Welcome to Tui Snider's Cemetery News: 

Greetings, fellow tombstone tourists! If you're new here, welcome, and if you're not, great to see you again. 

Happy April Fool’s Day! I’m pretty mischievous, but I’ll probably behave myself today. We shall see...

How about you? Hit reply and let me know if you prank anyone today, or were on the receiving end, yourself. (Or if you have any other questions or comments, hit reply and give me a howdy. I love hearing from you guys.)

Where have I been lately? I’ve spent the last couple of weeks exploring historic cemeteries as our ship crossed the Indian Ocean. 

Here’s what I’ve got for you in this issue:

1) Tour Italy's Cemeteries With Me!
2) Singapore’s Old Malay Cemetery 
3) Graves in a Frangipani Grove

1) Tour Italy's Cemeteries With Me!

Who wants to tour Italy’s Cemeteries with Me? Before I dive into my recent travels, here's a reminder for new readers as well as those who may have missed my exciting news:  

I’ve been invited to be a cemetery tour guide through some of Italy’s amazing monumental cemeteries, known for their incredible statues and gorgeous funerary monuments.

Along the way, we will also explore ancient Etruscan tombs, a chapel decorated with skulls and bones, and other historic hotspots. (And, of course, we will enjoy tasty Italian food along the way!)

If this sounds fun to you, check out the details at Lisa’s Gryphon Art Tours. (And don’t delay, because space is limited and folks have started signing up.):

I'm super excited about this tour. It's going to be so much fun!

2) Singapore’s Old Malay Cemetery  
Last time we were in Singapore, Larry and I explored the beautiful and historic Bukit Brown Cemetery, where we saw monkeys, wild boar,  grave goods galore, and luckily zero cobras. (More about Bukit Brown here.)

This time, we visited Singapore's Old Malay Cemetery, which is smack dab in a busy urban neighborhood, with a bus stop right beside it. Even so, the Malaysian Peninsula's jungle is never far away! 

I've yet to the learn what the different colored cloth means as well as what the shape of these headstones is all about, but you can see more photos from Singapore’s Old Malay Cemetery here.

3) Graves in a Frangipani Grove
Not only is Penang's Georgetown Neighborhood a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it's home to a gorgeous historic burial ground that's tucked inside a fragrant Frangipani grove. (As you can see in the photo at the top of this email, I tucked some frangipani blossoms into my hat.)

Since the front gates were locked, we took the convenient side entrance, as you can see from this photo. Haha! 

We saw a very unique sarcophagus in this cemetery, too. It seems to have stylized dragons on the corners, but I'm not entirely sure and will have to do more research.  (I saw similar critters around town that actually were dragons celebrating 2024 year of the dragon.) Here's a combo photo showing both:

I'm learning so much on this trip, but there here's still so much more to learn in this great big fascinating world of ours! 

You can see some of my favorite photos from my visit to Penang's Old Protestant Cemetery here.

Want more? If you want more details and photos, drop by my travel blog. (The posts are divided by months, so choose a month and dig in!) https://findpenguins.com/tuisnider

Would you like a monthly postcard from me featuring historic cemeteries and interesting sites from my world travels? If so, check out my Patreon page. You can also follow my public Patreon posts for F.REE or become a patron if you would like to support my creative journey.

Do you have something to share?  If you have something cemetery-related to share, drop by Tui Snider's Cemetery News on Facebook. It's a friendly group where cemetery enthusiasts can share links, photos, articles, questions, experiences, and other related info while having conversations and making friends. Even though I'm traveling, I still pop in as much as I can.