T-shirt & Haw Par Villa

Hey everyone! Yah, I know it has been a LONG time since I last updated.

CAUTION: This is going to be a SUPER long entry, partly because of the number of pictures I have included here.

The main reason is that Dad came back from HK last week so I had to be a nice girl and accompany him to MOST places MOST of the time, because he will only be here for a week and fly back to HK again.

And also, I’ve been designing this T-shirt which my aunt had wanted for a LONG time. So she sent me this package which consisted of a plain t-shirt and fabric paint.

\(^-^)/

Dad and I went to Haw Par Villa a few days ag0. I think this is my 2nd or 3rd time round.

The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history, and illustrating various aspects of Confucianism. These include The Laughing Buddha, The Goddess of Mercy, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and most famously The Ten Courts of Hell, a depiction of a gruesome underworld of tortures and torments.

The park, originally called "Tiger Balm Gardens", was constructed in 1937 by the brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of Tiger Balm, as a venue for teaching traditional Chinese values. The Aw family eventually sold the Gardens to the Singapore Tourism Board in 1979.

The park was renamed Haw Par Villa in 1985 and re-opened in 1990, when it was converted into an amusement park and promoted with the name "Dragon World", with many of the statues and scenes replaced with fairground rides. However this new incarnation proved unpopular when attendances started to decline and Fraser and Neave, which had 75% stake in the theme park, started seeing losses. More recently many of the old features have been replaced, such as the dragon ride. Some of the statues have also been moved to the Chinese Gardens.

Entry to the park has been free since 1996(I remember that the last time I went to HPV, people still had to queue at the ticketing booth), while previously a S$16 entrance fee was charged and a Chinese Heritage Centre has been constructed within its grounds.

The Jade House is a new addition to Haw Par Villa. It displays a wide collection of Jades that Aw Family has collected over the years.


Tiger Car is also a new attraction. It's a vintage car dressed up to look like a tiger. It's a replica of the 'Tiger Car' that the late Mr. Aw Boon Haw owned.

The mood is serene and creepy at the same time. Definitely a unique place.

Dad and I had to pay one buck each to enter the Ten Courts of Hell.
However, today, you will get to go on a virtual tour FREE OF CHARGE on my blog. (You don’t even have to travel all the way to Pasir Panjang.)
(Don’t Singaporeans just love things that are free of charge?! Upon hearing the words ‘F-O-C’, they will just rush to grab ‘it’ whilst they can. -.-)
All that is needed is just your pair of eyes & one hand, PLUS patience to scroll down and read on.


In Taoist and Buddhist mythology, hell is made up of ten courts, each ruled by one of the 10 Yama Kings and 18 levels in which wrongdoers are punished.

Buddhists believe that reincarnation is a form of reward and retribution on their journey to Nirvana. The Ten Courts of Hell are purgatory where a person is sent to be punished for the sins and misdeeds of their past life. A sinner must go through all Ten Courts and in the tenth, final judgment will determine his form of reincarnation.

The legend of the Ten Courts of Hell tells of the punishments that await sinners after their death but before reincarnation is determined. The sinner is sent to 'hell' where he will be tormented by demonic-looking 'Yama attendants' for the misdeeds he has committed in his past life.

In purgatory, the Ten Courts of Hell are a labyrinth of infernal dungeons, each presided over by a judge who is known as the 'President' and a Registrar of Life and Death. The Presidents are recognized by their long black beards and square flat hats from which hang strings of beads. Registrars record the details of the punishment and hold a brush and set of documents.

The sinner will go through nine courts before judgment is finally reached. In each of the nine courts, he is punished for the particular sin that he has committed.


In the First Court of Hell, the virtuous are led over a golden bridge to paradise. The silver bridge to paradise is for those whose good deeds during their life outweighed the bad.
Evil doers - the ones we have really come to see - are sent to repent before the Mirror of Retribution (where all their past sins are revealed to them) and then taken to a court of hell for punishment.

Second Court of Hell: King Chujiang.

Inflicting physical injury; Common robbers: Thrown into volcano pit.
Corruption; Stealing; Gambling: Frozen into blocks of ice.

Prostitutes: Thrown into a pool of blood and drowned.

Third Court of Hell: King Songdi.

Ungratefulness; Disrespect to elders; Escape from prison: Heart cut-out.
Drug addicts & Traffickers; Tomb robbers; Urging people into crime & social unrest: Tied to red hot copper pillar & grilled.

Fourth Court of Hell: King Wuguan.
Children who are unfilial to their parents: Pounded by stone mallet.

Those who had been wronged and put to death will remain in this ‘city’ and wait for a chance to be reborn.

Fourth Court of Hell.
Waste food: Body sawn into half, vertically or horizontally.

Fifth Court of Hell: King Yanluo.Plotted another’s death for his property or money; Money lenders with exorbitant interest rates: Thrown onto a hill of knives.

Sixth Court of Hell: King Xiacheng.
Cruelty to animals and friends: Have your heart torn out with hooks or thrown onto protruding swords.

Seventh Court of Hell.
Gossips who stir trouble and liars suffer the fate of having their tongues ripped out in this chamber.

Ninth Court of Hell: King Pingdeng.
Robbery; Murder; Rape; Any other unlawful conduct: Head & arms chopped off.

In the Tenth Court of Hell, there is the ‘Wheel of Reincarnation’ and the ‘Pavilion of Forgetfulness’ or ‘Meng Po Pavilion’.

After serving their sentences, prisoners arrive at the last court where King Zhuanlun passes final judgment.

The prisoners are then brought to the ‘Pavilion of Forgetfulness’ where an old lady ‘Meng Po’ hands them a cup of magic tea which on drinking, makes them forget their past lives.

They will then go through the ‘Wheel of Reincarnation’. Depending on the prisoner’s past life, he would be reborn as either a human or an animal. Some would be reborn into a life of ease and comfort, while others into sorrow and suffering.

At last we walked out of the place of HORROR and TERROR. The thought of the different kinds of punishments that awaits you in the various Courts of Hell does make one shudder. So, FINALLY, the moral of the day: There is no end to suffering in here; Stop sinning before it is too late.

(Some of the above information is extracted from Wikipedia.)P.S. Ok, maybe some you may have already noticed that the Eighth Court of Hell is missing from this entry, but I have absolutely no idea where the hell it went to. (Ok, ok, I forgot.)

By just looking at MY photos, Haw Par Villa may not seem spooky to you at all.If you are brave enough, you may be interested in this too: Myths of Haw Par Villa. Go ahead and click it. It’s not just any other lousy website. It’s hosted by the Singapore Paranormal Investigators.

After reading further, on second thoughts, maybe I won’t revisit HPV again. Who knows?
Last note: I’m not writing this entry to promote HPV, but I just find it a really good tourist attraction, so I’d decided to share it with you.