Singapore: Haw Par Villa

I came here with my family on a few occasions around 1970, when it was called Tiger Balm Gardens. So, forty-odd years later I wanted to see how it matches up with my memories; the answer is pretty close, except for the crowds. I wouldn't say it was crowded back then, but it wasn't nearly deserted like it was on this Sunday morning in February. I remembered some of the statuary fairly accurately.


Some of the imagery is quite tame:


... some of it is a bit odd:


... and some is really quite strange:


The Garden was built beginning in the 1930s by Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, scions of the founder of the Tiger Balm company, which made (still makes) camphorated rubs that claim to be good for what ails you, from sore muscles to flatulence. I'm not sure how it inhibits gas, but it works pretty well on sore muscles, chapped lips and stuffy noses. Though the site is now owned by the Singapore government, there are a few remnants of the original advertizing:


The quality of the statues is variable. Some convey a very nice sense of motion:


But faces are not necessarily the strongest feature:


The Garden is divided into sections by theme. Here are a couple images from the "Pond of Legacy":


The most renown section of the Garden is the Ten Gates of Hell, which supposedly illustrates (in gruesome detail) the punishments for various sins according to Chinese mythology.


Admission is free, and the theme park is located directly adjacent to its own subway station on the Circle line.

Singapore: City Sights, Tourist Type

Singapore is a city of superlatives, it says: the biggest observation wheel, the tallest water fountain, the best shopping, the highest oen-air swimming pool, etc. My first afternoon, I did the most touristy thing you can do: I took the Duck Tour and rode the Singapore Flyer, the Ferris wheel thing that is 15 meters taller than the London one. What's a Duck Tour? you ask.


It's a Vietnam war era amphibious transport, nearly as old as I am, brought to Sing, and refitted as a tourist cruiser. You spend thirty minutes in the water, and thirty minutes on land. The Duck tour was about as expected, cool in idea more than in execution, but it was fine and I got some good, if fairly standard, tourist shots. The guide really seemed to enjoy his job. The Duck, ours was Darlene, returns to the starting point and you take the City Sightseeing bus to the Flyer on your own. We hit the water first:


where you can get some great views of two of the skyline's icons, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the Flyer:


You may also catch one of the other Ducks along the way:


Fountain of Wealth:
You meet up with your Duck in a place called Suntec, a massive shopping and convention center. I was plenty early to arrive, and so I visited the Fountain of Wealth, apparently the world's largest fountain. There is a small fountain as part of it, which you are supposed to go around in circles with your hands in its waters to become wealthy--or more precisely to help the folks who developed the scheme to become wealthy. There's no fee, but to get there, you wind through a maze of shops and restaurants within SunTec:


Marina Bay Sands:
You have to say it is quite impressive, even from the outside. But does it really need an entry in the Lonely Planet guide?


Obviously, the third pic was taken from the Flyer, but the last shot was taken in the Duck, as it passed through the Colonial District, where chaps still play rugger on a Saturday afternoon.

The Singapore Flyer:
At 165 meters, the world's highest blah-blah-blah, it was part of my Duck Tour price. It takes 28 minutes to do the complete circle, there are 28 cars, it opened on the 28th day of the month, etc--all good portents in Chinese numerology. Frankly, I am just glad that it was designed and built by global engineering firm Arup.


The Stadium:
As I was driven in from the airport, the cabbie pointed out to me the new Singapore stadium, not yet completed, seen here in a Flyer-height view:


The reason this was of interest is because of what the Duck guide pointed out as we puttered around the bay: he directed our attention to a stand of colorful bleachers right on the waterfront:


While the stadium is under construction, this is the site of al the stuff that would ordinarily take place in it. Even football (soccer) matches. On the water. Literally. On a floating, full-size field!


Helix Bridge:
Another of my favorite "discoveries" while being the typical tourist was this bridge which uses the shape of the DNA molecule for its support. Dunno why, just thought it was cool:


Merlion:
This is Singapore's strange "mascot", recognising its history as a fishing village, and its original name, meaning "lion". The design was created in the sixties as a tool for the tourism board, and aside from the one in Merlion Park seen below, there are four other "official" ones (since the tourist board holds the copyright), yet a devotee can find a few others. If you are interested in the disappearing sights of Singapore, two good sites are Remember Singapore and Untourist Singapore.


The Duck tour and the Flyer take place basically in the marina, which is a freshwater reservoir, with its own seawall to keep the ocean at bay. You can see far out to sea from the peak of the Flyer:


Looking the other direction, here are two views of the cityscape:


So that's pretty much the tourist deal for a Saturday afternoon in Singapore; next up: what I did on Sunday, followed by posts on stuff like the Botanical Gardens, Asian Civilizations Museum, and of course, food.

Yangmyung Graduation

I am back from my vacation, and you can expect to see several posts about it in the next week or two. But first, here is the last activity of the school year, which immediately preceded the vacation. And I do mean immediately: the graduation ceremony for sixth graders ended about 12:15, I locked up my classroom, went home and changed, then caught a taxi to the subway. My flight left on time at 4:35.

The ceremony tales place in the auditorium, which is a kind of addition located on the roof of the school building. There are about 95 sixth grade students, in four classes, each wearing their own colored shirts. It begins with a few dance or musical performances by the graduates, while their classmates look on:


The classes go in order, receiving their diplomas and a handshake from the principal while a slide show behind them displays a pic and some other information, like what they want to be when they grow up.


Then, special achievements are recognised, there is some group singing, and the new graduates are serenaded by the fifth grade chorus:


They then exit to applause, and go to a reception downstairs. I stand by the door to congratulate them, and receive lots of thanks, handshakes and hugs.


It was about 4 C when I left school, and about 28 C when I arrived in Singapore at 10:15 local time. I had sixteen full days of sunshine in Singapore and Koh Samui, returning Monday night at about 10 o'clock. My walk to work the next morning--the first day of the new school year--was in good time, but an air temp. of 1 C. Sigh.