Haw Par Villa - Interesting stories about the statues

Besides viewing all the statues, was nice to read some interesting stories behind the statues.

Haw Par Villa - Opera Masks

Right inside the park were three very huge opera masks. Am glad they maintained the park and the statues. Remember seeing these huge masks when I was young. Replica of the nine dragons found in Beijing Forbidden City.

Skywatch Friday - Haw Par Villa - Buddha Statues

I love taking photos of the different types of buddha statues in the park. Am not familar with the names of the different buddha but I think the above photo is that of the smiling buddha. Not only do the buddha have different names but the way the buddha posed are just as important. To learn more about the meaning of the poses you can view from here For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch Blog

Haw Par Villa - Statues of foreign countries

The Thai Dancer at the entrance of the park was about 3 metres tall. These two sumo wrestlers had a place in the park too and between them were replicas of the Tiger Balm Ointment. Even Statue of Liberty found her way to Haw Par Villa too. These statues were already very famous in their respective countries. The founders of the park were nice to share these educational features in the park with society.

My World Tuesday - Haw Par Villa

The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. In 1988, the Singapore Tourism Board took over the running of the Tiger Balm Gardens and renamed it as Haw Par Villa Dragon World. The statues were restored while retaining the original flavour. Plays, acrobatic displays and puppet shows were also organised. However, visitors were charged entrance fees. The high fees discouraged the public and the management incurred a loss of S$31.5 million after 10 years of management. The gardens made money for the first year of operations after renovations in 1994, broke even in 1995 but lost money for the next 3 years and was forced to have free entry in 1998. In March 2001, the Singapore Tourism Board renamed it Tiger Balm Gardens and entrance fees dropped.(Source Wikipedia) My parents used to bring my siblings and myself to visit the park, many fond memories of the park. Most of our photos of the park back then was in black and white. Most would be familar with Tiger Balm, we used to have them at home when we were young, the ointment worked wonders in relieving aches and pains. For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.