Haw Par Villa
Haw Par Villa1 is a place in Singapore which was filled with tourists and visitors a decade ago. But now, it’s just a deserted place; lifeless and forgotten. My parents brought me there when I was 5. My memories of the place was fuzzy and I couldn’t recall much but we did took some photographs there. The place was huge and there was lots of activities going on. Everyone was walking around taking photographs and the kids were given balloons. That was how the place was like 16 years ago. I brought mum there yesterday as it has been a really long time since she last went there. The entire place was empty and we were the only ones there. This was not how I remembered it to be.
Empty and forgotten
The paint on the statue is peeling off
Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion
This park contains lots of statues of Chinese folklore and legends. It’s actually a very interesting place to visit. It used to have more in the past but the park has reduced dramatically in size over the past few years. Most of the paint on the statues are peeling off and the lamps are broken as well. I feel that some serious maintenance for the park is required. This park is suppose to be a tourist destination but what was happened? There was no advertisements or marketing done to promote the park has a tourism destination. I seriously hope something will be done about it. This place contains some valuable Chinese teachings and it would be a pity if the park was left to “die off”.
A peaceful and quiet place
The Chinese Legend of White Snake
I'm glad to say that there are still some form of life left
Beautiful and colourful statue
Lots of algae in the pond, I wonder if it's meant to be like this
A Chinese quote
Wishing well
Ten Courts of Hell
MV Doulos at Vivo City
We left after an hour or so. The weather was so terribly hot. We hopped on to a bus and alighted at Vivo City. I spotted the “GBA” logo on a ship near the harbour. My first thought was “The book fair has arrived in Singapore?”. I was so excited that I dragged mum onto the MV Doulos2 right after we had tea at the White Dog Cafe. Security was extremely tight and the ladder leading to the ship was so steep, I almost fell off. 
There are tours available for the public at SGD 5 per adult to tour around the ship. There are many varieties of books such as children, cooking, baking, educational and bible for sale. The books are extremely affordable and I saw many mummies buying lots of story books for their kids. We walked around and I took some photographs of the ship. There was even a clown around entertaining and having fun with the children on board the MV Doulos. I regretted not taking a photograph with her. 
She was so cute and funny!
MV Doulos
Safety boats of MV Doulos
MV Doulos
I snapped this photo of Star Cruise on board the MV Doulos
Vivo City
The clown
How could I resist not going to shop when I’m at a mall? =D Shopping is my way of relaxing since school is literally killing me now. I guess most should have know that by now. Believe me, if I went home empty handed on a shopping trip, I am out of my mind. I bought 3 items, not 13!
Bod Organics White Tea Cleansing Gel
Chomel Crystal earrings in yellow and black
We were about to left when I decided to bring mum to the National Geographic Store3 since the National Geographic channel was one of mum’s favourite. I spotted this pair of not-so-stylish-but-extremely-comfortable pair of shoes on one of the shelves. It was love at first sight! 
I don’t usually wear such sandals/shoes because it’s not really my style. However, this pair was so comfortable that I couldn’t resist. It was made from leather, recycled ones if I’m not wrong. The brand name “National Geographic” is imprinted on the strap of the shoe which this one of the reason why I love it. It isn’t my best looking shoes but definitely one of the most comfortable. Their clothings and accessories are really nice even though the price tags aren’t. I was SGD 99 poorer when I stepped out of the store. 
Shoes from National Geographic
National Geographic official product tag
For more photos of the entire trip, please drop by my flickr. 
- Haw Par Villa is a Chinese mythological theme park in Singapore which contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrating various aspects of Confucianism. [«]
- The MV Doulos is the world’s oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship. She is now owned by the German charity: Good Books for All, and is used as a floating bookshop. [«]
- I wasn’t aware that National Geographic sells clothings and footwear etc aside from magazines. [«]
17 January, 2010 at 10:50 pm
It makes me sad to see such beautiful places fall by the wayside. Many people prefer more exotic or trendy places to visit and forget the beauty of places like this.
16 October, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I’ve never been to the Haw Par Villa before although I’ve been here for almost 8 years! It’s a shame that they’re not maintaining the place but as far as I know, the visitors go there in a trickle and there’s simply no incentive for the government to spend big bucks on improving and maintaining the attraction.
I do remember about the torture chamber or something (the tunnel that depicts the punishment people receive in hell if they commit sins in their lifetime) – I’ve seen photos and it’s rather eerie inside. I once read this article about this paranormal team investigating the place in the wee hours in the morning and the photos of the statues are just too scary. There’s some rumour that some status are actually plastic casts of dead people but I’m not buying into that kind of silly joke though :P
Oh, and I heard about the boat too! I heard it’s nearing the end of its last voyage and will be decommissioned really soon. I feel bad for not being able to make time for a trip to Vivocity last weekend to visit the boat! I think it’s a lovely ship that still works as good as it was first commissioned
it’s sad to know that they’re going to scrap it very soon *wails* it’s just a beautiful ship!
The photo of the female clown is just lovely. I can see that you’re stalking her from the back! I do that all the time also because I’m painfully shy when it comes to approaching people for a photo opportunity. To think of it, we have nothing to lose so it’s actually okay that if we ask, but for some reason there’s also this impossibly high psychological hurdle that I have to clear :/ haha!
I’ve visited the NatGeo shop in Vivocity before! The things there are very expensive and although I’m aware that most of the profit goes for charitable or environmental causes, I couldn’t bear tearing a hole in my wallet
I’m so bad! But I do love their photo gallery/exhibition – very inspirational indeed!
16 October, 2009 at 10:47 pm
True, there are no incentives for the government to maintain it but it’s a real pity to let it die off. I hope they don’t close down the park in the future. I’m hoping they will renovate and revamp the place after the Circle Line has been completed since the station is right beside the park. With the increase accessibility, I’m sure there will be more tourists.
Oh my gosh! It’s going to be decommissioned soon? Sigh, it’s a really pretty ship. I should have gone for a tour then. We were rushing for time hence we didn’t join the tour.
Haha, is it that obvious I’m stalking her? I think she didn’t notice me. I snapped the photo right before she turn her back. I seriously regretted not taking a photograph with her.
I agree that the items in the National Geographic Store isn’t cheap. A jacket cost about SGD 269. Even though it looks really beautiful, I didn’t want to burn a huge hole in my pocket after getting the shoes.
14 October, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Whao, I can still recall that Haw Par Villa had a flume ride back then. And being scared of such rides in the past, I was screaming and clawing at my mum because the whole family wanted to go on it. But then again … I was only six years old. Hahaha.
I haven’t stepped into that place since then. I’d love to go on that flume ride if they had it now … but they don’t.
14 October, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Ya! The flume ride goes through the 10 courts of hell back then. They removed the ride and replaced it with a path for visitors to walk through the 10 courts of hell. Haha, that one was definitely scary for a 6 year old. The statues and stuff are creepy and it’s so dark in there. :shocked: