Sunday, September 24, 2017

Entopia - Home of Butterflies & Nature Park

Entopia was one of our many highlight in our Penang Trip.

There are incredibly so many rave reviews on it that we can't wait to here on our final day in Penang.

They are located at the Batu Ferigghini area where we stayed in our final 2 days, so it makes it easier for us where we took grab car for only Rm10.

They have a huge premise, and when I mean huge I meant really super huge. We just drifted past with our kids and we easily spent about 3 hours inside. If you want to go at slower pace and more in-depth, I think it can easily go above 5 hours.


When we entered, we knew exactly this is the right place we wanted to go.

You think about how we used to learn about all the insects and butterflies and how they evolve and nest inside the textbook. This was exactly where all the butterflies and insects came out in nature and interact with us. If you are bringing children, just imagine bringing first hand education learning for them. Not on the book, it's right live learning for them.


For the first few section, we saw many of the reptiles such as snakes, frogs and insects such as centipede, scorpion and the Tarantula spider. Some were in enclosed area while others are in an open space. Of course, you are advised not to get too near or touch them. If you are like my wife who found these stuff a bit eery and disgusting then you can skip this part.





Along the way, we went past a lot of the waterfall and beautiful flowers, similar to what we experience back in the Dome in Singapore. The place was an open enclosed area so we get to shade around when it's raining and then resurface back again to the open area. Weather was cooling and is a great art piece of nature at its very best.



Along the main centerpiece, we suddenly see a lot of people stopping by.

It gets a bit crowded because suddenly you see everyone raising their hand gingerly to catch the butterfly attention, who will stop by anywhere at your hand, clothes, phones. There were soooo many of them that you won't worry not getting enough of their attention. There's some skills needed though, I personally struggled with it at the start but you get the gist of it once you know the trick. I'm not going to spoil this one and will let you guys to try it on your own :)

The butterflies are flying freely in an open space and they are such beautiful delicate, with many different kind of species which they will introduce at a later stage, well if you are interested to learn more in depth that is.

Both my boys were super excited at this point, and I bet the same goes for others too.





We continued to explore the butterflies as we walked on.... They are literally everywhere!!!





Oops, too many butterflies pictures perhaps at this point.

Of course we will not forget to capture a moment of our family photos as well :D




"What is that Daddy?"......asked Oscar.

"Hmm,  I think it's a giant lizard!"


At this point, I think we were all quite sweaty by now so we went in to the more cooling air-con area, everyone's favorite spot haha...

We didn't actually know what to expect in this one but the moment we were in, we were greeted by some mysterious illuminate walkway of the Pandora Forest.






To our amaze, they actually detailed through all the information on all the insects they have. So if you are interested to learn on how butterflies evolve, how long they live, what's their nest and eggs looks like, it's all there. They also have many programme interaction with the visitors so do look out for the timesheet.

This is why learning never ends.






We wanted to have a little rest so we stepped into one of the cinema which detailed through about how insects, mainly centipede lives and fights in the open nature.





Just before we finished the last section, there's a huge showroom of the different items that you can make from the material of nature. One of the more stands out was the wedding gown which caught the attention of many visitors.




So there you go, a happy session for all and most importantly a first hand learning where Oscar now know how butterflies evolve from a moth. Pupae -> Caterpillar -> Butterflies.









Tuesday, September 19, 2017

TeddyVille Museum - Where Teddy Bear Comes Alive

This was not in our agenda to do list but when we heard about the availability of this attraction, I quickly include it in our itinery as my younger 7 months old son loves Teddy bear a lot.

The TeddyVille Museum was located underneath the Doubletree Hilton Hotel which is currently under renovation. It can be a little tricky in finding the place, as we saw most who reached there are getting a bit confuse with the direction, but it's not much of a problem. There are a few nice workers who can assist with the directions once you are inside.

The Museum was also conveniently located just 2km away from where we stayed at the Golden Sand, Batu Ferrighini for the weekends.



The TeddyVille Museum is an abode of Mini Penang, where miniature of bears were dressed in the cultural fashion of Penang and its local heritage and it tells so much history about what we need to know about Penang. They also provide a lovely and huggly moments for those who love teddy bears.




The tickets are sold right at the entrance at Rm30 per adult and kids under 3 goes in for free.

Once we bought the tickets, there is a giant bear right at the entrance where we can take a photo snap with it. You can also hug it all you want, just like what everyone did with it.



We started off by entering the history museum of the different Teddy Bear and how they were originated from the different countries they came from. It's intruing reading about these histories especially how they evolved and became so important after the World War.





The set up of the room was made such that you entered into different themes at a particular set up.

Like the one below,  we entered into a racial harmony theme where it promotes the Chinese,  Malays and Indians and how they celebrated their big events.







Penang is famous for a few of their local food,  and we encounter a few next theme relating to Food!!!  Char kwey tiao, chendol, lok lok,  durian....  Here we come!!




Next is my favorite beach theme which is part of the Batu Ferrighini that we stayed for two days.  More on it coming up later.




I'll let the rest of the photos do the talking :)