International Museum Day - 18 May 2013

Ever heard of the International Museum Day? It's our first time visiting the KL National Museum during an event like this. Free entrance to the museum between 17-19 May 2013 and there're other participating museums throughout Malaysia too. Some programmes were lined up during this time but there was little publicity about it.
Launch of International Museum Day 2013

We joined the free English guided tour that's run by volunteers. A pity not many visitors were even aware of the free tours in different languages and we've '3' guides for our family alone! The guides were passionate and patient, even with young kids. It's more fun learning history this way - listening and looking at the exhibits instead of reading from some text books. 


This was the highlight - the ORIGINAL "Perak Man" that was excavated in the Lenggong region. We didn't expect this find, and thought all the while the original was in the Lenggong museum in Perak! We're even planning a visit to Lenggong museum since we'll pass by that place on our way to Belum, Perak.



A good collection of stone tools and the clay pottery.


Guide sharing with us the legend of the famous warrior, Hang Tuah.


A replica of the tin dredge used for tin mining, something we could identify cos we've been to the real one in Perak.



more museums...... a great collection of exotic insects at the modern, 2-storey Museum of Nature at Precinct 15, Putrajaya. 


To know the difference between frogs and toads...

 A poisonous frog

... 'ugly as a toad'

Could you spot the frog with a horn?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

A Potter Village in Sayong - 30 May 2013

Image
Pit Stop at the Perak royal town, Kuala Kangsar. The 1st rubber tree in Malaysia was planted in this town. That's about all I knew about this place. Labu Sayong or water pitcher from Sayong village, known for its health value to help migraine, lower blood pressure etc due to the special properties inherent in the local clay. Before this, we didn't know much of labu sayong.  We didn't go to the village or plan this visit. Out of curiousity, we bumped into this unassuming workshop at No. 3, Kg Setia, Enggor, run by Mohd bin Harun.  Pakcik was very open and gave us a tour of his workshop and how he makes labu sayong. His warm, friendly welcoming people made a lasting impression on all of us - a trait that we've lost in the big cities. The traditional way of making labu sayong uses hands to mould the clay into the shape of a 'labu' (gourd-like vase) but this is too slow. Now, the clay mixture is poured into standard mould blocks. It's
Read more