Friday, May 22, 2009

Peranakan Museum

Continuing my posts on what to do on a hot & sweltering day, here's another suggestion : Peranakan museum. I have always had a soft spot for this one, even though it's not my heritage.

For the benefit of my western friends, Peranakans refer to the descendants of the Chinese traders who in the 19th century had settled in South east Asia & married local women. It's a culture that is still very much alive in Singapore today & combines the best of Chinese & Malay. Present day Peranakans proudly preserve their heritage & the cuisine is one of my favorites.


The building used to be the old Tao Nan school & when I went there for the first time a few years ago, it was the Asian Civilisations Museum. Now it's a small museum devoted to all things Peranakan.


Every aspect of Peranakan lifestyle is comprehensively documented & presented - fashion, food, marriage, death rites etc

I think these intricately beaded covers would be great for mobile phones


This place is extremely child friendly. It's small enough that it won't bore the little ones & there are many show & tell stations (see below) to get them involved.
But the most interesting are these stamping machines. At the ticket counter, they will present you with an activity sheet whereby you need to go around the museum to look for these devices to chop 8 different motifs on the sheet. The Girl had so much fun.

I highly recommend this especially if you've never been.


Peranakan Museum

39 Armenian Street

4 comments:

Beau Lotus 涟 said...

I'm not peranakan but I love all things peranakan. Used to watch those peranakan shows where they would speak hokkien, English and Malay - found them hilarious!

Thought I'll visit Melaka on my next trip...Have not been there in decades.

SIG said...

I've been there with my girl and I couldn't take such nice photos... blame it on the camera. :P

Agnes Tan said...

I am oh so going there next week .. purposely took leave to visit the place on a weekday. Hopefully I can interest my 11yo son to join me.

ZQ, M4M

petite fleur said...

Lotus - I was just thinking about going to Malacca as well. Great minds.

SIG - Taking photos in a museum can be tricky because of low lighting.

Agnes - Hey nice of you to drop by. I'm sure you'll have the place all to yourself. Hope you have a good time there.