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The Nearby Strange Sights
1. In addition to signs, billboards, advertisements, and flags that
adorned Eng Aun Tong medicine halls, Aw Boon Haw erected
three-dimensional structures that advertised the products. Evidence
exists of at least one kiosk that sat in the middle of a busy
intersection of several roads. This structure, shaped like a stack of
three Tiger Balm Jars with a sculpted tiger on top, served as a
quick-stop store for Eng Aun Tong products.
2. The Tiger Band marched into town to herald the opening of a new Eng
Aun Tong pharmacy. Although they appear to be a ragtag bunch in this
picture, the Tiger Band, in their striped costumes with
ferocious oversized heads, never failed to draw crowds;
3. Tiger Brand ads of the late 1930s combined the Chinese people's
love of puns and popular Western culture to promote the power of
Tiger Balm products. Here, a tiger playfully becomes "the tiger" in a
morphing sequence
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Haw Par Villa is at 262 Pasir Panjang Road, Singapore. It is
situated quite out of the way off from Clementi. The site
that Haw Par Villa sitting is of certain significance in geomancy
study, or more commonly known as Feng Shui. We have
investigated a few strange sights around Haw Par Villa too.
We call them the Seven Wonders Near Hwa Par Villa.
1. Golden Leopard Dragging Money; Haw Par Villa Will Amass Weath
The following is an excerpt taken from a book called "The Secrets
of The Five Dragons, Feng Shui and Singapore's Success" by Master
Tan Khoon Yong.
Haw Par Villa has a unique situation of a
"leopard guarding the tiger's lair", also known as the "golden
leopard dragging money" formation. As this area is
constantly under the threat of the flying snake, residents often
feel vexed. But with perseverance and steady efforts, one
can live here for a long time and guard one's wealth, as well as
inherit fortunes.
Recently, however, Haw Par Villa and its surroundings have not
progress much, perhaps due to management problems. From the
feng shui perspective, this area has a rather good formation but
something has gone awry. Perhaps the money the leopard was
dragging became stuck in a rut, hindering its movement. It
looks like Haw Par Villa needs a make-over that will retain its
old-world charm and yet give it a modern twist before it can draw
in visitors again.
If residents near Haw Par Villa are law-abiding citizens contented
with their lot, everything will go smoothly. On the other
hand, unscrupulous residents will be forced to flee. The
four animal formations are superb and combine to bring prosperity
to this area. Recently, many hi-tech research and
development bodies have moved here, forming two important science
parks. NUS, too, is constantly expanding physically and
progressing in status.
2. The Family Well - Source of Wealth
The original Tiger Balm Gardens Well was the source of water for
the Aw family. When the Aw brothers lived here, water was
piped up to the family villa and compound. When Boon Haw
died, Aw Cheng Chye, his nephew, took over the villa and
modernized the plumbing system using water from the Public Works
Department. The well was sealed and since, to the Chinese, a
well symbolizes a source of wealth, it was said that the sealing
of the well marked the decline of the Aw family wealth.
Believe or not?
3. The Tiger Balm Garage
The garage was the home to Boon Haw's famous 'Tiger Cars'.
The first tiger car, a German NSU, was made in 1927. A tiger
head covered the radiator, two fangs protruded from the tiger's
jaws and wire whiskers were fashioned onto the tiger's nose.
Two red bulbs were placed in the tiger's eye sockets and the sound
the horn produced resembled a tiger's roar.
The second car, a Humber, was built in 1932 with a bigger tiger
head on the radiator and gold tiger stripes painted on the body.
The number plate, 8989, was a lucky number. The number
'eight' (paat) in Chinese souds like the word for 'prosper' (faat).
The number 'nine' sounds like 'forever' or 'long lasting'.
The cars were unmistakable and typified Aw Boon Haw's flair for
promoting his Tiger Balm business.
4. The Sharp Turning Curves
From Feng Shui perspective,
Pasir Panjang has an amazing "twin lions restraining river"
formation. One stands guard at the river mouth, and the
other from the top of a mound by the sea - a very spectacular
sight indeed.
The tail of the lioness is linked to the nine blends and 13 turns
of the snake land, while her head is near the PSA Building.
The lion can be found at Tanjong Berlayer Park and together with
Mount Faber's single pincer crab, it guards the river mouth.
This is how the Feng Shui term "twin lions leading the harbour'
came about.
During the Second World War, cannons were mounted on the lion and
the crab in a vain attempt to protect Singapore against the
invading Japanese forces. Today, the old cannons stand as
reminders of the past, battle scars can still be seen and the
lions moods' have changed vastly. The sharp turning curves,
unfortunately, nowadays has been abused by the illegal car races
gambling their lives for thrill.
1 & 2. Sharp
corners along South Buona Vista Road;
3 & 4. Haw Par Villa is situated near Kent Ridge Park where fierce
battles were fought during WWII
5. A Long Stretch of Sand Land
"Pasir" is a Malay word that means "land of sand" and "panjang"
means "long". Thus, Pasir Panjang means "long stretch of
sand land" and is the most prosperous area in Singapore's western
region.
Legend has it that Pasir Panjang's twin lions had an unusual
experience. In the past, when Malays dominated this area a
Malay chief headed the village. After his death, he was
transformed into a stone and later appeared as the deity revered
by people, Tua Peh Kong (TPK). Later the cubs of the
original pair of lions stood guard on both sides of the Pasir
Panjang Tua Peh Kong temple and were responsible for the
fishermen's safe return.
With the passage of time and development of the environment, the
feng shui of the Pasir Panjang has changed too. A generator
plant and an oil refinery plant have set up next to the old lion.
unaffected by change, it is able to retain its original source of
feng shui. However, the lioness met with drastic changes.
Blocks of flats and a fire station have sprung up on the lioness'
head and body.
The temple was not spared from change too. It used to
attract many devotees as it was believed that the stone structures
in the temple constantly change their shapes. Devotees were
convinced of the power of the stone TPK and the pair of stone
lions. For some reason, the temple has since declined into a
worn-down structure standing meekly beside a warehouse.
It is clear that deities, like human beings, face ups and downs
too. Recently, the stone TPK has been moved to a temple in
Clementi East where it is receiving good care.
6. A Pair of Mysteriously Abandoned Houses
Just about 50 meters away from Haw Par Villa along Pasir Panjang
Road, a pair of bungalows became abandoned, side-by-by one next to
the other. These two houses being abandoned at the same time
have one thing in common. They are both directly facing the
hill on top of which situated Tele-Tech Park (a commercial
building in Science Park II), and diagonally facing the
side-entrance of Haw Par Villa. The side-entrance is as old
as the original site itself, made of granite stone. It now
looks deserted and covered with olive-colored moulds. The
rusted metal gate is completely sealed up. A SPI member who
has 3rd eye said that behind the rusted metal gate, an old man
dressed in 60s costume loitering around. But he never leave
beyond the premise. We don't know how true is this.
The gate is locked, and we do not trespass.
However, we climbed up to the hill that is directly facing the two
houses, and we found a magnificent view. The rear part of
the Tele-Tech Park is so pointy due to its frontier architecture
design.
1 This stone
lion motif is placed in front of the burnt house.
It is commonly used to defend against the 'Sa Chi' (negative
energy) and protect the safety of the residents.
2 - 4. However the house still cannot escape from its doom - the
interior is totally burnt down.
Rubbles are
everywhere. It is burnt until the stair is collapsed.
Burnt until
the furniture become ashes, and roof is bare.
The second
house, shares much of the same fate, ruined and abandoned.
The
contemporary design of Teletech Park makes it has many sharp
pointy corners protruding out.
The two houses are directly facing the rear of Teletech Park.
The two ruined
houses along Pasir Panjang Road, are also diagonally facing the
side entrance of Hwa Par Villa.
It is said that an old man spirit roams behind the locked metal
gate. Pedestrians at night void using this side of the road.
7. Bleeding Bench in Haw Par Villa
Rumour says that blood will flow freely from the back of the stone
bench after dusk. SPI has found the benches, took a sample
of the stain. And we checked that it is not blood nor rust.
It is just a natural wear-off of aging stone. But indeed
they do look eerie at night under the silver moonlight.
Another strange thing is, not all the benches would have such
bleeding stain. We found only three of them. Assuming
they were built at about the same age, made of the same material,
then why only some benches would have the bleeding phenomena?
Streaks of
Blood drip along the back of the bench.
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Answering
Mysteries
Come