Gravestones in the Singaporean Jungle

Gravestones in the Singaporean Jungle

Travel memoir by Gregory E. Larson

          Truth be told, some of my best adventures are in out-of-the-way places where few people go. These are not tourist destinations, but are unusual lesser-known spots that sometimes are a bit quirky. A prime example of this is Bukit-Brown, an abandoned Chinese cemetery in the jungle on the Singapore island/city/state. The more information that surfaced, the more interesting and bizarre the destination seemed.

          Singapore is an island at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. It is fast becoming the new “Hong Kong.” There are tourist attractions (most of which I have visited) but it is mainly a business and shipping center. Six million people inhabit Singapore which has about 284 square miles. Property is at a premium, but there are still some undeveloped areas. My architectural description of Singapore is “urban nodes of tall buildings popping up in the jungle with interconnecting boulevards and highways.”

Urban nodes of tall buildings and interconnecting boulevards

          Prior to my visit there earlier this year, my daughter sent me some links to Bukit-Brown’s history. The cemetery was opened in 1922, and was filled with gravesites by World War II. Some additional burials were made available after the Japanese occupation, but the burials stopped by 1950. The cemetery closed in 1973. I was aghast when I read that the government is planning for development on the Bukit-Brown site. In fact, over 5,000 gravesites had already been eliminated to allow for a highway expansion. The bodies were exhumed and cremated. Attempts were made to connect with families so the ashes could be given to the descendants. Still, about 170 acres of land exists with close to 100,000 graves that have remained undisturbed. That will begin to change in 2030 when the process starts to remove all of the remaining graves and headstones.

One of the reservoirs on the island of Singapore

          On a recent day-hike in Singapore, I passed a reservoir (one of many) that is used for the island’s water supply. I walked through some urban nodes and past a golf course. When I got to the cemetery there was a sign that said it was closed, although there was no gate or fence to keep me out, and there was a road to walk on. The sign also said “Enter at your own risk.”  That caused me to pause. I decided to continue past the cemetery and discuss the issue of entering later with my daughter and son-in-law. I knew they would know the dangers.

Ominous sign along the entry to Bukit-Brown Cemetery

          My daughter said that she and her husband would go there with me on a Saturday morning hike, when they were not working. It worked out for the best, because they knew a lot of history and were able to share it with me. As we walked past the entry sign, the cemetery exuded an eerie feeling with burning incense and the high humidity creating a haze among the jungle shadows.

The burning incense and the humidity gave the cemetery an eerie feeling

          My daughter said that historians are etching the gravestones and taking pictures of them, because the stones are rich in information. My son-in-law shared with me that a symbol on the corner of the gravestone represents the Chinese village from which the person’s family came from. With the village symbol and research, a family can go back over 1,000 years of family records. 

Examples of the gravestones with the symbolic horseshoe-shaped mountainside

          He also told me that the horseshoe-shaped area behind the gravestone is a symbol of a mountainside, as the Chinese custom is to have the burials on a mountainside. There are significant symbols of nature and guardians, as well as a separate headstone to the right of the main headstone that represents an offering to the “earth god.”

Gravestone with a guardian

Largest gravestone that we saw in Bukit-Brown

          Although the last burials occurred many decades ago, we saw many families there visiting graves and burning incense. A history walking tour was happening as well. We also saw monkeys fighting over scraps of food offerings left by families at the graves. Some graves were well kept with the grass and weeds cut regularly. Other areas were succumbing to the jungle overgrowth which occurs at a rapid rate. Additional tombstones had tented areas or tarps so that families could come to visit the grave and stay out of the sun or rain.

Bukit-Brown Cemetery covers roughly 170 acres

          As we walked for a couple of hours, I sensed that a lot of history of the island and some of its Chinese heritage was going to disappear when the cemetery is removed. I had to remind myself that different nations require different customs. It is hard for me to imagine cemeteries in the U.S. being demolished. I know of many urban areas that have wrought-iron fences around small cemeteries in parking lots or busy corners of the city.

          I wondered what the area will look like in a hundred years from now. Progress marches on, and generation after generation learn to deal with the issues of their time. And, truth be told, those tall buidlings in the jungle will return to dust in some distant era.

The Singaporean Jungle will probably outlive the civilized era

THE END

New Zealand: A Best Kept Secret

 

The Southern Alps in New Zealand

New Zealand: A Best Kept Secret

travel memoir by Gregory E. Larson

          Have you ever been to a place that felt like you were on another planet? . . . a place with exotic flowers, plants and mountains? . . . a place with glaciers, rain forests and arid plains? Some of you may have traveled there, to New Zealand. On my recent adventure, I learned their agriculture economy and is gradually becoming a tourist economy. For so many decades the destination has been a best kept secret, but that is changing.

          After my arrival in Christchurch on the South Island, I spent two days acclimating to the summer and to the time change. Having spent more than three days travel to get there, I wandered out into the giant botanical garden full of sunshine, huge lawns and giant trees. I dropped the day pack onto the ground and lay down in the grass to stretch out. I thought, “I’m out of the plane and I made it all in one piece!”

The Christchurch Botanical Garden was the best antidote after the long trip.

Entrance Fountain at the Christchurch Botanical Garden

          Once acclimated, I began the Classic South Island Tour with Active Adventures, Inc., with fourteen people and two guides. It was a trip to places of unrivaled beauty and ruggedness. From 400 ft. waterfalls to rainforests and mountain valleys, every day was truly an adventure, including several days of rugged hikes, an additional day of biking and a day of kayaking. Complimenting the exercise were a bush-pilot flight to a remote valley, a wild and crazy jet boat ride, a gondola ride above Queenstown, and a cruise on Milford Sound. 

We hiked to a 400 ft. waterfall near Arthur's Pass

          On the kayaking day, we toured Okarito Lagoon and saw two White Herons, which are extremely rare. Only 170 remain in existence. 

Kayaking on a tributary to Okarito Lagoon

          Our “epic” day of the tour included a flight into a remote valley, a nine-mile hike out of the valley, and a jet boat ride back to our resort. The bush pilot flight was the most exciting twenty minutes I have experienced in a plane, which was a tiny Cessna 185 with balloon tires for landing on grass in the mountain valley. I felt as though I could reach out and touch the trees on the mountainsides, and was in awe of the beauty of the snow-capped peaks and the glacial ponds which are only visible from the air. Once back on the ground, we had to ford a tributary, then hike up the valley towards a beautiful peak in the clouds. Turning back down the valley, we hiked several miles to the Wilkin River where the jet boats took us back to our resort.

The Cessna 185 plane that took us to a remote valley.

Take-off was next to the Wilkin River Valley, then up into the mountains.

I felt like I could almost touch the trees on the mountainside.

The remote Siberian Valley in Mount Aspiring National Park

A day of memorable hiking

A wild and crazy boat ride was the exclamation point on an epic day.

          Two days were spent in Queenstown, which was crawling with tourists. It reminded me of an oversized Estes Park in Colorado. One of the days was spent hiking up Ben Lomond Peak. It began by taking a 1500 ft., mostly vertical gondola to a point above Queenstown, then a strenuous hike at twenty percent grade for three miles. I barely made it two miles, and then turned around to save my legs for the remainder of the week.

Overlooking Queenstown at the top of the gondola station.

View of Ben Lomond Peak from the twenty-percent grade on the trail.

          The last day of the tour began in the early morning darkness, with our guides brewing French-press coffee. We piled into the bus and drove to one of the top tourist destinations: Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park.

Milford Sound - unrivaled beauty

          About every twenty minutes a huge cruise boat (with 150-200 people on board) departed for the two-hour cruise out to the Tasman Sea and back. During the cruise, the tour boat ahead of ours had stopped and turned at a waterfall. The photo had a good composition for a watercolor: reflections in the water, the boat and waterfall as the focus, with numerous textures and colors on the cliffs and mountain. Back home in the studio, it was a joy to paint, although it is one of the most difficult scenes I’ve painted, due to all of the detail.

Stirling Falls - Milford Sound, New Zealand
2025 watercolor by Gregory E. Larson

          Our last hike was one for the memories. We hiked two miles up through the forest to a summit pass. The beginning was in the mossy woods with ferns and trees surrounding the trail. As we ascended through the forest, we began to have glimpses of the granite peaks through the 800-year-old trees. Once at the pass, the vistas were in all directions. Our guide passed out boxes of pasta salad for our lunch, and we sat on benches that viewed the snow-capped peaks. It was one of those places that was hard for me to leave. When we began the trek down the mountain trail and back into the forest, I knew that I had fallen in love with New Zealand.

Glimpses of the granite peaks through the ancient forests.

A view at the mountain pass on the last hike - one to remember.

THE END