Penang Weekend Trip: Dark Mansion, Georgetown
When I research for things to do in Penang, my research has generated a lot of "museums" under the category of places to see in Penang. This phenomenon has indeed triggerred my curiosity in that moment although at the end, I just skim right through the list and did not even make a mental note about any of the museums which I saw on my Ipad. However, despite our gluttonic ambition to try all the street food sold in Penang, we could not stomach food non-stop and hence, need to have some walking/ sight-seeing activity as a filler in our itinerary. But how on earth did we come across the Dark Mansion and what kind of museum is it exactly?
We came across the Dark Mansion at Lebuh Kimberley in the midst of our journey to trace the wall mural of Penang (because my travel buddy has personal goal to take picture of them all). The pictures of some of the display inside the Dark Mansion piqued my travel buddy's curiousity. Added by the unbearable afternoon heat of Penang's weather, we were immediately lured in to the air-conditioned room of the Dark Mansion (I've never known that the force of the dark side is as cool as air-conditioner. Ok, lame joke.) Since we were still full from our char kway teow and chendol, we decided to check out this museum. One staff will be assigned to you at each station of the installation to help you take picture (using your phones, yeay!).
If you have an hour or so, I really recommend you to check out the Dark Mansion because turns out this museum does not only provide 3D paintings to take picture with. The art installations at the Dark Mansion uses the trick of lighting and angle. Hmm to put it in layman terms, you will see different kind of display if you look for different angles. For instance, let's check out this painting of waterfall created by Edgar Mueller. Now, when certain lights are turned on...
...the paintings transcend into the solemn night mode and the waterfall has now turned into neon pink lava instead. I was so amazed by the transition effect of this painting up to the point my travel buddy and I taking turn in taking picture with this art piece because none of us want one another in each other's picture. Anti-social much?
The next section allows you to take picture in the setting of the daytime and nighttime forest. The staff will interact with you at this section because apparently there are hidden animals in some of the sections of the wall paintings. It was kinda fun to figure out where's the hidden rabbit, monkey and spider even though we are already adults. I guess we are always kids at heart, huh?
Oooohhh neon-lit mushroom forest. Kinda makes me feel that I am in the Smurf Village for a while. Where's Papa Smurf?
The next section is too sweet for my travel buddy to handle because after all she prefers to adopt tomboyish look. But I really did not mind taking picture as if I'm a princess once in a while. Hmm, when will my knight on a white horse come and rescue me from the shitty reality that I'm currently living? (FYI, I have escaped from the shithole myself, no patience for the knight. LOL).
Right after the flower carriage, there is a mystical white tree which kinda makes you feel that you are in Avatar world. The tree is actually white but its color changes according to the lighting from blue to pink to red to purple. It's kinda difficult taking a nice picture with this tree without looking all dark though.
The last section in the Dark Mansion when we visited the museum (I do think they change and shuffle the installation as and when) is the sunflower wall. The staff in charge of this particular section think that we are a couple (blame the tomboyish look of my travelling buddy again) so he asked us to pose in all kind of romantic posture. Aigooo.
This one particular picture was taken from the reflection in the mirror. Turns out quite nice, let's hope our friendship as beautiful as the sunflower in the picture. Although most of the time, our friendship can be a tad rainy instead of full of sun. Hahaha.
Dark Mansion is located at:
145, Lebuh Kimberley, Georgetown
Penang, Malaysia
Opening hours:
Daily 10AM - 6.30PM
(Last admission 5.30PM)
Price ticket:
Adult - RM 20 (Citizen)/ RM 27 (Foreigner)
Child and senior citizen - RM 12 (Citizen)/ RM 17 (Foreigner)