Permanently Closed.
While in Penang, I got the opportunity to visit the Penang Avatar secret garden one evening. Named after the 2009 blockbuster film, it takes about 20 minutes drive to get there from central George Town and is actually a park for the Thai Pak Koong Temple . It is open during the day, but if you are to go, you must go at night. It was packed with people, both locals and tourists. The temple should be free to enter but we were made to pay RM1 per head by some men to enter the garden.
There is also a small beach with a sculpture garden, potted plants and an observation tower before you reach the entrance of the garden. Be warned – you need to climb a lot of steps to walk through the entire “garden” and it is not particularly well lit on the steps.
Image source: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/841188036623462088/
The entire setup is essentially a huge tree and some other smaller plants with colour-changing LED lighting hanging from the branches. There is also an LED flower setup at the end of the walk, a pretty door walkway and a 5 headed snake sculpture. These are mostly just to take fun pictures with friends and family and do not particularly fit the Avatar theme. Overall, the walk should take about fifteen minutes.
Avatar Garden is open from 8:00am to 12:00am everyday. It can be found at 336, Jalan Tokong Thai Pak Koong, Tanjung Tokong, 11200 Tanjung Bungah, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.
By Desola Kazeem.