It was already a warm morning when we pushed through the beaded curtain and entered the enclosure at Penang Butterfly Farm, the world's first tropical butterfly sanctuary. Inside it was like a sauna - real rainforest temperatures - but it was beautiful.

Everywhere I looked there was movement and colour. Butterflies flitted through the air and hung on plants like jewel-coloured flowers.

The farm is home to 4000 living specimens of over 120 species of butterflies, and more than 50 species of tropical amphibians, lizards, insects and flora.

Near the entrance was a tiny hint of the extensive research and breeding programme that goes on behind the scenes - chrysalises hung off metal rods inside a glass and metal case that looked more like a rotisserie than anything else.

The most famous occupant of the sanctuary is the endangered Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly, a gorgeous black and green butterfly with a red head.

It was named after Sir James Brooke, the first white rajah of the Sarawak region and a friend of the botanist who discovered it.

But there were so many different kinds I nearly ran out of camera battery trying to capture them all.

There were butterflies of every hue: iridescent blue, orange, huge white ones like giant monarchs, and some amazing black specimens with flashes of red, green and blue that fluttered their wings so fast I couldn't get a good shot at all.

The butterflies are very tame and it didn't take long before I made a special friend: one of the large white variety settled on my hand for so long I started trying to dislodge it so I could keep moving through the enclosure.

Efforts to say goodbye resulted in it clinging desperately to the fly of my jeans, and then making itself at home on my stomach.

I gave up and let it stay there until it was ready to leave.

But the farm doesn't just house the friendly and the fair; there's plenty of creepy crawlies as well. I followed a path down to a dank tunnel and found myself in the company of several hundred giant scorpions.

As I stood next to them, separated only by a low glass divider, images from Fear Factor and Indiana Jones flashed through my head.

I listened to the rustling, clicking noise as the shiny black beasts crawled around on top of each other, occasionally curving their tails as a warning, and couldn't think of anything worse than to have to touch them.

Luckily I found an antidote to the scary scorpions in the pig-nosed turtle. This old fellow has such a benign face with its blunt snout that my troubles were erased.

I moved on, past an extremely jovial-looking iguana, to see if I could see some extremely tricky insects.

The farm has some amazing camouflage artists, like giant stick insects and the very impressive leaf insect.

This thing looks exactly like a leaf - no kidding - and spends its time hiding out in plants, just avoiding being eaten. I can't say that's the life I'd choose, but I guess things are different in the jungle.

The enclosure is like a rainforest wonderland, with butterflies, lizards and crazy insects everywhere, little bridges over ponds full of tropical fish and exotic, carnivorous plants.

We finally left its overwhelming heat (just as well, my camera had become burning hot to the touch) to head into the air-conditioned cool of the insect room.

Here there were enormous stag beetles, toads that look like dead leaves, fluorescent scorpions, a man-faced bug, countless different types of tarantula and the beautiful but deadly orchid mantis.

By the time I got to the giant centipedes I'd had enough and was starting to feel like there were hundreds of little legs and antennae all over me, so out we went into the sunshine.

But we weren't done with animals for the day.

Penang's famous snake temple was built in 1850 and is dedicated to the Buddhist deity Chor Soo Kong, a healer who sheltered snakes in the jungle. As a result it is a sanctuary for venomous pit-vipers.

They're everywhere - curled up on altars, around the walls, even stretched along picture frames. Supposedly the incense from the temple sends them into a stupor so they're completely harmless.

Our guide Vijay had told us that nowadays the snakes in the public areas of the temple have been de-venomed just in case, but I decided to keep a safe distance, even if they were so completely motionless they looked like rubber fakes.

However, when I entered a side-room of the temple and saw a large python coiled on a table, my safety strategy went out the window. I'm a fan of these big reptiles (for a previous python encounter, read my Bangkok blog) and I knew I had to hold it if I could.

For about NZ$5 the photo op was mine and I was soon having my new friend draped around my neck and grinning like an idiot while everyone snapped away.

Suddenly my grin faltered. I was looking at both the head and tail of my python in front of me... so what was tickling my hair?

A pit viper, that's what. Apparently I had got two snakes for the price of one and the handler had just dropped a bonus snake on my head. I could feel its little tongue flicking my forehead.

And that's how I learned that while I very much admire big snakes, the smaller, venomous types aren't really my bag. I didn't freak out or anything, but I was pretty relieved when the snake whisperer removed my little hanger-on.

Next up on my Malaysian adventure: I take a break from all creatures great and small in favour of living the high life.

Amy Williams travelled to Malaysia courtesy of Malaysia Airlines and Tourism Malaysia.

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