Penang Shangri-La

For the December break we went to the east coast of Malaysia, so for this March break we decided to go the other way to the west coast.  About four hours drive north west from KL is the island of Penang, best known for its capital Georgetown, but we wanted beach, so we drove to the north part of the island that has beaches and resorts including two Shangri-La resorts.  We stayed at the Golden Sands one which was more kid friendly and had the added benefit of sunset views from its beachfront restaurant.

While the beach was not the best we've seen, at low tide you could go for a walk along it, and even as the tide got higher there was space to play.

The real draw of the hotel though was the pool and water play area.  They had two slides and a splash pad.

There were also a couple big pools.  All around the pool area, they had these nice covered tables that offered shade, so we would pick one with a good view of the slides and the pool and set ourselves up.

The staff got to know us and kept the girls in mango juice and Shirley Temples, so everyone was happy.

Luckily, Elena didn't discover the coconut volcano until the last day.

I enjoyed their delicious char kuey teow, which is a seafood noodle dish.

Our other favorite spot was the Italian restaurant on the water.  It was our first stop after our drive, since we had driven through lunch and were starving.  We found seats with shade and fans and proceeded to eat and drink.

They had an Italian drinks happy hour menu, so I tried the aperol spritz, which was actually quite good.

Jeff inhaled the seafood aglio olio and then helped the rest of us with our food.

When we were all sated, we went back to the room to change into bathing suits and enjoy the pool.  We had gotten a family room that had a special kid friendly second room attached.

The room was fun, and the price was great, but the girls may be getting a bit too old for bunk beds.  They both managed to bump their heads.

After a full afternoon of play, we ordered the girls room service, and Jeff and I went back to the Italian restaurant for a light, late dinner.  The pool area closed at seven but was lit up very nicely.

The next morning we had our buffet breakfast in the hotel's garden facing restaurant.  It was a good spread, but the best part was the view.

Jeff and Elena were looking out the windows and saw a cat do a back flip to capture a small bird flying by.  They obviously couldn't catch it on camera, so when we got back to the room, Elena did her best to recreate the scene.

It was a rainy morning, so we decided to try a somewhat indoor activity and drove about ten minutes to Entopia which is billed as a butterfly farm, but also has a lot of other cool exhibits.

Luckily, we all have local IDs, because the local price is quite a bit less than the tourist price, especially when you multiply it by four.  

The first part was indoors and had all kinds of reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and more.  The girls were suitably impressed.

We really liked the yellow Pacman frog.

They even had a little frog slide.

Next, we walked into a lovely garden set up with plants and water everywhere.

We had fun spotting different things.  We noticed some pitcher plants and explained how they trapped bugs to the girls.

At the top of the path, we got into the butterfly zone, and there were butterflies everywhere, but it was difficult to capture in pictures. 

In the next space it was easier, because they had put out these beautiful red flowers that the butterflies apparently really liked, so they stayed still, and it made a great background.

The next space was a bit smaller, so the butterflies were more clustered together.

I got a cute picture of Jeff and Elena with a butterfly,

and Jeff got a bunch of great butterfly pictures.

The next space was very water focused, and Jeff and Elena had fun spotting frogs on big lily pads.

There were also tons of beautiful plants and flowers.

That was the last part of the gardens, but it was such a wonderful space that we would have been happy spending several hours there.  Instead, we went into the space called "Cocoon" which had some different kinds of exhibits.  The first part took you through a tunnel wondering what the world would be like if insects had evolved to take over the Earth instead of humans.

While the concept is a bit disturbing, the result, a bug city, was really cute, and the girls got into it.

There were a lot of interesting bug facts mixed into the fun, and I think they actually learned quite a bit.  Viv, of course, loved the bug fashions.

And we all thought the bug hall of fame facts were cool.

I got a kick out of the Man Faced Beetles.  The black triangle is supposed to be the hair, then the two lines are the eyes, etc.

Then we left the bug city via the Pede Pass to go check out some more bugs.

The girls immediately ditched us for the creepy tunnel.

They didn't seem concerned when they ended up in the middle of a bunch of hissing cockroaches.

They liked the big, fake mushrooms.

And we all liked the shiny beetles.

Finally though, we came to the end.  Elena tried to mimic the bug bidding us farewell,

but then Jeff stepped in to help with the extra arms.

It was a great way to spend the morning, and by the time we were done, the weather had cleared.  We had lunch by the pool, and then the girls split the afternoon between our hotel and the other Shangri-La where some of their friends were staying.  It was nice that the girls got to play with their friends.

That evening, we went back to the Italian restaurant for dinner and we got to witness a lovely sunset.

The next morning dawned sunny and clear, which was perfect, because we had booked a boat to take us to the Penang National Park.  The park has a couple really nice beaches, and you can hike through the jungle to get to them, but we are boat people, so that seemed like the right choice for us.

Our first stop was the farthest beach from the park entrance, Turtle Beach.

They had a turtle rescue center there, which the girls really liked.

We had the beach all to ourselves.  Jeff and I found a shady spot and watched the girls play for a while.

Farther down the beach was a bridge over an inlet.  Elena was feeling a little toasty, so she and I stayed on the boat together, but Jeff and Viv went to check out the bridge.

It only took them about ten minutes and then we were back on the move, heading to Monkey Beach.

Monkey Beach had much more shade, and, even better, it had a swing!

We decided we couldn't pick a favorite between the two beaches, because they both had things we liked about them.  It was definitely a successful outing.

Back at the hotel, Viv and I got outdoor massages, feet for me and head and neck for her.  We also did some shopping.  We were initially looking for aloe to balance a little too much fun in the sun, but we also found her a fun wrap, and we found a cute hat and circle floatie for Elena.

For our last full day, everyone pretty much just wanted to stay at the hotel all day, so we claimed a table, kicked back, and enjoyed.

We also went for one last dinner at the Italian restaurant.  Jeff and I had discovered that we really liked their bruschetta, and I upgraded to an aperol cosmopolitan.

It had been raining on and off throughout the day, so it was a bit cloudy at sunset, but Jeff went to take some pictures anyway.

Viv went to hang out with him,

and I got a cute picture of them from the restaurant.

It was a great way to end a great vacation.  The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and got on the road back to KL.  Even though Penang is not a top beach destination, we had a wonderful time and will definitely recommend it to friends.