My World Tuesday - Little Guilin in Singapore

Little Guilin is a park in Bukit Gombak, Singapore. It is a popular visitor attraction due to its similarity to the scenery of Guilin, China.

Constructed from a disused granite quarry, Bukit Batok Town Park is commonly known as "Little Guilin" or "Xiao Guilin", after the scenic spot in China. Comprising 42 ha of land, it is located at Bukit Batok East Avenue 5. The name "Bukit Batok" has been suggested to be derived from the noise made by the blasting in the granite quarry that now form the natural surroundings of Little Guilin. The Housing and Development Board had originally intended to fill the quarry up and build a road on it in 1984. It was converted to a pond instead when it was realized that the existing quarry had rugged granite outcrops and a contrasting backdrop of green hills that gave it a pleasant look. You can view more information from here.

The apartments on the top right hand corner gave away that this is not the real Guilin in China.

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Haw Par Villa - How to go to Haw Par Villa

This is the original garage where the Aw's brothers kept their "tiger car".

Monument in memory of the founder and his wife of tiger balm, the parents of the two brothers.

The statue of the old man showing the direction to the entrance of the park. Admission is free of charge.

Visitors who do not drive can take the MRT and alight at Haw Par Villa Station. On exiting from the mrt station (road level), turn right and the park is just next to the mrt station.

Haw Par Villa - More Statues

The two brothers were really very rich businessmen to have so many statues in their park which they started in the lates thirties. I did not managed to take photos of all the statues, think might be more than a thousand statues in the park. This statue is that of a great learned man, Confucius. Confucius is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic texts including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, but only many years after his death. You can read more about him from wikipedia. The living buddha or Ji Gong is well known for his wild and eccentric behavior while maintaining his compassionate nature, Ji Gong became a folk hero in China and was later deified in the Taoist community often invoked by oracles to assist in worldly affairs. Source (wikipediaThe three statue of Fu Lu Shou which I explained in earlier post.

Skywatch Friday - Haw Par Villa - Journey to the West

These exhibits showcased statues from the famous novel of Journey to the West. The novel is a fictional story about a monk together wish his disciples, Sun Wukong (the monkey whose name means awakened to emptiness, Zhu Bajie (the pig whose name means eight precepts, Sha Wujing (meaning sandy). They have to overcome many obstancles and demons and spirits before arriving to the west to collect buddhist scriptures from the living buddha. You can read more from source.





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Haw Par Villa - Life during Early Singapore

These exhibits showcased life during early Singapore. Life was hard and most made their living by farming. During the early 50s and 60s, vices and fights were common in early Singapore. Unlike the present Singapore where majority of Singaporeans owned their own homes, the early settlers live in rented homes and always find difficulty paying rents and most of the time get kicked out of their homes by landlords.