Toy Museum in Penang

With a seemingly endless selection to choose from, one can say that Penang is not short on recreational activities that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Cineplexes, bookstores, nature walks, beaches, aquariums, swimming pools, concerts and such like.
And just when you thought that you've tried all there is to savour, along comes a totally new and unique (at least in Penang) concept – the Penang Toy Museum. With over 100,000 toys, dolls, models and other fun collectibles, it's a haven for toy and movie aficionados. "It's also the largest in the world and the first such museum in Asia" says proud owner Loh Lean Cheng of his baby.

How did it all began?
Loh explained that his passion for toys started way back when he was 19, while visiting the London Toy and Model Museum.
It was there that he developed an appreciation for toys and started his collection that subsequently grew and grew - from his first collectible Popeye toy (bought in 1973) for which he paid about 50p (RM3.30) to the 1.8m-tall Gundam robot from Japan costing about RM9,000. With over 30 years of dedication and the help from his family members, Loh's collection today numbers over 100,000 items, including toys, models, collectibles, and detailed doll houses furnished with wardrobes, accessories and make-up parlors.

The current Toy Museum
The 650 sq m. museum is divided into different categories beginning with the Chamber of Horror and going on to the Chamber of Monsters, Fields of Combat, Cave of Dinosaurs, Hall of Virtual Reality, Chamber of Fantasy, Hall of Rock Legends, Hall of Celebrities, Halls of Cartoons, Chamber of Comic Book Heroes and Hall of Beauties. A special section on Star Wars collectibles and memorabilia featuring Princess Leia, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, all placed strategically to enact different scenes from the movies, will thrill fans of the Star Wars series. Other favourite movie characters include those from the Peter Jackson version of The Lord of the Rings. One can also experience voice-overs, sounds and motion effects triggered by hidden sensors in certain sections of the museum.

Consisting of 560 showcases (4ft x 2ft x 2ft), visitors will also come 'face-to-face' with the stars of Hong Kong moviedom, like the late Bruce Lee, Andy Lau and Jackie Chan, and pop stars like The Beatles, Kiss, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Michael Jackson.

The other toys displayed in the museum are characters found in famous stories, comics and movies. They include Spiderman, Batman, the Power Rangers, X-Men, X-Files, Tarzan, The Simpsons, Winnie the Pooh, Barney, Snoopy, Bananas in Pyjamas, Dalmations, Toy Story, Garfield, and the list goes on and on. And what is a toy museum without leggy American 'icon' Barbie?

Some of the toys and figures on display are rare limited editions accquired from around the world. Most of the toys were purchased during his travels, some through friends and some even through the Internet. He continues to acquire more toys to boost the already spend between money every month on toys to better his already impressive collection. In recognition of his achievement, the Malaysian Book of Records had certified Loh's Toy Museum as the first of its kind in the country and with the largest toy and figurine collection in the world.
The museum is open to the public from 9.00am to 9.00pm daily, with the last entry at 8.30pm. Admission fees are RM10 for adults and RM6 for children.

Toy Museum

Jalan Tanjung Bungah

11200 Penang

(In front of the Copthorne Orchid Hotel)
Tel: 6012-460 2096

Information Bought to you by Tourism Penang

Spice Garden

One of Penang's popular attraction is the Tropical Spice Garden which is located in Teluk Bahang, a few minutes’ drive from Batu Feringgi.
For those seeking peace, tranquillity and to immerse one's self in the splendour of Mother Nature, this veritable secret garden is the place to be.
Step into this little pocket of paradise and Nature's sights, smells and sounds will instantly take over, obliterating all traces of the hustle and bustle that is associated with urban living.
Spread over 3.2ha, this garden microcosm of diverse ecosystems houses more than 500 varieties of flora from Malaysia and other regions.
Visitors will find landscaped trails and natural pathways, stream crossings, cascading waterfalls and interesting structures made from recycled material such as tiles and timber salvaged from demolished pre-war houses.

The best way to explore the place is to follow the three undulating trails leading to 11 distinct Garden Rooms: Water Garden, Cycad Room, Banana/Heliconia Bank, Spice Terraces, Bamboo Garden, Ginger Walk, Sugar Terrace, Ornamental Valley, Croton Wall, Fern Walk and Jungle Trail.
These “rooms” are designed for visitors to walk into and through and feature special plant collections to emphasise particular themes.
Each garden trail provides sufficient interest for a 25 to 45 minute walk with varying degrees of adventure.

A privately funded agro-tourism project endorsed by the Penang State Government, the garden is aimed at fostering understanding and appreciation of tropical plants through programmes of conservation, display, education and research.
The garden also houses a pre-war Straits Colonial country bungalow called Lone Crag Villa, which has been converted into a Visitor Centre with a built-up area of about 5,500 square feet.Visitors are recommended to spend some time here and savour some of the offerings at the Centre.

They include a Spice Museum with permanent exhibits on the origins of the spice trade, historical spice routes and how spices are produced or processed. A themed gallery features different exhibitions.
Budding botanists (or the merely curious) are encouraged to enquire at the Garden Shop about any of the interesting and unusual plants that catches their fancy in the garden, many of which are cultivated for sale. Gardening accessories and organic fertilisers and a helpful gardening tip or two are also available.
You can't possibly tour the entire grounds without a break, so give those tired feet a break at the Spice Café. Perched on a hilltop, the café is the ideal setting for a relaxing cup of spiced tea or coffee with superb bay and sunset views. The menu features innovative set meals and delicious teas made from fresh local herbs and spices.
Visitors can also enjoy free WI-FI at the Café. The menu under their new Chef, Amir Hamzah, with medals in Japanese and Asian Cold display, has improved. New on board, they are developing new tastes and menus to delight the palate with daily menus, specials, corporate lunches and evening functions. For those who are looking for exciting venues for children’s parties, you might want call up Tropical Spice Garden. They can help you organise a fun-filled day with finger food spread, garden treasure hunt, colouring competition and prizes!

Don't forget to check out the Gift Shop before you go. They have a fantastic selection of gift and souvenir items including spices, toiletries, T-shirts, caps and stationery exclusively designed for the Garden and a comprehensive selection of horticultural literature for both beginners and specialists.
It is said that the best time to catch the garden's lovely scents is first thing in the morning, or after the rain – gingers release a faint tingly aroma while the pandanas an earthy sweet scent.
If city life is wearing you out, isn’t it time to drop by and take a deep breath?

“On the old Spice Trail”Walk through Penang’s spice history in this exclusive first ever tour EVERY THURSDAY! RM 80 nett per person

0930 Tropical Spice Garden: Tour through Tropical Spice Garden and learn about the way spices grow.

1100 Little India, Market Street: Down to the heart of George Town, and be intoxicated by the magic of the eastern spices.

1230 Spice Lunch: Step back into a 19th Century restoration gem and be enticed with home cooked spiced food

Free pick up every Thursday from these hotels:

0840 City Bayview Hotel

0910 Golden Sands Resort

0915 Casuarina Hotel

For reservation, contact Tropical Spice Garden

Be a Spice Friend
...and you will be helping to maintain Tropical Spice Garden as well as lend support to our vital programmes of conservation, education and research. Tropical Spice Garden offers its secret sanctuary to rejuvenate tired urban souls with over 500 exotic varieties of tropical flora and fauna spread over eight acres and as an unique educational resource to inspire the importance of plants in your life.
Privileges:• Unlimited free tours through our Garden and Visitor Centre.• Concessionary tour charges for accompanying guests.• Access to Lone Crag Library.• Discounts in our Gift Shop and Garden Shop.• Special rates for Garden events and activities.• Complimentary gift.• Quarterly newsletter.
Terms and conditions apply. For registration contact Tropical Spice Garden.

Tropical Spice Garden

Lot 595 Mukim 2, Jalan Teluk Bahang 11100 Penang

Tel: 604-881 1797 (Leslie) • http://www.tropicalspicegarden.com/
Opens daily from 9.00am to 6.00pm.

Last admission at 5.30 pm.

Daily Guided Tours: 9.30am, 11.00am and 12.30pm

Free parking available

Admission fees to the Spice Gardens:

Family (2 adults and up to 3 children): RM28 (self-guided) or RM45 (tour guided)

Adult RM13 (self guided) or RM20 (tour guided)

Child (aged 4-12): RM5 (self or tour guided)

Free for children under 4 years of age

information bought to you by tourismpenang.gov.my

Snake Temple

Probably the only one of its kind in the world. The temple honours a resident named Chor Soo Kong, who had healing powers. He was a Buddhist monk, who moved to Penang. Some devotees from as far away as Singapore and Taiwan come to pray in the temple on Chor Soo Kong's birthday (the sixth day of the first lunar month). The temple was built in about 1850 and is dedicated to Char Soo Kong. The statue of the deified healer was brought to Penang by a monk from China. The legend is that this pious monk gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle; when the temple was completed, the snakes moved in.


The Snake Temple is located at Sungai Kluang near Bayan Lepas airport in the Penang Island.Many tourists visit the Snake Temple. Buses stop, tourists get out and have a quick look at the snakes in the temple.Walking to the temple you find souvenir stands on both sides of you.Here you can buy your camera film or just a nice souvenir. In front of the Snake Temple is a big incense burner, where they burn large incense.
Inside the temple, in the Main Prayer Hall, is filled with the smoke of burning incense Some people say that the snakes get paralysed by the incense.In a bowl are eggs. That's the food for the snakes, but they are nut hungry.

Although poisonous, these snakes are not known to bite. Devotees refer to them as `officers' of the deity and regard them as `holy and harmless'.They tell us that no one was ever bitten by a snake.
On the right site we can give a donation for the temple. You have to sign a book and to write down your donation.Looking at the book it must be very profitable to own a temple like this.
At the back of the temple is a snake pool. Not filled with water, but with fruit trees.At the first sight I see no snakes over here.But if you have a close look than you will see snakes coiled on the branches of the tree.

At the back of the temple complex was a man, who assured me the snakes inside the temple were not de-fanged and were all extremely venomous.They were not doped in any way, but were simply friendly spirit snakes, who used to live in the surrounding Penang jungle and as development increased and the surrounding trees were felled came to find refuge in the Temple and were its guardian spirits.
He told no had ever been bitten since the snakes began coming. The snake temple is free to enter and is a very interesting and unusual stop and well worth the trouble.
When you're leaving the Snake Temple are photographers, who want to take pictures of you with snakes draped around your head and neck.

Information Bought to you by Malaysiasite.nl

Ferry Penang

Penang Port has a unique selling point in that it is the only port in Malaysia providing ferry service. This service links Georgetown on Penang Island (terminal : Pangkalan Raja Tun Uda) and Butterworth on the mainland (terminal : Pangkalan Sultan Abdul Halim). With effect from 1 July 2004, the ferry service daily operations hours have been rescheduled as follow:-

PANGKALAN SULTAN ABDUL HALIM (PSAH) Butterworth
Last ferry departure : 0100 hours
Next ferry departure : 0600 hours

PANGKALAN RAJA TUN UDA (PRTU) penang island
Last ferry departure : 0030 hours
Next ferry departure : 0530 hours

Rates
Ferry rates applicable with effect from 1 November 1996 are as follows :-

PEDESTRIAN

Adult RM1.20
Children (between 5 to 12 years old) RM0.60

SEASON TICKETS (PEDESTRIANS) – valid for two months from date of issue
Adult RM30.00
Shoolchildren RM6.00

VEHICLES
Bicycle RM1.40
Motorcycle (inclusive of pillion rider) RM2.00
Trishaw/tricycle RM3.00
Motorcar (including station wagon, four-wheel drive, three-wheel commercial vehicle, motorcycle with side car) RM7.70
Lorry (2 axles with 4 wheels) RM13.20
Lorry (2 axles with 6 wheels) RM27.50

Information bought to you by Penang port

Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden, so-call "kebun Bunga" for malay language
"Kebun" = Garden
"Bunga" = Flower
For long long time ago, when i still a kid, my parent always bring me to Botanical Garden.

In my memories, Botanical garden have alot of "Monkey". We feed monkey ground nut!other then monkey, there also have deer, bearin the cave!

Lets see some of the History of Botanical Garden:

The Penang Botanic Gardens, more popularly known as "Waterfall Gardens", was established by the British way back in 1884 from an old granite quarry site. It lies in a deep valley, at the foot of 366 feet jungle clad hills, bound by evergreen tropical rainforests, divided by a cascading stream that meanders through a sprawling 29 hectares of prime and undulating grounds.

Its lush greenery and tranquil setting makes it a favourite park and a popular tourist attraction. It is Penang's unique natural heritage, being the only one of its kind in Malaysia. Besides, being a repository of flora & fauna, unique to the country and to the region, it serves as a "green lung" for metropolitan Penang.During its earliest days, it functioned as part of the then Gardens and Forests Department, Straits Settlements and was engaged chiefly in the cultivation of essential commercial plants such as spices, pepper, nutmegs, and cloves albeit inspecting and advising the planting community generally.

'W' - Aroid Walkaway
'P' - Ornamental Plant House
'6' - Fern House
'D' - Cactus House
'Lily Pond' - The Lily Pond

The Gardens' first curator, Mr Charles Curtis, from the Department of Gardens and Forests, Straits Settlements, developed the botanical and horticultural aspects. Mr Curtis was a devoted gardener and avid plant lover who tirelessly transformed this granite quarry site into a magnificent Garden. The artistic layout of the Gardens was indeed a great achievement for it blends naturally with the setting of the tropical rainforests and yet seemingly a civilized landscape. The development of Penang Botanic Gardens was very much due to his efforts, enthusiasm, energy and skill. In conjunction with this and as a tribute to him, quite a sizeble number of plants are named after him.Moreover, in 1885, it is on record that no less than 11,500 saplings were supplied from the Gardens' nursery for tree planting exercise in and around the island.The administration of the Gardens was under the auspices of the then Strait Settlements Gardens Department with a notable line of colonial directors succeeding one after another. For instance in 1925, Prof. R. E. Holttum succeeded Mr. I. H. Burkill as director of both the Singapore and Penang Botanic Gardens. Both of them contributed much in terms of research in the identification and reclassification of plants of the Malaysian flora.After the 2nd world war, owing to some administrative policy changes, a decision was reached to divorce the Penang Botanic Gardens from its parent establishments in Singapore in 1946.In 1956, the first Malaysian - Mr. Cheang Kok Choy was at the helm of the Gardens who has worked as a trainee gardener especially under the colonial masters. He meticulously managed to carry out the policy laid by his predecessors for the past 20 years until 1976.



Common
Name: Cannon-Ball Tree
Botanical Name: Couroupita guanensis
Family: Lecythidaceae
Origin: Guyana

A beautiful fast growing tree which reaches 25m in height. The
leaves have a life span of approximately 6 months after which they
are shed rapidly so that the crown is usually bare for a day or
two.

A remarkable flowering tree bearing large pinkish red, fragrant
waxy flowers borne on tree trunk on long woody twigs. Later, followed
by large reddish brown globular fruits, which attain the size of
human head and contain a mass of sour smelling pulp, take 8-9 months
to ripen.

Flowering continues for many weeks. Ideally suited in large gardens
and parks.

Lets see the Special Tree at Botanical Garden

Common
Name: Candle Tree
Botanical Name: Parmentiera cereifera
Family : Bignoniaceae
Origin: Panama

An evergreen tree with brown trunk and growing up to 6 to 10m.
The flowers are big, solitary, bell shape and white in colour, measuring
8cm wide.

The palmate leaves look trifoliate in appearance, ovate in shape
and green in colour. Fruits look like little green candles with
17cm long on its trunk and branches. The fruits are yellow when
ripe.

Common Name: 'Baobab' or 'Monkey bread tree'
Botanical Name: Adansonia digitata
Family: Bombacaceae
Origin: Central Africa

A low spreading tree, bearing scented, pendulous white flowers,
oblong woody hairy fruits 30cm long, which also earned it the name
"Dead rat-tree".

It is famous for its great age and the swollen trunk attains a diameter
of more than 10m. The trunk with age becomes decayed and hollowed
out in the centre, forming a reservoir, sometimes holding as much
as 250 gallons of water. It is suppose to be one of the longest-lived
tree in the world and reputed to attain an age of 2000 years.

It is chiefly used in the paper industry.

Common
Name: Argus Pheasant Tree, Asam Kuang, Sekuan, Sengkuang
Botanical Name : Dracantomelon dao
Family: Anacardiaceae (Mango Family)
Origin: Indo-Malesia

This is a tall deciduous tree reaching 31m in height with rounded crown and strong buttressed trunk when old. It is a handsome ornamental
tree.

The Sengkuang is a village fruit tree well sought after by children.
The flowers and leaves are also edible.

The five equatorial flecks on the fruit are characteristic and resembles
the markings on the feathers of Argus Pheasant and thus the name.

Common Name: Ebony Tree
Botanical Name: Diospyros embryopteris
Family: Ebenanceae
Origin: India, Java & Thailand

An evergreen, stout and shady wide spreading tree with dense
dark green glossy leaves. It has a compact, dome shaped conical
crown.

The flowers are fused and have a light creamy colour and the edible
fruits are feathery brown in colour.

In India, the young fruits are mainly and economically used in dyeing
and tanning. For instance, the young fruits have medicinal values
and traded for dyeing cottons and toughening fishing nets. A special
oil extracted from the seeds is used in traditional Indian medicine.

It is suitably grown as an ornamental and shade tree for parks and
open spaces.

Visitor Information


Open from 5.00 am to 8.00 pm every day of the year.

Admission is free.


Available at the Gardens Office from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm on working
weekdays. Closed on weekends and public holidays.


The Penang Botanic Gardens was selected as a healthy recreational
gardens and tourist destination by the Health Ministry of Malaysia.


The Gardens is located at the far end of Jalan Kebun Bunga, approximately
8 km from Georgetown city. You can reach there by boarding transit
link bus No.7. Parking bays for motor vehicles are provided and it
is located nearby the main entrance.


Refreshments and souvenirs are available at the Gardens Shop (Botanika)
besides the Formal Gardens.


Recreational / Picnic areas, toilets, wheelchair access walkways,
bandstand, gazebos, jogging tracks, jungle trails, resting lawns and
plant nursery.


Available only by prior arrangement - phone 604-2270428

Information Bought to you by Penang Botanical Garden
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