Go to Hell (in) Haw Par Villa

The only reason I even knew about this place was because Michelle heard it was closing down. Not once in any guide books or tourist attraction brochures have I even heard of Haw Par Villa, and... well, I guess that's why it's shutting down: due to the lack of advertising and its respective revenue. Still, even though mid-way through the process of getting shut down, Haw Par Villa is still a highly-enchanting, though rather bizarre, site for anyone looking to experience Chinese mythology in full-color sculptured glory.

The official entrance is located on an uphill slope that takes you all the way to the very top of the site; other paths leading to sub-routes split from the main path.

Originally known as Tiger Balm Gardens, Haw Par Villa (which translates to "(the) Villa of the Tiger and Leopard" in English) was constructed in 1973 by brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the developers of the heat rub Tiger Balm. The villa is open daily from 9.00am to 7.00pm, and true to its namesake, you'll come across many statues of tigers and leopards scattered about the site, one of each often flanking either side of a path or an entrance. Admissions to Haw Par Villa is completely free (although there is a small and fairly new section inside, The Jade House, that requires an entrance fee: the House exhibits the vast collection of jades that the Aw family has collected over the years).

There are more than 1,000 statues depicted in the villa, all of which are vibrantly colored and still look rather well-maintained. Many of them are very detailed dioramas depicting scenes in Chinese folklore.

The sculptures in the park are "centered around Chinese folklore, legends, history, and Confucian ideology", and the attractions include but are not limited to the Laughing Buddha, the Goddess of Mercy, as well as painstakingly crafted scenes from Journey to the West. However, the most popular and well-known attraction is unarguably The Ten Courts of Hell:

The imposing entrance to The Ten Courts of Hell, flanked by horse and ox guards. Apparently, this used to take place inside a 60-metre long dragon trail; the pictures here show the entrance in its original glory.

This section of the site is particularly disturbing and definitely not for the faint of heart (I still have nightmares). The Ten Courts of Hell are exactly what it sounds like: "purgatory where a person is sent to be punished for the sins and misdeeds of their past life. A sinner must go through all Ten Courts and in the tenth, final judgment will determine his form of reincarnation." A judge or Yama precedes over each Court, and with each progressive court things get a lot more gruesome and bloodier. Sinners are depicted being thrown in a pool full of filthy blood:

Getting sawn in half:

 Dismembered:

...the list of horrors go on. (I actually felt a little sick to my stomach just walking through the cavern.) You can go here to read a more extensive and detailed list on the Courts of Hell, but really, nothing beats walking through that hellhole and looking at the hundreds of mutilated plastic bodies laid out before you first hand.

The rest of the villa really isn't so bad though!

There are just way, way too many statues in Haw Par Villa to feature in a single post. You'll see a lot of weird stuff in Haw Par, like a woman-headed crab and chicken-people eloping, medical rats and giant gorillas, and even the Statue of Liberty (don't ask what it's doing there), but overall, it's more than what words can describe. I hate to be cliché and say you'll have to see it for yourself! but I really feel sad that such a decoratively elaborate and beautifully cultural place has to be shut down. It's definitely worth a trip if you're looking for an eye-opener, and trust me when I say there'll be more pictures than you'd like to take here.

Pictures like this, for example. Now we're definitely going to have a lot of good luck coming our way, thanks a lot Mich

If you're like me and can't get enough to reading up about Haw Par Villa, here's a site with tons of pictures of almost every statue in the villa, and detailed information on... well, almost everything (I realize I've referenced it a lot in this blog post, they're seriously hardcore on this).

Don't forget to purchase your heat rub!

Pink Dot 2011 Coverage

(i'm sure this is unnecessary by now, but... click here to go to the official site!)

Even though it's pretty late over here, Pris and I were so excited after our day at Pink Dot 2011 we had to make the post the same night. (We've already covered the basics of what Pink Dot is all about in our pre-post here, so check that post for a bit of background first if you don't already know!) We had a bit of early preparation to pump ourselves up with a trip to the neoprint machines in Bugis for a Pink Dot photoshoot and afterward headed straight to Hong Lim Park, despite the fact that nothing began at all until 4:30 and we were two and a half hours early.

(camwhoring for a good cause!)

To our surprise, the event preparation was well under way and there were already a few die hard souls gathering and grabbing some choice spots as well as a ton of volunteers hard at work setting things up. We got ourselves a spot too and watched as the first few dozen people or so quickly turned into several hundred, even though it was still well before starting time.

As expected, the Speaker's Corner turned into a sea of pink before we knew it, with great weather and everyone in high spirits making our time even better. We wandered around a while to see everything going on, but this turned out to be unnecessary for two reasons: 1) By the time things really started it was so packed walking was almost impossible, and 2) the volunteers were ridiculously on top of things, with dozens of trays being passed around with free drinks, cupcakes, informational brochures, pins and other fun souvenirs.

(this won the award for sweetest drink. seriously, go here if you can, these people are awesome! www.thegardenslug.com)

(go here too, these mini cupcakes were delicious! @thewokandbarrel)

 All the great free treats were definitely the icing on the cupcake, totally unexpected but wonderfully welcome, but the real stars were the staff who kept everyone laughing and happy, so props to all the Pink Dot 2011 crew, you all definitely brightened our day!

 Several staff were patrolling the area with sticky hearts they were asking people to write messages on. Both Pris and I wrote our messages and got to stick them on the walking message board (see above), but when we saw where they all ended up it was even more fun and touching.

(Pink Dot message board! Instant written pick-me-up)

Soon after that the promised concert got underway, with performances by the Dim Sum Dollies, Voguelicious and Rima S and plenty more. 

(told you they were there. unfortunately, we didn't get to hear the MRT song today)

 (they had some serious dance moves. also, look at those heels!)

The concert was great, but the best part of the event came when all over 10,000 of the participants tried to form a huge human pink dot. Unfortunately only citizens and PRs could form the dot, as per the rules of the Speaker's Corner, but even they alone managed to take up the entire space. I'm going to link here to pictures from all the Pink Dot events just for comparison to how insane this was:

Pink Dot 2009- 2,500 particpants

Pink Dot 2010- 4,000 participants

Pink Dot 2011- over 10,000 participants!

We're not sure if they actually expected this high of a turnout, but if they didn't no one could tell. Despite the huge crowd, there was excess of everything; drinks, snacks, brochures, balloons, pom poms and pretty much anything else you could expect. We got a few of our own pics of the dot forming (well, I did, Pris was already in it. Try and spot her in the photos!), but definitely check out the links, the aerial view is fantastic.

 Once everyone was gathered there was a countdown and all at once hundreds of balloons were released by the crowd. 

I gotta admit, that was a pretty tear jerking moment, with everyone yelling in support and cheering and the general excitement in the air. Not something you'd expect in a country where it is still officially illegal for two men to be together (of course, there are no provisions on women in the law, I suppose the government doesn't think that exists?)

We even got a quick snapshot of ourselves before heading off.

One last note before signing off here: if you haven't already watched the Pink Dot 2011 video, you need to watch it now. I don't think anyone with half a heart could finish through that without shedding a tear or two-

edit 19 June: Pink Dot made the local Yahoo news again! 

Pink Dot 2011 Pre-Post

 Pris and I are big supporters for equality in all aspects of the word, so we've had this coming Saturday blocked out on our calendars since the date for Pink Dot 2011 was announced. We'll be doing follow up coverage on the event after this Saturday, but we thought we'd put out an invitation to anyone in Singapore who may not have heard to come join us for an exciting afternoon!

Pink Dot is an exciting one day activity hosted to show support for the GLBT community in Singapore which is often forgotten and rarely heard. It's a celebration of the ability to overcome obstacles and love without regard to gender and stereotypes and we're incredibly happy to have the opportunity to take part this year!

PINK DOT 2011
WHERE: Hong Lim Park
WHEN: Saturday, June 18, 2011
Time: Activities Begin Promptly at 5pm

More Information: here!

As you may imagine thanks to the name, visitors are encouraged to wear pink. This is a family friendly event so bring along friends, relatives and anyone you know who may be interested in supporting the cause. 

The Dim Sum Dollies (now best known for their hilariously bad MRT jingle we were all forced to listen to a dozen times a day for months) will be the sort of guests of honor present at the event, though there's quite a line up and it looks like the entire evening is going to be a blast.

We'll be arriving early to stake out a spot and enjoy the atmosphere, so feel free to come down and say hello and show your support for an important cause!

(see you there!)  

edit 16 June: Pink Dot was posted about on Yahoo Singapore! News article here.

NLB: NOISE - Bearfruit Documentary Photography Showcase

The last time we heard about NOISE - Bearfruit, they were holding an illustrative exhibit at the National Library, one which we thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Naturally we were excited to hear they were holding yet another exhibit at the same location, this time for photography, and made a note to visit it once we were back in Singapore.

NOISE - Bearfruit Documentary Photography Showcase
30 April - 26 June 

National Library Building, Level 7

"(The results of) a four-part workshop organized by documentary photographer Jean Loo in October and November 2010, the exhibition displays the final projects of the 14 workshop participants, each work dealing with topics close to the hearts and minds of their creators, ranging from folklore Taoism to environmental conservation at Singapore's only landfill."

The exhibition looked a lot smaller than the previous illustrative showcase, but I guess that was just due to the layout of the exhibition space. It didn't take too long to go through the entire showcase. Each "wall" had three to six photos on it, and most of the photos were accompanied by the photographer's name and a little caption detailing the respective photos.

One of the photos which caught my attention: "The Japanese Top View Ranchu are commonly displayed in white basins for viewers to admire their beauty and grace." - Photo by Titus Ong

...I hate to say it, but I honestly wasn't very impressed by this exhibit. Maybe I just had higher expectations for exhibitions from NOISE - Bearfruit after their previous illustration showcase, but nothing in the Documentary Photography showcase held my interest for long; many of the shots looked amateurishly-taken and more than anything else looked like pictures you would see pinned to a notice board outside a primary school's art club. The captions for some of the photos, while obviously meant to be insightful, deep and meaningful, merely revealed the opposite. For an exhibit that was meant to showcase "rich narratives through photographic images and words", I wasn't feeling it - most of the photographs were pictures taken at home, of family or relatives, or of mundane aspects of day-to-day life. 

Except maybe these couple of photos, taken by Jamie Chan of the Indian Thaipusam. Body piercing and walking on fire aren't really mudane stuff.

Maybe I'm talking too much since I'm no expert in photography (heck, I just shoot whatever hits my fancy), but I was definitely expecting something more creative or more heartfelt than what I saw. I left the exhibit feeling really disappointed, and by the looks of it Michi wasn't leaving feeling too thrilled either. 

...on a brighter and less critical note, Bearfruit is organizing a couple of workshops that will take place in the National Library! The upcoming ones will be a Pastel Art Workshop organized by Ms Janice Chin (in English) and Mr Siew Hock Meng (in Mandarin), and a Miniatures Creation Workshop organized by Ms Cindy Teh. Make sure to sign up in advance at the NLB website if you're interested because spaces are limited and going fast!  

Beautiful Sunday: Magic of Walt Disney

 I've never been one for music, but the Esplanade's Beautiful Sundays are quickly becoming one of the things we look forward to going to each month. June's was the Magic of Walt Disney by the Philharmonic Youth Winds, and boy was it packed!

Look at that crowd!

We got different seats this time, seated behind the orchestra instead of in front of it, and hearing the music upfront was amazing. ...I've realized that posting pictures of the Beautiful Sunday are kind of redundant, so I've taken the time to put together a playlist of the scores used in this performance.

Click the links to listen! (Sorry, I couldn't find medleys of the first two online D: )

1. Opening - Wish Upon a Star medley

2. Mary Poppins medley

3. Beauty and the Beast medley

4. The Little Mermaid medley

5. Pirates of the Carribean - World's End medley

6. The Lion King medley (last)

I wish I could find better words to describe how amazingly mind-blowing the performance for this Beautiful Sunday was; I'm re-listening to the scores again as I type this and shedding tears as I finish this post up. It was definitely one of the better orchestras we'd been to since we started, and we're looking forward to the next one, Sparks Goes POP! by SparksWinds which falls on 10 July at 3pm. Save the date if you're in Singapore, because the next performance features "light-hearted pop pieces from (SparksWinds') extensive repertoire such as Disco Party, Spice Girls and American Graffiti XX: Michael Jackson Medley." Exciting!

Suntec City - The Fountain of Wealth

Since I arrived in Singapore more than a year ago, Pris and I have made several trips to the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City and to be honest have had pretty good luck following each trip. Neither of us are terribly superstitious, but a little luck put into getting better fortune never hurt anyone, plus the fountain is pretty cool looking.

 (making an impression the Singapore way)

The Fountain of Wealth has a pretty imposing reputation to live up to, being the largest fountain in the world and all. And it's held onto its spot for quite a while, considering it was built in 1995, 16 years ago. The idea of the fountain helping one's fortune didn't come out of thin air either:

"Five surrounding towers representing the fingers and thumb of a left hand, with the Fountain Plaza as the palm of the hand, and the Fountain of Wealth forming a ring inside the palm. The ring is a symbolic guarantee of the retention of wealth. The design is based on the Hindu mandala, or universe, and is a symbolic representation of oneness in spirit, unity, and harmony among the four races inhabiting Singapore (which are considered to be the Chinese, Malay, Indian, and British)." While it's interesting to describe, you'll find better info and a description here for all your fountain visiting needs.

You have two options for fountain visiting, although if you've got the time it really is worth it to take advantage of both of them. During the day you have the opportunity to actually increase your fortune (more about that later) and at night you can watch the fountain turn beautiful colors and check out a light show. If you HAVE to pick between one and the other, I'd pick the day trip, because though the lights are cool, the laser show is somewhat lacking and the trip around the waters is a much more fun experience. 

Day time:

(look at that, you've even got instructions to getting lucky)

Maybe it's just good luck, but the last time Pris and I visited the fountain we both found new (higher paying) jobs within a week. Now that we have a new wish we're hoping on, we decided to pay another visit today. Increasing your fortune is much easier than you'd think, just walk up the boards to the smaller center fountain, circle around three times going clockwise with your hand in the water and think up a good wish. 

(you can actually feel the fortune shooting up your veins)

Simple as that, who knew a giant fountain was the key all along?

Night time:

Although you won't have much of a chance to walk around the fountain at night, it's infinitely more beautiful lit up by multi colored lights. And if you arrive at 8pm on the dot you'll be treated to a short laser light show, which admittedly isn't as nice as it sounds. But hey, it's free, and in Singapore you take everything that's free, whether you want it or not. 

(this is about as cool as it gets)

Another nice touch, you can elect to have a name or short message written in the show for all to see (for a small fee, of course) or even get a song dedication.

(or be cheap like us and just take the photo opp)

Even if you don't have any specific wishes or don't see your own luck increase after the trip, it's definitely worth the side trip for the cool photos you can bring back.

(pris really likes the fountain)