7 February 2021
Would you believe that there are beautiful hiking trails in a cemetery? Bukit Brown Cemetery is more than just a cemetery, it has many hidden gems waiting to be discovered if you are willing to take the back trails. Think of big majestic trees covered in veins that resemble the forest in the movie - Avatar, and abandoned vintage cars lost in the forest. I had been on this trail twice, 2 years apart, so this will be a mixed account of both my experiences.
History
Bukit Brown Cemetery is named after George Henry Brown who came to Singapore in 1840 to start a shipping business. He bought up an area of roughly 200 acres which covered rolling hills. After Brown’s death the land passed through the hands of Mootapa Chitty (a Chettair) and Lim Chu Yi (a Chinese businessman). In 1872, it was bought by 3 clansman from the Ong Clan. The land was donated to the Hokkien Clan Association without condition for dwelling, farming and burials.
In 1918/1919, the colonial government paid for a portion of the Ong burial site to be used as a Chinese Municipal Cemetery opened to all Chinese, rich or poor. From a private cemetery for the Ong Clan and the Hokkien community, it became a public cemetery known as Bukit Brown Cemetery in 1923. Kopi Sua refers to the area near Mount Pleasant Road where Brown lived, which was originally named Brown’s Hill. One reason offered as to why it is called Kopi Sua – Hokkien for Coffee Hill – is that in the dialect there is no equivalent to the colour Brown. So “kopi” was the next best thing. The other reason is Brown attempted to grow coffee on the estate but it didn’t take.
In May 2011, the Singapore government announced that Bukit Brown Cemetery had been earmarked for housing and in September, initial development plans were unveiled in the form of a dual four-lane road that would be built through the cemetery, starting 2013. (Adapted from: https://bukitbrown.com/main/?p=1600)
Exploring Bukit Brown
1200 | Visit Tua Pek Kong Temple |
1230 | Search for the abandoned cars |
1300 | Hike through the Avatar forest |
1330 | Visit a secret garden |
1415 | Side trip to Kopi Sua |
1200 | Visit Tua Pek Kong Temple
On my first visit there, we started via a trail near the horse stables. The trail took us past old cottages, and it felt like we were walking through an old European countryside town. Along the main road, we found the entrance to the trail marked by a small altar. There were rubbish strewn all over the entrance, and they seemed to be all old furniture tsk. The trail ran parallel to the main road and led to the entrance of the Tua Pek Kong Temple. We went up the flight of steps to the Tua Pek Kong temple passing a number of small tombs along the way. The temple seemed to be well taken care of.
1230 | Search for the abandoned cars
A side trail near the temple led to the site of the abandoned cars. The trail passed through a number of old tombs scattered around in the forest, and we had to watch our step in order not to step on them (definitely do not want any spirits following me home). After a few turns here and there into the maze of smaller trails, we found the first car, a white car. The car was rusty and disintegrating and covered with moss and veins. I peeked into the inside of the car, and it had red and black cushioned seats. It must have once been a nice vintage car.
There were a total of 4 cars in this area, so we continued our search. The 2nd car was hard to spot, as it had disintegrated so much that it was barely visible, only part of the car hood and a few wheels peeked through from under the thicket. The 3rd car was in a similar bad state. Leaned up against a tree, the car hood was completely gone, leaving 2 seats and a steering wheel exposed. I went in and took a closer look, the car still had the Toyota logo attached to the vent but it was not a logo I recognised - it must be an older version of the Toyota logo. We continued to search for the 4th and last car. It was a white car with striking red strips, partially obscured by tree veins. It looked like it would have been a pretty cool car back in the days, and was my favourite of the 4 cars. Interestingly, we found a number of old wooden bowling pins in the car boot (or what used to be the car boot), and the passenger seats of the car. Were they on their way to go bowling? I wondered why the 4 cars were left here abandoned by their owners. We turned back to return back to the Tua Pek Kong temple via the small trails, and for some reason I felt a little uneasy on certain sections of the trail.
1300 | Hike through the Avatar forest
Returning back to the Tua Pek Kong temple, we continued on the main trail that ran parallel to the road. At the end of the straight trail, we turned left at the bamboo grove which led to a swamp. This section of the trail was more rugged. On my 2nd visit there, the area seemed to be more waterlogged than before and the water level in the swamp was a lot higher. It may have flooded the original path as there was only a narrow trail that ran alongside the swamp. I wouldn't want to fall into the swamp, so we carefully walked along the muddy grounds.
After navigating through the swamp for awhile, we finally reached a clearing. This was my favourite part of the trail - the Avatar forest. It was named as such as the forest had a number of big trees covered in veins that supposed resembled the majestic trees in the Avatar movie. The big trees no longer looked like trees as they were fully covered in veins, more like giant figures towering over us. There was something daunting yet intriguing about the scenery, it almost felt like the giant figures were watching us as we walked by. We continued through the narrow path carved through the thick undergrowth of the forest.
On my 2nd visit there, I saw butterfly that stayed unmoving on the leaf even as we came close to it. At first I wanted to shoo it away, so we could cross the section of the path, but I realised it was diligently guarding a number of small yellow eggs on the leaf (the eggs looked pretty trypophobic though). Seeing this, I did a limbo to avoid the butterfly and its eggs. The end of the forest trail was marked by a single isolated tomb. For some reason it was not near the other tomb clusters in Bukit Brown, but stood on its own in the forest. Usually you could easily walk pass the tomb along the trail, but on my 2nd visit there, due to a fallen tree the trail was completely blocked and I had to climb over the tomb. Definitely apologised to the owner after that, I don't want to risk offending any spirits.
1330 | Visit a secret garden
On my first visit there, while trying to find an exit via a back trail, we chanced upon a beautiful garden cared for by an uncle. The uncle was pretty surprised to see us as he doesn't usually get visitors, so he chatted us up and showed us around his garden which he painstakingly manicured. He told us he grew about 50 species of Hibiscus (大红花) in his garden, and we were there just at the right time to see a very rare phenomenon, the flowering of the Iron Tree (铁树开花). I later understood that the Iron Tree (铁树) very rarely flowers, and when it does, it was considered a good omen for the Chinese. He brought us to the site, the Iron Tree had leaves similar to that of a fern, and flowers grew in small clusters along a vein. It was going to be another week or so for the flowers to fully bloom.
Other than the flowers, his garden was also decorated elaborately using all kinds of materials you could think of, from pebbles, bricks to even mahjong tiles and car wheels. The uncle was resourceful and innovative in his use of materials to spell out auspicious phrases and to design faces and shapes. He even built an outdoor exercising corner using pipes at a corner of his garden. On my 2nd trip there, 2 years later, we visited the uncle again and saw that he had updated his garden with more decoration (the dedication wow). After our tour of his beautiful garden, we bid goodbye to the uncle.
1415 | Side trip to Kopi Sua
On our first trip there we attempted to exit via a back trail and realised it was completely blocked by a big fallen tree. At that point, we were already pretty deep into the trail, it was difficult to turn back and also to move forward. We decided to soldier on, and climbed on top the fallen tree and through its thick branches. We got pretty scratched up after that. On the way out, we also had to cross a number of swamps within the forest. Having learnt our lesson, we avoided this exit the 2nd time round, and crossed over the adjoining hill known as Kopi Sua (咖啡山) to take a look. We passed the guardhouse and went up the hill (the guardhouse was mostly vacant with only a framed portrait of the buddha guarding it). It was a small hill covered with tombs and it looked more overgrown and less well-maintained as compared to Bukit Brown Cemetery across the road. We explored a small hut, presumably used by the caretaker. It was empty at the point in time, with Kopi Sua (咖啡山) labeled on the doors and an old wooden lounge chair placed outside.
My Thoughts
At first, I was pretty reluctant to go Bukit Brown, thinking that the cemetery grounds would be creepy. But I was pleasantly surprised that the back trails in Bukit Brown were a lot more peaceful and beautiful than I had initially imagined. Through our exploration, we also chanced upon many hidden gems that we were not expecting to find in a cemetery (just have to take care not to step on any tombs though). This was definitely somewhere I wouldn't mind going back again and again.
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