Trip to National Museum

Yesterday, Papa and Mommy decided to bring Juan Or to go visit the National Museum. Reason? Because from a dusty corner of Mommy's memory, Mommy remember seeing real steam locomotives on display there and that Juan Or loves anything to do with 'toot-toot train-train', so why not take him there to see the real thing? So when Mommy told him that we were going to the museum to see Thomas and Friends  or Tho-fren (Juan Or's abbreviated version of Thomas and Friends), Juan Or cheered very happily and kept on saying "Choo! Choo!" during the jorney.

We arrived there, parking was RM2 per entry and there were not too many nor too few people there - just nice. It was a sunny day too which was perfect condition for Mommy's handphone camera since photos would only turn out sharper if under sunny condition.

Right at the entrance of the museum's compound were the locomotives. Immediately upon seeing the locos, Juan Or kept on saying,"Ai (want) Thomas!".

Here's a mini steam loco, mini as in because the caption board said so, but to Mommy untrained eyes, it still looked big! And because this loco is green in colour, Mommy bluffed Juan Or and said that's Percy! ^_^

Next was the regular-sized steam loco and since it is all black in colour, Mommy couldn't think of any names from the Thomas and Friends series to tell Juan Or, so this is a 'nameless' loco! ^-^

Mommy also managed to capture a photo of the modern day train (is that a diesel train?) but only from a distance because this train is placed right in the middle of the parking compound, so was not conducive to cross the parking area with cars and buses frequently passing by and with a young child tagging along. Luckily too, Juan Or did not pester to go have a closer look - he seems more interested with those Thomas and Friends type only!

We didn't immediately go into the museum, instead we 'visited' all the vehicle displays at the compound first. We saw all sorts of carts,......

 ......riskshaw, trishaw, antique car, and even the first generation of Proton Saga, .....

.....the antique fire engine (fire engine is also Juan Or's favourite vehicle!), ......

.....and boats.

 Among the antique vehicles was a stall for anyone interested to take photos with colourful parrots, with a fee of course! The fee was RM15, but the signboard did not indicate clearly whether it was RM15 per session for taking photos regardless of how many photos you take. Anyway, Mommy was not exactly keen on taking photos with parrots plus the price was steep, so Mommy merely stood at a hidden angle (yes, hidden from the man who manned the stall!) next to a pillar and clicked (for free)! ^_^

Here are more poses of Juan Or at somewhere near the antique vehicles. Too bad, we missed the snake exhibition although the signboard was still there.

We took one round around the museum's compound as well and found the fountain (the fountain is also Juan Or's favourite).

 

Then there's this bronze statue of someone in history with whom Mommy asked Juan Or to pose. After reading the caption board, turned out this man in history is Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham, the man who contributed to the early developments of Selangor, including the opening of Port Swettenham, now known as Port Klang.

After we were satisfied exploring the compound, we entered the museum. The fee was RM2 per adult and free for children below 12 years old. The inside of the museum is all renovated, so it looked more spacious now.

Now there are four galleries in the museum: Gallery A for early history (Permian, Prehistory and Proto-history Eras), Gallery B for the Malay Kingdoms ranging from the ancient to the 19th century ones, Gallery C for the Colonial Era (Portuguese, Dutch, British, Japanese Occupation, Malaya's education system and Malay freedom fighters) and Gallery D for Malaysia today. However, those stuffed wild animals display that Papa and Mommy used to see during our childhood were no longer there. Where have they gone to?



Anyway, Mommy didn't take much photos when in the galleries because the lights were mostly like those hotel lights - dimly lit yellow lights, thus not suitable for Mommy's handphone camera. It was only at Gallery D when the lights were more of the white type. So Mommy snapped a photo of Juan Or together with a model steam loco,.....

....a tin dredge model, .....

....and a photo of Juan Or doing a face-fit on the 'spaceman suit'. You can see Papa holding him up from behind because his legs were not long enough to stand on the back platform.

Finally we were done with the museum and we came out. Mommy saw there is a walking pathway to go to the National Planetarium and Mommy had also wanted to go to the Orang Asli (Aborigines) Museum just adjacent to the main museum building,but Papa said it was late already and had to go for lunch.


So we left the National Museum, and Juan Or went to see and say goodbye to the steam locos one more time while Papa walked to the parking lot and drove the car to pick us up. Next, we headed to Plaza OUG at Overseas Union Garden via Old Klang Road for McDonalds.

As usual, we took advantage of the McValue Meals offer that starts at 12 noon, but we reached Plaza OUG at about 11.35 am, so we loitered at the plaza for a while. Thus, Juan Or gets to have his kiddy ride.

Finally the clock striked 12 and we were at McDonalds already. While Papa was queueing up to buy food, Juan Or had a good time fiddling with the McDonalds' plastic spoon, disposable sauce dishes and the salt and black pepper mini sachets. As usual, he would arrange the mini sachets in an array (like what he would do for his toys).

A pose for Mommy!

Finally Papa was back with the food. Mommy's food was a Fillet-O-Fish. Wah, can't wait to eat, stomach was rumbling already!

Nothing seems unusual about the burger, right?

Now when Mommy opened the burger, can you spot anything unusual?

Yes, that's right, how come only half a piece of cheese was used? Strange.....other McDonalds outlets are not doing like that. Does that mean if the price is cut at 12 noon, so does the ingredient? Only the McDonalds at Plaza OUG will have the answer.