Helluva Visit

Jul 1959

Before Haw Par Villa became the place to take your wayward children to frighten them into submission (at the risk of scarring them for life), it was known as the Tiger Balm Gardens. It was named after the brothers Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par - the founders of the topical ointment Tiger Balm. The brothers lived in Myanmar (then Burma), with older sibling Boon Haw having the most involvement in the theme park. He literally designed it himself, eschewing blueprints in favour of personally inspecting the sculptors' work every few months when he visited Singapore. The garden passed to their nephew …