Taking a walk down the Jubilee Walk with family

Little One received Jubilee Walk Family Time Activity Sheet from her school sometime during the 15 days of Chinese New Year. I was astonished that she was very excited about it. She is not a trail lover. She complains of boredom and she will rather stay in an air-conditioned place if given a choice. Hence when she kept urging us to bring her to the trail. We were skeptical. She was so enthusiastic to the extent that she hoped to complete the trail after school, which I think it was quite impossible.

"The Jubilee Walk is an eight-kilometre trail that connects the past, present and future elements of the Singapore story, from ancient Temasek to the colonial era, to nationhood, rapid urban development and beyond.

Encompassing historic and iconic areas such as Fort Canning Hill, the Singapore River, the Civic District and Marina Bay, the Walk offers a chance to discover the people and communities who have contributed to our cityscape. The draw of Singapore as a 14th century regional trading hub, the vision and toil of both colonial and immigrant pioneers, and the fiery days of “Merdeka” (freedom or independence in Malay) are just some of the stories waiting to be told here, as are the experiences of modern-day Singapore overcoming the odds to become one of the leading global cities today. "

                                                                                           -http://www.nhb.gov.sg/ 

The Jubilee Walk is actually an 8 kilometre trail but this Activity Sheet features only 7 out of 23 sites. We conducted the trail on 2 different days, both after school.

Reading the activity sheet and planning her route enthusiastically.

Day 1 

1. National Museum of Singapore

Favorite Gallery : Voices of Singapore

There are plenty of galleries here. We have not explored everyone in detail. Usually, if we bring Little One along, we would come and browse through all the galleries before deciding staying in one or two galleries.(most of the time in galleries with plenty of interactive games/media. Only then, we will be able to read or study the artefact in the particular gallery.

She has been to this exhibition area and loves listening to the songs and short skits here. On that day, she watched a short film, "The Singapore Story" in the mock up of the Drive in Cinema that used to be in Jurong. This was the first time Papa visited the National Museum after the New Permanent Galleries are opened. 

2. Fort Canning Park - Spice Garden
We took the exit at level 2 to Fort Canning. That was when we realised that  PLAY (play area in the museum) was no longer there.

In the Spice Garden (a replica of the original), we found a board to answer the question "What are some of the spices used by different ethnic groups?"

3. The Peranakan Museum
Here on display is The Great Peranakans: Fifty Remarkable Lives exhibition. Little One had to find out 2 Peranakan Pioneers and their contributions. I could see she was bored. The only thing she enjoys is running around for embossment on a separate activity sheet issued by the museum itself.

4. Singapore Philatelic Museum
We visited the newer exhibits "More Than Monkeys", "With Love from Snoopy, Charlie Brown & the Peanuts Gang Exhibition in conjunction with Snoopy & Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie" and "The Singapore Journey: 50 Years Through Stamps".

Every year, Philatelic Museum would hold an exhibit in conjunction of the zodiac year. This year is the Year of the Monkey. One would get to know more on facts about monkeys and apes. It is interesting to know that Hindu also has a monkey god. His name is Hanuman. The Chinese's monkey god is named Sun Wukong and he was born out of a magic rock.

I became excited to find out the Singapore's Collection in 1966 in the Green Room. These are stamps issued to commemorate the 1st Anniversary of Independence. Glad that I have a chance to see it! I think I should spend more time in this room.

Clockwise:
About Hanuman
Monkeys stamps
Snoopy stamps
1st Anniversary of Independence stamps.

Day 2

5. Armenian Church

The church was closed due to renovation. Hence, we could not get in the church. However, Little One and I had been to the church before. If you are interested, you may want to read about it. I am pretty happy they are going to set up a museum here!

6. Central Fire Station - Civil Defense Heritage Centre 

This is an interesting place which we had yet set foot on until then. It is a heritage gallery with quite a few old fashioned fire engines. We learnt how tough it was to fight fire in the olden days. On level 2, there are displays of modern tactics to fight fire as well as conduct a rescue during emergency. The children gets to dress up as  firemen too!

7. Old Hill Street Police Station - Kindness Gallery

I didn't know Singa (our courtesy mascot) has a home here! We get to take plenty of lovely pictures and took a look at all the Singa stuff that were on display.

Kindness Gallery

Favorite part of this trail:
It has to be the Civil Defense Heritage Centre. You can imagine us looking at those large vehicles and going ooh and ahh about them. The development of civil defense team is amazing! It has some interactive exhibits. Definitely, we will be going back.