Would ya believe me?

Ripley’s Believe It or Not was founded by Robert Ripley early in the 1920s that featured bizarre items and strange events in a comic strip. Travel and exposure of the world was limited at that time so people often question his claims. However, it grew to such popularity that he expanded it to different formats like radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums and a book series. Well, I grew up watching the series that was hosted by ‘Superman’ Dean Cain on TV3 and I do enjoy the series because of the out of this world stuff that they featured on the series. Recently, they opened a sort of museum in Genting Highlands (I assume recently but it may have been years ago). I was with Rinpoche along with a bunch of other people and we took a chance and entere Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

Lo and behold. It was fun, educational and had heaps of stuff at almost every corner to captivate your curious mind. There was even a little cinema for people to sit and watch fun reruns of the TV series Believe it or Not. I love it and here are some pictures I took along the way… I might not be able to remember what it was about but if I do, I would explain it in the caption. Check it out…

Haha! A little riddle to start the journey…

Strange… I didn’t think the Chinese were that fascinated by feline eyes.

A scaled down model of a Russian Church made entirely of glued and painted matchsticks. I suppose the match heads were cut off as well.

Here’s an old photo of Robert Ripley on his travels to discover something new.

Oooh!  A real European iron maiden. Anybody wanna spend a night in her warm embrace?

A display of a British jail door. Old, worn out but not that interesting except for a good photo opportunity.

An interesting Ninja mace that looks like its plucked from a movie or a computer game. Fascinating!

The spiked collar is meant to be worn by prisoners that apparently decapitates the prisoner if he/she struggles too much to escape. I am not sure how it works but it sure sounds terribly scary. I will never look at the gothic spike collar the same way again.

The lip plate is a Aftrican custom of placing a disk or a plate into a hole pierced in the lower or upper lip and inadvertently stretching the skin in a bizarre fashion. I wonder how this guy french kiss his girlfriend?

This is a scary-looking hate god. It’s a voodoo doll of the African shamans meant to cast spells upon the unsuspecting victim. Each nail driven is a spell of misfortune or the sound of the victims death knell. Scarrryyy!!!

You look so tired. Why don’t you have a sit in this chair…. a medieval-looking torture chair!

This is no torture device but an old barber’s chair. I thought of sitting in it and have someone take my photo in it but everybody had shuffled along so this all I have got.

A life-sized replica of a caged dwarf. Is that Gimlee’s previous life?  Just kidding….

Recycled art. It’s me, Zamkar and Paul rendered in recycled material. Hehe!

Apparently, this is bona fide old photo of a man from Mongolia with a horn growing out of his head. Well, I am not so sure about the authenticity of such pictures. Maybe he did his Yamantaka meditations all wrong and grew a real Yamantaka horn on his head.

Car layered in coin. Not that fascinating but looks great in pictures. Hehe!

Fancy getting this sewing machine. Then you can get the men in the family to do a bicycle workout so mummy can sew you some nice new clothes.

Warning. This is not part of the exhibit. They are just fancy bright faces in the hallway but make a good picture.

A Madame Tussaud’s wax model of a feetless man who managed to achieve some amazing feat with his hands despite his condition. It’s a testament to sheer human tenacity and willpower to achieve against all odds. Rinpoche showed me this and told me to be inspired by this fella. If he can do that, so can you. It is kinda like Nick Vujicic but with hands.

Jean Mei and Jean Ai crowding around the make me skinny and funny mirror. Illusions are very popular.

It’s a selfie of me in the jaws of a Great White!

Ever seen a pair of Siamese twin pigs. Here you go… This is probably a replica of a texidermic.

3-legged duck! Donny Tan? Was that you? Hehehe!

I am not even sure why I took this. Perhaps, it is a prelude picture to the next one.

No nudity please. We are Malaysians.

Brian weaves through the exhibits looking rather short compared to Mr Tall…

The world’s tallest man is 9 feet! I wonder if he can sprint with those stretched-out limbs.

It’s me again. Striking a pose by a barcode portrait of Elvis.

That’s all folks….

Hope you enjoyed the show at Ripley’s Believe it or not.  If you like what you saw, please share in the comments below.