Hakka Cemetery

Not far from my home I found a very interesting cemetery with approximately 3000 monuments, most of which are identical in size. The smaller ones are covered in small white tiles. 33 are slightly larger, and more ornate. There are also a few offering altars interspersed on the grounds. The grave site is nestled among some high rise buildings and hidden behind a car dealership in the Commonwealth area.

 

My new friend Ah Kun, the groundskeeper, gave me a tour of this serene place called Ying Fo Fui Kun Cemetery. He is a dog lover but told me I was such a pretty kitty he didn't mind spending time with me.

According to The Straits Times, December 21, 2012 By: Janice Tai And Melody Zaccheus, "The site is the last Chinese, Hakka Clan cemetery in Singapore and takes up about 5 acres. Urns of the deceased were moved here from other sites in the 1960's. They are housed in a building next to the monuments. Sadly there is talk that the cemetery may be demolished in the near future to make room for more housing construction".

Lam Pin Foo writes in the July/August 2013 edition of Passage Magazine, that the Hakkas " Who number between 40 and 50 million, live in seven of southern China's provinces, yet comprise less than 5% of the population." Despite their low numbers, many have become very influential military and political leaders. "Among their overseas descendants is Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.  

I hated to leave this historical site as Mr. Ah was such a nice gentleman. However his dogs (luckily behind a chain link fence) were barking up a storm and driving me crazy.

Bukit Batok Nature Park and the Lost Dogs

Located only a short bus ride from my home is a wonderful nature park called Bukit Batok. It is quiet and peaceful and full of birds and animals and has beautiful vistas at every turn. It is not very crowded and a great place for people to walk their dogs. (As everyone knows, cats don't get walked.)

When I arrived, I was met by a Colombo Crow named... Colombo. He was an old crow but very fit. He lives in this park and I now know why he is in such good physical shape. The park is not that big but there are a lot of brick walkways that lead you up some pretty steep hills.
Colombo offered to give me a tour of "his" park so I was happy to accept the generous offer. The pathways are very well maintained and meander through some very thick forest. We saw lots of pretty flowers as well as a Many Lined Sun Skink, a Monitor Lizard, and some Long Tailed Macaques (monkeys) who scampered away through the woods as soon as they were spotted.

We also saw some White-Crested Laughing Thrushes pecking at the ground. I could not stand the noise they made! They made a screeching sound followed by a very loud squawk that sounded like crazy people laughing. They were doing their best at ruining a  perfectly tranquil afternoon. Colombo took flight and I ran to get away from them.
We ended up at the top of a hill where there is a small monument dedicated to the Allied and Japanese soldiers that died here in WWII. We slowly sauntered back down the hill and came upon the remains of a rock quarry that is filled up with water, creating a beautiful, serene pond.

As we were resting at the waters edge, a couple of dogs came running up to us. They had harnesses on with leashes dragging behind them.










They appeared very agitated. I told them to calm down and to let us know what their problem was. They introduced themselves as Pepper and Henry from USA and they had escaped from their master. (By the way, did you know dogs have masters but cats have staffs.) They had playfully gotten away while being walked but were now very worried because they were lost.
Colombo told them not to worry. He knew their master was probably still in the park and just as worried as they were. He flew up high to get a better view and spotted a nervous looking lady who was obviously upset. He glided back down and then guided us directly to the lady who was so relieved to be back with her pets. Colombo and I left their reunion and continued on to the park exit.

I had a very fun day but it was time to go back home. I thanked Colombo for being such a great tour guide and for being so resourceful helping out those poor lost little dogs. His kind response was so typical of an old crow. As he flew off he replied, "The pleasure was all mine pretty kitty."

Chewing the Fat

According to the Urban Dictionary, "Chewing the Fat" means, "A verb, used in general conversation, in informal conversation. It refers to the act of talking, often rubbish, merely to pass time." This is what a gathering of my kitty friends do on a weekly basis in the vicinity of the Fullerton Hotel on Boat Quay (pronounced key...I don't know why...).
We meet near the bronze sculpture of a mama cat and her kittens called "Kucinta Cats" located on the Cavenagh Bridge. The bridge connects the Fullerton to the Asian Cultures Museum.  

The six of us meet at around noon on Tuesdays to discuss what is going on in our lives. There is a certain amount of embellishment in our stories but it is all in fun. When one of us goes overboard we all relish in making fun of them and then try to outdo them with our own stories.
Here are my kitty friends:

Sheila is rather quiet and probably the smartest of all of us. She listens intently to our stories and then calmly tells us if we get out of hand or if our yarns are completely unbelievable.

Jade is the most beautiful of all of us and she knows it. She constantly grooms herself and poses for pictures. Look at how she jumped on this green chair because it showed off her matching green eyes.

Jack is the most adventurous of the group and can't stand still. His stories are the most exciting ones and I tend to believe most of them. He has no fear and gets in lots of fights as evidenced by his broken tail.

Scoot sleeps a lot. He is an outdoor kitty but is well taken care of. His adventures always involve motor scooter rides he takes with his dad on an oversized scooter. He doesn't wear a helmet, which troubles me, but he tells us his dad is having trouble finding him the right size.

Mao Mao is the most pampered of us all. She claims she has a tiara and knowing her personality, we believe her!
She says she is an empress who loves South Korean rap videos and has a crush on G-Dragon.

This is me (Purrla) and I know, you know a lot about me. By the way...all of my stories are true although my "friends" only believe about half of them.