Big Portrait Tomb @ Bukit Brown Cemetery

Driving aimlessly may not be such a bad idea, especially if you happen to drive into Southeast Asia's largest Chinese cemetery; Bukit Brown.

The grave caught my attention because of various reasons; the area it encompasses and especially the two life-sized stone benches that would be better placed in a Roman-themed garden.

What's more interesting were the large portraits beside each headstone! This is unconventional even in the current era when photographs of the deceased are no bigger than one's palm! 

It houses a husband and a wife; Mr Tok Cheng Tuan and Mdm Oon Tuan Cheng. From the look of Mdm Oon's portrait, my bet is that she was a Peranakan.

Typical of Peranakans who were likely English educated in the colonial period, there were writings in English. Nothing much; just the usual name, date of their death and age. 

More information can be found online; you may check out the post here by a librarian who seems to have access to a lot more data than myself. 

The markers flanking the tomb can only mean one thing; its end is near as it has been identified as one of over 3,000 tombs that the government is clearing in order to build a new road across the century-old cemetery.

Time to plan another aimless drive again.