Lions and Tigers and Demons from Hell, oh my...

One more brief blog about our adventures in Singapore before we start having adventures in Australia.


Here are photos from our wonderful all-day visit (seriously, we spent 11 hours there) at the zoo.

And here are photos from a place in Singapore called Haw Par Villa. It was built in 1937 by businessman Aw Boon Haw for his brother Boon Par - these are the two guys that made millions off Tiger Balm, and this is how Aw Boon Haw decided to spend his profits...The family was Chinese, so this tourist attraction is bascially a massive scale model of all the main figures and stories of Chinese folklore. Most interesting among the models, is the massive exhibition hall that features the 10 Courts of Hell, which depict in violently graphic detail what happens to sinners. Apparently, it is very common for Chinese people to bring thier children here, and man, I don't blame them: I would've been such a well behaved child if I thought some of the below things would happen to me if I misbehaved!

For example, disrespect of elders results in having your heart cut out; lack of filial piety causes you to be ground into mush by a large stone; if you demonstrate lack of filial obedience or cause trouble to your parents you will have your intestines and internal organs pulled out; and last but not least rumour mongering to cause discord among family members results in you being dumped into a wok of boiling oil...

Look at the photos below and be shocked and appalled:

Brad with Crazed Dragon and Psycho Pig

- Crazed Dragon and Psycho Pig's friend - Skitzoid the Seal and Panic the Panda...

- Oh kay...let's be serious here...how many hours of psycho therapy do you think it would take to counteract this image if seen at the age of 3 or 4? Medic rats, carrying a mutilated rat with its paws blown off...what this could represent, I really have no idea.

- Me standing at the gateway to the courts of hell, in between 'Horse-face' and 'Ox-head'. Yes - those are really their names.