VISITING THE WAR MUSEUM IN PENANG

   25th FEBRUARY 2024    ~ One place that I had never been to in Penang was its War Museum. I had been in Penang a few times already so I had to list down the tourist spots that I had never visited. When I arrived, there were not many people. The entrance fee was RM22 for a local resident. One thing which I did not expect was the size of this tourist attraction.

Things you need to know before going:

[1] You need to have a pair of strong feet as you would be walking along a long distance treks, going up and down the hills. After paying RM22 I had no choice but to climb up all the way up the steep steps and walk down. There seemed to be no short cuts as you had to follow the one way directions to get to all the places in the museum.

[2] Bringing along your bottled water would be a great idea as the only place where you could get drinking water was at the ticket counter.

There was one spot in the museum where you could get a scenic view of Penang Second Bridge.

[3] This place was not for the faint-hearted. There were places that were quite spooky and I could feel the negative vibes, especially those dark rooms in the hill or the small tunnel that led to nowhere. Unfortunately, visitors were left on their own to explore the place, no staff or officers at all when I was there. In case of emergency, one would be left there unattended.

You can get more information about this place HERE.

I felt much slimmer after getting out of this place and prayed I did not do any damage to my knees. It was an interesting visit to the real World War ll remnants. It reminded me of my trips to similar places in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam long time ago.

VISITING CAMBODIAN WAR MUSEUM

12th March 2016 ~ Cambodia was a country that was involved in wars in the 60's and 70's and the visit to this museum told us the stories of the misery the Cambodians had to suffer up until today. It started with the Civil War which then continued with the regime of Pol Pot effort to turn Cambodia into a communist state and finally the war against Vietnam. 

The museum was an open-air premise and most of the exhibits are real war machines and weapons of the past. Do not expect to see a modern museum like the one in Ho Chi Minh city. 

We were with a group of visitors and there was a guide who accompanied us throughout the visit. To be able to understand the significance of the war to the country, you had to listen attentively to the guide. All his stories were all real life experiences, including his own. 25% of Cambodian population were killed and life was really hard for the innocent people of Cambodia and some of them still have to go on with the nightmares even though the war was over a long time ago.

the guide but I could not remember his name

Visiting a war museum always makes me feel thankful to have lived in a peaceful country. We are always worried about not having enough money to buy the latest handphone, or the hike in the petrol price, or canned tuna is now getting more expensive. Have we ever worried what kind of life we will live in if peace is no longer restored? Oh ok, I am getting a tad emotional here.

All in all, the museum was a small but it contained stories of the Cambodian people of the past and the present. Make sure you get a guide when visiting or else you will only be staring at old metal scraps.

"There is no path to peace.
Peace is the path."

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~ 

[MY SIEM REAP TRIP MAIN PAGE]