~Raven Outdoor Consultant Sdn Bhd~

It has been around 6 years since SP Rover had conducted Cemetery Hike (if I’m not wrong the last cemetery hike was by YiHui in year 2000.).

This time round its happening again on the 24/4/06. I didn’t managed to go for the actual event myself that night but in fact I am very glad that I did join in the final prep in the morning. It has been along time since I’ve been back to the big tomb. A few alumni have been trying to locate the big tomb, which was lost in the dense undergrowth for quite some time now. Upon hearing the news that Rover has located the big tomb, I’ve decided to join them to uncover the big tomb from the think undergrowth.

It was a sunny morning and it was just like back in the old days where we just plan an unofficial event on a weekend and execute it.

We met in den at 9.30am in the morning and as usual, the chairperson Mr. Darren was late again. We then proceeded to take bus 74 to Coffee Hill Cemetery. It was a sunny day and many pairs of curious eyes of the publics and the caretakers greeted us as we proceeded into the cemetery. I’m actually quite curious in what they were thinking actually.

“What the hell are they doing in a cemetery with parangs?”  Or “They coming for Qing Ming? It’s already over. What these kids think they are doing?”

We planted a few Check Points along the way, as there will be a treasure hunt for the cemetery hike. It has been along time since I’ve been back there. Coffee Hill is still as peaceful as it was back then in my rovering years.  I took a few pictures of the cemetery as I don remember we have any archival photos of Coffee Hill Cemetery in Den. 

We reached the base of the big tomb at approx 1115hrs. We all chatted with the caretaker who is having his lunch under an ever-familiar man-made blue tarp shelter. He is the caretaker who actually showed rover the way up to the big tomb during their 1st recee, but of course not without a price of S$20.

The path up to the big tomb is still the same as before. The rover leads the way this time while I’m documenting the event from the back of the pack. We had a shorter route this time as compare to the previous one I took years ago.

“This is it!” I heard.  Then in no time at all, I found myself standing back on a familiar ground once again after 6 years.  The 1^st thing I looked for is the statue of the guard, which gave me a fright 7 years ago [I was doing recee with rover back then. As I was bashing thru tombs, I saw a very low wall of a tomb about 1-2 foot high. I decided to go over it and at the moment I step up on the tomb, right in front of me was the Indian guard holding an olden days waxed paper umbrella. The sight really scares the hell out of me.] and the beautiful tiles on the floor in front of the tombstone.

Yes, this is it, the big tomb that belongs to Mr. Ong Sum Leong, the boss of the New World Hotel (info given by the caretaker), the big tomb that I’ve not seen for 6 years. I looked at my watch, 1131hrs it shown. We put our barang barang at one corner and then we started to plan the clearing process. Moments later, Darren and I were bashing thru the thick bushes using the parangs while the rest were clearing the plants at the side of the tomb. About 1hour later, we’ve cleared about 75% of the area. Then we started our prayer ceremony.

Soon after that we carried on with the clearing and I’m really impressed by Benjamin, he actually cleared quite a bit of the plants using only branches.

About 15minutes later, we decided to leave the tomb and carried on planting the Check Points. I then snap a few pictures of the big tomb for archival purposes.

After all that was done at the cemetery, we decided to head for lunch at sunset way. On our way to sunset way, our beloved Tian Han was actually on his way toward the big tomb alone. Darren informed him thru the phone that we’ve left the cemetery and he’ll have to meet up with us at sunset way. Eventually we did met up and we headed back to den together after buying some necessary equipment.

Raven

It was my off day but I’ve made an appointment with Tian Han to assist him in the campfire pit. I reached SP at approx 2pm. He was having his lunch with Darren at the FC2 Macdonald. After that we went to the FO booth to take a look at the performance. Then we proceed to pole shed to prepare the firewood. It was fun doing all these scouting stuffs all over again. Then soon after that we packed up and then we proceed to Beach Road for out sourcing of our tee shirt.

Then the true adventure came, as we were at the POSB ATM, we saw a man lying on the ground near the bus stop. Tian Han then suggest we go take a look at him to make sure everything is all right.

I went up to the man and I can clearly see that his chest is moving and he is breathing. I went ahead and applied what i’ve learnt in my 1st Aid Course, while tabbing on his shoulder i asked.

“Hello uncle?”

“Hello Hello, uncle can hear me or not?”

“HELLO!!!” i increased my volume. There isn’t any respond. I turn and look at Tian Han,

“Shall we call the ambulance?” he asked.

“beta call la…” I replied. 

I called the ambulance while Darren keep on trying to get a respond from the unconcious man.. He did the same thing as i did only this time he slap he man’s face… I was laughing like mad when i heard that from Tian Han and Darren.

While ai was calling the ambulance. A passer by came to assist too. Then soon after a crowd appears, then we told them that we have notified the SCDF and the ambulance is on its way.

Soon after the ambulance appeared, the crew came out of the vehicle and then this female paramedic starting calling the victim’s name. “ZED, ZED!!!” at this particular moment, the driver told us that he is a “regular”. He always gets drunk and lie on the street. They have attended to him many times before. Then we get the whole picture and we started laughing but our job’s not done yet, we did some crowd control and then we left the scene.