you spell it is uh... W W O R Q
last name, G U I

Genting Highlands
Tuesday, 14 August 2012 @ 3:10 am
Alright, time to blog on my trip to Malaysia from 5 - 9th August.

Day 1 (road trip to Seremban)

I was still having a screwed body clock so I slept at 8a.m ...and woke up at 12 noon
We were supposed to leave at around 1p.m + ... so I did some last minute packing once I woke up..
In the end, we delayed until around 4.30 p.m

My mum was planning to leave around 1p.m + because she didn't want to miss the Olympic Men's Badminton finals match between Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan at 8p.m. Neither did I, but things just didn't go according to plan.. oh well

Our first destination was to Seremban, my relatives' home, to visit my grandpa and it normally takes us 5-6 hours to get there by car, so that means normally, we'd expect to reach there at around 9-10p.m. That includes resting for food and relief every hour or so on the road, but my mum was rather determined to watch the match so she drove faster than usual and skipped a few toilet breaks on purpose.. Now that's real determination!

And I'm glad it paid off, cause we reached the city inn at around 8.20p.m, just 20 minutes late of the match, when we were expecting to miss the whole match. Had to thank my mum for that, haha, but I guess she reaped the rewards for her own efforts as well.


Haha it was true. If LCW won the gold medal, the Malaysian govt. would give the whole nation a public holiday (not sure about the ice-cream though)

Our rewards weren't 100% fulfilled though, as we witnessed Lee Chong Wei lose to Lin Dan 19-21 in the tie-breaker round and we were heartbroken. They've faced each other countless times in various tournament finals and Lin Dan usually emerges as the victor. Luck, more than often, plays a part in these type of close matches where both parties are around the same standard. Nevertheless, we were glad that we could at least make it in time to witness some world class badminton by these two players, just sad that LCW couldn't take revenge this time :( oh well.. Life is unfair..


After the match, we went out to meet one of my mum's brothers(she has 4), a.k.a, my uncle and his family, for dinner. We ate crabs and had a good long chat as we only meet when we visit them.
It was soon getting late and we bade farewell for the night, only to meet again few days later.
Went back to the inn and watched a movie on my laptop as my body clock was still screwed, basically just trying to kill time until I could finally fall asleep.. aha
Well that was pretty much Day 1 =)

Day 2 (traffic jam to Genting)

Woke up the next morning at around 12noon again lol, dad went out to da bao brunch for me :P cos I was just too damn lazy .. Made me feel like a pampered kid :(
While he was out buying brunch for me, I bathed and packed my stuff as our next destination was GENTING!!! :)

But first, we headed for our grandpa's house first to visit my grandpa and some relatives who were there as well. I only managed to catch a few hours of sleep the previous night so I went to his house and slept. LOL
After catching up on some sleep and saying bye to my grandpa, we then headed for Genting. My dad didn't know the way to Genting so he hired a cab instead and left his car at my grandpa's house to be collected again when we came back from Genting.

On a good day without traffic jam, it would normally take 60-90 minutes to get there. That day, however, wasn't a good day and we took 2 hours.. but it was worth it in the end. The taxi driver was a friendly Indian man, and we had a nice chat with him all the way for the 2 hours, so it wasn't a boring taxi ride like the ones we have in SG because our country is so small that the journey barely lasts for a cup of tea. It's these kind of small insignificant things such as geological characteristics that define a country, apart from its wealth, but also the happiness of the people living there.

SG's size, or lack of, is starkly contrasted in Malaysia. Singaporeans feel the lack of space and therefore feel psychologically suppressed in a nation, whereas people of the latter country feel otherwise. Just one day in a bigger country is all it takes to see & feel the difference. It's no surprise thousands of Singaporeans are migrating to Malaysia nowadays to seek less hectic and stressful lives.

Okay back to the journey. These were some photos I took during the 2hr cab ride. 

It was raining a little, which could be a reason for the jam 





On the way up the highlands, with beautiful mountain ranges in sight 


After about an hour's drive, we finally reached this sign.
But this was only halfway up, the fun part started only from here onwards. 
(What do I mean by fun? Driving through clouds!) 

Haha, made me feel like a kid reliving his childhood fantasies of actually being in a cloud, lol!

These were photos taken from inside the cab. This is how it looks like to be in a cloud, for those of you who always wanted to know ._.





The only way our driver could see is by following the white stripes on the road 




Soon after, we finally reached the hotels and had to part with our friendly Indian cab driver. My dad gave him some extra money as tips for just being so friendly to us :)



Our room(with no air-con of course, for obvious reasons)

Haha all my dad's stuff on the table

The following are photos that I took outside the window
As you can see, everything is just being covered by clouds most of the time





There were only few rare moments when the clouds opened up. These photos here show the view of the Theme Park from my room, which was on the 16th floor.

Start

2 seconds later

5 seconds later

8 seconds later..
15 seconds later

20 seconds later... 


Just shows how fast the clouds take to form 

We then headed out for dinner and hell it was cold. I think around 10degrees, especially since it was at night, but that's why people come up to Genting. Haha, you won't ever get this kind of weather in SG. After dinner, we headed back for our room and I was free to do what I want. Woohoo! My parents went to have their adult fun in the casino while I played my 360 for the whole night. (I wouldn't know what to do if I hadn't brought it there oh gawd :x)

View at night(where there are much lesser clouds, because the dew point is lower at night)
For those who took Geog in O'level, you should know what is dew point

See that thin layer of whitish stuff in the sky? That's the dew point, which is flat, not fluffy, as most people picture clouds to be)



My savior! If not I would've been bored to death watching Olympic gymnastics and other boring ass programs on TV

Played like shiok until my parents came back at around 4a.m.. Was kinda tired by then so tried going to sleep. Struggled a bit at first but did manage to catch some shut-eye.
That was Day 2 :)

Day 3 (Sight-seeing and more slacking)


Woke up around 12p.m again, lol... Headed out for lunch at a nearby restaurant
The food was so-so.. but nevertheless, I ate till full.
We then headed outdoors for a little sight-seeing.








Our hotel from behind





There was an orchid garden 









After the quick breath of fresh-air, we headed back to our room. My parents went to the casino again, which meant more free-time for me... Muahaaha!
Played my 360 until it was time for dinner.
After dinner, it was to be our last night there so my parents cherished the last few hours to have their last moments on the slots, while I just continued playing my 360 like a kid in a candy store.. lol :)

This time they came back earlier because we were to head back to Seremban the following day.
Managed to sleep earlier that night(which is of course a good thing) as I was more tired than usual.

That pretty much wrapped up a boring Day 3...haha

Day 4 (back to Seremban)

Woke up a little earlier today so we could get back to Seremban earlier to visit my grandpa. Had breakfast and then hired a cab again. The roads were rather empty this day so we got there in like 1hr+ only, kinda fast without any jam. Haha

Reached Seremban at around 2 or 3p.m and checked-in in the city inn again. Took a nap before heading to my grandpa's house. Spent the evening there until 9p.m+, where the same uncle who had dinner with us on Day 1, had dinner with us again.
Had fish-head bee hoon and hell it was good, I ate till full :)
After dinner, he drove us to his house for a short while which he'd just moved-in to recently. It's a nice double-storey terrace house like mine except his is a corner unit, meaning he has that extra space on the side of his house, unlike mine. He can own like 3 or 4 dogs with that extra space and even plant some trees of his own, how cool is that. The best part was that it costs only 450 000 RM (180 000 SGD), about 10% of the price needed to buy such a house in Singapore. *which reiterates my point on "It's no surprise thousands of Singaporeans are migrating to Malaysia nowadays to seek less hectic and stressful lives." *

Went back to our inn afterwards and turned in for the night. 

Day 5 (Return to SG for National Day celebration)

Woke up for brunch again and relied on my dad to da bao for me again, lol :x
Packed my stuff and luggage and bathed while he was out buying for me.
Felt kinda sian that I was heading back to SG again, but oh well, I had my fun :-]
Checked out of the inn and drove back to SG in one-piece and reached SG at around 6p.m. 
Stopped to refuel one or two times.

Btw, just look at their fuel prices..
22.5 litres for just 42.7 RM (17.10 SGD)
In SG, the price would be 22.5 litres for 38.25 SGD ... more than twice the price that of in M'sia..
Which further reiterates my point on *"It's no surprise thousands of Singaporeans are migrating to Malaysia nowadays to seek less hectic and stressful lives." *

This is the FuelSave 95 pricing

This is the VPower fuel which costs 84 RM ($33.50) in M'sia, but would cost $75.20 here. Win already


Went to Jalan Kayu prata at first for what was supposed to be our tea-break but turned out to be our dinner because we ordered so much, lol. 

Reached home at around 7.30, not too late to catch some of the parade. Haven't heard the National Anthem or recited the pledge since graduating from secondary school, lol haha.

Well that's about it for those 5 days. Looking forward to travelling up to M'sia again. See ya =]