a rare sort of encounter...

Two hatchlings nestled in a heliconia plant - Kitchen Garden, Pasir Ris Green


I had a magical Friday... much more than Val did. And it's all about a rare encounter of the kampung spirit. See, it's been a long while since I last felt that sense of solidarity, and friendliness that was so familiar in Timor. People are strangers mostly here in our clean, cosmopolitan city. Not in Timor where people knew people, and nobody was a stranger, and you are always an alin(younger sister) or mana (older sister).

We had gone (for the third time!) to Gallop Stables to see the smelly horseys and mingled with the typical family crowd when we chanced upon the Kitchen Garden at Pasir Ris Park - all thanks to Val, who had refused to go home and bolted across the green grass towards the garden.

Hunting for tadpoles but there were none


There, I saw a huge variety of fruit trees and herbs, but more importantly, i met two friendly souls there. One of them Uncle D is in the picture above with Val. They bonded over a water hose after Uncle D showed Val how to water plants, the lil boy was trailing him all around the garden. The kindly old man had so much patience to teach the boy. It was great seeing two complete strangers getting along so well. Credit goes to Uncle D for being so friendly, and remembering Val's name at first mention.

The Kitchen Garden has been around for 12 years - and Uncle D has been volunteering there for just as long. This is his garden almost. He said he and a friend had mooted to the Nparks to create something like this, and the Nparks did. Since then, the retiree has been visiting the garden every single day for 12 years to water the plants, turn the soil, plant new trees etc. Amazing.

We then met Uncle A, an old friend of Uncle D, who had come to bring him some snacks. Without hesitation, the two old fellas shared their hotdogs with us, and we just sat there in a pavilion chatting like old friends for half an hour. Later Uncle A even sent us home in his vintage, dusty BMW.

I am a simple person who appreciates encounters like this one: it restores a lot of faith in people for me. It's been a long while since i last felt this bonding with strangers. This was what I loved about backpacking alone, cos you get lots of it. When you're alone, you are more open to meeting strangers and talking to them.

I was a very trusting sort - I would go out with dinner with strangers as long as I had a good feeling about them. Writing about the two old men reminds me of a memorable encounter in Burma, Christmas Eve 1999, in Mandalay.

A small group of us visited a famous restaurant and was told it was closed cos the family were going for Mass. They invited us back the next evening and when we turned up - we were ushered, seated and food served without us ordering anything. We ate, but with some typical unease - what if we get ripped off, right? The food was great, there was music and everything was merry. Still, our skeptical minds played tricks on us.

In the end, when we finished eating and wanted to pay (prepared for the worst), the restaurant owner, said "Merry Christmas." How wonderful right? This happening in a third world....

Anyways, here are some pictures of our magical day

Apart from wanting to be a dump truck driver, I think Val now rather fancies being a gardener.

Uncle D says if I bring Val back more frequently, he'll train the boy to be a green finger!


The innocence of youth

So free-spirited are the young. We need to keep them so.

I am glad my quest to make my boy an outdoors person seems to be on the right track!


Butterflies are a sign of a thriving ecosystem, they're also particularly attracted to this plant (name i don't know of). Uncle D plans to grow more of them to get the butterflies coming.