Our little bukit brown excursion was like more than two weeks ago. Have been having too many things on and off my life and honestly I really totally forgot that I have pictures staffed out deep in my computer harddrive.
This was a trip that was so hard to arrange, from getting the ideal number of people to getting everyone interested to be free. We initially planned for a weekday evening, but office meetings and people from different departments proved hard. Think I took us a good couple of weeks to eventually organize a guide and a day where most are free.
The iconic main gates of the cemetery off Sime Road. Always passed the entrance when we take Sime back to HQ but never had we once stopped for a walk. Ron dropped me off at the gate, where Ei and her husband where waiting for the rest. The entire time in the car, Ron totally dint register this as Bukit Brown coz year after year he comes to see his grandfather somewhere on the hills.
Stepped out of the car in shorts and an old grey tank top with birks. Upon arrival, I immediately knew it was the worst choice of attire. Lucky I had an old smelly long sleeve button down shirt in my bag from the previous day, and Ei brought her assortment of insect repellent. I wrapped up and loaded the skin with two thick layers, hoping not to feed the mosquitoes.
HP and Dot turned up in shorts after me, so I'm not the most bare skinned.
I guess Bukit Brown has this rich diversely interesting history, each grave have a story to tell, and the owners of some of these graves have a huge-arse story under the earth. Everyone knows that there is soon going to be a road running through part of the cemetery. And in attempt to conserve his rich history, there is a team of people who gives guided walks and share a mountain load of stories to create awareness.
Bukit brown is a municipal cemetery for any Chinese back before the 1970s. Back then there was already not enough space in land scarce Singapore. You die, your family buys a plot, you get buried. A total grave count of 100,000.
There are a huge handful of people with so much family history and influence in old Singapore. Many of these names are so well known they have roads, schools and buildings named after them. Like Kay Hian, Seah Im, Gan Eng Seng, Kheam Hock, Chong Pang Nee Soon, Boon Lay, Joo Chait etc. Even Mr Lee grandparents are sitting here six feet under.
More detailed history, read
here coz I really cant remember everything our guide said.
Each famous people grave is marked from the main road with red and white tape and laminated paper markers. They have put in great efforts to create a self learning trail all along the place. The whole tour was a 2.5 hours. The afternoon was humid and I already had huge armpit sweat patches within a good 1 hour of the tour, even regretted wearing my grey tank coz I totally forgotten how grey display sweat patches like a million-diamonded-crown on a queen's head.
Well, the first things I noticed about Bukit Brown was the flock of parakeets flying through, the number of forest birds were amazing. Late on a Sunday evening and the whole place came alive (literally) with calls and fluttering in the canopy. So much more happening then spending the evening in MacRitchie trials.
Bukit Brown looks and feels... just like a cemetery. With their mess of old stone armchairs, matching guarding lions, guarding Sikh guards for those who can afford it. Days before this trip we were all saying how we have to watch our mouths and what we say when we get there. And yet, just soaking in the whole atmosphere made us blabber casual comments.
I learnt alot of small grave details on how the chinese buried their dead. How colors and name crafting on the tombstone meant something. The number of photos, how graves of couples were displayed, symbolism of flowers, animals and figurines encrafted amongst the graves.
It nice to learn a small bit of my Chinese ancestry and tradition especially in modern times where many of things do not hold still. My tomb would probably be a multi-storey pigeon hole somewhere.
There were a couple of ang mohs walking their dogs and babies. Its nice how angmohs think of graveyards to differently. I still remember how beautiful the cemeteries where in Norway and UK. Pristine, quiet and manicured. In Singapore they are wild but also equally pristine and quiet.
We climbed through some wilderness into the biggest tomb in the whole of Bukit Brown. You could see the westlakes buildings from the horizon. The entire area is as big as 5 3-room flats. This dead guy (forgot name) has the whole 24 stories of filial piety (二十四孝) crafted on the side of the grave.
And we were like, we dint even know any of the stories. Randomly googled, read
here.
One of the most iconic part of Bukit Brown are the Sikh guards. They are an old symbolic representation of loyal, fierce and strong guardians for graves. Those who can afford these guards have a pair standing either side. And this colored ones are the most beautiful pair in the entire cemetery.
Bukit Brown has really lot of stories to share. Do join a guided walk when you have the chance to learn about some tiny things about our local Chinese history.
