After years of trying to organise a trip to Yong He and the Museum of World Religions, we finally made it earlier this week. In retrospect, it's a good thing we waited. My kids are now old enough to appreciate the main section of the museum as well as the Kid's Land area. And wow, what a beautiful, inspiring place this museum is!
Now, I'm not a religious person but I do appreciate others' beliefs and spirituality in general. I found this museum the perfect place to introduce my children to the ideas of others, and to calmly contemplate life, death, and meditation. My children were enchanted by the models of the places of worship from around the world, and also by the wall where you can leave your handprint and wash your hands in water.
In the main area, you can watch a short video about religion, and at the end, you enter into a chamber that introduces the cycle of life and meditation in different religions and cultures. I absolutely loved this meditation room. You can watch a touching video of people of various religions going through their personal meditations. My children were really taken by this, and have been asking questions about the different people they saw in the presentation.
In addition to the main area, you can pay separately for entry into the Kid's Land area. When you first walk in, birds flutter above you and make a few noises that may scare little ones to begin with. The sweet scent of the forest drifts through the room, and animals pop up all around you. There are many little hidden treasures in the forest. Beyond the forest is a room with a big toy to climb on, little reading area, and kiddy bathrooms. We spent an hour playing in there, as the kids' imaginations took off after walking through the magic forest and watching the short video.
For me, the only frustrating thing about going into the museum was the lady who worked out the fee for us. She asked us where we were from, and as I said "Taiwan", we missed out on what I later realised would have been a 20% discount on tickets. Also, it took her a few minutes to work out exactly how much it cost us to enter. But, once we were in, wow, it was just fantastic.
The museum is right next to Sogo, so you can park your car in Sogo carpark for 30NT/hour, and eat lunch in their food court, too. That department store also has an ESLITE kids' bookstore.
Address：7th floor, No 236, Chungshan Road Section 1, Yungho District, New Taipei City,Taiwan
Can you add in your posts what age range a place is best for. Sometimes it is hard to tell if there is stuff suitable for both older and younger kids at a venue. Thanks for keeping up the blog, I love finding out about new places to visit in Taiwan with the kid.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I am a huge fan of the Museum of World Religion, but did not realise that they had a special kids room. Sounds like a good rainy day activity! And good to know about the parking options next door.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea! I'll try to do that in future. In this case, the children's area is probably best for ages 18 months to 7 years. The main museum is good for kids aged four and up. Of course, different ages will take different things from the exhibits.
Hi Taiwanxifu!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's taken me so long to find this place! It's one of the best museums I've been to. Just beautiful.