Japan Tour 2025: Day 24 Gardens by the Bay, and the Defence of Singapore

 

By the numbers

29,277 steps

24.07 kms

 

Level of Chaos: Every toilet I go to use is being cleaned

 

I wanted to get moving early enough as it was cooler in the mornings, but somehow that doesn’t always work with me on this trip. Turns out this morning was actually a little cooler as it was cloudy. I was walking to the train station when I could hear thunder and it was trying to rain, and that made me walk even faster as I had sheltered walkways nearby. No sooner than I had gotten under cover that it started raining. I thought that it would have passed by the time I ended up in my next location. I was actually wrong. It was pouring at my final destination of Lakeside station in the Jurong area of Singapore. I would have explored the area a little more, but the rain made it impossible. I needed to use the loo and it was blocked off being cleaned so I thought to use the ones around a 1km away and when I got there, they too were being cleaned. I wanted to have a look around, but I was needing the loo. Back to the station and I could use them now.

 

I followed Google maps to where the Jurong Kranji line marker was. It was interesting walking amongst the building highrise blocks where people were living and I ended up in the middle of a park behind one of these blocks. I was happy I had chosen something easy to find as I know one would be on a hill. Next time I would do some more research in finding these types of locations and what is easy to get to. Around this time it was starting to rain again and I was getting damp, but hadn’t taken out my brolly. I walked back until I was able to get under cover again. I was hoping that I would dry out properly by the time I ended up at the next location. I had set the destination for Gardens By the Bay and I walked out of that station to bright sunlight. I hadn’t used this particular station before and I found it had taken me out to the entrance of the dam called Marina Barrage. It was supposed to work like a normal dam to keep the salt water out. I had a good show from the military aircraft that I later found were doing practice runs for next month.

 

After having a wander around Marina Barrage and looking at the ships that were out on the water, I headed into Gardens by the Bay to see two of the exhibitions. I had to get tickets first and instead of waiting in line, I ordered them from my phone there and then. I probably should have done it the night before as the line was pretty long when I arrived. One was Cloud Forest, which was having a dinosaur theme at the moment to do with Jurassic World movie. They had the animatronic dinosaurs including the T-Rex trying to escape, and even the Raptors, both are staples to the movies. One of the dinosaurs scared the absolute crap out of me when I got hit by a stream of water. They are called spiitters for a reason. I had been at this part of the and the usual part had not changed, the other area was the Flower Done. I paid for it so I went in and it had roses like last time, but the theme was tudor England. Nearly all the roses were the same as last year and the rest hadn’t changed. It was late afternoon by the time I returned to the hotel and half hour later I ended up back out as I was having dinner with a good friend, Dawn at the nearby shopping centre. I had tried Jollibee the night before as it was interesting, but I was able to have a steak tonight.

Japan Tour 2025: Day 23 From Kranji to Labrador

 

By the numbers

19,453 steps

15.26 kms

 

Level of Chaos: Soaking wet from humidity

 

I wanted to start the day early as I was wanting to get something to eat and then head out to Kranji for the war cemetery and then off to some of the battle sites if I was able to. I would have to say that I was in for a long ride on the train out to Kranji, even though I was staying on the same train line. The interesting thing I found upon getting to the station was that there seemed to be bus services leaving from the station and crossing the Woodlands border into Malaysia. Meanwhile I was walking down the road to the cemetery. I had to cross at some traffic lights and walked past a road and a bust stop that said Kranji War Memorial, but I thought he road was down further until I realised it was a business, and the road I had dismissed was indeed where I was supposed to walk. The cemetery also had the state cemetery next to it and I think there were two graves there of past Singapore Presidents. I was more interested in the war memorial part, and I had to keep an eye on the weather as I could hear thunder and amongst that the air force training too. I found the cemetery to be interesting and I had thought there was a marker here for the Kranji battle, but that was further up the road and way out of my way. It was saying another hour to walk there. It was starting to get really warm and my shirt was soaked from sweat. What I hadn’t realised was there were family members of the service people in the cemetery as well and those who passed well after the war itself, so I thought that was of interest. What was in a way interesting was the  Australian soldiers were in front and then behind them were the British. At the back of the cemetery were the Indians and other groups like the Gurkhas. The wall of the missing covered a few walls including some nurses, although there would have been more.

 

I felt some drops of rain and was expecting there to be more that just a couple of spots and it actually stayed that way. I was happy not to get wet as I had to walk back to the station, and for this entire trip away, I had not needed to breakout my umbrella at all. I have walked in the rain when its spitting, while the locals have been using their brollies. It was quicker to get back to the station strangely enough. The next stop was to Labrador Park, where I was happy to sit for a bit in the cool of the train. Labrador Park was also the sight of fortifications that had been built in the 1800s and was the twin to Fort Siloso on the other side of the harbour on what is now known as Sentosa. I had really been hoping I had not been blocked by more government fencing, and I hadn’t as that made me happy. There were various information panels explaining the fortification being built and even the role during the Second World War. I even found one tunnel, although you could not enter that.

 

It was getting closer to 2pm and I thought it was best to head back as I wanted a rest from the heat and to get some washing done as well. I was given a 2 hour window to get it done as other people probably wanted to use the laundry as well. In the time I was waiting fort the machines to finish I had worked out that I could get to the airport early and drop my bag off on Thursday so that I could take my time at the airport instead of having to wait around with a heavy bag. I even organised my customs forms for arriving home, and then realised I didn’t have my transport card from home with me as I must have left it in the pocket of my trousers after seeing Torvil and Dean

Japan Tour 2025: Day 22 Wandering Singapore

 

By the numbers

28,603 steps

22.14 kms

Level of Chaos: Google sending me off grid

 

I had a good sleep in Singapore on the first night and was well rested. I was ready to take off and head out once I had something to eat. The plan was to try and spend the day out as the hotel had a plan between 2pm and 5pm to have a fire drill that would have the lifts at the bottom of the building with the only access down stair to be down the stairs. The night before I had gotten a ticket to take the cable car up Mt Faber, which is near Sentosa. I wanted to try and see some of the World War 2 sites like a tunnel or even a Japanese memorial that I came across on Google maps. That plan sounded good to me, but it didn’t quite work out.

 

I got to the Cable car with plenty of time and hoping it wouldn’t get too hot while I was walking around. I figured that I could see some if the sights in the area. I did want to take a walk to Henderson Waves the worlds highest pedestrian bridge, although I didn’t realise it was a distance from the cale car and not flat. I ended up at one location where I found a Merlion, apparently there are more than one official statue. I did eventually find the bridge and I walked over it and back as it would have ended up in a longer walk in the area if I had kept going since it was part of the green belt in Singapore. They were doing work on part of the loop track so cars couldn’t go everywhere. I wanted to see a Japanese tomb and a bunker, although I was a little confused by the access as it seemed easy, but I could have been a little lost as well. I ended up following the road around and came to the Danish Seamen’s church that was build in the early 1900s. Once I got to the carpark area of Mt Faber, I found access to the bunker was on a private road, so I dismissed that and even the track on Google maps that said I could get to it by walking back up the hill and coming down. I went after the tomb and was stopped by a gate that said State property no trespassing and also they were monitoring the area. I wasn’t even going to try with that one. At this time I wasn’t even going to think about trying to walk back up the hill as I was drenched in sweat. I wanted the coolness of the shopping centre.

 

I ended up in the shopping centre where it was cool, and for some reason decided it was a good idea to walk over the bridge to Sentosa and back. Now I can say I have done that for unknown reasons especially to myself as I seem to like punishment. I stopped for a bite to eat and jumped on the train with the thought I could take a run for Orchard road. Along the way I thought about it and didn’t want to get stuck with the fire alarm, so headed to Woodlands, where the checkpoint to cross into Malaysia happens to be. The first stop was more of an accident as there was a park with a jetty that happened to be an old military jetty once owned by Malaysia and later turned over to Singapore after they gained independence. There was a great view of the causeway, but there was also a large bridge being built that joined Singapore to Malaysia so I guess they would have several land entry spots soon. I knew my map was telling me there were tunnels nearby and I went hunting them down and became increasingly concerned the closer I got to the Woodlands causeway checkpoint. I am sure I would have been watched. There was a sign talking about the causeway being the withdrawal spot from the mainland during World War 2, where the causeway was destroyed during the war, but the Japanese repaired it within a week or so. I then followed one of the streets to where the tunnels were and I had a nice big gate in the way and a fence also with a notice saying the land was being resumed by the Woodlands checkpoint. It was a pretty busy checkpoint too. I couldn’t go look at the tunnels, so I looked at Google maps and then the satellite view that told me it was a gate, so no I couldn’t go there. I turned around and headed back to the station worried about the storm that was rumbling away.

 

I managed to get undercover without getting wet and headed to Orchard road, although I nearly decided to head to the war memorial, but I was hot and sweaty. My shirt was wet and the bag I had was wet as well all from sweat. I really should stop going to hot countries where I end up a puddle of water. I made it all the way to Orchard road and found it still hadn’t rained, but it was still really hot. I had a look in one of the shops and hopefully wont relive the trauma of being asked if I wanted a suit. By the time I made it back to the hotel the training would have been done, but there was a new problem. One of the elevators was broken and was being repaired. I wonder if it had something to do with this morning where they all were taking ages to get anywhere. On my floor, I could actually hear the guys tapping away with their tools and that was from the 8^th floor.