I have stayed in Penang island since 1995 when I was a USM student. The island really captured my heart that in 1999, just after my graduation, I decided with my boyfriend a.k.a my hubby now, that we will settle down in Penang. Another crucial reason is that Penang is like a central location between our hometowns...I'm from Alor Setar while my hubby is from Ipoh, which makes it easy for us to go back to our hometown during weekends...it's just about 1 to 1 1/2 hours from Penang.
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| View from Penang Hill |
Now, almost 18 years in Penang, I never feel bored staying here. In fact, the journey never ends and the excitement never stops. There is so much fun to do here...and with my growing kids, me and my hubby are challenging ourselves to become 'explorer' and more creative and adventurous to create fun and excitements for our kids, and make them cherish every moments with us. Penang offers loads of “must-dos” and family-oriented weekend outing activities.
Penang Bird Park
Situated at Seberang Jaya in the mainland of Penang, a visit to the park during the recent mid-semester school break was an unforgetable moment especially for Alyssa who is a big fan of parrot. Hrrmm...thanks to the movie Rio! Alyssa's passion for parrots was developed after she watched this movie. As the first and largest bird park of its kind in Malaysia, it is a home to loads of bird species including parrot, cockatoo, emu, ostrich, flamingo, pelican, eagle, owl, ducks and etc. We were fascinated with the concept of this park...the birds were kept in a garden with beautiful landscape, cascading waterfalls and natural ponds, and as well as walk-in aviary.
The most exciting moment was to watch the animal show, presented by the parrots and eagle. We were so fascinated and amused by the well-trained parrots and eagle. All visitors really enjoyed the show. And peak of the visit was...the photo session with the birds! It was a dream come true for Alyssa when she can held the parrots and this moment was captured in a photo. However she was quite 'scared' to hold the big and heavy parrot but Syameer was quite cool as his parrot was quite small and light. It was quite surprising for us when we were informed by the crew that the blue-and-yellow parrot costs about RM12,000. Hahaha.....looks like Alyssa need to 'work' hard enough to own a parrot!
Passing through the souvenir shop on our way out, as usual, we grab the 'must-buy' item...signature fridge magnet. I noted that the shop not only sells colourful fridge magnet but also funny yet educational toys and figures, and unique handcrafts.
Penang Toy Museum
When we first visited the museum in 2009, it was located at Tanjung Bungah. When we revisited the museum in March 2013, it has been relocated to Teluk Bahang with bigger showroom. It was the ultimate fun for our kids as children who love toys, dolls, figurines and collectables.
We could spent hours here to really look at the displays at 'microscopical level'...hahaha! Then, my kids would describe what they saw and relate to their favourite animation characters.
There are loads of huge and tall figurines including the ones from movies and famous superheros. To name a few are Monsters Inc., Astro Boy, Rango, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Ice Age, Wall-E, Toy Story, Superman, Ironman, Batman, Spiderman, Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Transformers, Pirates of the Carribean, Starwars, Green Lantern, Lara Croft from the Tomb Riders, Alien vs Predator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and loads more.
Besides the huge and tall figurines, we were also fascinated by the limited edition toys, dolls and collectables, also from the movies and animation series. Amongsts those are the Dragon Balls, Matrix, Corpse Bride, Madagascar, Simpsons, Barbie and loads more. 
In every visit, we were pretty occupied with photo session with the displays.....hahaha, photography is in our blood!
Penang Hill
Whenever we feel like enjoying the cool, refreshing air and panoramic views of the island, we will take a short 30-minute cable car ride up Penang Hill from the Air Itam station. Our kids really enjoyed the cable car ride! Up on the hill, we checked out the Bellevue Aviary Garden, which housed peacock, cockatoo, hornbill etc. We also took a buggy ride around the hill to see the colonial mansions.
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