“It is very nice,”

she quipped,

“and the food is great too!”

Her first trip to Penang was back in 2009, before she started teaching in the school. But she never really formed a lasting impression of the island back then.

Now, she’s fallen in love with the newly-refurbished Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (Komtar).

“Although we do not have children ourselves, you can literally spend the whole day there.”

Like Rowland, I agree that spending just two days in Penang is simply insufficient. Komtar alone needs one full day in order for the kids to explore.

In particular, I enjoy the Jurassic Research Centre for what it has to offer.

Although the Penang Rainbow Skywalk at Komtar is just a mini version of the world’s longest glass bottomed bridge hanging over the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in China, or even the Sky Bridge of Langkawi, touted to be the tallest sky bridge in Asia, it nonetheless offered a breath-taking view of Georgetown some 249 metres below.

In most of the tall buildings I’ve visited, like the Sydney Tower, KL Tower, Menara Maybank and Petronas Skybridge, you only get the city view through the glass windows, but this Skywalk allows you to look below through the glass floor.

I was initially hesitant to walk on the glass floor, but the fear was soon overcome when I saw people taking photographs on it. I was assured that the glass could take the weight of a few people; and even if there were signs of cracking, I could at least make the dash to safe ground!

The Coco Cabana Bar & Bistro is attractive place to chill and unwind, but with a shoestring budget, we decided to give it a skip. Due to shortage of time, we also missed out the Tongkat Ali King museum.

The Science Centre, despite offering only a fraction of what the National Science Centre does, is still worth a visit, while the Magic Mirror Maze is worth trying if you can spare five minutes walking through the maze.

The 7D Discovery Motion Theatre reminds me of the National Planetarium’s dome theatre and another such theatre in Langkawi – or even the movie Jaws – but what differentiates the one in Komtar is that it is 7D, the latest virtual reality innovation.

The Ocean Explorer is another experience that is worth checking out. It is 5D, and the best part was to when we were transported in a virtual submarine. On being attacked by sharks, everyone got their adrenaline pumping.

In total, you will need at least one whole day at Komtar to check out all the exciting happenings they have here, and to see how this three-decade old building has been facelifted to look modern.

When we first stepped into this “other part” of the Penang State government building, we thought we were mesmerised by the skyscreen, which stretches above the pedestrian walkway. I have seen this elsewhere, but to have it in Komtar is a real plus point.

Would I visit it again a second time? Yes, if I am able to cover the other interesting tourist spots in Penang on future trips. There are just so many things that tourists can experience and enjoy when holidaying in Penang.

If they play it right, the Upside Down Museum at Lebuh Kimberley in Georgetown will be the first museum in the world which presents the interiors and exteriors of a typical Malaysian home from a very different perspective.

With it, Penang will be known as a trendsetter for similar museums, and maybe someday, who knows, there will be also movies made for people like us who prefer the world upside down.

This is a place that will be a must visit tourist spot, even if you have only one day to spend in Penang.

Photography enthusiasts will love this museum, and you cannot help but remember your visit to Penang from a different perspective.

How they’ve pulled it off is simply amazing when you think of it, and you will emerge from the Upside Down Museum saluting the people behind its creation.

So, it is not only Spiderman who can do it, but ordinary people like you and I can also walk on the ceilings, leaving bats and lizards confused!

In-house Photographers

What I like about the Upside Museum is that they provided in-house photographers to take every picture for us. They also have guides who helped us along, and I suppose these must be some college students who are earning a small allowance while enjoying themselves looking at the way we pose.

Instead of using their own cameras and charging us a bomb for all the photographs, they use our camera to take these pictures; therefore, you must bring at least a smartphone with a good camera and lots of memory, or else, you will regret that the entire visit is wasted.

While posing, you may wonder why they ask you to raise your hands in a certain way. Until you realise that they’re asking you to dive right into the toilet bowl, for example, and when you view the photographs at home, it will be too late!

The naughty chipmunk photographers are now a few hundred kilometres away for you to chase them around the museum for being mischievous!

But I guess the lasting impressions one has of the museum is the fun of posing for photographs and being able to keep them for years to come.

For once, if you believe in the maxim ‘seeing is believing’, at least grandpa and grandma have photographs to prove to our grandchildren next time that we belong to the world of vampires.

The only way the Upside Down Museum could have been more fun is if they provided us the vampire costumes!

What do you do when a 10-tonne African elephant, touted to be the world’s largest and heaviest land animal, suddenly decides to cross the road just in front of your vehicle?

Of course, you let it go first – after all, it is the safari and they have the right of way – but what happens when you drive past him and he decides to give chase? Should you speed off and get as far away as possible?

The answer is obvious: Elephants are very social animals. Seldom do they attack humans unless they are provoked. This was what we learnt from the guidebook on Kruger National Park in South Africa.

But then, as we were driving on the African safari, we noticed a herd of elephants. Just as we stopped our car to watch them from a distance, a bull also decided to turn around and looked at us as if it was ready to charge.

We were sure our vehicle would be easily overturned with just one push from the bull. If the bull had decided to attack, the headlines would have read: “Malaysian couple in elephant stampede on African safari.” Whether we would have survived the stampede is anyone’s guess.

Elephants are territorial animals and the bull is the one who would protect its herd from any form of danger. In the animal kingdom, it is important that you do not provoke the dominant male.

Such was the real-life experience of animals and their behaviours that you can never learn in the classroom. It was an invaluable lesson.

That’s why we always enjoyed visiting the Kruger National Park during long weekends when we were living and working in Mozambique back in 2007. Crossing over to South Africa was a great getaway for both of us.

For me, as a photography enthusiast, it was fun to capture the animal antics using a zoom lens and a digital camera which allowed me to take tonnes of pictures. Let me share a few anecdotes.

We saw a car with some young men stopping by the road just to look at a gecko. On zoom lens, it just looked unperturbed as I was telling my wife, “Look, those guys are offering the female gecko a ride!”

My wife asked, “How do you know it’s a female gecko?” I replied: “Because it looked pretty sexy after it changed its clothes!” I was referring to the gecko camouflaging itself to a new environment.

Another interesting sight: a flock of African guinea fowl congregating together. We learnt that these birds love to stay together and they can get very upset if they are separated. I used to have a picture of them singing away, which reminded me of the American musical-sitcom from the 70s, The Patridge Family, which is sadly lost now.

Some images captured of the vervet monkeys were equally interesting. One particular picture showed the baby monkey being taught to do gymnastics at an early age and another one showing the mother patting the little baby monkey for being a good boy (or girl).

This is truly a great lesson for most Asian families who prefer to hide their affections towards their young ones. Isn’t this a great lesson?

The other animals such as the giraffe, the zebras, wild boar and the antelopes would have to risk being preyed upon as they migrate from one place to another but this baboon was spotted hitching a ride. I wonder if it managed to hitch a ride but we were not that daring to allow the baboon into the car.

Within Kruger National Park itself, there are 21 different types of antelopes, and we only managed to capture images of the more common ones such as the waterbuck, bushbuck, the nyala and the impala.

Even harder to spot were the other four of the African Big Five game animals. We never spotted any leopards during our numerous visits, but they probably saw us from the tree tops.

But thankfully, we managed to spot a pair of lions on the rocks and another pair having their afternoon naps in between the tall grass. We also spotted some Cape buffaloes but there was one near accident encounter with a big herd of them.

As the day gets dark by about 6pm, I remember driving on one of the roads to get to the exit of Kruger Park. There were no streetlights. It was dark. Just then, I noticed some movements.

To my horror, as I managed to bring the car to a screeching stop, it was an entire herd of buffaloes crossing the road! My wife was pregnant then, and I wonder what would have happened if I had hit the buffaloes.

We had another encounter with the rhinoceros but I have to mention that this experience was in another safari in Swaziland that we had visited. There were four of us Malaysians in the car. As we stopped by to take photographs of the few rhinoceros, suddenly a bull came charging at us.

Should we just press the pedal and try to speed away or did we just have to stay calm? As I was the driver, I had to make quick decision. Thankfully, we remained calm, and the rhinoceros decided that we were harmless; so it turned around to join the herd while we backed off slowly.