Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to go on a short 3 day getaway there! It had been at least a decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.
Last week, we started our final day in Penang by having some delicious roti canai for breakfast at one of the most popular roti canai restaurants in the area!
This restaurant has been around since 1955 and definitely has that traditional feel to it. It felt like we traveled back in time just stepping over the threshold. We ordered some egg pratas and a few different curries along with drinks:
After that we made our way to The Top, which is the a skyscraper with the highest observatory in Penang. Turns out its housed in Penang's largest indoor theme park so we ended up exploring it for a bit.
We ended up getting the 3 attraction pass since it's the only one with the Observatory included.
Anyway, last week we left off right before the aquarium so let's go!
27 July 2022. Wednesday.
We were greeted by a super deep blue lobby at the aquarium and figured we were in the right place. The ocean motif on the floor was a nice touch.
After we showed our pass we headed in and it was a little creepy at first since it was quite dark.
There were some small fish tanks at the beginning along with this China theme with literal China in the fish tanks as decoration. Each tank comes with a little board with information on the species, such as their habitat, weight and length and what food they consume.
There was even a whole Chinese restaurant front built around the fish tanks here! It looked pretty cool, but also reminded me of the fish tanks you'd see in older Chinese restaurants where the fish would be kept before someone orders them. Kind of a little morbid reminder but still cool regardless.
I did recognise some of the fish here but couldn't really remember the names. I did admire how the tanks were decorated though, I guess to make it more interesting to visitors since these fish are quite small.
I swear I've seen the same exact bowls in my grandmother's house. It's cool that they made these decorations so relatable.
The aquarium was pretty empty we thought we were the only people there tbh.
Next was a very dark area with these luminous fish! I've always wanted one after I saw an episode of The Big Bang Theory where the main character works on making fish night lights and actually succeeded!
We came across some natural looking tanks next set into these cave-like walls.
I guess these were more ocean fish and they were bigger.
I thought these looked pretty cool since they seemed to glow as well.
There were different tanks here in the caves but less so than the first section.
There was a little tunnel-like area that we could go through but I think they were more for kids. There weren't any tanks in there; just a fun little passage.
Next were some open tank exhibits and there was a strong smell of chlorine here as well for some reason.
These fish were huge! And there were different species kept in the same tank. Although given how big they were I'm not sure if it was enough space for them to move around, not that they looked like the moved around much.
The big one in particular looked like they came up for air a little and we thought it was to breathe but since they have gills I'm not sure what it's for.
We finally came across some other people who looked like they were getting a private tour of sorts since they had the staff with them.
We saw some quick turtles that reminded me of my friends' turtle which she used to have.
There was a tank of smaller fish with these iconic decorations I'm sure everyone recognises! I don't visit aquariums that much but I've never seen one with so many decorations, and this was definitely the best yet!
There was even one tank with a little ruined castle which looked quite cute.
The people were crowding around one of the open tanks so we couldn't really see what was there but it's all good.
There was an open area in the corner with a photo spot and a backdrop along with a screen with information on the African Lungfish.
which I guess was being exhibited here in this water village setting.
They looked pretty big but also kinda derpy.
There was a tank of mini sharks (called Iridescent Shark) with a mini plane wreckage which I think is quite fitting.
We passed by a tank of some pretty looking zebra fish too!
These tanks were set in what looks like a ruined temple of sorts, with the pillars. It reminds me of some dungeons in video games I've played like the water temple in Zelda or something.
Of course there were a couple of eels as well; the snakes of the sea.
And there was a rock fish or something trying to camouflage itself. Can you spot it?
We came across a room with some vertical tanks as well that resembled a factory or lab of sorts since there weren't many decorations here.
Next was the mangrove area I guess with all these trees.
I didn't know these eels could be found in mangroves. They look like the cousin of the moray eels.
There was this one looking cute hiding in his little log too.
There were some big tanks in this mangrove area with a bunch of the same species fish together.
There were some small tanks as well of course and one of them had this tiny fish I thought was so cute.
The next area had a Titanic kind of vibe, but the ship wrecked version of the Titanic not the fancy one before it sank.
I'm not really sure why they kept clownfish in this section though. Seems a little insensitive but then again Nemo was a good movie.
There was the same small eel in this section too. A few of the tanks had similar fish in different areas so I guess the themes were just for show. I guess other than the mangrove the rest were quite implausible although I'm not sure the fish in the mangrove area were actually found in mangroves.
Even though the aquarium felt pretty low-budget walking through it, they definitely did their best to make it interesting with the interior design.
There was even a pirate in this area which definitely didn't give us a shock.
There was a goofy fish swimming upside down looking at its own reflection. It could've been sleeping too I suppose.
There was an open tank with some very black looking fish. I'm not sure if they were sharks.
This was probably one of the biggest fish they had in the aquarium! It's called the Brown Mouthed Grouper, weighs up to 15 kg and can live as long as 40 years!
The people we saw previously caught up with us here, and there was a sink in this area for people to wash their hands if they had put their hands into the open tanks.
This was probably the real moray eel and it was huge! It's probably all coiled up inside that pipe.
The shipwreck area was the last area of the aquarium because we found ourselves in the gift shop next. Of course there were a bunch of souvenirs here that probably no one has bought in years.
We were back at the lobby again and found this area called The Banquet which I guess is for people who want to hold fancy wedding dinners inside the skyscraper to enjoy the view. It's probably ridiculously expensive though, even in MYR.
We found ourselves on the other side of the lobby from where we came in and wondered where the kids we saw went since it was fairly empty now.
But then again there were plenty of kiddy areas for them to play in so we hoped we wouldn't run into them again.
There was however yet another group of students here. They looked like teenagers though so it's probably a high school this time.
Our pass also enables us to visit the Jurassic Research Center which looks kinda goofy but it was pretty heavily advertised and we even saw it from the street on our first day here!
But we'll cover that next time! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #210 (Penang): A Tasty Morning Delight 🌞
