It was 4 in the morning, and I still couldn’t get any sleep. I was on my way to Genting Highlands just outside Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The night before, my friend asked me if I wanted to accompany him to visit Genting. Because of some passport problems, his wife wasn’t able to make it to Singapore, so rather than put the ticket to waste, he asked me if I’d want go with him.
Genting Highlands is an entertainment resort on top of a mountain just outside Kuala Lumpur. It has a theme park, hotels and casinos. Although, I’ve been to Kuala Lumpur several times, I’ve never been to Genting. Since my friend is paying for the ticket anyway, what the heck. The bus leaves Singapore’s Golden Mile Shopping center 10 in the evening. The bus ride is expected to last around six hours. So it would be another one of those sleepless overnight trips. I really dislike overnight trips. Although the bus uses the excellent highway system of Malaysia, I could never sleep on these kinds of rides.
We reached Kuala Lumpur quite early, like “3 in the morning” early, but soon after, the bus started to climb the mountain towards Genting. The climb surprisingly took quite a fair amount of time, I had no idea it was that high up. By the time we got there is are already 4 in the morning. The moment we stepped out of the bus, I realized that I made a huge mistake. I wore shorts! On top of the mountain, it is not a good idea as the climate is much cooler than Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. I started to shiver from the sudden burst of cold but refreshing wind. I made a run for the nearest shelter. To my relief, the inside of the Genting Highlands hotel complex was nice and comfortable, I suppose they don’t really need air conditioning if you have nice cool weather like that.
Since it was still very early in the morning, the amusement park was still closed. Luckily we found an open McDonalds and we quicly ordered a nice cup of hot chocolate. His hotel’s reservation was not until one in the afternoon so we could not check in a get some proper sleep. I just sat there stoned from lack of sleep until the sun rose.
It was much more comfortable once the sun rose and I was finally able to appreciate Genting. It has a theme park, hotels and casinos. The hotels buildings were not really that impressive and were tackily colored. hAlong the way, we saw quite a lot of dead insects, which surprised me as I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of them at this altitude. One of the first things we tried was the cable car. Basically we took the cable car down the mountain to where some of the buses stop. The cable car ride was right able the rain forest on the side of the mountain. It was spectacular seeing the clouds floating up from the sides of the mountain. Upon reaching the other side, we did some exploration, but with nothing much to do, we took the cable car back up to the top.
By this time the theme park was already open. But before that we needed to make sure we can get back to Singapore. Near the stop where we got off was the kiosk selling tickets to a lot of destinations in Malaysia, thankfully, Singapore was one of those destinations. We purchased the 2pm trip back to Singapore. So I guess my friend would have to say goodbye to his hotel room, since it would be pointless to stay only for an hour.
We decided to try out the theme park. I’m not really a big fan for rides but the rides in this theme park were quite interesting. Some of them I’ve never seen before. Anyway, I was too chicken to try out the rides, only contented myself with taking photos of the theme park. I pretty much wasted my theme park ticket as I didn’t really partake of the rides. Around the outdoor theme park you can appreciate the mountain vista’s. On a clear day you can actually we the city of Kuala Lumpur together with it familiar landmarks, the Petronas Twin Towers and the Menara KL.
In case it rains outside, there is also an indoor theme park. But it is composed mostly of kiddie rides. For lunch, we just went to this Chinese fast food place serving pretty ordinary Chinese food. A little pricey but that is what you should expect in the place like this.
We didn’t try the casino though as we were not properly dressed for it. They require a collared shirt, something which we didn’t have. I don’t have any more to throw away anyway so I don’t think I will be missing anything. Besides, I can’t take pictures inside the casino anyway.
The casino is an anomaly in Malaysia. Being a predominantly Muslim nation, gambling is a huge no-no, since it is forbidden in Islam. However, the ban on gambling only applies to Muslims. So Muslims are not allowed inside the casinos. You would often see Malaysian-Chinese and foreigners entering the casino. I don’t really know what it looks like in there nor do I care.
After lunch, we headed to the bus station, I was really tired from lack of sleep by the time the bus left for Singapore, I was already fast asleep. I guess that also reflects my impression of Genting as a whole. Personally, it wasn’t really very interesting. The climate was nice and cool but that was the only thing going for it.
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