A walk through Coffee Hill

Bukit Brown Cemetary with 100,000 graves is the largest Chinese burial site outside of China. Growing up in Singapore, I've never heard of it until this whole controversy about building a highway over it & the need to exhume 4000 graves. Since my parents are from China, none of our ancestors are buried there, I suppose. 

I recently went on a visit with the Nature Society & was struck by how little I know about that place. Apart from the controversy, I read about it being the final resting place for a lot of the pioneers of Singapore, names like Joo Chiat, Gan Eng Seng, Boon Lay, Boon Tat - should be familiar as many places are named after them. Lee Kuan Yew's father & aunt are both buried there. 

But I had no idea the size. We walked for 2 hours & covered only about 75% of the area. While we were there, we came across many people walking their dogs, running & riding (the Singapore Polo Club is close by). It really should be called Bukit Brown Heritage Park (something I came across on the internet which I thought was very apt). Why hadn't I known about this place before ? This is truly a hidden gem in Singapore. 

I don't find anything morbid about a cemetery - in fact a walk through it is like a history lesson. Pere Lachaise cemetary in the middle of Paris, is well visited (not in small part due to Jim Morrison's grave). I fully intend to return & spend more time exploring before it becomes yet another casualty of our development plans. 

 Lovely Peranakan tiles

This is where the highway will run through

Experience it before it's gone

 Interesting fauna & trees

The whole area is well shaded 

hence making it a very cool place for walking & jogging

 A Terra Cotta Warrior stands on guard

Little tags highlighting the celebrity graves

A tomb with a man & his 5 wives

A rich man

 The number sign marks it for exhumation

 Mr & Mrs Ong Sam Leong

the largest grave in Bukit Brown

Intricate stone carving depicting 24 Filial Piety stories

on the grave site of Ong Sam Leong

This is the story of Wang Pou. When his mother was alive, she was afraid of thunder. Even when she was dead & buried, he would run over to her tomb to comfort her whenever there was thunder. 

A Sikh guard

Unique to graves in this part of the world

Combination of Chinese lion, Western angel & Gurkha

That huge binoculars helped us see up close a beautiful blue kingfisher

Mr  Wing our guide, showing us how they used nature to craft toys

Here's a garland that they made in the kampong days

 A useful plant to spot if you heed Nature's call

but do not have tissue paper handy

The soft leaves makes for a good substitute

Mass grave site

Bukit Brown is a beautiful place. 

Unspoilt. Quiet. Hidden. Calm. 

Off the Beaten Track (not quite)

We're quite an outdoorsy kind of family, if you have not figured out by now. When we have nothing planned for the weekend (ie. shows or activities), we would almost always go walking, cycling, rollerblading or have a picnic at the parks.

So it's not at all surprising that one weekend we found ourselves heading towards Pulau Ubin. That place brings back lots of fond memories of my many many camping adventures during my JC days.

Getting there is easy & part of the fun. Take a bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal (which has been renovated & not as rickety has I remembered). You will be approached by one of the bumboat uncles to ask how many in your party & once there are 12 passengers, he will set off. $2.50 per person each way & $2.00 for your bike. There is a queue of bumboats & the uncles seem to know who goes next even if nothing seems to be organised officially.

A quick 10-15 min ride gets you to the island. Right after you walk out of the jetty, you will feel like you have stepped back in time. Balik Kampung.

Kampung houses

Fisherman

Even the bike rental place is *relax*

Cycling Tip : Due to the bad roads, make sure you check & double check the brakes before you pick a bike. We brought along The Girl's bike but hired ours there. They will provide you with a map of the island & advise you which trails to take. Even though some were advised to be difficult, our 7 year old did alright, as did the adults but expect to walk up with your bikes for some of the steeper slopes.

Quaint, charming, I'm already loving it

There are vans that will take you around the island but what's the fun in that ?

Nothing is a rush here

We took the Western trail, past the Celestial Resort (didn't know there was one on Ubin but it's not exactly your Capella Hotel) in the direction of the Outward Bound School. It's a dead end & we had to retract part of the way back to the east for Chek Jawa.

Not sure what this is but the old guy who runs the stall below was drying these in the sun & claimed to have medicinal value & invited us to try his special concoction

Love this sign

Very Bob Marley Very Kampung Very Ubin

We did as the sign said & stopped for a coconut

He had a whole garden of herbs & plants

And was preparing these for his special soup

It wasn't quite ready yet & we weren't quite so adventurous to give it a try

We met a guide for a group of MBA students

who showed us an unmarked path to a great view of the quarry

The last of the kampung houses

If you are in Ubin, you can't miss Chek Jawa Wetlands

The website lists timings for tides cos the best time to go is at low tide so that you can see all the beauty under the mangrove. It was high tide when we were there & now that I look at the website to see what we had missed, I plan to go back again

A wild boar that caused quite a ruckus amongst the visitors

Another reminder that we are not in concrete Singapore

As per my title, Ubin is off the beaten track but it's not exactly undiscovered, there were throngs of tourists & Singaporeans alike visiting the island. Most hire a van to take them to Chek Jawa whilst others head for the seafood restaurant. We had a modest but delicious meal at the Malay restaurant right next to the jetty.

I really enjoyed our day out & would recommend it for anyone looking for something different to do in Singapore.

Mad about Lego

It all started when my sister in law gave the kids Nano bricks for Christmas.

That got The Girl all excited about Lego.

That got me looking for her first Lego set.

That had X make the declaration he had never played Lego as a kid *gasp*.

So now we each have our own Lego sets to contend with.

The Girl, Lego Friends

X, Lego Technic

Me, VW Camper

NY eve dinner

We're lucky there's a chef in the family so celebrations are generally done at home. We didn't make any plans for Dec 31st so it was a last minute "let's go to Sheng Shiong & see what's there" menu planning.

The seafood there is always fresh but you never know what is available. Pity they don't deliver cos to my surprise, they have quite a good selection of wine.

Here's our New Year's eve dinner

Lobsters in butter garlic sauce

Pepper shrimps

Clams in white wine sauce

We love our seafood

& fresh seafood is so easy to prepare