Life of a Numbnut

Singapore 2008 - Toy Museum

Firstly, I'll like to apologize if this blog doesn't make sense. That is because while I'm writing this, my brain has ceased functioning. So, on with the story. It was a Monday, when all my Singapore relatives were working. We (Dad, Mom, Sis and I) decided to go exploring ourselves on that day. After surfing the Internet, I found a website (can't remember the link)which had a listing of places to visit/see. I
thought this place sounded interesting. With only the address noted down, we went hunting for it. In Singapore, it should be easy to search for your destination. However...

We took the MRT to Raffles City. The description on the internet said that it was "opposite Raffles Hotel". Exiting Raffles City, I could see many hotels. Tall, tall hotels. However, none of them were Raffles Hotel. We asked someone nearby for direction and realized we were going the opposite direction -_-

Finally, we found Raffles Hotel:

-_-||| No wonder we couldn't find it. We looked too high up in the sky. Bengang.

So our destination was "opposite Raffles Hotel". After walking a while...

Steffi: WTH?! Just how big is Raffles Hotel?!!! ALL of these are opposite Raffles Hotel!

And then, we found a guiding light! A star of hope!

So we walked happily...until we reached the other end of the road with the same sign, pointing back to where we came from.

Steffi: ...
Sis: ...
Mom & Dad: ...
Steffi: This means...we have walked past it. Did you see that place just now?
The rest: Nope...
Steffi: I guess we'll have to open our eyes wider...
*walk walk walk*
Steffi: THERE! *points to a narrow modern looking shophouse*
Sis: ...HAR?!
Mom: That is the Toy Museum? Are you sure?
Steffi: And we were looking for something big and museum-ish like the Raffles Hotel -_- Ah, geez.
Dad: It's privately owned mah.

Yup, we went to the Mint Museum of Toys which showcases toys from a few countries and over 100 years. Admission charges are:

Adult: $10.00
Child 2-12 years old: $5.00
Child below 2: Free
Senior citizens 60 years and above: $5.00
Family promotion
-Minimum 4 persons, 2 adults & 2 children: $24.00
-Minimum 4 persons, 3 adults & 1 child: $28.00

The Museum is divided into 5 floors, each floor one category. So these are what we saw on the first floor:

Tinplate monkeys! Looks like Abu from Aladdin. Or was it the other way round? Abu looks like them. LOL!

Remote controlled peacock! It was used in a movie made in Australia a long time ago...I think. Got to look up on that. Can you imagine this? Movie productions were already so high tech back then.

The First Floor was filled with classics. Mom was happy to see toys she recognized and probably played with before. Toys last time were made out of tougher stuff! They can last longer compared to our new plasticly toys.

These cars and trains are probably tougher than our...which could break into two parts in an accident. Ahem. You know lah. If you don't know, then nevermind. :P

Daruma! It's the red one in the middle. I remember seeing this in the manga Doraemon! Ah, geez! I want one in spite of his grouchy face.

This group was famous during Beatles era, I don't know anything about them at all, so do visit here.

"Hey, Mom! Can you get me this car?"

Beatles. I don't think I need to say anything about them.

If there's Felix the Cat there's Bonzo the Dog! Ok, that's rather unfair. Bonzo came first. Bonzo was created in the 1920s whereas Felix, 1930s. I've watched Felix's cartoon before...but I can't remember much about Bonzo. In fact I'm not sure whether I've even seen anything "Bonzo". But somehow it feels like I have somehow seen before...ARGH.

Golliwogs! I knew of the existence of golliwogs through Enid Blyton's books. I've always hoped to see one, but I guess golliwogs aren't popular in Malaysia. My friend said he had one before but he was afraid of it, so he kept it hidden! So glad to see it here. However the story behind/issue with golliwog, like the teruterubozu isn't as nice eh?

China dolls! LOL! There were many similar dolls like this on this floor in various shapes, sizes and costumes. And they didn't look dolly. They looked real. Which...is not good. >.< Especially at night. Thank god the dolls were small.

Barbie, Ken and Midge. Wait. I didn't know there was a Midge! They weren't so pretty back then eh? But at least they didn't encourage kids to become anorexic and bulimic!

They had so many characters back then. I only know Ken and Barbie. I wonder if the old Barbie was as expensive as the Barbies now?

KYAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Mr Bear! Mr Brown Bear! I've seen him in Enid Blyton's book too! >.< I want!

Anyone wanna "ride" Popeye? *smirks* How about you, Darke? He's a rare one. One of the two in the world or something like that. In its hey days it was probably very popular with kids. Can see that the paint came off a bit at the seat part (his back).

You wouldn't believe this! an entire floor of tinplate robots and space related toys such as spaceships! It boggles the mind, really. You can actually purchase a "copy" from the ground floor. It's a pity they don't have an entire floor on Gundam though. WAIT! Maybe the Gundams were in his warehouse, not on display?! ARGH!

"Dan Dare" comics and merchandises. Created in the 1950s to a 1990s settings(with spaceship, aliens and all!), it is still...ALIVE!!! Amazing. I know nothing about Dan Dare -_- So, hop on over to here to check it out. I still like my Gundams and FMPs better.

So! In conclusion, although it's a rather small museum for the price paid, and the toys changes every now and then (rotation) I still had a fun time. I just wish I could see the owner's entire collection. Apparently, what I saw was only 10% of the owner's collection! He sure is a patient and adventurous person.

Note: There are more toys than shown in my post. My camera's battery was dying off so I only took those which I like.

Mint Museum of Toys is located at 26 Seah Street, Singapore 188382. It's opened from 9.30 am to 10.30 pm daily.
Tel: (65) 6339 0660

Labels: Numbnut Explores the World

posted by Jonquina @ 11:22 PM