Singapore - Seen and Unseen (Part 4): Singapore's Bizarre Head-scratcher Park, and the Top University

- July 27-28, 2016, Wednesday-Thursday.

- Even though Part 3 (click here) was the cultural and historical highlight of my visit in Singapore, my last two days were far from boring. My first destination for the 27th of July was a "long forgotten" theme park to the west of Singapore's tourist hub called "Haw Par Villa." It is very accessible from the Haw Par Villa MRT Station (just beside the station.)

Entrance to the villa.

Of course the tiger is the most prominent, because you know, Tiger Balm.

The entrance itself is as captivating as the things to be seen in the park.

- Haw Par Villa is a theme park (as in a park that has a theme, but not the kind of theme park with rides and stuff) built in 1937 by the Burmese Chinese Brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par who made the Tiger Balm herbal rub. The park was made to mainly teach Chinese values to people, and to let visitors appreciate various aspects of Chinese mythology and folklore. It is a strange village, especially for those who do not understand Chinese mythology, because of the peculiar appearance of these mythological creatures. The main highlight of the theme park is the "10 Courts of Hell." It is a small man-made cave (not scary at all trust me) with the depiction of "Chinese hell" separated into 10 courts. Each court shows a distinct style of punishment, with gruesome and "bloody" statues, for certain sins (ex. one " court" shows prostitutes being drowned for eternity in a pool of dirty blood.) This system of separating hell is like the circles of hell in Dante's Inferno. These exhibits mostly have explanations, both in English and Mandarin, so people will understand these significance of the statues. During my visit to the 10 Courts of Hell, a mother was with her two little children, and she explained each court of hell to them so they would understand why bad deed these people did and how they were "paying" for their sins in the afterlife.

No, 10 courts of hell doesn't refer to me.

Before entering the 10 courts of hell, I saw the special tiger car that the Tiger Balm Brothers had someone made. 

Entrance to the 10 courts.

Come in my little sinner.

Engaging in prostitution - drowned for eternity in a pool of dirty blood.

Inflicting physical injury - thrown in a volcanic pit.

Being ungrateful, disrespectful to elders, or escaping from prison - heart cut out.

Tax evaders or engaging in business fraud - pounded by a spiky stone mallet.

Being disobedient to one's siblings - grounded by a large stone (I think only children are safe from this.)

Plotting someone's death for money or property (how specific,) or money lenders giving really high interest rates - thrown to a hill of knives. 

Cheating, cursing, and abducting others - thrown to a tree of knives.

Robbing, murdering, raping someone - head and arms chopped off.

Samsara - the cycle of birth and rebirth.

I think this is a good representation of samsara.

- There are also some anthropomorphic figures that are doing unthinkable things that just leave people scratching their heads, especially since some of these have no explanations. Even worse, some of these were placed randomly (or so it seems?) and without any explanation. I enjoyed every bit of the park's weirdness though!! Oh, best part about the park is that entrance is free!!

Animals making giant crickets fight. Why??

A lady breastfeeding her in-law.

Tiger Balm tiger endorser.

Madam White Snake. (The one in blue is Madam Green Snake.) To know more about this story, go to Part 2 (click here). 

Lady Liberty, you're in the wrong country.

Indonesian-style Garuda.

Sumo wrestlers endorsing Tiger Balm.

I like how the squid person is squirting black ink.

Memorials to the 2 Tiger Balm Brothers.

There was no context. There were just two anthropomorphic birds doing this. No explanation or anything.

Guan Yin.

Crab-person by the pond.

There were turtles and some fish in the pond.

Shell person, what's up.

Again, no context. Not sure what the rat's deal was with the rabbit girl.

Also another head-scratcher.

A turtle and a frog racing with ostriches.

Three humongous opera faces. Why?

Each head was around 5-feet tall.

Stuff nightmares are made of.

There was a part that tells the story of China's great epic, "Journey to the West."

I love you this big.

Of course, the Three Old Men of Chinese folklore - happiness, prosperity, and longevity (from left to right.)

- The Haw Par Villa today is largely ignored by many, especially tourists, although my Singaporean friend Kelvin (see Part 3 here) told me that there has been some kind of revival movement to make people (both Singaporeans and foreigners) go to Haw Par Villa. When I went there, there were a few tourists, and some big Singaporean groups of teenagers that used Haw Par Villa as a leg of some kind of Amazing-Race-type activity. Still, I really enjoyed my stay in the park and I did learn a lot more about my own Chinese heritage.

Goodbye Haw Par Villa, I genuinely wish to see you again in the future.

- I rode the MRT after visiting the park and got off a station after - Kent Ridge MRT. From Kent Ridge I had a simple lunch at the National University Hospital food court (since it was convenient and air-conditioned) before riding the bus to the main campus of the National University of Singapore (NUS.) NUS, founded in 1905, is the oldest and currently the biggest university in Singapore. It is known by many as consistently being one of the best universities in Asia and the world (according to Asian/world university rankings.) The campus was huge but people can reach and go around the university or go to and from some nearby MRT stations using public buses (EZ Link card accepted,) or the NUS buses (free.)

- I was supposed to do some inquiries, but since the office I wanted to visit was still on lunch break, I decided to visit the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. The museum looks like a big boulder from the outside. The museum also doesn't accept cash, so one can only purchase a ticket (a steep 21 SGD) through credit card payment. The origin of the museum is still debated until today, but the museum itself was established as an independent academic unit of the Faculty of Sciences in 2014. The highlights of the museum include three sauropod skeletons and fossils of other prehistoric animals, and the collections of Sir Stamford Raffles and other British prominent colonizers.

Here I am, with a costume change.

Hello Mr. Sauropod. (I just assumed it was a male sauropod.)

Trilobites.

One of the world's most well-known lazarus animals - the coelacanth.

Archaeopteryx.

Skeleton of a whale.

Skull of an elephant.

Pterosaur.

Pteranodon.

Woodpecker and pangolin.

The sauropods from the above.

- Beside the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is the NUS Museum. The history of the museum can be traced back to the 1950s, and currently houses several thousand artifacts and artworks. The museum has no entrance fee.

Here I am.

Yes I was.

Gandhara art, yet again.

Ganesha, Tamil style.

There was no label, but this seems to be an incense burner from China, most likely somewhere along the west of China, along the Silk Road.

- After visiting the NUS Museum I did my errands in NUS and was supposed to meet my former student in the late afternoon; my student arrived on that day from Manila to start his one-semester exchange program in NUS. I soon received a message from him that he had some difficulty settling in since he had to buy some necessities for his several-months stay in Singapore. Because of that, I decided to go back to my hostel and have dinner in the Chinatown area. My student asked if I was available the next day, my last day, so we could still meet. Thankfully, my last day was still blank as it was my supposed wild-card day (a day for places that I did not visit so I can visit, or in case I suddenly find out about some interesting place that I didn't know about during my trip-planning stage.) Since I finished everything that I needed to do, I agreed on meeting my student in NUS. He promised to show up this time.

- On the early morning of the 28th, I went to Kent Ridge MRT to go to NUS. As the doors opened, I saw my good friend Henry standing in front of me. We weren't able to schedule a meet-up because of his busy schedule, but I guess the heavens had ways of making me trip all the more complete. We weren't able to say much to each other and I wasn't even able to take a photo with him since he was in a hurry to get in the train to go to work (he's interning now.) Well, I suppose not meeting my former student the day before in NUS was something the heavens had planned all along.

- I arrived in NUS around 8am, and met my former student Zac; he was in my Asian history class the previous semester. We had breakfast in the only open snack shop in NUS near his 10am orientation venue. As agreed, he wore his H&M shirt that matched my H&M shoes because we're cool like that. We had a simple traditional Chinese breakfast and talked for a good 2 hours before he attended his orientation. He asked if I had time around noon after his orientation since he wanted to experience the "surprise" that supposedly had in store for him the night before. I reluctantly said yes, though I reminded him that I wouldn't have much time since I would need to go to the airport mid-afternoon to catch my flight back home. He seemed happy with the arrangement.    

GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE...........SINGAPORE!!!!

Hi Zac, why'd you follow me all the way o Singapore??

I told him to hold the NUS brochure that was given to me the day before.

- While Zac had his orientation, I went out of my way to go to Orchard Road to stroll around. The rain decided to, well, rain on my parade, and it rained harder than the usual. I was stuck in Lucky Plaza, or the mall frequented by the Filipino community in Singapore. Just for fun, I tried a typical Chicken Joy in Jollibee at the top floor. Yes I know, it seems stupid, but I just wanted to know if the Jollibee in Singapore was similar to the one in the Philippines. Well, I can say that the Chicken Joy was less salty, which I like. I didn't try the spaghetti though it looked a bit different than the one in the Philippines; I wonder if it tasted differently too. It has to be noted that most employees and customers of Jollibee Singapore were Filipinos as well, making the experience and ambiance all the homier.

Hello Philippines.

It was nice.

My morning "snack."

Orchard Road is a shopper's heaven, but still not my cup of coffee.

- I rode all the way back to Kent Ridge MRT to meet Zac for his half-day downtown tour of Singapore. I had wanted to do the tour the evening before when all the nice lights would come out, but I guess doing the tour during the day would make Zac see everything much clearer. We visited the Merlion Park, the original Raffles Statue in front of Victoria Theatre, the second Raffles statue at the landing site, and Clarke Quay; I visited these sites in Part 3 (click here.) We had a bah kut teh lunch near Clarke Quay. It was fun to be his tour guide especially since I was giving him an impromptu history lesson that was beyond my usual Powerpoint slides in my Asian history classes. For me, traveling intelligently is the best way to learn about history and different cultures.

Merlion spitting on Zac. Hahahaha.

Marina Bay Sands.

The Esplanade.

The Raffles Statue in front of Victoria Theatre.

The Raffles Statue at the landing site.

Clarke Quay.

- After the partially-rushed tour of the downtown essentials, Zac and I walked to Chinatown from Clarke Quay. I said my goodbyes to Zac after I left him in Chinatown to explore (with some instructions from me so he wouldn't get lost,) while I went back to my hostel and got my things. With a heavy heart and a heavy baggage, I rode the train to the airport and had one final Singapore laksa for dinner before boarding my plane back home. Singapore was fun, and it indeed changed after my first time in the small island country 11 years back. I was also really happy that I finally got to satisfy my itch of discovering the not-so-usual places to see in Singapore while revisiting some iconic landmarks in the country. I also would like to thank my friends who took time off to meet me despite their busy schedules, finding a compromise was quite difficult. To my other friends in Singapore, I hope to meet you soon!! Singapore is a vibrant little country that blends its cultural diversity, rich history, and fast-paced modernity, and although my wallet was crying after the trip (since things were quite expensive there,) I really do hope that there's still another opportunity to visit Singapore, the Lion City. (Don't forget to read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here!!)