[2][3] The museum's main attraction was a 15m tall reconstruction of an ancient Chinese ship which is created based on historical accounts of Chinese mariner and diplomat,Zheng He's journeys to the "Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean).

[4] Behind the Chinses ship was a replica of a 9th-century Arabian dhow, the Jewel Of Muscat, which was gifted to Singapore by the Sultanate of Oman.

[4] Surrounding both ships is the Souk Gallery which is a collection of dioramas of ancient markets in Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Iran and Malindi in Africa .

[4] At the end of the gallery, the museum had a simulator, Typhoon Theatre, to let visitors experience what happened when a Chinese junk is caught in a storm.

[4] Visitors subsequently go down a water-themed walkway from the simulator into a gallery with artefacts recovered from a 13th-century wreck off Bakau in Indonesia.