Today was a hot and humid day with thundery showers to interrupt our walk. Nevertheless it was still an eye opener cause we got to chat with 2 of the tomb keepers that are based in Kopi Sua that opened up to us and allowed us to take their pictures and find out a bit about them despite this period being the busiest period for them.
Ah Hong, 72 years of age saw us and was curious what we were doing in his area. After explaining, he shared a bit about himself and that he used to live in the old villages nearby. He went on to proudly show us some of the tombs he has been taking care of for many years. The first one is the tomb of Mr. Lau Goh Tong which carvings depict the complete stories of filial piety. I was pleasantly surprised when he welcomed our suggestion to take a picture of him with the recently cleaned up. Some tomb keepers tend to be more shy or only open up after long periods of interaction.
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| Ah Hong, 72 years old (standing in front of the tomb that he upkeeps) |
The second one he wanted to show us was the tomb of Tan Pek Tjoean which is one a kind as it as what look like chinese soldiers or Kuomintang Soldiers. When we shared that nugget with Ah Hong, he said "No...this are Singapore soldiers because they are now in Singapore". What a wise man he is ! After sharing the photo above, a person who recognised Ah Hong mentioned that he has been taking care of her grandparents tombs for the past 50 + years. If this was accurate, Ah Hong would have been a tomb keeper from his 20's.
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| Ah Hong at the tomb of Tan Pek Tjoean with its unique guards |
The other tomb keeper we met today is one seen and talked too several times. The family business appears on a signboard showcasing what he do. What actually surprise me is when Mr. Ho revealed his age. He is 85 years this year and is still so fit. He is able to track uphill and downhill when we wanted to show him a tomb we managed to reconnect with their descendants. Just after showing him the tomb, a heavy downpour happened and we took shelter.
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| Mr. Ho in front of his signage |
After the rain, the icing on the cake that capped today's exploration was the meeting of the Oh family who were paying respects to their grandmother. They came in after the rain stopped and were kind enough to let us take pictures of their family's cultural practice. I leave you with some pictures of this intangible cultural practice and also how busy kopi sua is today with many descendants coming down.
I sincerely hope this place will remain intact for many years to come as a heritage park for generations to enjoy.
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| The Oh family observing Qing Ming at their grandmother's tomb |
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| A busy day in Kopi Sua |
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