Ever since we saw noticed it on the Sentosa shoreline, we’ve been wondering about this hull-like structure.

Thanks to the fine folk at Resorts World Sentosa, we got to find out what was contained in there.

Here’s the official spiel – “The Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium (MEMA) is Singapore’s first maritime museum and what makes it even more distinctive from other museums is that, it boasts a themed environment, along with a variety of complementary exhibits. All together, it brings to life the Maritime Silk Road via life-sized historic ship replicas, shipwreck artefacts, interactive exhibits and educational programmes for everyone.”

The first thing that greets you upon entering the museum is a replica of the bow of Bao Chuan, Admiral Zheng He’s treasure ship. The actual sized sails would protrude through the roof of the museum though.

We liked the painstakingly put-together armada of ships lined along both sides the Bao Chuan. Zheng He launched many exploratory voyages to Asia and Africa and sailed with fleets of up to 300 ships.

This imagery brought to mind this scene from some sci-fi film.

The bow reveals a screen which plays an introductory video to the voyages of Admiral Zheng He.

And when the museum opens, you’ll get to see the lion head attached to the bow actually move.

To get an idea of the treasures on board this flag ship, simply head behind the bow and take in this magnificent sight.

After viewing the video, you’ll get to follow the Maritime Silk Route that Admiral Zheng He took.

In the Souk Gallery, you’ll be able to enjoy the sights, sounds and even smells of the various ports of call along the silk route.

Interspersed with the displays are interactive activities that lets you to send customised photos to yourself, play games and activities to keep the kids occupied, among others.

One of the main attractions in the museum is the Jewel of Muscat, which our editor, Noel, had the pleasure of exploring last year.

We’ve also previously seen the model replica during Shipwrecked! at ArtScience Museum…

…and it was good to finally see it up close.

The next part of the tour brought us out of the museum to see a Javanese Jong and an Indonesian borobudar docked in the museum’s port.

It’s intriguing that these boats use no metal in their construction.

Check out our guide, Nicholas’ personalised tour round one of the boats.

The next part of our visit was to Typhoon Theatre, which documents a doomed voyage of Chinese sailors. Though we were rather tickled by the accents of the actors in the video, we must admit that the multimedia effects were fantastic.

The last gallery we visited in our tour was the Bakau shipwreck which had the following artefacts among its cargo.

The Maritime Experiential Museum & Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa opens on Saturday 15 October 2011 from 10am – 7pm on Mondays to Thursdays, and 10am – 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. Admission that includes Typhoon Theatre for adults is $6, children (4 -12 years old) is $4 and senior citizens (65 years old and above) is $3.

We hope you have a great visit as we did!