Singapore : Haw Par Villa

We are going to take a break from my London/ Europe posts and come back to one of my favorite (but least affordable) places in Asia... Singapore!

My bf and I visited Singapore back in November 2015 for a very fulfilling purpose, which I will tell you about in my NEXT post ;)

I've always wanted to visit Haw Par Villa, a "theme park" which contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore, legends, and Confucianism aspects.

view right after the exit from the HPV MRT stop

Park map

Yours truly at the main entrance

A brief history (from Wiki):
The park, originally called Tiger Balm Gardens, was built in 1937 by the Burmese-Chinese brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. They moved their business from Burma to Singapore in 1926 and purchased the site in 1935.

A sad fact of the park is that it isn't very well maintained, and many statues and such have faded but you can still see what it originally was, as well as imagine it back when it was in its full glory. Entrance is free.

My BF has been there many, many years ago when he was still a child and his parents took him there to scare him to being a better person (last resort huh?). Why do I say "scare"?

Perhaps the most (in)famous and most well known point of the park,"Ten Courts of Hell".
The Ox-Headed (right) and Horse-Faced (left) Hell Guards stand guard at the entrance. It features gruesome depictions of Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism.

Once you enter the "cave", it is really dark and you will be greeted by the most horrifyingly graphic sculptures and statues. In Chinese folklore, they have a very specific kind of hell for specific kinds of sins. And man, are they PAINFUL. Just to even LOOK at. or imagine.

There is a full-length detailed depiction online here: http://wheresidewalksend.com/court-of-hell/

I took a couple of videos from inside:

I saw a family carrying their little son inside, and the little boy was just crying his heart out because it was really creepy inside and his parents' reassurances "See what happens if you cheat in your exams or lie!" sealed it good. Ha!!

 Pavilion and Pagoda Zone:

Bridge above the large pond

The Pagoda

This zone has many prominent statues of the Buddha and the Goddess of Mercy (wide contrast from the Ten Courts of Hell!)

My BF's #squad

With the 三星!

From Wiki:

The Sanxing (三星 "Three Stars"), who are Fu, Lu, and Shou (simplified Chinese: 福禄寿; traditional Chinese: 福祿壽; pinyin: Fú Lù Shòu), or Cai, Zi and Shou (財子壽), are the personified ideas of Prosperity (Fu), Status (Lu), and Longevity (Shou) in the Chinese traditional religion.

Naturally I went for Fu (Prosperity) Lol

Found myself a wishing well. My BF and I never let a wishing well go. Or a wishing pond. Or anything really that we can make wishes at.

Journey to the West:

Next you will see the statues of Xuan zang and his journey to the West. Journey to the West is one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. The author is Wu Cheng en. The novel is a fiction and depicts the legendary pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang. The monk travelled from China to the West in search of the Buddhist scriptures. The monk was assisted by his three disciples during the journey and these three disciples were Sun Wukong, Zhu Ba jie and Sha Wu jing. Xuanzang rode on a white horse and along the journey he was attacked by demons but his disciples came to his aid. Journey to the West is reminiscent of Chinese mythology and folklore. -Tripadvisor

Spotted!!

They had the many different sculptures and statues of the different stages of the many key characters from the book, paired nicely with captions in Chinese, English and Malay (yay multicultural Sg FTW!). It was a really interesting read. For those who are really into this mythology will really like this section of the park.

Only one photo from the Hilltop:

with the Goddess of Mercy

I was really glad to have been able to visit this park, even though it is no longer the MAIN point of attraction in Singapore anymore. I really hope the authorities get around to giving it the much needed touch-up it should get as it really is interesting, educational and unique. Give the Park a visit yourself. you will learn so much more!

This is also a very well-documented page to learn more about Haw Par Villa: http://dejiki.com/2013/07/haw-par-villa-photowalk-the-hilltop/

Til next time!