Penang is not just about gorging on food, as other fascinating activities will get you just as excited as looking at a steaming bowl of char kway teow.
Street Art is probably the number two activity tourists embrace when staying in Georgetown—it's a bit hard to miss when, on every corner and down some alleys, your eyes will be drawn to the colorful masterpieces splashed onto walls. Georgetown has been a hub for street art graffiti since 2012, when the Penang Tourist Board invited Ernest Zacharevic to make his artistic mark around town. This was the beginning of Georgetown becoming an open-air gallery that tourists flock to for their ultimate Instagram moment. So when the mandatory street art gravitational pull has been satisfied, head to Entopia and The Tropical Spice Garden (they are not far apart, but you will need to take an Uber or a taxi from central Georgetown) to experience what nature has created, not what man has cooked up.
Entopia
'If you smile when you see a butterfly, you have happiness in your soul,' words by Diana Cooper, the author of over 30 books specializing in esoteric subjects such as dragons, unicorns, and angels. There are plenty of smiles and happiness to be had when you visit Entopia Penang. Your hat may come alive in a kaleidoscope of cavorting butterflies as they flit around you. Or, if you happen to be wearing colorful clothing—especially red, yellow, or blue—butterflies will tentatively land on your back, creating a fluttering work of art. It's an incredible sight for nature lovers no matter your age—kids wear big grins and adults get to be kids again.
Worldwide there are about 24,000 butterfly species, and the Penang Butterfly farm's lush tropical enclave has on average 4000 butterflies of 120 different species—the stars of the enclosure include the endangered Yellow Bird wing butterfly that if female, starts mating the same day it emerges from its cocoon, and the rare Indian Leaf butterfly resembling decaying leaves in color, endemic to Sumatra and Java, hang out on the same perch patiently waiting for a mate to come along. Butterflies are fascinating creatures as by the time they flutter onto your hat, it's morphed from a tiny egg on a leaf to a caterpillar with a huge appetite to a cocoon before emerging as an elegant winged insect with startling and exotic patterns and colors.
Entopia is two wonderlands: The Natureland, which involves lush outdoor gardens under a dome where butterflies dance in abandonment, and the indoor area of The Cocoon, a whole world of discovery of a butterfly's life, complete with interactive technology and mindboggling artistic displays. As you enter Entopia, there are grotto areas with other creepy crawly critters such as spiders and scorpions that do send shivers up your spine, especially if you suffer from arachnophobia (fear of spiders and other arachnids e.g. scorpions). This area can be bypassed, or you can run through it with your eyes shut to get to the magical gardens of gushing waterfalls and ponds smothered in lilies. If you want more than just a walk-around, plenty of tours are on offer where knowledgeable guides will share the secret world of bugs.
Visiting Entopia, even when it’s raining, is a fantastic way to spend a morning or afternoon getting up close and personal with nature.
Tropical Spice Garden Penang
Requires a good dose of mozzie spray, especially if you are in the stunning gardens when it's raining. The Tropical Spice Garden Penang is a great way to learn about spices and tropical plants that leave kids with dirty hands, adults whimsically smiling as they walk over the foot reflexology path, and chefs doing a happy dance when they spy the spices that have shaped the world since 2000 BCE. Even a poisonous plant collection may titillate the minds of devious and treacherous souls.
Tropical Spice Garden is a living museum of nature's bounty smothering five acres of landscaped gardens with over 500 carefully tended specimens on display from around the globe and an on-site shop to stock up on exotic spices as you leave. Pathways meander through this Garden of Eden, where tinkling streams run, and jungle terraces trace the fall of the earth. Take a guided garden walk or get into zen mode at the pseudo yoga studio set amidst a tropical rainforest where you can learn how to incorporate essential oils into your daily life. There's a fun area for the kids to get their hands in the dirt and a community garden to play in with like-minded souls. For the wanna-be chefs, Tropical Spice Garden has cooking classes where you can practice your newfound spice knowledge under the guidance of home cooks who will give you the spicy secrets of cooking hoarded by their families for generations.
Audio tours are available if you wish to stroll through the gardens without a guide, and there's a café on-site for that necessary caffeine hit. If you forget to smother yourself in mozzie spray, you can get some at the main office when buying your ticket.
Gail Palethorpe, a self proclaimed Australian gypsy, is a freelance writer, photographer and eternal traveller. Check out her website Gail Palethorpe Photography and her Shutterstock profile.
