Thursday, June 3, 2010

Kitsch Delirium at the Haw Par Villa in Singapore

The Haw Par Villa is without a doubt the kingdom of kitsch.
This park is located on the south coast of Sinagpore , 262 Pair Panjang Road. The entrance is free. It was built in 1937 by Aw Boon Haw, owner of Tiger Blam, in honor of his brother Boon Par. The tiger balm is an ancestral chinese balm composed of medicinal plants used for pain relief.


We went to the park by taxi. The taxi driver was a bit surprised when we announced our destination. He explained to us that this park was unfortunately ran down and that it would take a lot of money to rehabilitate it. The driver also told us that some of the things portrayed in the park can be misunderstood and misinterpreted by westerners.

In this park, there are a lot of statues staged to illustrate Chinese moral values.

We started our visit with the courts of hell. I'm not putting up pictures of the judgements of hell because they can be quite gore.
The doors of hell

Laughing Buddha



Don't ask me why there is a statue of liberty in this park.







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