Haw Par Villa

Had an unexpected surprise in Singapore while looking around Chinatown. I saw a post card of a Laughing Buddha. It was something that stopped me in my tracks  as a wave of recognition hit me. 

 

At first the name Haw Par Villa didn't connect. but when I red the back of the card; it stated that  Haw Par Villa was once known as the Tiger Balm Gardens.  My late father  went there in the mid 1960s. As a 10 year old; I loved his slides of that place. It was always a much requested favourite in family slide shows.

 

For me it summed up the exoticness of the far east; with brightly coloured pagodas, laughing Buddha’s and  exotic  bridges and fish pools. I was very exited to find that it existed and was in  Singapore and not Hong Kong as I had thought.

 

It proved to be the highlight of my sightseeing in Singapore.

Laughing Buddha                         Pagoda                          Tiger Car

•  Haw Par Villa was built Built in 1937by Aw Boon Haw; for his brother Boon Par It was a spectacular  modernist art deco building which did not survive the War.  Aw Boon Par was so upset to see the wreck of his home after the Japanese Occupation of Singapore; that he ordered its destruction . There is no trace of the house today.  Aw Boon Par  continued to develop the park until he died in 1954.

 Colourful tableaux depicting ways to live well and Chinese mythology

The Gardens are a riot of eccentric colour and far bigger than I had imagined. It’s a really fun place and yet some of the depictions of Chinese mythology are graphically gory..

   Shipwreck!  those who didn't drown were gobbled up by sea monsters or eaten by sharks

   Road accident                  friend attacked by a bear             The Ten Courts of Hell 

A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. It is a chamber of horrors in miniature with impressive  attention to detail. The 10 Courts of Hell' are believed to be based on the Indian Buddhist legend of the 'World of Suffering' where one would be punished in 'Hell' for sins committed in one's present life. 

May father never showed me these gory depictions shown below

 

The Park was nearly lost after some of the main exhibits were redeveloped in a way that was not faithful to the original concept. The park fell into decay after a project to revive it as a theme park failed. In 2004 Haw Par Villa was reopened after much of it was restored; reinstating The 10 Courts of Hell to its original design.

 

 

Haw Par Villa remains a fascinating insight into the Taoist culture in Singapore in the 1930s, A politically incorrect anachronism it is yet  is all the more refreshing to see 

 

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