We went to the museum at 2pm+. It is the original relic from the british colonial era and during the WWII,Japanese occupation. It's situated on top of Bukit Batu Maung(a hill at the south part of the Penang Island),and it is in a rainforest.
When we arrived at the foot of the hill,our bus driver told us "Buses can't go up, you guys would have to walk"
"is it far??"
" nope it's very near no worries"
"okei sure we'll walk"
We were so naive! He's a meanie because it was quite a distance for us to go up to the top about a 20 minute bus ride up and i totally forgot how many kilometers we hiked up(I use the word hike to show how tough it was to walk up BAHAHAH) We walked up under the blazing hot sun of 2 in the afternoon, without any hats etc to cover us from the sun. Worst thing was, because we were hiking up the hill, the roads were sloppy and never ending, we used up a lot of our energy and left none for the war museum XD(LEG MUSCLES WORK! =_= XD)
So scorching sun+ winding sloppy roads + lack of water + unexpected hiking journey= Bad Headache. (LOL)
Pretty much half of us(I was included=_=) had a really bad headache when we arrive to the top. So, everyone was sort of moody, exhausted and dehydrated =_=
OWH OWH! When we reached the top to the museum..GUESS WHAT?! there were other tour buses! BUSES CANT GO UP EEH!!*sceptical*
Yeah so that's how we made our way to the war musuem HAHAHAH.
A dose of history, the War Museum was an original British military defense fortress to protect the island from enemies. This military defense fortress was built in the 1930’s by the British, and it served for good causes, but it was taken over by the Japanese during the WWII when the Japs occupied Malaya. They turned it into a torture and interrogation fort. For me personally i wasn't quite fond of the atmosphere there especially when we go into the rooms where they murdered/tortured/mutilated people. The whole place is kinda eerie, I saw their banners say "Come join us in the night" HHAHA I thought to myself, NO THANKIU, afternoon is creepy enough, night?? =_= XD.
Our journey begins, our ranger guide is this young adult whose name i still remember, Indra. He looked so fierce in the beginning, with his full army attire and when he told us to line up in 2 lines, boy and girl he started joking and all. He was very humorous and too cute =_=
Not really a good pic of him but arh well XD. So throughout the whole tour we had this adorable little ranger guide to crack us up xd
This is a 4 exit route tunnel, one of it was out to the ocean(WHOOA) We are not allowed to climb it anymore because it might not be able to support people on it and well its a very long long long fall(i forgot how many feet :'()
There was this four walls chamber where the british used to store ammmos while the japs used to shoot people right in the forehead. You could still see the bullet holes on the walls and all :/ I didnt take any picture, i was afraid something else might show in the picture (We Asians with our superstition HEHE, or maybe just me XD)
We went on to the tunnel that leads us underground. The British was awesome, they mixed some chemical into the walls and satellite or any other devices can't detect it's existence underground (Y)
Tunnel which could fit 200 soldiers at one time.(I think it was 200:S =_=)
Note, if you are claustrophobic, don't go in there. =_= I wasn't until i walked into the tunnel, you had to bent down and all(it's a really small tunnel) and not a single light in there =_= We used our hand phone lights to make our way into the chamber underground. SCARY EXPERIENCE!
Underground.
As if that wasn't scary enough, see the above picture where the guide was standing on stairs? Beside him was a crawling tunnel that leads to metal ladder that leads us out. But this climb was optional. I was not really keen of crawling in pitch black concrete never knowing when the crawl ends and then climbing some old, ex-war metal ladder that smell of rust and that drains all the energy that we have with just four walls and no way back..... I did climbed i mean i be stupid not to ,AHAH I have come this far and it would be a waste. IT WAS THE MOST AMAZING AND SCARIEST EXPERIENCE :D xd
It was a very difficult climb, and it was like never ending and i was so afraid i would slipped on one of the steps and fall and die =_=. It was just a ladder, four tiny walls that fits you perfectly(well i still had space cause i am tiny :P =_=), the thought of soldiers climbed this during war, the thought of falling all in pitch black darkness is a very grueling experience for me. By the time i climbed out, no idea why, my heart started beating like mad and i was a little shaky but I THANK GOD i didn't fall XD. One of my friend came out crying :O :) eheh
I forgot how many feet the climb was? :(
The very awesome history teacher who climbed the ladder with us! xd
Moving along, there was no more scary experience AHAHHA, the rest are just walking up and down to places where the British used as soldiers quarters while the Japanese turned them to chambers that keep POWs,and the torturing and all..
My friend trying to shoot planes =_= XD
Ranger guide XD.
Original axe used to chop heads, don't worry Mr Skully there is fake :D xd
See how exhausted i look. AHAH. I really love the pic beside me tho :)
Where even during the British era, it was used to keep prisoners and only fed twice a day, they actually found a lot of bones etc in there because when the Japanese left Malaya, they left the prisoners locked up in there too. Prisoners died of starvation.
After 2 hours, the journey ends :D xd
blue skies!! haha
I actually didn't take much photos in the War Museum even tho this has become one of my longest posts from the journey XD. I didn't wanted to take much photos because was afraid something else might show up in the picture since the place was used to murder etc etc etc. You get me right ? ;) XDXD
I really hope you guys enjoyed this post, i had fun at the museum, would definitely do everything all over again :D
ps, this post is not meant to offend anyone. <3
Till next time xx
