Singapore, Day 3

Dom wanted to see the Kranji War Memorial, at the north of the island, so he set off by MRT, leaving me with a few hours to shop quietly.

By the time he returned I had bought nothing, but enjoyed the look. We had a late lunch at a food court at Raffles City (I branched out with roast duck noodles!) and then returned to the hotel for a swim. It's so nice to rest and stretch our tired muscles in the water, whilst deciding on the afternoon adventures.

We looked around the Marina area shops, close to our hotel, and both bought some running shoes. In one shop the shoes I liked were a reasonable price compared to what they'd be in Australia. In another shop, they were 40% off that reasonable price!


I was very tired and lacked enthusiasm to go far from the hotel, so we set out for a hawker centre on the edge of Marina Bay. On our way there we spotted a roof top italian restaurant, that was well populated. We got a table and had a lovely dinner with a view over the lights of the CBD. The hawker centre was standing room only when we walked through afterwards!

I had done some research into the history of Singapore in WWII. This so called impregnable fortress had fallen to the Japanese in a few days of fighting. The collapse of Singapore had been blamed on the troops tasked with its defence. From what I have learned those ill equipped troops fought very bravely and died in their thousands. They were British, Australian, New Zealanders, Canadians, Indians and of course Malays and Chinese. All fighting on the side of the Allies. They were from all arms of the services including a large number of nurses and doctors. Those who were killed are honoured in the Kranji War Cemetery on the Northern side of the island. It is a very peaceful place, overlooking the Strait of Johor to Malaysia. All those buried there are listed on the walls of the memorial as well as on their grave stones,and they are buried alongside one another with no regard to rank, race or religion. It is a very moving place.