Haw Par Villa is my favorite spot in Singapore
It’s no secret that Haw Par Villa aka Tiger Balm Garden is my number one attraction in Singapore.
Whenever we have visitors I always suggest to show them around in that huge, almost forgotten theme park.
Three women visiting Haw Par Villa: a visitor, a local and an expat.
As a result, I visited Haw Par Villa probably around 15 times over the past 6 years. And I’m still fascinated by it.
Bathing women, dancing women, sirens and mermaids. Tiger Balm Garden has lots of them.
What to expect at Tiger Balm Garden?
The words ‘attraction’ and ‘theme park’ may set the wrong expectation. What Tiger Balm Garden is -nowadays-is a huge park, with over a 1000 statues, sculptures and dioramas, scattered all over the place.
The colors are vibrant and gaudy. The scenes depict myths, morals, sins, legends, hell. All coming from Chinese culture and folklore.
Just a few of the many gruesome tableaux at The Ten Courts of Hell. The horror of many a young Singaporean, back in the days. It gave them nightmares as a child.
There are some sculptures and scenes that look totally off topic. As a matter of fact they ARE. Like a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. Or the deer in the picture below, on the right. I think it was talking to a snake or something. No idea about what. Or why.
Weird.
But that’s what Haw Par Villa is for me: weird, quirky, unique, outsider art, rich with history, intriguing.
It is Alice in Wonderland meets Dali. It’s art AND kitsch.
Vast, quiet and free!
In the first years that I visited Tiger Balm Garden, I usually was the only visitor. For me, that added to the mystery of the place. Since a few years there is a subway station next to Haw Par Villa. It sees a bit more visitors now. But the park still feels quite deserted, which I love. And it’s still totally free!!! Which is amazing!
At the very end of the park you find a couple of gigantic masks. They are fabulous! Combing through the beard hairs on the left. Cleaning it’s nostril on the right.;-)
Close up of two of the masks.
During one of my last visits, I had the fortune to run into Mr. Teo Veoh Seng, the man who has been and still is on a never ending quest to paint, repaint, repair the sculptures in the park.
Such an honor to meet the man who gave Haw Par Villa it’s colors and vibrance for almost 70 years!!!
Mr. Teo Veoh Seng is over 80 years old and worked at Haw Par Villa since he was 13 years old. How amazing is that?! It means that he knew the brothers who built Tiger Balm Gardens. Wow!
As you can imagine, the burning sun, the constant humidity and the pouring rain take their toll on the statues.
And once you repainted and finished the last one, the first ones have begun peeling off again;-).
I happened to be with a local friend that day, who speaks the same dialect as Mr. Teo Veoh Seng. That made it possible for her to translate for me and we were able to have a small conversation.
One of the things he told us, was that the park has been taken over by another organization and that he chose this moment to retire. We saw him at work during his last month on the job.
Visit Haw Par Villa now, before it’s too late!
I’m a bit scared of what’s gonna happen now. Will they be able and be willing to keep it’s charm? Or will they ‘glossify’ Haw Par Villa? Commercialize it? Ask an entrance fee?
The shell man lives amongst a number of pretty mermaids. Lucky b*st*rd!
I can only hope for the best. But just to be sure, I advice you to visit Tiger Balm Garden NOW, before it’s unique look and charm are forever gone.
This is a story about temptation. Do you see how the ‘man’ has a small hammer in his breast pocket? And the woman wears a small watch and necklace? I love these tiny details. Why a duck and hens? That has to do with the Chinese language. There often is a double meaning which we westerners do not get. It would add another layer of enjoyment to speak and understand the language, while looking at these sceneries. There are signs with explanations in english throughout the park. But not everywhere and not necessarily very extensive or detailed.
Find out more about this intriguing place and have a look at some amazing pictures
I wrote many articles about this park, with information about the founders of the park, its history, a map and lots of fascinating, gorgeous pictures:
- my first article about Haw Par Villa from 2009
- in this article from 2011 I write why Tiger Balm Garden is one of Singapore’s best attractions
- in 2014 the government did a campaign to revive Haw Par Villa. I participated in a historic guided walk around the premises. Very interesting, even though I already knew a lot about Tiger Balm Garden.
Do you see Leonardo and Kate (Titanic avant la lettre)?;-)
- I often refer to Haw Par Villa as Singapore’s best kept secret. In this article I explain why I see it that way.
- in this post I tell you the story about a picture of me that was taken at Haw Par Villa. (No, it’s not the picture below.)
There’s a whole world out there, in Haw Par Villa, with all sorts of stories.
- the story of no. 5 is related to this post about a fashion shoot in Tiger Balm Garden. We had so much fun!
- Tiger Balm Garden as one of 14 sights that impressed me most
- and Haw Par Villa as one of my 5 top outsider art places
Talking about weird stories! On the left we see a woman breastfeeding her mother-in-law. On the right we see an old woman trying to steal that purse?
Have you visited Haw Par Villa or Tiger Balm Garden? Did you like it? What is the weirdest place you ever visited? And the best outsider art you saw?
Very cool park. The fact that it has recently been sold, as you say, is good reason to visit NOW if you are in the area. Such whimsy. You were lucky to get to meet the man who keeps the works alive. He looks like part of the scene. Thanks for all these photos and fascinating coverage.
It seems not to have been sold, but handed over to another organization to manage it for coming years.
Yes, I think so too, that he seems part of the scene!
I’d love to visit this unusual place. I do hope they manage to find someone to take care of it. I cannot imagine working in the same job for 70 years!
bisous
Suzanne
The new management organization seems to have good intentions. They even want to turn it into a national monument.
Me neither, Suzanne, but this man loved his job. Very independent work. He even mixed his own colors in used tins! Heavy work though, in the burning sun and heat, bent in uncomfortable positions.
Great post - and you are totally right, this is such a great sight. It would be a shame if it was to change… and how lucky you were to meet the keeper and restorer of this beautiful park.
Thanks, Ruth. Nice to know that you appreciate Haw Par Villa too.
Hello!
Thank you for writing such a beautiful post on a theme park that my family used to call home. I am one of many Mr Teo’s grand daughter and really appreciate you having a chat with him.
Oh wow, how unique and special that you used to live there! Thank you for finding my blog!
They have been ‘renovating’ HPV over the past months. I have not revisited yet. I hope they did not ‘ruin’ it’s charm.
How is your grandfather? I guess he stopped working at HPV now?
Hi there,
My oldest cousin was the last of the third generation to lived there. I wish I did. The park its still the same, nothing has changed since you’ve visited it.
It’s funny how you asked about him, he is doing very well. He wanted to retire when you visited him last year (I suppose) but extended that till this year. He is finally retiring this June after a good 7 decades. But yeah, I found your blog because I just completed a photography assignment on him and I needed to back my concept with some research.
I just photographed him over Easter when I flew back to Singapore. He allowed me to step into his world and photographed him which was really special. I did a series of photos that I will be sending them over to him this June as a retirement gift. He doesn’t know that yet but I do hope it works out fine.
Amazing that he is still there! I have to revisit HPV next week or so, before I travel again.
What a great idea of you to take pictures and prepare them for him as a gift!
Are you -on top of that- doing anything else with the outcome of your assignment? Was it your own initiative or did somebody ask you to do this? Just curious.
I understand from your response that you don’t live in Singapore yourself?
It’s my own initiative.
Yes, I am currently staying in Leeds, UK for university commitments.