Haw Par Villa Tiger

On my first day in Singapore I took the Circle Line the long way round to Haw Par Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens) to grab some photographs in case it gets redeveloped before I get another chance, then took a shorter route back to the hotel to paint a picture of the tiger at the entrance to the villa.

I first visited Tiger Balm Gardens in 1965 when I was at junior school, then in 1985 when I worked at UWC. There is a much older family connection with a photo of my mother at Tiger Balm Gardens in Hong Kong, probably in 1952 on a date with my father before their marriage. The garden in HK is long gone.

A more recent connection surprised me in Myanmar when there was an unexpected invitation to visit a Buddhist home for "orphaned" seniors (those without families) as the home was founded by one of the same brothers who built the gardens in HK and Singapore.

As children, my sister and I loved visiting the garden full of lurid statues. Today there are warnings before the entrance to the depictions of Hell and more informative signage than before, so perhaps Haw Par Villa in Singapore will be preserved as both a Haw family memorial garden and an unusual insight into Buddhist culture.