My passion for theme parks and museums has led me to some amazing experiences around the globe. In honor of my 80th museum visited in Asia I have decided to put together some museum highlights with one museum to represent each country I have visited in Asia. You can view the my full list of museums visited here.

China

The Changjiang Civilization Museum - Wuhan

China has a remarkable depth of history, culture, and technical marvels that make it home of many great museums. Out of the TEA/AECOM’s global attendance report of 2018 it was found that 12 of the the top 20 most visited museums in Asia are located in Mainland China. The most visited Asian museum in this report is the National Museum of China in Beijing with an estimated 8,610,000 annual visitors (only surpassed by The Louvre). So far I have already visited more than half of these top ranking Chinese museums and look forward to visiting more.

The Changjiang Civilization Museum was picked as a museum highlight of China because it was my 80th museum visited in Asia and has one very distinctive feature. This is the only museum I have been to on the continent that features a dark ride. It is exciting to see themed entertainment technology continuing to elevate the museum experience. Although the other exhibits of Wuhan Natural History Museum are free, the dark ride Magical Changjiang requires a separate ticket. The ride itself had poor show quality of projected media and overall story transitions that were hard to grasp. It was through this ride that I really caught on to the story that this museum follows the theme of rivers and the life that surrounds them. Without this as the opening thesis statement that connecting thread would have been lost. I hope that dark rides can be used in more museums as a great way to introduce the overall message of the museum in an entertaining way.

South Korea

Lotte World Folk Museum - Seoul

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that Asia’s 7th most visited theme park has a comprehensive history museum. During my brief visit to South Korea I learned more about the local culture from this exhibit than any other museum I had visited. The exhibit had massive rooms of miniatures and more photo opportunities. It was novel for a theme park to have a dedicated cultural heritage museum, but it didn’t feel integrated with the rest of the park. Getting to the folk museum felt like leaving the theme park since it required navigating a corridor, going up an elevator, and a separate ticket check. I would like to see museums and theme park more integrated through edutainment. Ideally the theme park experience and the museum experience don’t need to be isolated from one another, but can be blended to tell one story in a fun and exciting way.

India

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets - Delhi

This is likely one of the most unusual museum topics, but has a fundamental significance to the life of every human being. Most people in my group treated this museum as gag humor, but I was exposed to serious issues that have been taken for granted. In India not everyone uses a toilet and it has been an essential struggle to improve sanitation as a human right. The display shown on the right was very educational about how to design a dual sewer tank to provide sanitation for the impoverished. When I visited a home in rural Henan that didn’t have a toilet I tried to share this knowledge with them. A highly unusual museum can use potty humor to entertain, but there is a serious message underneath and you never know where this information might come in handy. 

Japan

Tokyo Disneyland’s The Disney Gallery

This hidden treasure shows how mini-museum exhibits can support a theme park as walk through attractions. The Disney Gallery was a delight that brought back memories of the gallery that used to be located above Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean. In Tokyo Disneyland there are premium art classes offered here for a fee. Tactile flip book displays like the one shown above help introduce guests to the art of animation. Disney’s heritage is hand drawn animation and it is important that Disney parks continue to pay tribute to the art behind the magic.

The Philippines

The Mind Museum - Manila

I love science museums! I was first introduced to this museum in 2014 when it was recognized with a Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement. This museum was quite small, but did learn a lots I made discoveries about space and local environmental issues. In the hall of chemistry there was an extremely entertaining interactive display using lighting effects to capture your shadow onto a wall. On the second floor there were a few arcade games with custom software built around science topics. This is a great example of edutainment that I hope other museums can expand to include an educational arcade room. I programmed my own arcade game Math Invaders as part of the goal to make learning fun using interactive technology. Although the Mind Museum is small it has a consistency of quality with many new ideas for the curious mind to discover.

Mongolia

Bogd Khaan Palace Museum of Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar

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