Return to Haw Par Villa - 2023 Introduction

We first visited Haw Par Villa (HPV) in December 2014. It is a well-known attraction amongst local Singaporeans but doesn’t get a lot of attention in tourist literature aimed at overseas visitors.

It is, for want of a better term, a Chinese Culture and Mythology theme park. HPV describes it on its website thus: “the eclectic park is a treasure trove of the Asian culture, history, philosophy and religion – quirky yet enlightening at the same time.”

In early 2023 we were back in Singapore with our son Zac and decided to revisit HPV to see how it had fared over the intervening years.

Before providing our updated 2023 comments here’s our earlier post, written in 2015 to give you an idea how things were back then.

Haw Par Villa - December 2014

We’d never heard of Haw Par Villa in Singapore until we read an article which described it as Asia’s Weirdest Theme Park. This got us interested so we decided to check it out for ourselves when in Singapore in December 2014.

Originally set up as the Tiger Balm Gardens by Aw Boon Haw, the creator of Tiger Balm back in the 1930’s Haw Par Villa is today a theme park based on Chinese Mythology.

CHINESE MYTHOLOGY COMBINED WITH TIGER BALM ADVERT

The park is a bewildering collection of garish, kitschy statues and dioramas depicting different fables and stories from Chinese folklore.

The highlight has to be the Ten Courts of Hell. It features horrific depictions of Hell, colourful scenes of punishments and the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation in Buddhism and Chinese Mythology.

As you enter the 60 m long stone tunnel that houses the Courts you are confronted by King Qinguang residing over trials of criminals, judging them according to the deeds of their past life and dishing out an array of gory and bizarre punishments.

What is particularly striking is the weight given to different crimes.

For example in the third court of hell the “crimes” of a wife whom is a worry to her husband; unreasonably delaying a funeral; and ungratefulness sit beside escaping from prison and tomb raiding. The punishment: heart cut out and/or tied to a red hot copper pillar and grilled.

Similarly in the fourth court business and tax fraudsters are grouped with ‘those who opened letters not addressed to them’ and people who throw there rubbish in the street, and all are collectively condemned to being grounded by a large stone, kneel on spikes or having their tendons cut.

In court five rapists and those who have plotted to murder another are joined by people who don’t bury a cat or dog properly to be collectively thrown upon a hill of knives.

A personal favourite is court eight where people who are rude to their parents or other elderly folk and exam cheaters have their intestines and organs pulled out and bodily dismemberment.

And in this world of equal opportunity crime and punishment rapists, murders and robbers are joined by people who write erotic books or draw lewd pictures to have their heads and arms chopped off.

If you’d like to know a bit more about the specifics of the Ten Courts the two links below might be useful.

https://www.fulltable.com/vts/h/hc/hc.htm

http://wheresidewalksend.com/court-of-hell/

But there is much more to Haw Par Villa than the Ten Courts.

CRAB HEADED BOY - A PERSONAL FAVOURITE — CRAB with BOY’s head - A PERSONAL FAVOURITE

We wandered for a couple of hours around the site, admiring all manner of interesting scenes.

As the adage goes a picture tells a thousand stories. We think you’ll get the idea.

It’s not our aim to give a detailed account of the many characters, myths and stories that await you at Haw Par Villa.

You can find out for yourself when you go. And you should go, you won’t regret it.

It’s easily accessed as it sits beside Haw Par Villa Metro Station.

And it’s free!

Our only regret was that the gift shop was closed. I would’ve loved a crab with boy’s head t-shirt.

RANDOM TOURIST POSING WITH CHB — RANDOM TOURIST POSING WITH Crab with boy’s head

Ken

Ken

2023 Reflections

Apparently, in 2015, not long after we visited the first time, management of the park was taken over by heritage specialists Journeys Pte Ltd. What was immediately noticeable was that most of the displays had been freshened up with new coats of paint. Everything looked quite vibrant and well looked after, which wasn’t the case in 2014.

Another significant change was that the display known as the Ten Courts of Hell, which was a real highlight previously, had now been elevated to the star attraction with its own “Hell’s Museum” that one traversed prior to reaching the Ten Courts.

The museum involves displays and text about beliefs and practices relating to death and the afterlife by many different religions and cultures globally.

Attached to this addition was an entry fee. Previously all the park was free, now the Hell’s Museum and Ten Courts of Hell section will cost you $S18/$A20/$US13.50.

Back in the main part of the park there is a large monument to the founder, Mr Aw Boon Par.

There’s also a small museum which includes a model of the original villa, from whence the park gets its name, but which has long ago burnt down.

All in all, we were pleased that we returned. The park is looking good, is mostly still free, and hasn’t lost any of its weirdness. If you get a chance check it out for yourself.

Here’s the official website hawparvilla.sg

Ken and Cally

A few shots from our recent visit