Interesting Facts About Singapore - Part I

Taken from : BRIDGE, a publication of the south west Community Development Council

The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi and a large extent various other languages. singlish syntax resembles southern varieties of Chinese.

Bukit Batok Hill is also a site of historical significance. A Japanese war memorial, Syonan Chureito, was built on the hill as a memorial to Japanese soldiers. Nearby was another memorial for the Allied forces. The Japanese demolished both memorials and all that is left today are two pillars and a flight of stairs.

At 160 ha, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is the largest contiguous forest in Singapore. It contains over 840 species of the flowering plants, more than one-third of Singapore's documented plant diversity. There are also over 100 fern species discovered in the reserve, out of a total of 170 ferns known to botanists here.

The flying fox, the world's largest bat with a wingspan of up to 1.5 metres, can be found on Pulau Ubin, one of the islands off mainland Singapore.

The concept of Jurong Bird Park was conceived in 1968. During a World Bank meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Dr. Goh Keng Swee, the Singapore's Minister for Finance, visited a zoo with a free-flight aviary. He was so impressed that he felt inspiredto create a similar attraction for Singaporeans to enjoy nature.

The creation of Jurong, Singapore's main industrial area, has to be credited to the vision of former finance minister, Dr. goh Keng Swee. Once a swampy, forested area,eleven hills in the areahad to be levelled to provide earth to fill in the swamps and the Jurong River. The project was initially nicknamed "Goh's Folly" because of the sky high infrastructure costs but by the 1970s, it had already grown to become a centre of activity for the country.

Choa Chu Kang got its name after the Choa family who controlled that portion of Kranji River. In the past, villages along rivers were named after the family controlling that part of the river ang the Hokkien term for village headman was "kang chu". The earliest settlers were pepper and gambier farmers, and they were later jained by pineapple, rubber and coconut planters.

Before 1972,Sentosa was called Pulau Blakang Mati, which means "behind death" in Malay, possibly as a reference to its early days as a site of pirate activities. It was renamed Sentosa which means "peace and tranquility" in Malay after the Government decided to transform it into a recreational island.

Kelong Trip 18-20 Agustus 2012

Iya, Bebek tau masih hutang laporan perjalanan China bulan Juni kemarin,....

 Mohon mangap, sementara dilongkap dulu ya,...secara perjalanan China banyak tempat dan kejadian yang harus diceritain,...:)

Sekarang yang diceritain perjalanan lebaran dulu yah,....

Brubung Singapur pelit sekali sama tanggal merah, alias hari libur,....jadinya kami cuma bisa iri sama teman-teman di Indonesia yang bisa libur panjang kalau libur lebaran deh...

Lebaran 2012 di Singapur jatuh hari Minggu tanggal 19 Agustus, dan untungnya pemerintah nyadar juga kalau udah pelit sama tanggal merah, jadinya apabila ada hari besar yang jatuh di hari Minggu,...maka hari Senin ditetapkan sebagai hari libur.. buat nggantiin hari libur tersebut.

Perjalanan dimulai Sabtu jam 6 pagi, diawali dengan doa bersama.....4 mobil dengan plat nomor Singapore mulai keluar dari daerah Bukit Batok,.....

Imigrasi Singapur dan Malaysia masih belum terlalu penuh,......jadi dalam waktu 45 menit, kami sudah memasuki wilayah Johor,...dan sempat sedikit bingung karena jalan sedikit berbeda. Iya, Malaysia tuh maju sekali loh,... pembangunan jalan tol cepat selesai,...jalanan mulus dan gede-gede,....nggak seperti di tanah air, yang pembangunan jalan tumpang tindih,....jalan bolong-bolong, dan semua sempit sempit karena keterbatasan lahan,...ahhhhhh susah deh kalo ngomongin tanah air mah,.....bawaannya kesel dan senewen terus!

Setelah 4 mobil berkumpul kembali, dan si Yayang puas numpang nyetor di restoran,....perjalananan pun dilanjutkan. 

 Perhentian pertama adalah tea break di Old Town Coffee,......

 Kemudian perhentian kedua adalah early lunch di Bakut Teh Kota Tinggi,...gile rame bangetttt sampai-sampai kami harus berdiri di meja orang yang sudah hampir selesai,.....supaya nggak keduluan orang lain :)

Jam 12.30, akhirnya sampai juga kami di Tanjung Resang Jetty,......

 

 Semua barang diturunkan dari mobil,.....kemudian kami naik boat selama 30 menit menuju Kelong tempat kami menginap. Buat teman-teman yang belum tau,...Kelong adalah rumah di tengah laut,......biasanya dipakai untuk memelihara ikan, memancing dsb.

Enaknya liburan di kelong,....perut tidak akan pernah kosong....harga yang kami bayar, sudah termasuk makan enam kali sehari,....

 Kami ber empat belas,......tidur dalam satu cabin,.....udah gag bisa jaim lagi dah,....dan Bebek cuma bisa berdoa supaya gag ada yang iseng rekam suara ngoroknya Bebek,.....

 Di hari kedua, kami pergi island hoping,...mengunjungi satu pulau kecil dengan menggunakan fibre boat....
Anak-anak berenang, bermain pasir, dan mencari hermit crab, si Yayang dan Jonatan sibuk dengan pancing masing-masing,....dan kami bercengkrama di pantai sambil foto-foto narsis......

Hari ketiga, saatnya pulang...semuanya bermuka gembira,.....satu kebersamaan lagi telah kami lalui.....