Wan's Ubin Journal

Hi all! Photo courtesy of ExpatGo In the spirit of the holy fasting month, I'd like to share with you how a typical Ramadan was like during my mom's time growing up in Pulau Ubin. As soon as the alarm clock strikes 4 in the morning, it would give a loud ring in which it would wake my late grandmother up. With eyes still half-opened, she would reach out for her torchlight and make her way out from her hut and into the house to wake my mom and aunt up first.  My mom would always recall her mother's gentle voice as she stood by the hallway into their room to wake them up. The next thing that my mom would hear would be the sounds of crickets chirping and frogs croaking; breaking the silence of the pre-dawn. My mom and aunt would then make their way to the kitchen to join my late grandmother to help her in preparing sahur  (pre-dawn meal) for the family. They did not have any running electricity, neither did they also have any generator to light up their home...

Hi all! My mom is the ninth of over thirteen children and was actually the first among her siblings to be born on Ubin. That of course raised the question as to where then would her elder siblings be born at and where exactly were my late grandparents, Sulong Yunos (Awang Minyak) and Jariah Salim from as well. I asked my mom this question and luckily enough, she knew the answers to them. In this post, I'll be sharing about what I've learnt so far of my late grandfather's origins. My late grandfather was originally from Kampung Pahang in Pulau Tekong. Historical map of Pulau Tekong. Photo courtesy of "Public Lecture - Tales of Tekong (I): Telling the Story of Tekong Through Historical Maps " My mom fondly remembered visiting her paternal grandmother on the island with her father when she was a small child. She recalled how she would eagerly get on board her father's sampan as he rowed the small boat out from Sungei Awang Minyak, along the mangr...