Genting - KL Trip (20-23 Dec 2008)

*DISCLAIMER*

Long entry + photos from a camera phone

*DISCLAIMER*

I AM BLOGGING.

All armed with powerful clothes, state-of-the-art luggage and my trusty backpack, my parents and I set off for Golden Mile Complex where we are going to take the Five Star 26-seater bus to the Malaysian custom and then transfer to another bus from there to Genting Highlands.

Reached Golden Mile at 10.30pm.

Bus left Golden Mile at 11.10pm.

Reached near the Tuas Checkpoint at about 12am of 20th Dec 2008. Stupid jams.

I was finding the next bus to board at the Malaysian customs by looking out for the bus plate number that Five Star provided us with. Luckily I recognise the driver, or else I will never have found the next bus to board.

Why?

Because they changed a bus at the very last minute, thus the number that Five Star gave was inaccurate. I wonder how my parents can manage if I am not there. LOL

Tried to slept throughout the journey to Genting. But there were 2 stopovers for you to eat and shit and DISTURB YOUR SLEEPING. LOL. The food there is not bad. Just a little overpriced and don't buy the local produce there. Firstly, it will be a burden to your movement. Secondly, its expensive. Most shops in Genting and KL sell freshly made local delicacies that is much cheaper anyway.

Finally reached Genting at 6.20am without even realising that I made it through the curvy topsy-turvy winding road up to Genting. You might wonder why the bus took so long to reach even when the recommended speed on Malaysia's North-South Highway is 110km/hr. If I didn't remember wrongly, the whole journey is about 450 - 500km from the Malaysian customs and the bus travels at 100km/hr after my meticulous calculations. and there was a total of 1 hr break in between. LOL.

Landscape of Whole Genting Highlands

Thats right! What I love about Genting in December is the super good weather and the mist! It just soothes nerves and moisten up your skin!

Walked to First World Hotel and went to quickly get a queue number for getting the room keys later.

This is the stupid part. Although we reach Genting darn early at 6.30am, WE CAN ONLY CHECK IN AT 2PM!!! Luckily they have a luggage deposit thing so we can go explore and walk around the place. Ate our breakfast at a Hainan Restoran Restaurant.

Walk this way down and we get to go to see the outdoor theme park which I didn't even sit one ride on it. Can't bear to leave my parents doing nothing there!

And so we really did walk around the whole place, from First World Hotel to Genting Hotel to Highland Hotel to Theme Park Hotel just to see the changes because the last time we went there is eons ago.

Returned to the indoor theme park at around lunch time and had a hard time deciding what to eat because nothing seemed to satisfy my mother! Then I suddenly thought of the attractive signboard I saw just now near the stairs to the outdoor theme park. It looked like this:

And surprisingly, my mother okayed! So we ended up ordering 2 claypots of Bak Kut Teh with 3 bowls of white rice which tasted special.

BUT

Its not really MMM YUM YUM and it cost RM60++. The vinegar pig trotter BKT is oily to the max and the normal BKT has meat that is cut ready for us to eat. And we wereall ready to see some ribs! So, I think the best thing for that meal is the fried doughsticks and the saltish white rice. ZZZ.

Still dare to write MMM YUM YUM. Golden colour some more.

Nonetheless, we went to the First World Hotel Tour Kaunter Counter at 1.30pm and waited til 2pm to collect our room keys. Luckily I felt something wrong because I already had a queue number, so it's nonsense if I still need to queue again. So I went straight to the front and asked the tuan tuan about this. He wrote me a paper and we don't have to queue! Good news for my dad's leg because it was already hurting a bit after all the walking. And all these while, my mother was outside enjoying the moisturising mist and the cold weather!

See this:But the First World words too blur due to the mist! So I got my mother to take again!

Then, there was this weird chinese man who came to us asking us to donate him RM25 so that he can take a bus back to Ipoh where he lives. He still showed us his IC to prove that he is from Ipoh, Perak. Then my mother being my mother, asked irrelevant questions like: you gambled all your money until you have nothing left right? etc. So to stop the 'harrassment', I told the man that we were also leaving for home and we were just waiting for bus. And that will mean that we have nothing left for him too. My mother suddenly added that we too gambled finish all our money -.- Mother later revealed to me that she was quite scared actually when the man approached her! HAHA!

But the mist was the most obedient after we got the room keys and I got my parents to take picture together!


After we settled down in our room equipped with nothing special but a small TV (YES. There was no kettle, no cupboard, no bathtub), we all went to sleep because we still feel tired after the whole journey! Woke up at around 7pm to settle our dinner. Thats right, we got ourselves into a debate on what to eat again.

So we took a walk around the whole indoor theme park again, suggesting to my mother what to eat. and we ended up eating chicken rice from a stall so near the MM YUM YUM Bak Kut Teh lah!

And...

The untasty-ness has diffused into that chicken rice stall too! The chicken taste like chicken paste when bitten and the roast meat's supposed-crispy skin sticks to your teeth like stubborn gummy bears. 2 plates of such stuff cost us RM24++. My dad was still saying any food that can be eaten is good food.

Ended up buying a Pan Pizza for RM32 ad we ate at the Starbucks (There are, I bet, in total 6 Starbucks and Coffee Bean shops added together), enjoying the cold breeze and mist.

Sleep.

Woke up on 21st Dec 2008 at about 8.30am and determined to not eat at the indoor theme park, we walked to the Genting Hotel without knowing that there was actually a ferry service! Managed to find a good eating place that sells food that is not bad. We ended up eating noodles that comes with a complementary drink with the food. Of course, the food is still not exactly cheap but its better than all of the MMM YUM YUM neighbours!

Walked to the Highland Hotel to take a ferry service to bring us to our next destination: the Chin Swee Cave Temple!

On the way there:

In the temple:

I can tell you the best time to visit the temple is really December! Because all the fully developed clouds is below us, the mist above us and the cold weather really makes walking around no sweat!

The whole scenery is really like temple in heaven and we were touring in heaven lah! Some of the ideas in the temple are quite similar to our Haw Par Villa, such as the different level of hell and how they settle souls of humans who err-ed while alive.

We took the bus back to Highland Hotel and this time, we took the ferry service back to First World Hotel, thinking of lunch! OMG!

However, we persuaded ourselves to go to the Mushroom Farm that we went so many years ago in search of memories. The miniature mushrooms and the giant teapot are all still there!!! Its like childhood memories alive again! But sadly, the mushroom farm shifted its focus from mushroom growing to providing food for visitors and we settled our lunch there: chicken rice with char siew and roasted meat!

Unfortunately, the phone didn't manage to detect the memory card and all the photos I took at the farm was not saved. Or else You all could have seen the fattest pieces of char siew. The amount of lean meat a poiece is 10%. The rest is practically translucent fats! So we had half a kampong chicken, a plate of fatty char siew and roasted meat, 3 plate of rice, a pot of lotus peanut soup, barley drink and a bottle of Tiger beer for about RM60++.

But of course, its still better than the MMM YUM YUM and its neighbour! HAH!

We took a van that was on the way back to First World Hotel and went back to the hotel room to rest because my dad's leg is hurting again. (And my mother always ask him at this point of time, how are they going to climb the Great Wall together).

Halfway resting, my mother jio-ed me to go shop at the indoor theme park again. We actually went once after the dinner yesterday. Thats when I saw a lame Tropicana Life's t-shirt and bought it. HAHA! RM49.90 + a bad attitude from the attendant!

And because our lunch was too fatty-filled, we opted for a light meal for dinner = porridge. And the only place we remember selling porridge was MMM YUM YUM's neighbour!! OMG! And we went to eat.

3 small bowl of porridge, 1 small plate of pickled Cai Xing, of luncheon meat, of vegatables cost us RM24.60++. Ripped.


We finished the vegatables, nauseated at the cai xing and luncheon meat. The cai xing taste weird and the luncheon meat was the trademark finisher. It tasted like meat paste! Familiar?

MMM YUM YUM and the neighbour. HAHA

And the piece of luncheon meat was left behind by my father, the person who said any food that is edible is good food. Now you know how good the food taste.

And guess what. We bought a Pan Pizza AGAIN! And ate it at Starbucks again!

Thats why I say, the meals at Genting is the most difficult to settle. Because even the fast food is more expensive than the other outlets in other parts of Malaysia.

Rested for the night.

Had breakfast at the Hainan Restoran Restaurant again and my dad wanted to go into the casino to see see. Was stopped by the security guard and he wanted to check my passport. AIYA. I look too young lah! HAHAHAHAHA! There, my first attempt at entering a casino failed.

Went back to hotel room and packed our stuff and waited at the Five Star bus area for the KL-bound bus.

Saw a monkey on the way to the Five Star Tour counter

My mother went to enjoy the mist again when she reached the bus boarding area and the scenery is very nice lah. Then, something caught her eyes.

Wild herbs.

And she began explaining what some of the plants can be used for.


And that place can see the Mushroom farm too!

The double-decker bus set off for KL and we reached our next hotel (Ancasa Hotel) at 2+pm with a stopover for toilet and a chance for us to buy local produce again, though we didn't. And the whole trip to KL is about 3 hours. And the worst thing about KL is that there is constantly a jam outside.

On the way there:

After we settled down in the hotel which at least has a boiling kettle, wardrobe and bath tub, we went down to Jalan Petaling which is KL's Chinatown.

The best part about our hotel is that it is just beside Jalan Petaling, which has more affordable eating places and shops selling clothes and shoes and accessories.

There is also a Popular bookstore nearby.

One walk around the place revealed many unattractive shops selling good food, particularly a pastry shop along Jalan Tun H.S. Lee. Their egg tarts and other tarts are really wonderful! And their price is reasonable + good service attitude.

We then decided to walk our way down to Lot 10, a shopping centre that we used to go whenever we are in KL.

Walked.

Walked.

Walked.

Still haven't reach.

And after I got a map from Federal Hotel then I realised that Jalan Petaling and Lot 10 is so far away! My dad's leg was hurting and so he sat in Dome for coffee when we reached Lot 10 while my mother and I went to walk around.

The shoping centre is like a usual shoppng centre along Orchard Road with all the usual brands that we see in Singapore. Even the pricings are all the same.

In the end we spend more time at the supermarket and Korean Food Festival.

And the food for sampling at the Festival sucks.

On the way back to Jalan Petaling:

Ate dinner(yes, after half an hour of debating) at a Hokkien restaurant in Jalan Petaling whose food is really commendable, especially the tofu with minced meat. HAHA. Went back to hotel and saw the KL Tower with disco light, just like our Changi Airport Control Tower!

Slept.

Next morning, we went straight down to KLCC (KL City Centre) IN A CAB.

On the way to KLCC:

Again, the megamall is like a replica of a shopping centre in Singapore, with all the big name brands. We also checked out the tickets for the Petronas Towers' skybridge and the tickets were sold out! Or should I say, given out because the tickets are now free.

Lazed around in KLCC for a while and took a cab back to hotel where we packed out stuff and prepared to go back to Singapore.

Just some scenery on the way back to Singapore:

All in all, we spent S$700 for the bus tickets and hotel rooms. And most probably another S$200-300 for food and purchases.

I will say KL is actually not very interesting if you are not there for the museums/big name brands because you will most probably just keep walking around in Jalan Petaling. And the streets are all filled with posters and advertisements of all sizes which makes me feel so stressed up! I think if I live there, I will go berserk soon because of all the traffic jams and messy streets.

For Genting, although the food is really expensive, I thought that the 2 nights there are more relaxing, maybe because the scenery there is superb, compared to the mess and dirt of KL. But if you are not on a budget constraint, it is a good place to go once in a while.

And I still want to go Nepal-area countries some day!