GENTING HIGHLANDS - TRIP TO MALAYSIA

• "The journey to Genting Highlands is going to take 2 hours" the sweet sonorus voice of Amarjeet informed us. Don't get me wrong but he was a cute looking Punjabi Munda with a modulated voice and a sense of humour.
• We had the near to the front seats and while a few of us napped, I was fully alert taking pictures and videos of the trip.
• Amarjeet, our friendly guide, told us about Genting Highlands but he was most impressed by Uncle Lim.
• Uncle Lim, the founder of Genting Highlands, was a small carpenter who rose to become the most powerful private contractor of Malaya to the 12th richest man in the world.
• He started work on Genting Highlands in 1965 and the first hotel at the hilltop was opened in 1971. Developing from an isolated hill top today the place is a must visit for tourist to Malaysia.
• Well getting back to my trip - The bus journey was smoother than a flight. Not a single pot hole in sight, we travelled over 125 kms at almost even speed and the broad roads and disciplined traffic was another special feature of Malaysia.
• Enroute we crossed KL and had our first glimpse of the Petronas tower, another must visit site of Malaysia.
• The roads started going up an incline and the greenery and flowers were in abundance. Palm trees, infact entire plantations lined the highway and hibiscus of all colours, planted in the road dividers, danced in the light breeze.
• Our luggage had already reached the hotel we were informed. By the way, Amarjeet had made a midway stop at a highway dhabha which was as well equipped as the best food courts.
• One irritant which dogged us through out the tour was first sensed at this stop. The smell of raw non vegetarian food (especially beef) can kill the appetite of most vegetarians and non beef eating Hindus.
• The trip to Genting Highland from the base of the hilltop was done on the Genting skyway, a cable car that runs 3.4 kms in only 18 minutes. The beauty of the cable car ride is that we take the ride over a tropical rain forest which is more than 70 million years old. If green is your favourite colour you will have nothing to complain about.
• "Genting Highland is only the third entertainment city in the world" Amarjeet informed us adding that it was at par with Las Vegas and Sun city.
• By the time we had checked into our Hotel, The first World Hotel, the biggest hotel in the world with 6,118 rooms (It is said that the hotel has this odd number of rooms as the place is 6,118 feet above sea level), we were dead tired. The world biggest hotel has very small rooms and no room service is provided.
• We had some expensive sour tasting coffee and got ready for dinner. The spread was huge but the food taste did not suit us so a hard core non veg like me had to suppliment my meal with fruits.
• The next day we had breakfast at a new place and spend some time at the theme park. Nothing special here.
• The casinos were crowded and noisy. I did not play. I believe the ambience was as good as the casinos in vegas.
• The lunch was again at the place where we had dinner and then we started for KL.

The highlight of the visit to Genting was the cable car ride over the tropical rain forests and the variety of hibiscus all along the road. The palm plantations and terrace agri plots along the way was what impressed me the most.

I was not impressed by the casinos as I did not win (I believe I would have liked it if I had played and won) and the theme park was nothing out of usual.

By the way the place was damn crowded and expensive by Indian standards. Chinese youngsters were the dominant group with Indians coming a close second.

To be continued....