Land's End

I love trivia. It's embarrassing.

Let's say somebody ask you what is the old name of Singapore, you're likely to say something like Temasek, Syonan-To (during Japanese Occupation), Singapura (Sang Nila Utama legend thing)....I don't know if any of the answer is wrong.

I don't know if Singapore is actually classified as an archipelagic state. The Philippines and Indonesia are.

Singapore Island is also less commonly known as Pulau Ujong. And Ujong, in malay, is suppose to mean "land at the end of a peninsula". So it's like the local lingo for Land's End.

If you have to guess where the granite for Raffles Lighthouse and Horsburgh Lighthouse is from, what will your answer be? Again, if you understand malay, you might guess Pulau Ubin. You might have the same answer if your local knowledge is good. Ubin is a mispronunciation of a Javanese term for granite. There was enough granite on that island not only for the lighthouses, the construction industry in Singapore up till 1960s before the construction industry boomed. The Singapore-Johor Causeway was also built from granite quarried from that island.

The name of the island on which Raffles Lighthouse stands is Pulau Satumu or "one-tree island". But previously, the colonial name for Satumu was Coney Island which has since been used for Pulau Serangoon. Coney is a type of European rabbit. Maybe the shape is like a rabbit? Pulau Sekudu was so named because it looks like a frog. Sekudu is (you guessed it) "frog" in malay.

Back to Horsburgh Lighthouse. The lantern, the original lantern at least, is built by famed lighthouse lantern maker Alan Stevenson who is the son of the famous Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson. Thomas Stevenson, Alan's youngest brother, was also a famous lighthouse engineer. But he is even more famous for inventing the Stevenson's Screen that is used in meteorology. Alan Stevenson is also the uncle of Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde author, Robert Louis Stevenson. Thomas was disappointed that Robert Louis Stevenson did not follow in the family's proud tradition as an engineering family.

So you see, if I ever slide up to some girl at a bar, I can never give them some smooth one liner and get them to give me their phone number. I will have better luck if I just keep quiet.