Monday, November 07, 2005

cK Goes To Malaysia! Part 3 of 4

Takes a trip to the World's Largest Toy Museum

It was my last full day of adventure in Penang, Malaysia. All of my buddies were either working or at school. So I went along to do my own thing and explore Penang. With no map or any idea of where to go, I walked from my hotel and just browsed. I walked up the Jalan Tanjung Bungah heading to Georgetown. I actually wanted to go to the the KOMTAR building. The KOMTAR was at one time the tallest building is all of South East Asia. It is now number 145 on the list of tallest buildings in the world. Anyways, I didn't feel like taking a cab to the city this time. I really felt like walking. I also didn't feel like walking to the city... so where did I really feel like going?

As I was just walking, I happen to come to a really nice hotel, called the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel. I walk inside to see if they have a concierge and check for a map. Well, they did, but the person wasn't there attending the desk. So I just browsed around and saw an advert card for a Toy Museum that wasn't too far from where I was. It seemed close enough, so I started the walk.

While I was walking, I was reading the advert. They have quotes from people that have previously been to the "World's Largest Toy Museum". Here are some examples:

[PROFESSOR: "It is a place where, family, friend and children can have fun together."]

Ummm.. wouldn't that be a PARK?

Here is another one:

[TOURISTS: from Germany, Italy, England, France, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, USA, Canada were amazed that toy museum in Penang is the most spectacular and finest in the world that they have ever seen.]

Oh really? Most "spectacular"?? I MUST see this now! Especially now since a person from Hong Kong thinks its the best thing since chopsticks!

So I get to the front of the toy museum. It looks like it would be quite interesting. At the front is a huge lifesize Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle statue. Beside that, is a lifesize Predator statue. It was cool. I knew I would have to get a pic of that for sure. I went to the front desk, and inquired about price. It was 10 Malaysian Ringgits. Which is just over $3 Canadian dollars. That didn't seem expensive. I also asked if I could take pictures and videotape, and they said, "YES!" Wow. Okay, I'm so in.

Upon going through the doors, I didn't know what to expect. How big was this place? What was inside? Would they have all my toys from my childhood? Once going in, I was semi-impressed. It wasn't as crazy as the TOYS R US in Times Square and not even a fraction of the size. It was kind of the size of a large Blockbuster video store. The decor was egyptian statues all over the place, that kind of seemed like it was there before the place was even a Toy Museum. Basically, the place had a whole bunch of collected toys (mostly dolls and figures) that rivalled n8's PhatCave. Everything was in a glass case.

There were indeed a LOT of collected items. Stuff from Transformers to almost everything of Star Trek and Star Wars. Girls toys, boys toys, model army tanks, plush toys. It was crazy! I saw a whole case of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. All the characters that I wish I had when I was a kid. They had a whole SpiderMan setup, and other superheros in their own glass case. They of course, had to have a WWE Wrestling case with lots of action figures posing in make-believe scenarios. You can see from the photos below:

cK Walking Up Jalan Tanjung Bungah

cK on hotel balcony	Penang Swimming Club	cK in front of Penang Swimming Club

cK In the World's Largest Toy Museum

WWE Wrestlers	Glass cases	more glass cases
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!	cK and WWE Figures	Yes..its VOLTRON!!
Superhero hall	Another hall	Lifesize Star Wars Figures

Yes, as you can see, they had VOLTRON! That was a major toy from my childhood. If I could, I would have bought that full size toy right there. I feel funny saying "toy" when referring to that, because I don't think it is, even though I know it is. Does that make any sense? Well, next you can see some lifesize Star Wars characters. Below is a bigger picture of how lifelike the Darth Maul figure looked. I swore that it was some guy just standing there the whole time, waiting to pounce on me. Look for yourself:



Yikes! That's crazy scarey! Beside Darth was an R2-D2 and an ALIEN statue. Well, the next bunch of stuff were plush toys behind glass cases. See if you can find Nemo....

ALIEN statue	The biggest Plush STITCH in the world!	Disney's Baloo from Jungle Book
TERMINATOR Figures	Egyptian Statues	cK and Egyptian Statues
Closeup of Transformers	More Transformers	Darth Vader Memorabilia
Star Wars Storm Troopers	FOUND NEMO!	E.T.
Looney Tunes with tacky sunglasses	Super Huge Teddy Bear	Snow White
China Dolls	Hall of China Dolls	Predator!!

So that was the Toy Museum... I got a picture of myself in the front. I was in and out of there in 30 minutes. Maybe less. It was okay. Maybe I should have gone to the city...Well, next time!



Continue to PART 4