Tuesday, April 10, 2007

forgot to post this for last sunday - where we went to Bright Hill for 'Qing Ming'.

sigh, its only for 2 mths and now, my baby nephew is growing up fast. soon, he'll be walking around when we see him during CNY.

afterwards, we thought we'd be lunching together but instead, my aunt has had her own plans and soon, we each left seperately. then we realised.. why didnt we ask our cousin what plans do they have. oh well.. least we get to go to labrador park (source: wikipedia) to see the 'secret tunnel' which i'd always wanted to go. :)

as there was 45mins before the trail starts, we took a walk along the path to see the guns, the bunkers and such. it was really interesting man as most of the holes were sealed up so we were discussing what exactly was the holes for, etc.

the exploration was great! the tunnels, which was built entirely using bricks only without any steel structures to support it and the only holes they have were to run the cables for generators to generate electricity, holes on the ceiling for air ventilation and another hole with stairs to enable the soldiers to climb up and down easily.

additional steel beams were added in the third room where the bombing took places throughout the passageway till the end of the tunnel to support the ceiling.

the walls, were very thick man. its about 50cm thick and imagine this - the bomb which were dropped in one of the long passageways did not destroy the interior except for the middle supporter which were destroyed as well as the british who tried to blow up one of the rooms to prevent the japanese from finding the tunnel only managed to block the entrance only. the walls stood despite all these.

at the end of the tunnel, in one of the particular room had its walls slightly bent due to the impact of the bombing on the passageways yet the walls didn't crumple. its like, they really built the place sturdy. oh, and that room was also the so-called resting place for the soldiers as well as storing of the ammunitions. they displayed about 3~4boxes containing the artifacts they found in that room which suggested they actually eat, sleep and stored shells in that room? they even displayed one of the bricks used by them then with the company's name still intact. unlike the bricks we used these days, theirs were totally solid bricks without any holes in the middle. really.

next, the guide brought us to the next tunnel which was preserved without any modifications nor additional supports or whatever. it was really dark man before the guide on the lights - which doesnt really helped but it does made me wonder, how do they worked in such a place that's not brightly lited. imagine the heat in the tunnel or mayb,.. its not hot at all then. but having so many people cramped in a small place, i'd say it's kinda uncomfortable working, sleeping as well as eating there. the walls were splashed with some maroon coloured thingy. nope, not blood. its actually the oil from the lamps they used then to keep the mosquitoes away.

the total duration for the journey took 1hr. it was really.. an experience for me i guess. i dont know how to put it in words..

interested? go see it. it cost about S$8.40 (its not really expensive considering the cost to maintain the tunnels & u'll find that it's really worth the money) and if you do not have any private transport. no worries, u can actually take a shuttle bus (bus 408) down from harbourfront.

did i mention that the sea water there was blue/green? yes, it's VERY clean man and i was surprised to find that there. and we were told that if you go to the sea every morning around 10.30am on fridays & sundays, u'll see the cruise liner - superstar virgo. we saw it and it was huge for the cruise was very VERY near us. we watched as it turn away from us with our mouth gaping.

and that, some of the structures were built during 1892. yes, that's about 100years ago. then, they built to keep away the pirates and after, it was to keep away the war.

its a pity that the old(former) ford factory was closed on sundays. we were quite disappointed and frustrated at the fact that it was opened only on weekdays. why? they should close on mondays instead since that was the time least people will go view the site and the only day we are free will be on saturdays and sundays. sigh.

and next stop shall be the Changi Chapel as well as Changi beach where the infamous massacre took place.

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sorry to friends for last night.

had a really weird dream yesterday. took a short nap then and had this really weird dream. dreamt of a friend whom i'd lost contact with for like.. 4, 5years?

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