Haw Par Villa

Haw Par Villa¹ is a place in Singapore which was filled with tourists and visitors a decade ago. But now, it’s just a deserted place; lifeless and forgotten. My parents brought me there when I was 5. My memories of the place was fuzzy and I couldn’t recall much but we did took some photographs there. The place was huge and there was lots of activities going on. Everyone was walking around taking photographs and the kids were given balloons. That was how the place was like 16 years ago. I brought mum there yesterday as it has been a really long time since she last went there. The entire place was empty and we were the only ones there. This was not how I remembered it to be.

Empty and forgotten

The paint on the statue is peeling off

Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion

This park contains lots of statues of Chinese folklore and legends. It’s actually a very interesting place to visit. It used to have more in the past but the park has reduced dramatically in size over the past few years. Most of the paint on the statues are peeling off and the lamps are broken as well. I feel that some serious maintenance for the park is required. This park is suppose to be a tourist destination but what was happened? There was no advertisements or marketing done to promote the park has a tourism destination. I seriously hope something will be done about it. This place contains some valuable Chinese teachings and it would be a pity if the park was left to “die off”.

A peaceful and quiet place

The Chinese Legend of White Snake

I'm glad to say that there are still some form of life left

Beautiful and colourful statue

Lots of algae in the pond, I wonder if it's meant to be like this

A Chinese quote

Wishing well

Ten Courts of Hell

MV Doulos at Vivo City

We left after an hour or so. The weather was so terribly hot. We hopped on to a bus and alighted at Vivo City. I spotted the “GBA” logo on a ship near the harbour. My first thought was “The book fair has arrived in Singapore?”. I was so excited that I dragged mum onto the MV Doulos² right after we had tea at the White Dog Cafe. Security was extremely tight and the ladder leading to the ship was so steep, I almost fell off.

There are tours available for the public at SGD 5 per adult to tour around the ship. There are many varieties of books such as children, cooking, baking, educational and bible for sale. The books are extremely affordable and I saw many mummies buying lots of story books for their kids. We walked around and I took some photographs of the ship. There was even a clown around entertaining and having fun with the children on board the MV Doulos. I regretted not taking a photograph with her. She was so cute and funny!

MV Doulos

Safety boats of MV Doulos

MV Doulos

I snapped this photo of Star Cruise on board the MV Doulos

Vivo City

The clown

How could I resist not going to shop when I’m at a mall? Shopping is my way of relaxing since school is literally killing me now. I guess most should have know that by now. Believe me, if I went home empty handed on a shopping trip, I am out of my mind. I bought 3 items, not 13!

Bod Organics White Tea Cleansing Gel

Chomel Crystal earrings in yellow and black

We were about to left when I decided to bring mum to the National Geographic Store³ since the National Geographic channel was one of mum’s favourite. I spotted this pair of not-so-stylish-but-extremely-comfortable pair of shoes on one of the shelves. It was love at first sight! I don’t usually wear such sandals/shoes because it’s not really my style. However, this pair was so comfortable that I couldn’t resist. It was made from leather, recycled ones if I’m not wrong. The brand name “National Geographic” is imprinted on the strap of the shoe which this one of the reason why I love it. It isn’t my best looking shoes but definitely one of the most comfortable. Their clothings and accessories are really nice even though the price tags aren’t. I was SGD 99 poorer when I stepped out of the store.

Shoes from National Geographic

National Geographic official product tag

For more photos of the entire trip, please drop by my flickr.

1. Haw Par Villa is a Chinese mythological theme park in Singapore which contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrating various aspects of Confucianism.
2. The MV Doulos is the world’s oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship. She is now owned by the German charity: Good Books for All, and is used as a floating bookshop.
3. I wasn’t aware that National Geographic sells clothings and footwear etc aside from magazines.

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