About a few weeks ago, I took a bus and travelled to Haw Par Villa. Haw Par Villa was formerly known as Tiger Balm Garden. Actually, my intention was to visit the Hua Song Museum nearby, but it does not hurt to visit Haw Par Villa which was just very nearby.
Haw Par Villa has a rather interesting history behind how it first came about. It was built in 1937 by entrepreneur, Mr Aw Boon Haw, for his younger brother Mr Aw Boon Par. I think it is a display of brotherly love. This place is a nice place to visit for those of you who wishes to have an encounter with Chinese Mythology. For your convenience, I have consolidated a few links as seen below:
- Singapore Paranormal Investigators - The Myths of Haw Par Villa (You should read Page 1 at least for more indepth description about the Haw Par Villa.)
- Singapore Mirror - Haw Par Villa
- Can.com.sg - 10 Reasons to Enter The Courts of Hell: Revisiting Haw Par Villa 28 Years Later
- Haw Par Villa by Jehpin Liew (One should read this if you take an interest in the Ten Courts of Hell. It has fantastic pictures of the Haw Par Villa too.)
I have visited it many years ago. It was a Theme Park then. I remembered taking the roller coaster ride, and a boat ride through the Ten Courts of Hell. I remembered that at that time, admission charges into the park can be rather expensive. Reflecting, I shall be grateful that my father was willing to spend the money for the admission ticket for myself and my brother back then.
Currently, there is no admission fee to visit the Haw Par Villa. But on my most recent visit, I noticed that one may have to pay S$1 to enter the Ten Courts of Hell section of the villa? Or was I wrong because my eyes had played a trick on me? This site offers a good description of the Ten Courts of Hell, click on the link please.
If you have been there, you may wonder like I had of how someone so many years ago could be so rich to build this villa and have commissioned the making of the many statues in the park.
It was a nice walk about the villa that afternoon. I did not spend too much time there however. Instead, I proceeded to the Hua Song Museum nearby after spending some time at the villa.
If you would like more glimpses of the villa, I think this URL that I have indicated earlier is worth your time to visit: http://www.jehpin.com/travel/singapore/hawpar/
4 comments:
nice post! wanna link it up to yesterday?
Peiyun!
I've always passed by Haw Paw villa every week gg back from PGP but I've always thought it closed down ages ago!
the 10 stages of hell still freaks me out. I remember coming out crying when I went there as a kid. Maybe I shall revisit the place and see how it affects me now.
Yay! at least I know its open =)
Hi Noel. Yes, please.
I was thinking if I should readapt the post for yesterday.sg so that it will be of greater interest to the heritage-inclined readers though.
great post and info here, cheers!
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