Wacky World of Insects!

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Thailand Fly & Drive – Part 17 (Chiang Mai)

The Museum of World Insects and Natural Wonders is such a big name for such a small place. But it is absolutely amazing how massive a collection of curiosities can fit in such a compact, two story building. This is a small, privately run museum based on the life’s work of a couple of passionate insect researchers and collectors, and believe me, judging from the “inspirational quotes” that are sprinkled in between the displays, they have a keen sense of humour to go with their academic rigour.

When you approach the museum, you are greeted by a huge menacing gate, warning you that the museum contains only preserve specimens and not live ones. When you ring the doorbell, the caretaker comes scurrying down the stairs. Before she even agrees to open the gate, she insists that you read the green sign, and emphasizes again that there are no live insects in the museum. I think this might be a pet peeve of some previous guests to the museum.

We agree to the terms and conditions and pay the entrance fees, which are THB200 for adults and THB100 for kids. We are led upstairs to the museum entrance, which already impresses us. A collection of preserved insect dwellings like an ant’s nest, a bee hive and many others, all meticulously labelled.

I liked ringing the bell to salute Mother Nature…
little lion cub

Yes, every time kids see a bell, they want to ring that bell…

We then move into the display rooms and we see some lovely butterfly displays. There is also a cabinet showing the tools of research like microscopes and chemicals to preserve the specimens and such.

You then see some jars of preserved larvae, with a sign that suggests that it is very healthy to eat some of this stuff. I can’t quite make out whether it is meant for real or as a joke…. (I told you these guys have a wacky sense of humour!)

The next room amazes me with its hundreds of mosquito specimens. Apparently, mosquitoes have actually been getting bad press because out of all the hundreds of types of mosquitoes, only 9 species act as agents of disease.

All the different types of mosquitoes, all meticulously labelled and classified

Interesting about the mosquitoes and graphic pictures of the diseases they can cause.

We then proceed upstairs where we are not allowed to take photographs. There, we find an even greater variety of insects, lizards and such.

Colorful butterflies, stick-insects, huge beetles, geckos, sea shells. lots of really interesting stuff to get excited over.

I told you these guys have a quirky sense of humour…

The grand prize for the last day of life is our own rotten dead body
wacky museum owners

Value for Money (7/10): THB200 for adults and THB100 for children. A little more expensive that the other attractions, but worth the price of admission!
Quality of Exhibits (10/10): You get what you ask for. More preserved insects and other stuff that you can imagine was possible. Everything is labelled with dedication. This is the culmination of two lives of passion!
The Kids Loved It (9.7/10): Little Lioness Cub (9/10) “I liked the preserved insects. Lukily they were not live specimens” ; Little Lion Cub (10/10) “Because I could see so many types of dragonflies and fossils” ; Little Baby Lion (10/10) “I learned about a lot of insects, like lady bugs and poisonous frogs”
The Adults Loved It: (8/10): Very interesting museum and I was really impressed with the dedication of the collectors. I loved reading all the quirky quotes.
Memories Created (8/10): Something that the kids will remember for a long time. A pity that we couldn’t take more photographs.
Crowds (10/10): The museum was empty.
OVERALL RATING: (9/10): Surprisingly enjoyable. Would recommend!