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MinNature Malaysia – The Country in a Scale Model Nutshell

Florian Buechting Museums & Exhibitions No Comments

MinNature Malaysia

30 MYR
MinNature Malaysia
4.7

Rating

 4.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Great overview about Malaysia
  • Displays with a lot of love
  • Nice, entertaining ideas
  • Good value for money

Whenever I visit scale model exhibitions abroad, I feel a bit of guilty. With the crazy and innovative guys behind Germany’s best rated attraction on TripAdvisor, Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, I am exposed to a domestic example of extraordinary excellence. Nonetheless, I was really curious about MinNature Malaysia, when I visited Kuala Lumpur in February. Having just rather limited time in Malaysia, this place gave me the opportunity to visit the country within some 90 minutes to two hours. Here is my review.

 

MinNature Malaysia – Location & Admission

The scale model landscape is located on an upper level of the Plaza Sungei Wang shopping mall. The mall is maybe not the poshest place in Kuala Lumpur, but comes with some interesting stores and is rather conveniently located. The green MRT monorail line takes you to Bukit Bintang, almost at the main entrance of the mall.  The Kuala Lumpur City of Lights Tour departs in front of the building, so that these two attractions have been a perfect match. The directions within the mall are given (at least around escalators and key points of visit).

MinNature Malaysia is opening daily from 10:00 to 22:00. Adult admission is 30 MYR, roughly 6 Euro.

 

MinNature Malaysia – The Visit

The exhibition is split into different section. Documentation is in English and Malay. There are also guides in some other languages like Arabic, Korean or Chinese. You first run along a couple of displays illustrating the history of MinNature Malaysia, before you visit the first scale model section. This one is already a really interesting one. It shows street food, typical food markets and similar places in Malaysia. The model scale is rather large, so that you can see a lot of details. I really liked that display, as it is a nice way to explore Malaysian food culture (which I, by the way, absolutely enjoyed during my two stays in the country).

The second section is named Minis in the Glass Wall. It is using a significantly smaller scale, displaying different parts of traditional Malaysian life. Again, this is a lovely way to bring “Malaysia beginners” like me closer to the country and their culture, especially outside the capital. Thereby, the organizers of the exhibition try to also have an attractive visit for younger visitors. For example, in one of the exhibits, they ask kids to spot all 19 animals in the glass box display. There is a wide range of stories displayed, from traditional farming to nightlife and traditional Malaysian theater.

 

Malaysian Cities, Sights and Landscapes

The largest section of MinNature Malaysia is maybe the one which feels most similar to Minatur Wunderland. The Malaysians display key sights of their country and models of some of the most famous places. The two rooms are surprisingly huge and come with a lot of interesting detail. A scavenger hunt motivates younger visitors, who are asked to spot figures the landscapes. They don’t necessary reflect Malaysian culture, but range from the Cheshire Cat to SpongeBob and The Beatles. Thereby, the landscapes also have a nice sense of humor. While the attractions themselves are quite detailed, other items like advertisement board in the landscape make you smile. There are also some touch points which activate some movements and action as well. Compared to other places, this is not that much in focus.

There is also a change of daytime between dusk, daytime, dawn and night, where MinNature Malaysia even comes with some nice light shows. At the beginning of the second major room, there is a long set of displays showing the People of Malaysia, which is very interesting as well. The focus is on buildings, landscapes and the scenery. Model trains play no major role. As you see in the pictures below, there is a wide and nice landscapes and sights in model size in the exhibition. This turns this place in Kuala Lumpur to a very entertaining visit. The second (and larger) room also features key sights of the Malaysian capital.

 

MinNature Malaysia – Services

MinNature Malaysia has a really nice shop at the end of your visit. There are touristic items, but also some really cool scale modeling-related things. I especially was tempted to buy one of their food dioramas, similar to the ones you can explore at the beginning of your visit. The staff was lovely. I also had some really nice discussions with them about the exhibition. You could feel that this place is driven with a similar level of pride and enthusiasm as the good, old Hamburg place.

 

MinNature Malaysia – My View

You can feel that Miniatur Wunderland is some sort of idol for MinNature Malaysia. Nonetheless, the created something very own, display their country from different perspectives with their very own style. I really appreciate that. Apart from the sense of humor, the nice idea of scavenger hunting through the landscape exhibits and the friendly staff, these were the key factors, why I really appreciated and loved visiting this place.

 

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