I started the day by taking the usual bus to school, where all of us had flag raising at the terraces. We then assembled at the 4I classroom.After that, we proceeded to the Lecture Theatre 2 to view a short video clip, as well as receiving a short briefing. Later, we went to the car park and chatted among ourselves while waiting for our bus. The journey to Changi Museum took a long time from Hwa Chong Institution. Actually, I must admit that I did not even know that this place exists!
            Upon reaching our destination, we had to pay a fare of $3 for the tour guide. After introducing himself, the tour guide began the guide by introducing the chapel to us. The tour guide told us that the cross was the only item that was not a replica. The other artifacts were displayed to the public as well. I felt that the chapel was really small, as it is meant for the prisoners of war to pray, gather and talk.
            After having a look at the artifacts in the chapel, we went into the air-conditioned museum. We sat down and listened to an interesting talk by the tour guide on how the Japanese wanted to conquer Southeast Asia. The talk was rather comical and it was great listening to the interesting facts. However, I found out that there was lots of things that I did not know about the Japanese Occupation before this tour. This tour also taught me that textbooks are just a compressed version of the information, and I would need to consult other sources to find out more about History.
            Next, we proceeded to look at the photographs and sources which lined the entire hallway. Some of them portrayed the cruelty of the Japanese and some were feelings of the POWs. At the end of the hallway, there were markings on the floor which tell us the size of the prison cells at Changi Prison.
            We soon came into a room filled with paintings of the POWs. There was one which showed a prisoner being tortured by the Japanese. He was caught listening to the radio and the Japanese inserted a sharp needle in each of his ears, and pressed them as hard as they could, causing the person to go deaf. I was really shocked that the Japanese could even resort to using these kinds of torturing methods on a human being!
            After that, we watched a video of Elizabeth Choy in an interview. She talked about her days in the Japanese Occupation and how she was tortured in prison. I really felt sorry for people like her who were tortured by the Japanese.
            On the whole, I learnt a lot of information on POWs and the Japanese Occupation in this tour and it was very interesting as well. I would say that the $3 was really worth it.