When Straits Times reported about Haw Par Villa not too long ago, we are reminded of its existence. My friend and I made a trip down last Sunday morning. We took bus service 143 from Harbourfront to the bus stop in front of Haw Par Villa.
I don't remember having strong feelings (be it excitement or fear) about Haw Par Villa when I was a kid. But when I was there on Sun, I felt kind of awed by the colours, statues, structures and almost everything. The place looked well-managed and other than the 2 of us, there was only a handful of other visitors between 11am to 1pm.
At the entrance
Cute tigers and fierce-looking ones too
The little cubs are promoting Tiger balms! :)
The animals looked very busy with whatever they were doing.
Near the entrance to the 10 Courts of Hell, these statues greeted us. There were some scary looking ones (heads without bodies on a hill).
Inside "Hell"
I didn't take any photos of the gruesome scenes. I find the different punishments meted out for different sins interesting and for some, quite hilarious. (Click on the photos to read the text)
Towards the end of "Hell"
We spent about half an hour in "Hell". Beyond "Hell", there were more interesting sights.
Cylindrical structure with 9 panels of different scenes
More tigers
Terrapins in the ponds
Colourful pagoda with dragons
Memorials for the members of the Aw family
Some characters from Journey to the West
The colourful port containers could be seen from Haw Par Villa.
The other name of Haw Par Villa
We were tickled by the words '早生贵子' below the painting of the Goddess of Mercy.
Beautiful flower designs painted on the roof
A nice story about how a guy rescued a tortoise and released him to the sea and when he was caught in a storm, the tortoise helped him
This Jigong looked malnourished!
Above the cool looking door and wall, there was some interesting event going on.
I was more interested in the horses and metallic flowers than the war. haha.
These huge masks/faces looked familiar.
The Goddess of Mercy statue seemed different from those I usually see and reminded me of a particular Hong Kong actor :P
More dragons. On top of the wall, there were also lovely flowers and other creatures.
Piggies
Laughing Buddha
I was quite amused that sumo wrestlers were promoting Tiger balms too :)
Another pretty plant
Statue of Liberty was lost in Haw Par Villa :P
Some last shots before we left Haw Par Villa
Before STB starts to do up this place or the new Haw Par Villa MRT station is ready, you may want to visit this place when you can slowly enjoy it without the crowd and noise.
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