恭喜发财, 乌敏岛! (Have A Prosperous New Year, Pulau Ubin!)

Hi All!

This post will be sharing on my experience where I headed down to Pulau Ubin with my best-est friend, Pam to distribute mandarin oranges and Chinese New Year decorations to the Chinese community there on February 2nd, 2019. It was also a great opportunity for me to befriend and get to know more of the Chinese residents there.

In the week prior to Saturday, February 2nd, 2019, my mom and I headed down to the PRIME Supermarket near my house to buy some mandarin oranges on Tuesday. They were having an offer at the time and since we also loved eating oranges when Chinese New Year is around the corner, we bought three whole boxes of 18 oranges each! We opened up one box for ourselves while the other two was kept safely for Saturday.

On Friday night,  I headed down to the pasar malam at Ang Mo Kio with Pam, to have a look at the Chinese New Year decorations on sale. I've heard that as the days get closer towards the new year, there would be mass promotions and offers on their items; a massive clearance sale sort of thing. While Pam was strolling around to find decorations that she could give her grandparents and for herself, I also took the time to take a look on what was being sold.

I've always enjoyed going through the decoration stalls when Chinese New Year approaches as the whole place would be so red and filled with New Year Wishes and among the most beautiful types of creative decorations that you could find. I then came across a 福 symbol and I remembered in primary school that "fu" represents fortune, and if you flipped it upside down it symbolises fortune raining down upon yourself. I thought to myself that it would be a great complement to the oranges, so I bought them in bulks too, hehe.

So the very next morning on February 2nd, Pam and I met up at Changi Village at 0900 hrs. I had to admit that a lot of eyes were on me on my way there as I was donning the traditional red changshan. Either that or they were looking at the huge tote bag that I brought along which contained over 30 plus oranges in them, hehe. 

As soon as we boarded the bumboat, it started pouring heavily and I was getting pretty worried if the rain was going to hinder my orange distributions on the island. I faced towards Pulau Ubin and noticed that the skies above it was still pretty bright and sunny and I just prayed that the downpour would not move westwards. Surely enough after about ten minutes of ferrying in the stormy seas, we arrived on a dry and sunny Public Jetty. It turned out that it did not rain down in Pekan Ubin, and I was very thankful for that.

After walking down the jetty, I opened up my bag and prepared to distribute the oranges around. We first arrived to the first bicycle rental shop and handed a pair of oranges and a 福 symbol to the owner. The same happened throughout the entire row of bicycle rental stalls in Pekan Ubin and all of them were very happy and some might even be surprised to have received the gifts, including some whom I have already befriended like Ah Hee.

Ah Hee and I would often exchange greetings in Malay whenever I walked past his bicycle rental stall ever since I first rented my bike from him in the beginning of my Ubin journey last year. Photo courtesy of Pam.

Next up was to cut across the Ubin Town Square straight into two provision shops, Chew Teck Seng Provision Shop and Yak Hong Provision Shop. First was the latter where I met with the auntie who was also the owner of the stall. As though by pattern by now, she offered to sell me her stuffs in which Pam and I told her that our intention was to celebrate the New Year with her. She was moved and touched by the gesture so much so that she actually offered to treat us with two bottled drinks! I was taken aback as I didn't expect fortune to befall me hehe. I appreciated her kind offer, wished her the best and headed next door into Chew Teck Seng's Provision Shop currently under the care of Ah Yong.

Thank you Auntie for your kindness, may this Year of the Pig bring happiness and fortune to you! Photo courtesy of Pam.

I have met Ah Yong and got to know more about him previously during my Christmas celebration event with the Faith Community Baptist Church (Marine Parade) which they have invited me for. You can find out more about that amazing day here! I also handed him the gifts and wished him the best of fortune for his business before moving off to other stalls in Pekan Ubin.

Ah Yong's store is located humbly hidden in the middle of the row of shops in Town Square. May you have a prosperous New Year, Ah Yong! Photo courtesy of Pam.

I came across Ah Huat and his sister, Mrs Choo after turning into the corner of the Panggung Wayang Cina or Chinese Opera Stage, and you guessed it, we gave them the oranges and decoration, too. 

Don't mind the slipper, it's just there for aesthetic appeal, hehe. Happy New Year to you, Ah Huat and sister. Photo courtesy of Pam.

I found out that the restaurant and provision shops opposite Ah Huat's residence were closed and I assumed that it was either for spring cleaning or that the family had returned back to the mainland to prepare for the celebrations there with the rest of their relatives. With that, pretty much every resident found within Pekan Ubin has had their fair share of oranges so we decided to embark on our 15 minute journey down Jalan Jelutong to Ah Ma Drink Stall.

It was pretty scorching but I assume the rainfall happening just a few kilometres away from Ubin brought some sort of respite and cooling breeze on our way there. As soon as we turned the corner in, I was a bit worried if Ivy or Ah Ma was not in as the possibility of them being busy in the mainland for preparations was there considering what we just encountered for the restaurants. Fortunately, Pam saw Ivy behind the wall near the sink as she was just getting ready to open her stall for thirsty cyclists and passersby.

And just like last week during my kampong clean-up project, the welcome crew was out in full force and I was just mostly worried for Kopi-C, the most excited canine of all time. Luckily Pam was there to entertain him before he could accidentally come into contact with me. I greeted Ivy with New Year wishes and passed her the oranges and decoration, in which she decided to quickly hang it up on her stall immediately. Pam and I decided to rest up for a few more minutes before heading down to the former village headman's house back on Jalan Ubin. But first, we took some photos, too.

Ah Ma Drink Stall was already very beautifully decorated with CNY decorations, but that didn't stop Ivy from quickly adding another one to "huat" up her stall. Photo courtesy of Pam.

Try spotting where Ivy hung up the 福 symbol, hehe. Ivy also wanted to reenact the orange distributing so why not? Photo courtesy of Pam.

As we are about to enter the Year of the Pig, let's give a round of applause to the dogs for their year now, hehe. Photo courtesy of Pam.

This dog's playing peek-a-boo with me; just look at him stealing a peek at me when I stopped looking at him! Photo courtesy of Pam.

We bade farewell to Ivy before embarking on yet another 15-minute journey to the former headman's home via Jalan Batu Ubin. When we finally reached, we managed to hear the radio playing but could not find anyone around. I definitely didn't feel like giving up there since I have always seen the grandma in her house before on numerous occasions on my trip to Kampong Sungei Durian. Surely enough after we greeted a few times, the family helper heard us and went to call the grandma after we told her of our intentions.

As she approached the front, Pam told her that we came to wish her Happy New Year and give oranges and decorations. The grandma smiled and giggled and welcomed us in. She offered us oranges in return too and also some cold canned drinks to rejuvenate after our long journey there. 

I introduced myself being the grandchild of Awang Minyak, in which she remembered about him and said about the good things my late grandfather has done. I showed her my late grandfather's face and even the picture of my grandparents's house and she could remember everything even more fondly. I was always impressed when everyone who grew up on Ubin managed to have seen 818K in one point of their life while travelling on the island. I had a few questions that I have always wanted to ask her but I never got to since she knows very limited Malay and only knows how to speak Mandarin - that's where Pam comes in to save the day again.

I learned that the grandma's name was Chen Siew Zhen or Tan Siew Chin (either way I'm just gonna call her Ah Ma Siew) and that she was 81 years old, just two years younger than Pak Ahmad and Nenek Piah. She has five wonderful children, two daughters and three sons. Through that very brief conversation that I had with her, I learned that she had babysit-ted all of her grandchildren right in her own kampong house, too! The eldest of whom is already in his/her thirties and the youngest is already in Poly Year 1, which is kinda basically my age. I learnt from Ah Ma Siew that all of her grandchildren enjoyed living in the kampong and I was very happy to hear that; reminding me that there are also other descendants out there who may keep the kampongs in their minds and hearts as they grew older. After Pam went on to socialise with Ah Ma Siew in Mandarin, we took a quick picture, thanked her for her hospitality and bade her farewell before heading back to the Public Jetty to call it a day.

I was personally very happy to have finally got to know more about Ah Ma Siew especially since her house was relatively nearest to the Malay kampong. May you have a long and happy life, Ah Ma Siew! Photo courtesy of Pam.

Along the way back at the bicycle rental stalls, considering that I still had quite the remainder of oranges and decorations, I distributed some of them to the new faces that I didn't see just now; particularly to the owner of PU18. After she tended to some Caucasian customers, I quickly rushed in to give her the oranges and decoration to which she was very excited about it.

I learned that her name was Bee Choo, whom the locals call as Ah Choo. She might have recognised seeing me often on Ubin and asked me the question if I was actually from here, in which I replied that yes I was a descendant from Pulau Ubin, too. She was happy and said that both of us were all "orang kampong" or kampong folks in Malay. It would have been a nice title to have but unfortunately I don't have a home here anymore so I don't feel comfortable using that term so freely, hehe. I introduced myself as Wan to her, and she immediately joked that her name was Two. Ah Choo shared with me that she only recently found out from her family that she was born in the house along the road when the family was playing some games at home. I found this to be pretty cool!

Just like Ivy, Ah Choo hung her decoration as soon as she got it from me, hehe. May this year be filled with fortune, Ah Choo! Photo courtesy of Pam.

We then made our way to the taxi stand where Ah Pai and another uncle was around waiting for passengers. Even after giving them the oranges and decorations, there was surprisingly still a few left. I wanted to give it to the bumboat operators on the way back but I found it to be inadequate and I would not feel good if even one of them did not get an orange. So in the end, I brought them back and eat it to my heart's content hehe.

 I remembered having a casual conversation with Ah Pai before when Pak Ahmad gifted me his bicycle here. Ah Pai helped me to understand the bicycle a little bit better (basically just understanding how the stand works, hehe). Happy Lunar New Year, Ah Pai! Photo courtesy of Pam.

I still didn't get to know your name yet Uncle, but at least I know that you always take pride in showing Ubin around to your passengers from that time I was in your van. Happy Chinese New Year, Uncle! Photo courtesy of Pam.

It was an extremely amazing day going around the different places to distribute the oranges and decoration to different people within the Ubin Chinese community. I got to meet new people and learn more about them, too. The Chinese community on Ubin plays an important role in Ubin's economy and history, especially more since tourism has since been the main source of income for the folks on the island, following the decline in demand for granite and rubber in the 1980s to 1990s.

The Ubin Chinese community continue to show deterrence, perseverance and hope in the face of change and they have shown to be an adaptable and independent group of people who are prepared to take on new horizons while on the island to ensure that their family's heritage and legacy remains on Ubin.

Here's wishing them and all of you who celebrate, a very prosperous Lunar New Year! May this year be filled with fortune, prosperity and happiness to you and your family and most importantly, may this year bring prosperity to Pulau Ubin, too! 

恭喜发财, 乌敏岛!

May Pulau Ubin thrive again, with its people in its heart.

Support us in making our kampongs beautiful again! Join me for our 2nd Kampong Clean-Up on February 23rd, 2019. Registration is open and FREE! Find out more about this event down below!
https://www.facebook.com/events/2233681263586956/

Find out about the 1st Kampong Clean-Up here!
"Our Kampongs, Our Pride: WUJ's 1st Kampong Clean-Up"

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