Haw Par Villa

I’ve got a list of weird local trips that I want to make whilst I’m living in Singapore, most of which have either been mentioned to me by locals, or recommended by other expats who have found them bizarre, odd and worth a visit. With Nick out of town on a boys golfing trip this weekend, I decided that it was finally time tick at least one of these off the list!

            

Top of this To-Do List was Haw Par Villa, an abandoned “theme park” of statues depicting (terrifying) stories from Chinese folklore. Originally opened in the 30s, the park was taken over by the brothers who invented Tiger Balm, who sadly couldn’t make a profit out of the exhibits, and so closed down all the facilities, abandoned the park and left it open to the elements.  It’s apparently an educational outing that Chinese parents would (and still do) take their children on to learn the stories of their ancestors (and to be scared witless).

When walking around the completely deserted grounds (at 10am on Saturday morning I only saw one other group there - a mother and three children, she was clearly desperate for them to start behaving as you will see when you get to the Ten Courts of Hell description!) there are some clear signs that the park is derelict, such as the blocked off and crumbling amphitheatre and the locks and boarded up doors and windows of all refreshment stands and stalls, the statues (made out of what looks like trusty, never rotting glass fibre) are still in place, along with a couple of the information boards which work to try and explain a small portion of what the crazy images represent.     

   

Whilst some of the statues are quite fun, in vibrant colours, telling historical tales from Chinese adventures and times past, the exhibit that really struck me as crazy was The Ten Courts of Hell. That’s right, there were statues listing crimes and the punishments that the criminal will receive in the Ten Courts before they are able to progress to the stage of reincarnation, to start there new life.

To put this into perspective, there were rapists being thrown onto hills of knives and prostitutes having their hearts cut out of their still living bodies. Now, I’m not saying that this isn’t fairly graphic for young children to see, but the ones that really struck me as taking it to another level were those that didn’t listen to their siblings being ground to pulp under huge rocks, or being chopped in half for the misuse of books, and being bound to a burning furnace as punishment for cheating on a test. This was the main exhibit, and whilst I haven't included many picture of the gore here, it really was excessive! 

If this place doesn’t give the visiting children nightmares then I really don’t know what would!