I Know It's Halloween, But This Entry Is On the Underwater World, Not the Underworld :)

Hari ni jam dah tukar balik kepada Greenwhich Mean Time (GMT), maka dgn rasmi nya, sudah tamat lah British Summer Time (BST) dan sudah masuk la winter kiranya. So skang ni perbezaan masa antara UK-Malaysia dah berbalik kpd 8 jam lewat di sini. Majority sekolah2 di UK ni cuti last week for their Half-Term since mula their academic year late August lalu, so today was the last day of their holiday lah kan. A lot of attractions letak tarikh 31 Oct as their last summer opening times, and some places tu, today mmg last day terus la before closing down altogether for winter and only bukak balik next spring *sob sob*

And since it's half term, AND Halloween Week, byk jg tempat2 ni offer half price admission, so kami pon apa lg, merebut peluang ni jgk, kira mcm reward la jg apatah lg baru2 ni berjaya dgn misi megejar deadline (tp mmg berhempas pulas Allah je la tahu, sampai terabai blog terchenta hehe). Since the weather wasn't too nice today, gi yg indoor2 sudah - Plymouth National Marine Aquarium.

Selama ni mmg dah berhajat nak visit, tp pikir mcm nak tunggu Aisyah besar sket biar dia ingat, alang2 dah byr fees mahal nak enter ni kan biar berbaloi. Tp nmpknya Alhamdulillah, budak2 as young as two kalo dah kenal fish, sharks, dolphins, Patrick the Starfish and the whole of Bikini Bottom mmg akan enjoy sakan la dgn tempat ni. It is very educational, and kawasannya yg lapang tu bagus utk budak2 burn off their excess energy (read: balik tido nyenyak, dpt la aku memblogging ber-entry2, siap buat scheduled entry lg you for next week, sbb I tahu I akan bakal sgt busy semula, seminars and whatnot, ngehehehe).

And yg lebih bestnya, the tickets last for a year, so anytime nak visit lps ni free ajo2. Cantek! Ada la jg aktiviti free lps ni during the very boring, grey, wet winter weekends yg coming ni, and bila pergi ulang2, Insya Allah knowledge yg Aisyah dpt grasp sket2 psl underwater life ni will be reinforced. *pat pat kocek belakang jeans ala2 iklan Asda yg save duit*

Oh pjg sudah mukadimah aku. Terus pegi intipati karangan. Tempat ni menarik sgt, hari ni agak meriah dgn kanak2, yg bestnya yg sporting tu siap pakai Witch hats and costume gothic penuh, Halloween kan (Actually, yg terlebih excited yg tua2 kot, like org2 keliling rumah aku drpd smlm dress up party x habis2). Anyway, nak buat direct comparison dgn Aquaria di Msia ngakk la bole, sbb aku x pernah jejak kaki kat situ, but mana2 aquarium pon sama je rasanya. Kat sini ada beberapa level, showcasing Shallow Water, Atlantic Reef, Atlantic Ocean, Weird Creatures, and Coral Seas. Our favourite was of coz the Atlantic Ocean, ada sharks and huge stingrays, mmg best giler siap terantuk kepala kat cermin kaca coz it was a curved glass, tp excited punya psl x perasan, d'oh!

Setiap half hour ada free talks and shows, yg kitaorg masuk ialah talk psl 'The Dive'. Ianya dibuat dlm sebuah teater, yg mengadap cermin kaca yg sgt besar ni (ye la kan, sampai divers kena dive in pakai compressed gas bagai, mmg dlm and besar la ruangan ni). It houses many different species of underwater creatures, including sharks! Divers adalah masuk to feed the fishes, sbb kalo dia x buat gitu mmg only the bigger and faster fishes je dpt mknan, yg lain2 x sempat bcoz mknan x sampai to the bottom. And the divers also cuci the glass mirror from algae etc, so nmpk la diorg scrubbing away tahi2 ikan hehehe (siapa pernah bela ikan mesti tau).

Ada jgk 4D show featuring turtles etc, playing every half an hour, tp memandangkan kitaorg nak kejar solat Asar, so itu adalah agenda utk next visit la kiranya. Also ada indoor play area (padded), tp we didn't go in since Aisyah wasn't showing much interest. Maybe she had sized up her opponents kat dlm tu yg lebih besar drpd badan dia (wise girl!). To be honest, she was showing more interest in her juice box than the slides and trampoline, LOL!). Next time la kot, perhaps when she's older and stronger. Berfaedah betul dpt all-year tix ni, x de la terkocoh2 nak sumbat everything in one go hihi. Alhamdulillah, we had good fun. The only slight down side is kat dlm tu x bole pakai flash masa amik gmbr, so pics came out a bit blurry or just dark. Overall, it was a really great day out. May many more come our way, and semoga places like this keep our sanity during the cold and gloomy months ahead!