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Posts Tagged ‘Tiger Balm’

Two brothers, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, developed a famous substance used to this day, a helpful salve known as Tiger Balm, which you can find in any drug store.  In 1937, they constructed a park in Singapore known as the Tiger Balm Gardens, meant to be a place to teach Chinese traditional values.  In 1979, the park sold to the Singapore Tourism Board.  A few years later, it was renamed and opened as an amusement park in 1990 as Dragon World.  The park is a collection of fascinating and bizarre statues and figurines that depict Chinese folklore.  Over a thousand statues, in fact, that represent mythological characters, such as the Laughing Buddha, the Goddess of Mercy, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and more.  Even more interestingly, perhaps, is the Ten Courts of Hell, an area that features the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation, which is pretty direct in its depictions.  These underworld tortures and torments are set inside a 60 meter long dragon’s mouth.   I wouldn’t bring children here, as the statue and sets depict moral values and the punishments received for wrong-doing.  Children might have nightmares afterwards, but young adults may really enjoy it, for the gruesome aspects if nothing more.

Today, the park is known as Har Par Villa and also contains a Chinese Immigration Museum inside the gardens.  While entry to Har Par Villa is free, you may have to pay a fee for the museum, where you may learn about how Chinese people moved from China and settled in other places around the globe.   Even if you elect not to go to the museum, the park itself may be worth a couple of hours.

You can find a great room simply by clicking here, then take in the Tiger Balm brother’s tribute to Chinese folklore.  From there, you can spread out through the city of Singapore, to the Singapore Flyer, to its fascinating Chinatown, and on to the theme parks of Sentosa Island.