One of a few reports I’ll be posting from my last six months in Asia here, this one from Singapore… (excuse the dire mobile camera and lack of torch!)
I was getting a nice authentic Singaporean meal in Pizza Hut one night and some locals filled me in about some local derps.
Thing is, everything is so damn efficient there, the coppers turned up to the first site I was going to visit – an abandoned colonial mansion – just as I was arriving!! Apparently they caught someone else there and were making their way through the dense overgrowth to get them. Shame, police there aren’t exactly know for their good sense of humour.
So I made my way to an easier site – Keppel Hill Reservoir.
“Nestled in the Mount Faber forest, and not marked out in maps today, it served as a source of water for the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, which was the forerunner of today's Port of Singapore Authority.
The reservoir, which is an oasis of calm and a green pocket in the built up area, also used to be a swimming pool according to pre-war and post-war maps. Remnants of a diving board and a bathing area still stand today.
The place, known to some as the Keppel Hill Reservoir, made the news when two soldiers and a 17-year-old boy drowned there on separate occasions - in 1936 and 1948.
The 2m deep pool of water, which has a working filtration system today, was discovered by a team of researchers from the board in February while doing a study on the topographical changes in Singapore over the past 100 years.”
Old diving board:
Then I made my way to Fort Pasir Panjang.
Fort Pasir Panjang or Labrador Battery is located within the lush Labrador Park at the southern tip of Singapore island. It was one of the 11 coastal artillery forts built by the British in the 19th century to defend the western passageway into Keppel Harbour against piracy and foreign naval powers. During the 1942 Battle of Pasir Panjang, the fort played a supporting role but a limited one in defending the Malay Regiments against the Japanese invasion at Bukit Chandu.
Most of the area has been transformed into a nature reserve and is publicly accessible but the juicy bits were the fort’s watch tower and radio tower, used to keep an eye on the invading Japanese and a storage area for the gun batteries.
You can see the old buildings peering through the sparse vegetation at the top of the hill if you look carefully.
The coast was clear so off I went. Was all fairly relaxed up there and you could get some nice views of Sentosa from the watch tower. The radio tower is still live it turns out and is full of cameras so didn’t get too near that.
Watch tower:
Storage of gun batteries and equipment:
I was getting a nice authentic Singaporean meal in Pizza Hut one night and some locals filled me in about some local derps.
Thing is, everything is so damn efficient there, the coppers turned up to the first site I was going to visit – an abandoned colonial mansion – just as I was arriving!! Apparently they caught someone else there and were making their way through the dense overgrowth to get them. Shame, police there aren’t exactly know for their good sense of humour.
So I made my way to an easier site – Keppel Hill Reservoir.
“Nestled in the Mount Faber forest, and not marked out in maps today, it served as a source of water for the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company, which was the forerunner of today's Port of Singapore Authority.
The reservoir, which is an oasis of calm and a green pocket in the built up area, also used to be a swimming pool according to pre-war and post-war maps. Remnants of a diving board and a bathing area still stand today.
The place, known to some as the Keppel Hill Reservoir, made the news when two soldiers and a 17-year-old boy drowned there on separate occasions - in 1936 and 1948.
The 2m deep pool of water, which has a working filtration system today, was discovered by a team of researchers from the board in February while doing a study on the topographical changes in Singapore over the past 100 years.”
Old diving board:
Then I made my way to Fort Pasir Panjang.
Fort Pasir Panjang or Labrador Battery is located within the lush Labrador Park at the southern tip of Singapore island. It was one of the 11 coastal artillery forts built by the British in the 19th century to defend the western passageway into Keppel Harbour against piracy and foreign naval powers. During the 1942 Battle of Pasir Panjang, the fort played a supporting role but a limited one in defending the Malay Regiments against the Japanese invasion at Bukit Chandu.
Most of the area has been transformed into a nature reserve and is publicly accessible but the juicy bits were the fort’s watch tower and radio tower, used to keep an eye on the invading Japanese and a storage area for the gun batteries.
You can see the old buildings peering through the sparse vegetation at the top of the hill if you look carefully.
The coast was clear so off I went. Was all fairly relaxed up there and you could get some nice views of Sentosa from the watch tower. The radio tower is still live it turns out and is full of cameras so didn’t get too near that.
Watch tower:
Storage of gun batteries and equipment:
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