When travelling around the world we inevitably end up visiting local McDonalds. Mostly for breakfast as it serves quite good pancakes (not in Spain though), but also for a fast dinner when kids get tired of trying out ‘strange’ food and want something known. It is interesting to observe how McDonalds adapts to local tastes by offering something from the place. In Spain it has gaspacho and burgers prepared by Spanish Michelin starred chefs, in Malaysia it offers corn as a desert and ‘Bubur Ayam’ (chicken strips with porridge), in Hong Kong it has pasta soup for breakfast and here in Emirates they have McArabia sandwich which is a version of shawarma with pita and chicken and Arabic salad (photo) which is another version of Greek or Turkish salad. It was so delicious (something you don’t normally say about McDonalds food) that would not make shame on a menu in any ‘normal’ restaurant.
Month: April 2017
Penang butterflies
While preparing the trip I was reading Malaysia guide which, frankly, was a bit dated and referred to Penang butterfly farm as a small simple establishment. Trip advisor reviews were not exiting either so we doubted if it is 
worth a visit. But after few days spent wandering around Georg Town we wanted to get out of the city and finally decided to drive around Penang, visit tropical fruit farm and check the butterflies. It resulted to be a great idea!
In fact it appeared that the previously existing butterfly farm had a complete makeover and became Entopia – a modern butterfly wonderland. It had just opened its doors after the transformation th
at’s why the reviews that still referred to a previous farm appeared mediocre. As we did not know of the new modern farm we initially planned to make a short stop there but ended up spending almost four hours!
Already the building itself was promising, modern structure covered in plants. Inside there was a huge open space with the free roaming butterflies and a number of activities for kids: they could release newly hatched butterflies from the boxes, observe and listen the stories of various other insects, there was a room with interactive exhibits and movies on the life of the butterflies. Well, some exhibits were a bit too much for Elin. Her romanticism of the butterflies was destroyed by the explanations on their nutrition. She learnt that they land on her 
not because she is a butterfly princess but because they like to suck her sweat. Even worse, she learnt that butterflies eat dead rats and caca! Overall, it was a great and highly recommended experience. And I shall also mention that the staff was great, they were very enthusiastic and ready to show and explain whatever you were interested in.
Besides Entopia we also stopped at a nearby topical fruit farm but it was rather disappointing. The tour was really short and quite expensive for what you get. The only saving moment is that after the tour you get to try the variety of tropical fruits and a fruit cocktail included in the tour price. But logistics was also complicated as you had to leave the car on the main road and catch the shuttle up the mountain. While going on tour it was OK, returning back got to be challenging as there were too many people for too few shuttles. We missed several of them before we realized that being polite and allowing more aggressive ones to pass will not get us anywhere.
Picture perfect George Town
Visiting such places as George Town makes me think that I should take some photography classes as no matter how hard I try the pictures do not capture the views I see the way I see. On the other hand, trying to get the kids to pose for a photo does not allow also bothering of a light conditions or shutter speed. They may cooperate for one picture or two but then they have better things to do than stay still and smile to a camera. This was not the case, however, during our George Town treasure hunt where the treasure was wall paintings and hidden street art. It keps us busy the whole day and surprisingly not a time we heard the infamous ‘we are bored’!
By the way, the most famous paintings were done by my compatriote – Lithuanian artist Ernestas Zacharevicius.