Getting High at Genting

How to beat the heat in the city? Got to Genting Highlands! There's still a lot of tourist spots and shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur that I haven't explored, but it's just too hot to pretty much do anything. A colleague advised me to bring along a jumper because of the chilly weather up in the highlands. I was feeling adventurous, so I showed up at the KL Sentral ticket counter with nothing but myself and 35 ringgits for Genting Golden Package Day Tour. It's a pretty good deal - 35 ringgits gets you:

• Return Genting Express Bus transfer from KL Sentral
• Return Genting Skyway (cable car) transfer
• Genting Outdoor Theme Park Day Ride Pass

The cable car ride was quite an experience. Said to be the longest cable car system in South East Asia spanning 3.38kms., and the fastest in the world, it travels at a maximum speed of 6 metres per second or 21.6km per hour. It still feels slow to me, especially if you're stuck in an eight-passenger gondola for 20 minutes with nothing to do. I started taking pictures, but had to stop when we were told not to stand up. As the pod goes up and up above the rainforests, it becomes eerily silent, and everybody looks around waiting for something to happen.

When you finally get to see the whole of Genting Highlands, you can't help but feel awed. Imagine you're in the middle of nowhere (actually at the peak of Titiwangsa Mountains), and they you have a full-service resort with cable-car system, indoor and outdoor theme parks, golf courses, casinos, plus a string of half-a-dozen hotels. And not just any hotels. One of them, the First World Hotel has 6,300 rooms. Instead of heading straight for the theme park, I decided to explore the place a bit. The place is HUGE. One can easily get lost if there are no signs around. Casino de Genting is the only legal casino in the whole of Malaysia. From my quick survey, majority of the patrons are Chinese. I may be wrong, but I think Malays are not allowed to enter the casinos because of their Muslim faith.

Started my tour of the theme park in the afternoon. I was too lazy to queue up for the popular rides, so I tried the scary ride called Pirate Train. When I got out 1 minute later, I was LOL. The ride was so pathetic - skeletons with glow-in-the-dark paint and a scratchy recording of scary sounds. I tried the Boating paddleboat next for some leg exercise. Tried the Spinner twice because it was so much fun. Even managed to get a video footage while I was being spun around. Next up is the Cyclone roller-coaster ride. No 360s, but very fast with lots of twists and turns. I was tempted to bring out my camera and take some videos, but thought the better of it. Then, I tried the Grand Prix Fun Kart. The last time I tried go-karting was back at the Carmona Circuit in Cavite. Pure adrenaline-pumping fun! Can't say the same for this one. The cars are really slow - maybe 10kph. It was pedal to the metal, I'm driving with one hand with the other taking a video. Next, I lined up for half an hour for the Space Shot. It's a rapid vertical ascent and descent ride that takes 12 people at a time. Looks fun and easy from the ground. It's a different thing when the rig brings you up 185 feet to the air, and everything below you becomes so small, and you can't see very clearly because there's mist and fog about. Yes, it's that high up. Without a warning, you're in free-fall. Your buttocks leave your seat. You pray that the seatbelt will hold. You wish that you've gone to the toilet before taking the ride (just in case). You scream until your heart gets stuck in your throat. Then it's all over. You give a smile to the little girl seated beside you - the one who didn't scream or even flinch a bit. After the Space Shot, the Corkscrew roller-coaster with the 360-degree turns and the Flying Coaster where you fly around in a prone Superman position, feels like nothing.

That's just half of the ride in the outdoor theme park, but as luck would have it, it started to rain. Spent a few hours exploring the indoor theme park and watching the lion dances at the First World Plaza. Lost track of time and missed my bus as the cable car was running slow due to poor visibility. Good thing the driver of the next bus let me on.