Fort Canning Park and the Raffles Hotel

On Sunday, we visited Fort Canning Park.  The park is set on one of Singapore's highest hills and is where Sir Stamford Raffles built his house in 1823.  In 1859, increased security concerns led to the building of a fort on the site complete with an arms store, barracks and a hospital.

In the park, there is a museum called The Battle Box.  The museum is actually a 9m-deep bunker, which was formerly the British forces' underground command center.  The tour takes you underground where they have life-size wax figures and an audio presentation that take you through the events of February 15, 1942 when the British surrendered to the Japanese.  It is the actual spot where the British surrendered.  Jeff was the only one able to take the tour as the kids were too frightened to go underground once they heard the loud shouts depicting the events of that day.

It has been interesting to learn about Singapore's history and to see who was in power at different times.

Our next stop was the famous Raffles Hotel.  The hotel was exceptionally beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations.  It is one of the oldest hotels in Singapore and is known for the Long Bar where the famous Singapore Sling was invented.