Originally written: 2 November 2009
Previously also available on: 9 May 2014
This old photo from 1991
Just yesterday as I was browsing through some old photos with a friend of mine, I came across a photo which took me back to 1991.
I was a teenager back then, and the picture was one that had been taken when I was a camp committee for the youth group way back when.
The photo had been taken at Mimaland.
By friend, being a few years younger than I was asked, "what is Mimaland?"
I paused for a minute and then replied a question with another question, "You haven't heard of Mimaland?"
"Nope".
So I went on to say, "Before there was Sunway Lagoon, there was Mimaland."
She then got the idea that it was a theme park or something.
Then for a quick silent moment, in the deep recesses of my mind, I was taken back further in time.
I had the vague recollections of my folks taking me to Mimaland when I was somewhere between 5 to 8 years of age. What I remembered most clearly were the replica of dinosaurs made of concrete (well, at least I think it was made of that). Being a child born in the 1970's and had spent my childhood in KL it was needless to say that I had felt a tinge of nostalgia reminiscing the past glories of the 70s and 80s and this was clearly one which I had fond memories of.
Mimaland was a famous recreation park located 25 kms from the city at the northern suburb of Gombak right at the tip of KL en route to the old Bentong road. The theme park was a favourite with Klang Valley residents who needed a quick retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. Like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, there were replica of dinosaurs (eg. tyrannosaurus, pteranodon, stegosaurus, triceratops, etc). If I remembered correctly, there was a water park there as well, and also a lake for boating activities and also lots of greeneries surrounding it.
I located some old photos from the Web and a big special thanks to those who had managed to preserve these photos and had brought back so many memories to those of us who were privilege enough to live through the "Age of the Dinosaurs". I don't think I am the only one out here in cyberspace that had, at some point, thought about Mimaland.
I located some old photos from the Web and a big special thanks to those who had managed to preserve these photos and had brought back so many memories to those of us who were privilege enough to live through the "Age of the Dinosaurs". I don't think I am the only one out here in cyberspace that had, at some point, thought about Mimaland.
Dinosaurs used to walk the earth here in Malaysia
(Photo source: http://shw.25th-anniversary.fotopages.com/12352672)
Mammoth (not Court's!)
(Photo source: http://shw.25th-anniversary.fotopages.com/12352672)
I'm surprised some people actually have photos (scanned or otherwise) of these dinosaur structures in their collection
(Photo source: http://shw.25th-anniversary.fotopages.com/12352672)
Water slides... like I said, before Sunway Lagoon
(Photo source: ksdr.org.my or myenthusiasts.org)
The water park
(Photo source: 9teen87's Postcards at flickr.com or myenthusiasts.org)
What happened to Mimaland?
I googled it and found little but precious visuals and information about it. I had even used Google Maps to locate it, but it cannot even be found on the map. Clearly, it's long forgotten even before Google Maps started on the Web hence no such labels were identified.
I had read in the Star article on 25 January 2008 that the park ceased operations in 1993 and had officially closed in 1994 due to landslides. 15 years on today, I checked to see some images of the place and was shocked to see the once-glorious park is now just left abandoned in a very sorry state of disrepair.
Here are some visuals that I managed to retrieve from various sources:
The front entrance to Mimaland with the overgrown resident creepers
(Photo source: eddie.lau via pelita89.blogspot.com)
According to The Star, this was the office of Mimaland
(Photo source: The Star Online)
The road into Mimaland -- a shadow of its former self.
Now broken beyond recognition.
(Photo source: The Star Online)
The bus stop that used to carry many a crowd to and fro Mimaland at 11th Mile, Gombak
(Photo source: The Star Online)
Apparently, the land is owned by someone who is waiting for the right price to sell it off. But before that, my question is: how did it come to this?
At the rate it is decaying away, the future of this place looks uncertain. I can think of so many things that can be done to this place but would they? And when?
There is no happy ending to this blog entry because there is not a foreseeable future that holds for this place which is akin to a ghost town, as The Star calls it.
There is only a happy past we can look back on which brings a quiet smile to our faces and somehow cringe in the embarrassment of guilty pleasure that we had enjoyed Mimaland and had lived through it -- but only if you're in your very late 20s or above.
How simple our lives were back then.
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