Melaka: Mini Malaysia & Mini ASEAN

I was planning to bring Kimly to the Historical and Ethnography Museum at the Stadhuys for his last afternoon programme in Melaka. After I had introduced him to my colleague Sara, an expert of the cultures and ticketing subjects, she suggested that the Mini Malaysia and Mini ASEAN would be an interesting place to visit for my French guest.

When we reached this large theme park, there was sadly no sign of other visitors. The previous time I went there with Edidav, the number of visitors was barely more than ten. Tourists did not seem to be attracted by the culture and life of the people of Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. What a shame!

We were impressed by the replicas of traditional houses from the thirteen states of Malaysia.

Inside each house, we found various handicrafts originating from each state.

We had the privilege to have the whole group of dancers to perform on stage just for two of us. Their sincere smiles and energetic movements assured us that as long as there was one spectator, they would always show their professionalism.

After the short cultural show, it was the nap time.

Wake up, Kimly! We had yet studied the similar but by no means identical designs and structures of many houses.

Inside the Melakan house, we discovered some traditional costumes hanging at a corner, which arouse our naughty minds again. We looked around, nobody else was there. Now began our own cultural show!

Kimly was excited to find out which Nyonya lady would become his bride

while I was waiting for my Baba husband to give me a hug.

We could not stop giggling at our silly acts. At the same time we had to be careful not to be seen by the staff.

After the nonsense, we were a bit tired to visit the rest of the houses. But since we had a lot of free time left, we decided to walk longer.

Being an Malaysian, many ASEAN houses also looked exotic to me.

Kimly learnt more about the home country of his parents through its traditional house.

We were quite disappointed with the lack of maintenance inside the beautiful architecture, though we understood that most of the visitors would not even bother to visit those ASEAN houses which were so far off from Mini Malaysia and were scattered everywhere.

Kimly left Melaka to go back to Penang that evening. I was glad to have accomplished my mission. Kimly, I hope that you will not remember the nonsense we did more than the places we visited!