Tour to National Museum of Singapore

Today, I have spent a very meaning and worthwhile time with mom. Early in the morning, we got ourselves ready to go to National Museum of Singapore. Two particular exhibitions which I was very curious and wanted very much to see: Singapore History Gallery and Living Galleries. So off we go! Only thing I regretted was not bringing my camera, so took the photos via my camera phone.

First, we went to Singapore History Gallery. There, it featured all the things, personal and events that happened in the past. At first, when we went in, there was a long stretch of bridge followed by a long curl way down to the first level. My mom and I thought that there was nothing else to see. Thank God, more was to come. The first thing that was featured was a 360 degree show, showcasing things that happened from past to now, from motormobile to buildings. Then we came to the more interesting part - the exhibits itself. There were many cane baskets that were in display. Then there was an area which showcased the Chinese funeral. You may think that this funeral is nothing what! Every time when someone passes away, we get to see this. But this is different. This is a very traditional way of Chinese funeral. It was made such a good way that it seemed like a real funeral wake. Only thing is there was no mourning or wailing. If not, it would be even more real.

Then, we slowly proceeded to other pictures and photographs and exhibits of the past. There was also exhibits of Japanese occupation testimonies by real life people and also Japanese occupation currency. Hmmm...Should have gotten my camera to take these.

After that we proceeded to the Living Galleries: Film and Wayang. There were three big screens showing many old movies, from Chinese to Malay. Behind these screens were many records, old records player and photographs of many Malay and Chinese singers. My mom got so excited when she saw Lin Dai's photograph and even told me that Lin Dai was the first actress to commit suicide before the trend came. Then, there were big Wayang costumes and traditional puppets and puppets stage. Too bad there were too little things to showcase in this segment. We spent less than 15 minutes here.

My favourite exhibits came from Living Galleries: Street Food. When we first went in, there was a stall of utensils selling satay.

There was a screen next to this stall showing how the satay gravy was made. Then, there was a stall selling laksa.

There was also a screen showing the ingredients of making the laksa and other things that were needed to prepare for this bowl of laksa. The more I looked at the preparation of laksa, the more my siliva dripped. Yummy!

Then, there was a stall selling cha kuay teow. There was a small little screen where there was interview on where the food places were found. Look at the hum! They looked like real. According to my mom, the cha kuay teow was used to pack in a leave as that found in the picture. This was to make the fragrance more noticable. Nowadays, some stalls still use this method. But most of the stalls selling cha kuay teow found it very tedious to wash the leaves and do away without this.

This is the Tok Tok Mee stall. Whenever the stall holder is ready for business, he would use the bamboo stick and hit on it. So there was 'tok tok' noise. When the people heard this noice, they would know that the tok tok stall was ready. So if they wanted to buy the mee, they would put the money on the basket as shown in the picture, lower it to the stall holder and told him how many bowls of mee they wanted. All these are done while the people were still in their houses. Then when the mee was ready, the stall holder would put the bowls of mee into the basket and let the people know that the mee were ready. Then they would pull the mee up. Imagine us having to buy mee through this method. How interesting it would be! I know that many people would consider that this is a very unhygienic way of selling mee. But who cares as long as the mee is good!

There were then many more stalls featuring the different varieties of Singapore food. In another section, there were displays of molds used to extract coconut milk, do ang ku kueh, moon cake, rice cake, dragon biscuits and many others. Some of them I had seen before, but most of them were so foreign to me. There was also a showcase of the different types of kopi cups used in yester times. Then, there were a section where there were many spices and a chance for us to smell the fragrance. My mom was so cautious that she told me not to smell any fragrance as there were put there for a long time. 'Not good for health', she said.

After looking at the various Singapore food and feeling a bit hungry, we moved to the Fashion Gallery. There were many different machines being showcased here.

According to my mom, there was a hand-activated sewing machine. How it was being used was, one hand to put at the right side rowing the white handle while the other left side was to hold the cloth when put under the needle. Cheam mah! I really admired my grandmother who used this. Though it is comfortable to sit down and sew, yet both hands must co-ordinate well before the cloth can be sewed. Maybe, my grandmother's right hand muscle is bigger than her left. Must observe the next time I see her.

This Singer sewing machine is the machine that I grew up with. By the way, it is a good exercise using this machine. I remembered during my Home Economics class, I was forced (literally) to use this sewing machine at home and in class. My legs had to rock the peddle while one of the hands had to roll the right handle to start the process and the other hand to hold the cloth, making sure that the thread did not go hay-wire. After using this machine, my legs were so tired and my eyes so strained. I still have this machine at home but I do not use it anymore. I scare that I will damage it. This is an antique that is hard to come by nowadays.

There is another sewing machine, super high-tech. According to my mom, this is still used today. There are two peddles; one for normal thread to sew and the other for sewing designs. This is an electrical machine so the speed is super fast. Please do not try this at home if you have this.

Then, we proceeded to the last segment of the Living Galleries, the photograph and photography equipment. There were many cameras here that some of them I had never seen before. But there was one which I saw someone in City Hall MRT. A very small and compatable one. However, I do not know how to use. And I had taken photographs of them.

Through this tour to National Museum, I find that my mom is actually quite knowledegable. Sometimes, when she does not know the answer, she would anyhow say something and pretend that the answer is correct. Cute right? This tour is really so interesting. It brought back some memories. However, I still prefer the traditional things which was featured in Macau museum. Too bad I did not have camera at that time. If not, sure explore my memory card and capture all those things.