee, etc. In this sequel, Tong Koon Fung (Alex) commenced his evil plans for a large-scale destruction of Hong Kong as a revenge for his imprisoned and mentally-disabled best friend, Ngai Chi Long (Jonathan). He does so by getting close to the police team to be able to gain information on their operations.

(Image source: sooka.my)

The drama is generally good with some solid suspense and actions. I’m quite surprised by Alex’s performance (he seldom acts) as the main villain who suddenly turned over a new leaf at the end of the series (however I don’t really buy into such quick personality turnover which seems to be not making sense). Rosina…hmmm….her acting has improved slightly but still not to the standard of how a best actress should be (still annoyed that she won best actress several years ago!). She just couldn’t let go on her acting (felt too controlled) and her emotional scenes are similarly rigid. TVB is seriously lacking solid actresses nowadays. Anyway, out of 10 points, I would rate ‘Sinister Beings 2’ a total of 7.5.

Went to NUS Museum earlier today. It’s my 10th museum/gallery visit for the year so far.

That’s cool right. It’s just May and I have already visited a total of 10 museums/galleries in Singapore this year. I have just done the 10th earlier today with a visit to the NUS Museum (NUS stands for National University of Singapore). Soon, I will be running out of cool museums/galleries to visit in this city state (as I have already visited many other museums/galleries in Singapore in the past before 2024 too). Haha…

NUS Museum is the oldest university museum in Singapore and is actually located right besides the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (that I have just visited two months ago) in the NUS main campus at Kent Ridge. It took me nearly one and a half hour to reach there from my home in Paya Lebar. The museum is established in 1955 and the entrance to the museum is free for everyone.

The museum is surprisingly quite huge, has 3 levels and contains over 8000 artefacts and artworks divided across four collections. The collections include Chinese, Indian and Southeast Asian materials, consisting of traditional sculptures and paintings, bronzes, jades, ceramics, textiles, and modern and contemporary art. Some of the collections date back to several thousand years ago. Here are some of the pictures I took during my visit to the museum earlier today;

Some of the exhibits are quite fascinating and thought provoking (but there are some that look way inferior though and not worth putting up for display…just my personal thought). It would be cool if NUS is actively obtaining more collections so that this museum could be further expanded not only for the tourists but also for students especially those who are pursuing higher studies in art or history. I spent close to 2 hours in the museum; very pleasant visit and it was not crowded.

Just came back to Singapore from 5-days break at KL.

Hey…how’s your weekend so far? I have just returned from KL early this afternoon. I went back to KL on last Tuesday’s night for a long break back at home. Labor’s Day falls on last Wednesday and I took two days leave on the following Thursday and Friday. Hence, I have a continuous 5 days of break (hooray!). That would be good for a quick solo trip perhaps (since I have done one around similar time last year). However, for this year, I felt the need to just spend the off-days for a rest at home. So it is.

For a quick recap; I have done my first ever solo vacation in my life last year on May 2023. I went to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for 5 days. It was a very amazing experience, having visited all the places I wanted to see for a long time and had the whole trip all by myself. I wonder when would be my next solo vacation? Haha…The problem is that I wouldn’t have much annual leave left for me to go on so many trips for the year. Took many days of leave earlier during Chinese New Year for my trip to Sri Lanka with my parents. Then, I would join the company trip to Taiwan on this coming July, followed by a trip to Hong Kong with my sisters to watch a concert right after that.

Then, in October, I may be going to Xian, China with my parents for a guided trip. My annual leave would all be used up for these trips. I guess I could only do a brief 3-days solo trip to nearby place if I wanted one for this year. Yea…I went to a travel fair at Putra World Trade Centre yesterday as my dad was very eager to visit Xian, China near the end of the year before winter arrives. I too would like to visit Xian (I am particularly interested to visit the famous Terracotta Army Site Museum). I am keen on history of the China’s first emperor, Qin Shih Huang and Xian would be the perfect place to get to know more about that. I still have not confirm to join the trip but most likely will. Who would say no to a trip no matter the obstacles? Haha…

Besides than visiting the travel fair, I basically did nothing much back at home for the past few days. Just taking good amount of rest at home to recharge myself, watched some dramas and movies (watched Godzilla Minus One and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), visited a mall, played rummy with family on Saturday’s evening and watched the Thomas Cup badminton matches. Unfortunately, Malaysia lost to China (which I already expected even before the matches) in the semi-final by 1-3. Malaysia have to settle for 3rd place finish. China is just too strong in this sport and Malaysia’s badminton players could not match their skills. It’s ok…we can aim for better outcome in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games at Paris later this year. China will be up against Indonesia later today for the Thomas Cup final. I’m betting on China too.