A Short Weekend In Genting

I spent last weekend in Genting. It had been a while since I was last there. I took half-day leave on Friday and we left at 14:35 and this time took Jalan Gombak all the way to Genting Sempah. We reached Awana Golf and Country Resort at 15:40 and I went to check-in. After ferrying our things for the weekend, we had a rest. We then took a walk around the resort after 5 pm before returning to our room. I had bought some fried kuay teow and noodles so we didn’t have to drive out to Gohtong Jaya for dinner.

Back at the room, I picked up my novel and read a few chapters. I had just finished the chapter I earmarked when poof! the electricity went out. SZ went to the lobby to report while I went to shower and came back to say that the whole resort had suffered a blackout. Whoa.

Electricity was thankfully restored within the next hour so we quickly had dinner. We spent the evening playing Scrabble. I had brought some DVDs but alas, the DVD player in our unit was missing its cable. And there were limited channels showing on TV too.

We went for a walk the following morning – even stumbled upon what I believe is the site for the proposed Genting Premium Outlets - before returning for breakfast and another game of Scrabble. We left at a quarter to 11 for the first shuttle to First World Hotel. There were already a lot of other hotel guests waiting and it just right about accommodate us. The driver was careful and didn’t speed and we reached First World Hotel only after 30 minutes what with the school holiday crowd and construction of the Twentieth Century Fox World.

There were a lot of people everywhere we looked and we went almost everywhere, from First World Hotel across to Maxim Hotel. We also checked out the shops but didn’t buy anything (I was still observing my financial diet) and then returned to the lobby of the First World Hotel to rest our weary legs while waiting for the 14:30 bus back to Awana. Back at our unit, we had a rest before having a siesta.

We drove out to find dinner but didn’t find the choices at Gohtong Jaya at all tempting. Finally I suggested buying some fried rice from a mobile stall and I was glad we did. It was tasty and came in a big portion too. We returned to Awana, performed prayers and had dinner. We played another game of Scrabble that evening.

It rained early on Sunday and I was woken up by ZS’ alarm at 05:30. We left at 10, not wanting to check out too late when there would be a lot more people with the same thing in mind. We took a wrong turning and took the highway back to KL.

Right. This will likely be my last post of the year so Happy Holidays and a blessed New Year to the couple of you who bother to drop and read this blog. It hasn’t been a good year for our national carrier and our poor currency and while I pray that next year will be better, it’s going to be hard when the GST comes into effect on April Fool’s Day (what does it say eh).

Day Trip: Across The Causeway And Back

I bought a Groupon offer of a coach return trip to Resorts World Sentosa recently and as 29 November 2014 was the only date with still-available seats, I had no choice but to proceed with travelling on that date (I wanted to travel in early November but there were no available seats left). I got up at the ungodly hour at 03:40 and we went to 1 Utama car park (new wing). The ‘check-in’ time was 04:30 but we only boarded the coach at close to 5 and the bus left at 05:15. I had to perform morning prayers aboard the coach. We did stop at a small R&R (I don’t know where but it only had washroom and I think prayer room facilities – sorry, not too sure of the latter but I would be surprised if there wasn’t any prayer room) for a brief washroom break at close to 7 am and dawn was already breaking.

We continued on and I tried to get some kip but tried as I might, it eluded me. Finally I took out my novel and read. I managed to finish one and started another by the time we arrived at Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ Complex. The immigration process was a breeze here and before long, we were already on Linkedua. However, there was a long queue entering SG (it’s school hols) and we spent a good time on Linkedua and approaching Tuas. There were already many long queues at Tuas Checkpoint. I spent 45 minutes standing to clear immigration and customs. Then it was another wait for the other passengers. We finally left at close to 11 am and only reached Resorts World Sentosa car park at 11:30. However, we were only allowed to disembark after they did a headcount and strict instruction to return before 6 pm, at around 11:45. I hurried over and caught the RWS8 bus to Vivo City. It’s free from Resorts World Sentosa back to Vivo City and S$2 for the opposite trip.

At Vivo City, I checked out Golden Village but Gone Girl was no longer showing. After freshening up, I rode the MRT to Orchard and had brunch at Wisma Atria before crossing over to Shaw House. I managed to get the last available seat for the 13:30 Gone Girl and yes, you guessed it, it was at the front-most row but of course. It was 13:17 then so I decided to perform prayers after the movie.

Well, the adverts and trailers took time and it was only 13:45 when the movie proper started. Yeah, I could have performed prayers first. Spent 2 hours and 30 minutes plus 15 minutes for adverts/trailers craning up my neck watching it but hey, beggars can’t be choosers eh. Not when the movie isn’t shown in Malaysia and I have to wait a few months before I could download it even if I know how to. Interestingly, from what I saw, I don’t think the Singapore authorities screened anything from their viewing public.

After prayers, I popped over to Royal Plaza on Scotts to perform prayers. After prayers, I rode the MRT back to Harbourfront and had an early dinner at Sedap, the foodcourt serving Muslim fare. After dinner, I took the escalator up and walked to Sentosa Boardwalk to cross over to the island. It took only 8 minutes to cross over and a few more minutes before I arrived at the assembly point. We boarded the bus at 17:50; however, one Indian family didn’t show up until 18:45 so we waited and waited for them, angry and impatient. Why should we be penalised for your inconsiderate disregard to punctuality, for your tardiness, for your selfishness? And when they showed up, they didn’t offer any apologies, explanation or even thanks to us for waiting for them.

We arrived at Tuas Checkpoint at 19:40 and this time, the queues were better. We crossed over and were back in Malaysia by 8 pm and cleared Malaysian immigration in no time.

I had settled back for the journey, even feeling like sleep might at long last arrive, when we pulled over at a rest area. It wasn’t the usual highway R&R and the stalls also sold food at ridiculous prices. What a rip off. Good thing I’d already had dinner. We left after 30 minutes and after a while, I managed to get a kip, aching neck and all.

We arrived at 1 Utama at 00:30 on Sunday. Will I do it again? We’ll see.

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It took me many rides on the MRT over the past few years before I realised the announcement on the MRT which for some reason I thought was ‘The Happy Happy...’ (and kept me puzzled over time) was actually the beginning of this sentence: ‘Berhati-hati...’. Duh me.

Day Trip: Teluk Intan

My colours of Malaysia continued with a day trip to Teluk Intan. I can’t remember if I had been there when I was a child (dad used to go outstation during school holidays and always brought us along so I had already travelled all the way to Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu as well as down south to Johore and Singapore. I can fairly say that my sister and I had been to all the states in the Peninsular even before I was 11) but even if I had, a return visit was surely in order after all this time. So we set off early on Saturday, 22 November 2014, and took route 5 via Kapar, Kuala Selangor, Sekinchan etc to Teluk Intan. It took us 3 hours to get there with the weather alternating between bright sunny patches to grey overcast gloom to sunshine to drizzle. We finally arrived at 11:45 and after finding a parking spot at Masjid Melayu, we headed for the leaning tower.

We climbed up to the second floor and admired the view from there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t climb any higher. I wouldn’t have minded climbing further. You could barely see the river from the second floor. After about 15 minutes, we went down and walked to the river. It was threatening to rain urgently so we quickly headed back to the town centre to find Abdullah Mastan Ghani Mee & Rojak restaurant (it’s opposite The Store) for an early lunch. I had rojak. Perhaps I should have chosen the noodles but the gravy was rather spicy so I was glad I chose rojak.

After lunch, we ventured around town and walked all the way to Sin Guan Hoe biscuit factory. We entered the shop from the factory (!) and I bought some local cookies as souvenir.

We returned to Masjid Melayu and after performing prayers, we drove back to KL. It was quite a long way before we reached the highway and after entering the highway, I slept all the way back to KL. Heh.