9 Apr 2016 - Har Par Villa (虎豹別墅)

Har Par Villa (虎豹別墅) is a theme park located along Pasir Panjang Road. The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology, folklore, legends, history, and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism.  I have not been to this park for decades.  I vaguely remember the last time I was here was when I was about Javier's current age.

The park, originally called Tiger Balm Gardens, was built in 1937 by the Burmese-Chinese brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par.  The vintage car below was once owned by the Aw's brothers.

The best known attraction in Haw Par Villa is the Ten Courts of Hell (十殿阎罗鬼门关), which features gruesome depictions of Hell in Chinese mythology and Buddhism.  As we walked through "hell", I explained to Jerlene and Javier that this is what happened to those bad people after their death.  This is a good place to teach children to be a good person.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the different parts of the park.  There was a short shower and we took shelter at the canteen, which has now stop operating.

I remember I took a photo with this tiger when I was a kid too.  :-)

We left the park at about lunch time.  We drove to a newly opened hawker center called Timbre+ and had our lunch there.