Arriving in the outside courtyard, the mansion has some great features. It is beautifully maintained, and has a great statue standing guard inside the front gate.
The entry price for this museum is pretty steep at 21.20 MYR each, considering we just spent less than that for our lunch, but we are here, and it is rated highly by different tour guides – so what the heck.
Turns out this is a great stop- and well worth the money. Included in the entrance price is a 45 minute tour that is absolutely fantastic. Stanley, our tour guide takes us through the entire Mansion – which is huge and includes its own private temple – with a running monologue of explanation about the history, culture and uses of the mansion. Short story – the original mansion was built at the end of the 19th Century by a rich family (reputedly a gangster family) and owned through 5 generations, until finally, being sold – virtually stripped of anything of value - to the current owner. The current owner is an antiques collector and has filled the mansion with period antiques and antiquities to ensure visitors get a real feel for how it would be to live in the hey days of this building.
We start out in the open courtyard type entrance, with the two story balcony. The structure was made in Glasgow, as Stanley shows us from the embossed logo on the steel pillar holding up the balcony. The structure, the English floor tiles and the Chinese carved gold inlaid doors are the only original pieces that were left in the mansion when it was sold.
We move into one of the smaller ante-rooms with the gorgeous mother of pearl inlaid tables and chairs. Next onto the formal dining room, where Stanley places Ed at the head of the table as the head of household – and explains that the mirrors placed on each side of the room serve as security, because from the head of the table you can see anyone who enters by the front door and anyone coming down the staircase.
We move upstairs, removing our shoes, and enter more opulent rooms – from another sitting area, to a room filled with Murano glass, glass lanterns and porcelain collections, to the bedrooms where we get a complete explanation of wedding cultures and traditions, along with sleeping habits of the bride and groom. 
Back downstairs we are escorted through the temple, which is amazingly opulent and huge for just one family.
The next area we get to discover is the jewelry collection – oh my God. The guy who owns this place is definitely a collector! There is an amazing amount of priceless jewelry in here. Everything from gold to jewels to silver to – you name it. The most amazing pieces are the headpiece and earrings made from Kingfisher feathers. For real. And glued into the metal with tree or plant sap. We’ve enlarged and cropped photos so you can actually see the feathers in there.
The next room holds showcases full of glass bead needle point.. Each young girl was taught to needlepoint and cook beginning at the age of 8 in order to be better bride material. The pieces are so detailed, so exquisite, it is hard to believe a child could have done these.
Our last stop is the kitchen, which is enormous. It holds a whole pharmacy full of herbs, a huge china cabinet containing thousands of dishes and bowls and serving pieces, and an entire prep area filled with pots, pans, carriers and molds. The space is huge, but unfortunately there is also a huge tour group in here, so the picture opportunities are less than optimum. We snap a few shots, head back through the garden area, then out to the hot streets once more.
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