Bukit Brown

Bukit Brown Cemetery 21 Jun 07 (Thurs)

Glad to introduce another friend to the charms of Bukit Brown...that the place is worth getting out of bed early for...

This time around, the mozzies were out in full force to greet us instead of the usual ambush-at-some-spots tactics. But well, since the foreign workers could tahan it and still engaged in morning exercises, why not us?

Despite the untouched feel of the place, a lot of changes have apparently taken place. Some tombs were refurbished, including a husband and wife pair lying side-by-side overlooking the 'valley'. Touching to see them remembered by someone other than family. Thanks to Mdm Soh for deciphering the words and pointing out the differences in wording that point to the relationship between deceased and the person who ordered the tomb construction.

Of course, I must remember to put it down here that to add 11 years to the 'min guo' year to arrive at the year as we know it (What do you call that? The 'AD' system??)

The grand tomb on the little mound have been given a fresh coat of paint too, and the Gurkha-guarded one looks like it benefited from a recent cleaning...

Birds wise, we didn't see much (since our eyes were constantly on ourselves and the ubiquitous mozzies) but finally saw one rather dirty kingfisher after hearing its cries for the upteenth time,

as well as the usual suspects, yellow-vented bulbuls, parakeets, starlings, and a

handsome looking dollarbird.

Strange though, the woodpeckers were out of sight, even if I heard one - the banded