“In hell I’ll be in good company”

 Last night we were tired. The first day after a long haul is always hard work but we have a great little hotel and we slept well. Refreshed we got up, showered and readied ourselves for the day. Singapore is small compared to other places but it is varied and unique in some of its charms. We had decided this time round we would venture further around the city and see some of the things we had meant to see on our other visits but never got round to. We are staying in Chinatown which is perfectly placed to access everywhere of interest. The public transport systems are easily some of the best and efficient we have ever used. Not to mention them being cheap and very easy to navigate. First on our days itinerary was Haw paw Villa. A sprawling park complex filled with hundreds of statues and pagodas telling ancient Chinese folk stories. It also has a museum detailing the 10 courts of Hell. The park was built by the two Burmese (now known as Myanmar) brothers who settled in Singapore and founded the tiger balm empire in the early 1920s. Originally a house and garden for the brothers it was gifted to the people of Singapore after the city fell to the Japanese in ww2 and the house fell into disrepair.

It’s a crazy eclectic mix of Dioramas and statues each telling a Chinese folk story or Buddhist religious event. Thousands of brightly coloured statues in every possible pose or situation. Crabs with human heads. Fish with legs. If Walt Disney had used psychotropic drugs Disneyland could have easily ended up looking like this.  The main event though was the 10 courts of Hell. A cave network full of macabre statuary depicting what will happen to you if you are a naughty boy or girl. Everything from being sawn in half, head to groin, for disrespecting your elders to being drowned in a pool of blood for incorrectly filling in a tax return. It’s a mad crazy place but definitely worth seeing. 

From here we needed to lighten the mood and had decided to visit the beach. In all the times we have been in Singapore we have never visited the beach. A short metro ride saw us in Vivo city at the main harbour front and a sky train trip took us onto Sentosa. The main tourist activity hub. Sentosa is technically an island but is now very well connected by road, cable car and skytrain. There are no natural beaches in Singapore and all are man made from sand imported from Malaysia. We crashed and chilled for a few hours then had a walk to the ww2 fort at the western end of the island. Sentosa was pivotal in the Battle for Singapore in 1942 when the Japanese invaded and as such retains several forts and British gun emplacements. The fort is now a museum set amongst jungle and reached by a very high sky walk through the jungle canopy. 

After a few hours we set off back to the sky train and metro back to Chinatown. Showered and out for tea before an early night. Tomorrow we have another full day here and as yet we’re not sure what we will get up to.   

Bare and Crispy, signing off, Downtown Singapore