Skip to Content

Polaroid of the week: Creepy statue at Haw Par Villa in Singapore

Polaroid of the week: Creepy statue at Haw Par Villa in Singapore

Last Updated on October 7, 2021

.

polaroid of the week singapore hawper villa statueHaw Par Villa was definitely one of the more bizarre sights we have visited during our travels and is hands down definitely the oddest attraction in Singapore (if not in all of South East Asia!)

Built in 1973 by the millionaire brothers who started the Tiger Balm brand, the ‘villa’ features over 1,000 statues depicting Chinese folklore, history and mythology. These brothers were not afraid to get graphic with it, either!  Opened as Tiger Balm Gardens, this was supposed to teach traditional Chinese values. Back in the day, Tiger Balm Gardens was a popular tourist destination with regular theater plays and puppet shows, but today it’s just a strange, strange shadow of its former self.

If you follow us on Facebook, you might have already seen the weirdest statue we came across there – a grandpa milking on a woman’s breast (apparently her father in law!).  But there were so many more statues that left us confused… rats with their feet cut off and bleeding stumps, a pig in underwear, armed monkeys, turtles riding on the back of ostriches, and then there were the elaborate scenes of the 10 courts of hell.  This showed cruel images of people downing in the pits of hell, sawed in half, and being stoned with big rocks. Familiar with Chinese mythology? Then maybe these scenes make sense. As for us – we left pretty confused, and wondering what the parents were explaining to all the kids we saw there.

Have a look through our Flickr photo album for more of the crazy statues at the Haw Par Villa – and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

[flickrslideshow acct_name=”Globetrottergirls” id=”72157629735637808″]

Wanderplex

Monday 21st of May 2012

Okay, yeah that's pretty creepy! And definitely not the kind of thing a bit of tiger balm will fix either :P

Dani

Tuesday 22nd of May 2012

Haha, that is true! I was surprised not to find more items related to Tiger Balm, but these guys just wanted to educate us on Chinese mythology ... or creep us out ;-)

Megan

Saturday 19th of May 2012

The 10 levels of hell is a big thing in Southeast Asia, and I never figured out exactly what it was all about. I unsuspectingly went into a '10 levels of hell' exhibit once, which was quite an experience. I never new kitschy and gruesome could coexist so well!

jess

Sunday 20th of May 2012

Hilarious, Megan! Kitschy and gruesome do completely coexist here! :)

Arti

Friday 18th of May 2012

Gross. Thats the word, I guess!!

jess

Sunday 20th of May 2012

Simple and right on the money Arti! :)

Denise

Friday 18th of May 2012

I can't believe I missed this place. I had no idea it existed!!!

jess

Sunday 20th of May 2012

We didn't either! We met up with Jen from Directionally Challenged and she recommended it to us!

Alex Jones

Friday 18th of May 2012

Blimey, that is seriously weird. How about putting together a blog post of sicko travel photos?

jess

Sunday 20th of May 2012

Interesting...we'll get started on that right away :)