The bomb shelter is somewhat of a local tourist attraction - it was most recently featured in an episode of 'Heartland Getaways', hosted by Chua En-Lai.
In this episode, he is hosted by Linda, who shows him the interiors today.
What Linda did not get to share this time, but which she did last year at another tour, was that after the war was over, for quite some time, the shelters were home to displaced Javanese families who were brought over by the Japanese to work in Singapore, during the occupation.
Many of them were tricked into leaving their homes in Java, by promises of high paying jobs in Singapore (some things don't change it seems). At the end of the war, not only were they not paid, they were left stranded in Singapore. Some then took refuge in spaces such as our air-raid shelters.
According to Linda, the families lived in the shelters for quite a few months. With food shortage rampant after the war, many of the Javanese supplemented their diet not only with whatever they could plant on the ground (before the carpark was laid), but also by trapping rats to eat.
It is a sobering thought.
Today, if you get a chance to see the shelter, you will notice how damp it is and after about 10 minutes, it gets very stuffy, even with just 3 or 4 people in the spaces. I did not find it comfortable at all.
Here is a picture of one of the walls - the deepest space in the shelter, furthest away from the road - thus the safest.
Notice the hand written text that says in Chinese and English 'RESERVED FOR ARP WARDENS' FAMILIES'. It is very faint - you need to zoom in to see the words, written in white paint on the red Alexandra bricks.
In the old days under colonial rule, there was class distinction, even for an air raid shelter!
If you have any stories on the old bomb shelter from your family or friends - please do send it into the blog for sharing!
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