Wau bulan
The Malay moon kite.
Chongkian — CC BY-SA 4.0 · D.W. Fisher-Freberg — CC BY-SA 3.0 · D.W. Fisher-Freberg — CC BY-SA 3.0
A small museum devoted to kites, standing on Kite Hill in Pasir Gudang, the site that hosts the Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival every year, usually in February, drawing kite-flyers from around the world. The museum opened in 2002, timed to the festival's seventh edition. Its two-storey building holds traditional and modern kites from Malaysia and abroad. The loveliest are the wau, the traditional Malay kites, above all the wau bulan or moon kite, with its ornamented wings and crescent-shaped tail, one of the symbols of Malay culture. The museum sometimes holds kite-making demonstrations, and visitors can fly kites on the open hill in front of it. It opens daily from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, and the entry fee is a token of about two ringgit. It is in Pasir Gudang, about twenty-five kilometres east of Johor Bahru, and the visit is short, so make it a stop on the way to Desaru, or plan it for festival days, when the sky fills with coloured kites.
The Malay moon kite.
Fly a kite in front of the museum.
Kite-flyers from around the world each year.
Kite Hill (Bukit Layang-Layang), Pasir Gudang, about 25 km east of Johor Bahru
The Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival is usually held in February on the same hill; the dates change from year to year, so check them before planning.