After an exciting visit to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, I headed down the West Coast Highway to Haw Par Villa, a theme park that has over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore and Confucianism.
The bus ride to Haw Par Villa took about 20 minutes...
The theme park was set up in 1937 by two Chinese brothers from Burma - Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, who manufactured the world-famous Tiger Balm cream. The park was then called Tiger Balm Gardens...
The park was intended to be a venue for teaching and communicating traditional Chinese values to the younger generation...
In 1988, the Singapore Tourist Board took over the park and renamed it after the founder Haw and Par - incidentally Haw means tiger and Par means leopard...
On our last trip here, Neeti and I picked up a few Tiger Balm packs as souvenirs, little did we know of this park then...
The tiger that is shown on the Tiger Balm packs welcomes visitors to Haw Par Villa...
Ohhh, what a delight to see Mr. Porky here!
In memory of the Aw Boon brothers...
Saving on a couple of dollars here...
History of Haw Par Villa documented here...
Images from various Chinese legends...
Lin Zhe Xu, a Chinese scholar who opposed opium trade in the 1800s...
Macho Chinese!
Proud to be a Dragon!
Aw Boon Haw Memorial...
Haw was a bit of a maverick and a violent character in his early days, but sobered with age and became the architect of Tiger Balm's marketing success...
He was a philanthropist and contributed funds to help Nationalist China fight back Japan in the Second World War...
The pot-bellied Laughing Buddha is a lot like our stout Lord Ganesha...
The belly signifies open heartedness, abundance and happiness. The sack that the monk carries has food for the poor...
A family Kodak moment... a Kodak moment, minus the Kodak...
Tranquility...
What a magnificent beast...
Masks...
The Tiger car that belonged to the brothers...
Next on the discovery were the Ten Courts of Hell...
Chinese mythology believes that hell is under the sea, or so called beneath the sea bed. The kingdom of hell has 10 palace halls with a king in each. In each of these palaces is a court in which we will report to the king (Yama) upon our deaths. These courts are known to be as the 10 courts of hell!!!
The Chinese believe that when one enters hell, he is escorted by two guardians, ox-head and horse-head, who accompany the deceased to the courts for punishments...
At the first court, the past deeds are reviewed. The virtuous are led over the Golden Bridge to heaven, while the evil-doers are taken to subsequent courts...
In the second court, those accused of inflicting injury are thrown into a volcanic pit, the corrupt are thrown into pits of ice and prostitutes into a pool of blood and drowned...
In the third court, the ungrateful have their hearts cut out while drug addicts, robbers and those accused of social unrest are grilled on red hot copper poles...
In the fourth court, tax evaders are pounded by a stone mallet and those who lack filial piety are ground by a large stone...
In the fifth court, those who plotted murders and moneylenders who charged exorbitant interest rates are thrown onto a hill of knives...
The sixth court was a bit gory to put here. Here those stealing from temples, committing blasphemy and those killing animals were made to kneel on iron nails, swanned in two, gnawed by rats and had their bodies chopped in half...
In the seventh court, rumor mongers and those causing quarrels have their tongues pulled out, while those driving others to death are thrown into a wok of hot oil...
In the eighth court, those accused of the lack of filial obedience have their intestines pulled out. Those harming others for self-benefit have their bodies dismembered...
In the ninth court, those robbers, rapists and murderers have their heads and arms chopped off. Those who are accused of noth taking care of the young and the old are crushed under stones...
In the tenth court, the final judgement is read out...
After the judgement is read out, an old lady, Meng Po, gives each one a cup of magic tea that makes them forget their past lives...
Then each one will go through a wheel of reincarnation to be reborn as a human or as an animal, into a life of comfort or of misery. This is what we call Karma...
So much for heaven or hell... for it's time to enjoy the worldly sights of Singapore...
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