TIGER BALM GARDENS

My parents took my brother and me to ' Tiger Balm Gardens '. I think I'm about nine years old by this time. We had to go through a large gate I think, what ever it was I remember it being bright and colourful, .... reds ..... gold .... black, with Chinese characters painted on it. Every where I looked there were little clay life like models of Chinese men usually, made from clay in brightly coloured Chinese peasant clothes being dragged by the hair the legs and being tortured in God knows how many ways... bowls gouged out while still alive and although there were no sounds, I could hear the screams and see the pain these poor people went through..... finger nails being pulled out and being burned alive, boiling water thrown over them. A must see tourist attraction...bring your Granny !!!!

Luckily I didn't experience any night mares that night but then my Dad did keep telling me that they were not real only clay and that kind of torture was not done anymore, especially not to little girls. I became very worried about my big Brothers' safety, but he wouldn't let me hold his hand to protect his life ! We then went into an even more colourful fair ground..bright lights in the evening and wonderful smells from loads of BBQ's . That's where I tried my first sweet meat, was it rat? dog? I didn't care. I was so hungry after all that torture, blood and guts. I just love Chinese food !!

Then off home again but I must have been asleep because I don't remember anything after that but had a lot to talk about to my friends the next day while beating them at marbles ... I learned how to play, by the best , a chinese boy who was about my age , we became the best of friends even though he always won every game we played.