On sunday i woke up early to run at Botanic gardens. The club member s who came: Uncle Kalai, Uncle Bernard. Uncle Jo and his wife, Dr Bala , Aunty Roda. I ran for half and hour with them after chatting to them. Singapore Botanic Gardensis in the heart of Singapore in bukit timah. A map of botanic gardens is below. It is next to the NUS law faculty and i found out that NUS has some graves....
Let's introduce botanic gardens first. I enjoyed the run as the air was cool and refreshing at 7.30 in the morning. also it is very quiet and peaceful. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the scenery is so beautiful.
A picturesque view of the eco -lake in botanic gardens. There are actually 3 lakes in Botanic garden. Eco- lake is the lake located to NUS in Buikit Timah.
A sign post by the lake...
Another view of the lake. It looks so breathtakingly beautiful...The water is so clear that i can see the reflection in of the trees in the lake...
A black swan swimming in the lake. Is there another swan in the lake?
Two ducks in the water... They actually went honk! honk! Are they geese?
The view of NUS about 100m down the path from Botanic Gardens.
The view at NUS. (same building). My sister told me that her research studies teacher had told her that NUS contained graves. We were curious as to how the university could have so we went grave hunting. to see whether what the teacher said was true.
Let's into the history:
The first Botanic Gardens was set up in 1822 at Fort Canning but was closed in 1829. 30 years later in 1859, this Botanic Gardens in BUkit Timah was set up. So there were people living here in the 1800's. NUS, the oldest university in singapore was set up in 1905. The buildings here are very old from Raffles College (predecessor of NUS) set up in 1928. So the area has a very rich history. But graves in an institution of learning?? Even my parents did not know. First time i heard it i was very skeptical...
Based on what my sister's teacher told her, we went hunting for graves. So what if it was the seventh month on the chinese calendar? This was very exciting and an opportunity not to be missed.... How often did i get to come to botanic gardens? Maybe one in four or 5 months.
Next to the building above , across the road was a ravine. There was a sign below which said Caution. On closer look the words below were archery range. So strange. What was it doing here?
Further up the road and into the path about 100m away was Botanic Gardens. We went into the ravine. Even though the grass was mowed, we noticed something very strange. Yes the area was maintained by the branches were never cut. The trees looked very overgrown and old. Peering down from the road, i sensed that time has stood still in this corner of the ground. it was about 30m from the surface level. What secrets lay there? Are there really gravestones as my sister said?
About 80m from the path we saw. Yes it was a
grave. This is a close-up of the tablet. The sign 'caution' appears behind this grave.
According to my sister, the person buried in this grave is the son of the
these 2 who were buried about 20m away. Apparently the chinese man (surname 丘 qiu) had a non- chinese wife and they were buried side by side during the Ming dynasty of China (before 1844) .
Why were the graves left there? Why were the tombs not excavated?
The teacher told my sister that they could not find any descendents of this family today but still the grass is cut and the tombs have not been disturbed for more than 150 years....
What secrets lie beneath?
About 10m away from the twin tombs is an unmarked grave. Who died here? My sister's teacher told her that up to today they don't know whose graves are there or why is it still here after all these years...
Just outside the ravine , the brick path leads to the botanic gardens.
Beside it is the sign 'development of jacob ballas children's garden. It was scheduled to be completed in 2006 but it was never completed. Now it says 2007. It is already august 2007 and there are still no signs of opening with the area still barricaded up. Beyond this sign lie the tombs.
So there were graves and tombstones in NUS after all. But questions remain. Why are the tombs left there? Nobody tends it but the grass is still mowed...
Running has brought me to many places. I have learnt many things about the places that i have run but NUS still takes the cake. Because no one knows and the secrets lie buried - maybe forever...
Till my next run!!!
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