Sunday, August 03, 2008

The Final 24 Hours

I am back in the US, comfortably settled into my house. It is so quiet here. Where's all the traffic and construction noise? Ahh, that's all back in Singapore. All I hear is the gentle hum of my computer and a bird chirping outdoors.

Thanks to Rohaizad, I had a great final day in Singapore. He indulged me in all the things I wanted to do and see. One thing was Haw Par Villa, formerly known as Tiger Balm Gardens.

It was built in the 1930's and was once hugely popular, as this old postcard demonstrates:

But now it has been eclipsed by more exciting entertainment options in Singapore. On the day we were there, only two other people were in the entire park.

Haw Par Villa is best known for its huge diaramas depicting scenes of hell. It seems redundant to build such a thing in Singapore, but there it is. Unfortunately, hell closes at 6:00pm which is about the time we arrived.

Fortunately, there are still several acres of huge, freaky-looking, painted concrete sculptures.

Wandering through paths surrounded by so many eerie statues as dusk fell was an unsettling experience. Here are a small selection out of the myriad to choose from.

Chicken people:

Giant faces:

Giant gorillas:

Spooky fella:

Shipwreck:

Many of these diaramas included explanations of what people were saying and doing. The point was to teach the viewer a moral lesson against gambling, drinking and so forth. Rohaizad enjoyed seeing how the men all wore suit coats in the 1930's despite the heat of the tropics.

A car accident:

Rohaizad and I at pagoda:

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