A little bird told me …

Posted by Tym under Explore Singapore!
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This week’s episode of Explore Singapore! sees Sarah Thompson, the English girl of Singaporean extraction (played by Sarah Elizabeth Tan), uncover the last two clues from her box of heirlooms that might lead to her long-lost mother. A postcard and a doll may not seem like much, but they’re packed with enough cultural information and historical context to send her and her pal, former museum curator Mr Heng (played by Moses Lim), journeying through a most unlikely sequence of Singapore museums.

From sports to stamps, stuffed animals (of the taxidermal rather than cartoon variety) to Shanghai toys — these are some of the colourful highlights from museums that are somewhat off the beaten path. There’s a whirlwind round-up of the highlights of Singapore’s sporting history at the Sports Museum (though, ironically, the episode makes scant mention of the history of the National Stadium, even though that’s where the museum’s housed and the stadium is slated to be demolished later this year, I think). At the Singapore Philatelic Museum, prized stamps take centrestage, plus there’s always the tried-and-true gimmick of putting a photo of oneself on a bona fide stamp.

Then there’s Otterman’s cameo appearance, taking viewers into the depths of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research collection, where plant and animal specimens dating back to the 19th century have been carefully preserved. The museum may not have the famous whale skeleton that used to reside at the former National Museum in the 1960s, but look out for the swordfish specimen, which isn’t too shabby either.

All the best eye candy’s reserved for the Museum of Shanghai Toys, though. How can that many intriguing gadgets and endearing dolls fit into one space? No wonder it gets a starring role in providing one of the keys in the puzzle to finding Sarah’s mother. Don’t let this litany of museum highlights deceive you; there’s also high drama and other unexpected developments in this episode as Sarah inches closer and closer to the woman she’s looking for …

Catch this episode of Explore Singapore! on Thursday, 10 January at 7:30 pm on Channel 5.

Tags: Explore Singapore, National Heritage Board, Singapore