Singapore, or the “Lion City” as its legendary name goes, is home to a riveting array of local culture. To thoroughly soak up everything the city-state has to offer, take advantage of the stellar Singapore hotel accommodation available. One particularly fine Singapore hotel is the Studio M Hotel Singapore whose stylish interiors and quality amenities make it an ideal location from which to explore the city’s best traditional offerings. Explore the fascinating sights of Haw Paw Villa, a hotbed of Chinese culture situated in the heart of the city on Pasir Panjang road. It is a theme park boasting over 1,000 impressive statues and 150 remarkable dioramas that depict scenes from Chinese myths, legends, folktales and culture, as well as aspects of the renowned Chinese philosophy, Confucianism. The park was originally named “Tiger Balm Gardens” by the Burmese creators of “Tiger Balm”, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, and was formed in 1937 in order to teach traditional Chinese values. In 1988, the Singapore tourism board took charge of Tiger Balm Gardens and renamed it “Haw Paw Villa”, using the names of the brothers, which mean tiger (Haw) and leopard (Par). The park is open every day from 9am to 7pm and visitors can enjoy free entrance. One of Haw Par Villa’s best-known attractions is the Ten Courts of Hell, which features impressive recreations of hell in Buddhist and Chinese mythology. Other fascinating exhibits are The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars, Journey to the West, Fengsheng Bang, Legend of the White Snake and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In addition, visitors can be treated to impressive statues of the Laughing Buddha and Quan Yin, the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, and historical figures such as Su Wu, Lin Zexu, and Jiang Ziya.
