So near yet never visited.
Went during lunch time with Yuling.
Photos taken with Nikon D5000, 35mm lens. Sigh..angle not wide enough..and unable to zoom..
Yuling with her new Canon 550 and 18-270 zoom lens
Before we went...we were thinking, there's nothing to see, we should be able to complete our "tour" in <15mins?
We did complete the photo shoot quite fast. Then, we went to the museum beside where all the history were displayed. Hmm..seems quite interesting..eh, I find the display interesting..
When we completed the tour, it was 1.27pm and we had to go back to work...
Tsuru
According to Japanese legend, anyone who folds 1000 cranes will have their wish come true.
In 1955, a young Japanese girl by the name of Sadako Sasaki began folding paper cranes. Initially, her wish was for a cure of her leukaemia, caused by radiation from the Hiroshima Atomic bomb. However, when Sadako saw the pain of the other children in her hospital ward, she changed her mind and decided to wish for world peace and an end to suffering instead.
Sadly, Sadako died before she could complete her task. Not wanting her effort to be in vain, the other sick children took over and completed 1000 cranes in their friend's memory. Subsequently, paper crane also know as 'Tsuru' in Japanese, have become a symbol of world peace.
The paper crane we saw in Changi Chapel were presented to the museum by visiting Japanese school children as an act of remembrance and as a wish for peace.
Some minature of chapel..
The lock and keys of Changi Prison? Maybe my dad would have used them before..
Brief history of Changi Prison..
Changi Prison was constructed by the British administration of the Straits Settlements as a civilian prison, in 1936.
During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military detained about 3,000 civilians in Changi Prison, which was built to house only 600 prisoners. The Japanese used the British Army's Selarang Barracks, near the prison, as a prisoner of war camp, holding some 50,000 Allied—predominantly British and Australian—soldiers Although POWs were rarely, if ever, held in the civilian prison, the name Changi became synonymous in the UK, Australia, and elsewhere with the POW camp.
About 850 POWs died during their internment in Changi during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, a relatively low rate compared to the overall death rate of 27% for POWs in Japanese camps. However, many more prisoners died after being transferred from Changi to various labour camps outside Singapore, including the Burma Railway and the Sandakan airfield.
Allied POWs, mainly Australians, built a chapel at the prison in 1944 using simple tools and found materials. British airman Stanley Warren painted a series of murals at the chapel. Another British POW, Sgt. Harry Stodgen built a Christian cross out of a used artillery shell. After the war, the Chapel was dismantled and shipped to Australia, while the cross was sent to the UK. The chapel was reconstructed in 1988, and is now located at the Royal Military College Duntroon, Canberra.
