ESCAPE: Old folks home @ Genting Highlands and 10 Mistakes during Raya

One August day, Bb and I found ourselves with a pair of RM100 Holiday Cards, compliments of Genting Resorts World which is valid up to the end of August. The holiday cards themselves can be purchased at Genting at a discount and comes with face values of RM100 and RM300, which you can buy for around RM85 and RM255 respectively online. You can use it like cash in most restaurants and many more places in Genting.

We left Sunway at 10am and here is where our string of unfortunate events unfolded.

For the love of the environment and the dread of driving, we decided to use the buses to Genting.

Mistake No. 1 - Took KTM

I'm usually disinclined to show more feelings than necessary but here is what I feel about Kereta Api Tanah Melayu Berhad: Fuck them. FULL STOP.

Avoid the KTM Komuter at all costs ~~during the balik kampung seasons~~ at all times because it will be filled to the brim with illegal immigrants, all 2 million of them... What about the ladies coach?? I was shoved in the coach with the rest of human tuna fish.

After the sweaty ride to KL Sentral, we made our way to the bus stop..

Mistake No. 2 - Wanting to take the Bus up Genting.

It seems that Genting Resorts did not provide backup buses during the Hari Raya/Merdeka holidays... What about the people who wanna go gamble?? Arrgghh! When we arrived there at 11am, we were told that the buses were full till 3pm!!

Mistake No.3 - Left my car next to the KTM station!

Crap! So in that case, it was time to get back to plan B, take the LRT back to Kelana Jaya and get my bro to drive back to Subang Jaya to get my car :(

By the time we got the car back, we were back at home just to start our journey at 1pm! Thats 3 frigging hours because we made the mistake of trusting public transport!

So, it was back to driving...
Mistake No. 4 - Heading towards kampungs during Raya.

Note the massive amount of cars (75% percent of them heading back to kampungs towards Kuantan).

It was utterly difficult to avoid tolls yet traffic towards Kuantan was at a crawl! When we reached Genting, traffic eased a little until we reached another stumbling block.

Mistake No. 5 - Making mistakes 1 to 4 to arrive at almost 3pm!

That means parking is a total nightmare.

Time to drive to Genting: 1 hour 30 mins.
Time to find parking: 30 mins.

Yes, the whole resort was a total parking lot with cars parked at every nook and cranny. We almost gave up and Bb and I were on the brink of arguement because we made mistake No. 6...

Mistake No. 6 - No food in the car.

Oh yes, after missing our bus and not having anything to eat 6 hours after breakfast, we were hungry, impatient and disgruntled and the endless labyrinth of P5 carpark was killing our patience.

We drove to a dead end and Bb frowned at me with a pissed voice, "So, what do we do now?!" At that point, I snapped and said, I'll drive and got out of the passenger seat (Bb was driving). What was I to do? So I got out and saw a hint of a parking lot just behind us. Was it a mirage caused by those pesky Kancils that make you think that you found a spot? It was not! I was almost in tears as I jumped for joy! Finally!

...and after some ~~free~~ appetizers at the Bakery, I was content! Two donuts: RM 9 @ the Bakery

By now, the inside of the resort was stuffy and so we decided to get some fresh air outside!

Mistake No. 7 - What fresh air?

Unlike an ordinary day, the whole hill was filled with cars and their exhaust gases. The surrounding temperature was not as cold and even with our outfits,

I feel we were over dressed as it was frigging warm up there! So keep your jackets for the night!

Okay, time to find some lunch.

The resort itself was like a maze, we had to look at signs and find our way to someplace I was searching for...

Past all the people...insanely a lot of them...

and the buildings... which were either too dull or too colourful...

we managed to reach the entrace of the Casino. We were looking for the New Orleans Barbecue, which was located INSIDE the casino. No cameras allowed from here and we only had our mobile phones with us. Keep your belongings with security.

Mistake No. 8 - Not bringing gas masks into the ~~Casino~~ Old Folks Home.

The place was a smoke house! Any longer in there and I would have the texture of smoked bacon or salmon. The other thing I noticed was the average age of the people in the casino, way past retirement! What a good senior home Genting makes, free drinks, toilets, accomodation, and entertainment. Also sharpens the mind mathematically!

A group of grandmother of gamblers next to our table. Who knows, they might have Ferraris and a taste for young guys. Anyway, we were ushered to our table and ordered the Sirloin steak...

and I had the Fish and Chips!

For its location and the view of the highlands, I would say that the price is really affordable plus freeflow salad bar and drinks (Plain water and drinks from the casino), though the portions might be a lil small.

Despite the small portions, we were happy. Now with our tummies filled, it was about RM70 for the meal, and we still got a lil more to spend! So off we went to just get some shots... Time to get out of the ~~casino~~ old folks home.

Smile people!

Yeap, the arcade has many nice things to get your picture taken with!

Optimus Prime!

Genting Man!

Okay, next stop was the Snowworld, a giant freezer where the temperature drops to -7 degrees celcius. For those who are wondering, it is frigging cold!

No camera's allowed either, so keep them in your pockets! As for your stuff, they provide lockers at RM1. Here, they will also provide you with Shoes, Jackets, and Gloves. Only thing you shud worry about is your ears! Get a balaclava or ear muffs cause your ears WILL go numb!

Once you are done dressing up, you enter the freezer doors and into a snowy place! It has a wooden cabin, ice scluptures, huge chillers and an indoor slide with those plastic donuts! Along with some fake snow and children slides, you can chill out there for around 45 minutes (if you have the balls).

Hahaha, so I jumped ship and had enough of the ice after around 20 minutes. Time to get out.

At the exit, the will reward you with a tub of vanilla ice-cream each!

Weeee! We just spent RM20 each (More expensive for non MyKad holders).

Next up, it was to the arcade! Always wanted to go play there and get those gifts!

Mistake No. 8 - Playing at the Arcade During Holidays!

Yes, don't do it! Firstly, you will have to queue up to buy a touch card... something like a credit card which you used instead of tokens. WAIT...

So many people and so crowded! Fine, after paying RM15 (RM10 credit and RM5 deposit) for the eZ card, we went to play some games there. OMFG! One game, RM4! RM3!... Thats like 3 games max.

Boo.. still, that was not the worst part! Like noobs, we swiped the card on the scanner... Nothing happend.. Swiped again... nothing happened... Balance remaining RM4!!!! FUCK!!! We just got conned of our credit...

So off we went to the service counter where a fat technician will help you out... WAIT...So fine, he got the machine to start... but only ONE game! Fine, keep our cool, and went to reload another RM10.. WAIT....

Okay, at least we still managed to play some games along the way. In total we got around 83 tickets, nothing compared to the thousands the regulars bring in... So I took it to the counter and the attendent at the counter said I needed to go to the machine to count 83 tickets... I can understand counting a thousand... but 83?

Fine fine, go to the ticket counter machine... the people in front had bags of tickets!! This guy had over 2000 tickets! so... WAIT....

I was not alone... if you wanna count your tickets... WAIT!!!!

Bb went to claim the deposit for the eZ card which was the same counter (manned by one woman) for reloading (Where are the machines!!??). WAIT WAIT WAIT... that is what you can expect!
Anyway, we spent RM20 and almost 2 hours to get 83 points to change it for this! A plastic keychain! IMHO, those people with thousands of tickets must be frigging loaded!

Anyway, me no likey! It was already way past sunset and we still had a little credit left in our pockets and batteries in our cameras. So out went for some air!