Singapore, Angkor, & Helsinki

When I told some of my classmates about my plans to explore Atlas Obscura sights, one listing they immediately latched on to was the German Girl Shrine. I have long been fascinated by this site, but because it is located on Pulau Ubin, an island off the northeastern tip of Singapore, I never could garner the motivation to make the trek there. Now, with my three classmates in tow, I got the kick I needed to make this pilgrimage. Of my three classmates who accompanied me, I have been in continuous contact with one, sporadic contact with another, and the third I have not seen since we were teenagers. It is a testament to our bond of friendship that we simply picked up where we left off.

The German girl in question lived before World War I on a plantation on Pulau Ubin belonging to her parents. As war was about to break out, the British started rounding up Germans. The girl fell to her death escaping the British, and the plantation workers buried her at the site of the shrine. Rather inexplicably, local gamblers started coming to the shrine to pray for good luck. They would leave feminine offerings, such as nail polish or dolls, at the shrine.

One overcast morning, the four of us met at the Tampines East MRT station and we made our way towards the ferry terminal at Changi Point. When I was a teenager, we simply walked onto the jetty and onto a waiting boat. Now, there is a fancy terminal and waiting areas for the next boat. On our return, we were surprised to be directed to a metal detector and x-ray machine for our bags.

The boat ride to Pulau Ubin took about ten minutes. Once on the island, we set off west for our 2.5km walk in search of the German Girl Shrine. En route, we stopped at several other temples and shrines, and also at a number of scenic spots. The most interesting of our diversions was to a shrine that appeared to be Chinese on the outside, but when we stepped in we saw statues that looked Malay, along with Malay paraphernalia. A google search revealed that the deity at this shrine is Datuk Gong, an earth deity that takes different forms and has devotees of different ethnicities and faiths.

After about an hour of walking, we reached the German Girl shrine. I noted that the signage at the shrine was in English, Chinese, Malay, and German. At the shrine itself, I saw a couple of figurines with European features, a wreath, plus offerings of nail polish, bottles of perfumed water, and dolls. Sadly, there was a lot of trash next to the shrine, and there were monkeys and a wild pig foraging in the trash. One of my friends had a pink handbag that was the same color as some of the plastic bags in the trash. One monkey made a beeline for her bag and tried to snatch it. I had to stand between her and the monkey.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/german-girl…

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