Thoughts attic: Our Genting Trip in Dec 09

I'm not a travelling person so it may not be fair for me to comment that Genting is not fun.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed the Taipei trip either because I'm basically a homely person.

It was an eye-opener for me when I went up to Genting. 'A lot of people' is surely an understatement. There were people everywhere we went, so much so that it's off-putting. At the theme park, Coco and I took more than 3 hours to queue up for just 3 rides, although the rest of the other 6 rides took relatively short time and we managed to cover the rides that we wanted to take.

Of course, Coco was disappointed that she couldn't take the adult rides, namely the Corkscrew (which was basically a roller coaster with twisted tracks), Pirate Ship (similar to the East Coast Viking), Flying Coaster (a human being roller coaster), Space Shot and Fun Kart. Except for Fun Kart, the rides are basically scare-your-wits-out kinda rides which I would and will never attempt. She made me take the milder versions of roller coasters, namely Cyclone and Flying Dragon. I was terrified but stuck my guts out to take them with her.

I had read that the Deluxe room was small, and indeed it was small, but tidy and clean nonetheless. I had also read online that the food at Genting was passable but expensive. In my opinion, they were close to inedible unless you eat at the restaurants, such as Hao You Ji (pic below), and yes, they were ridiculously priced. One chicken burger at the Lobby Cafe of First World Hotel was selling at RM13 if I remember it correctly, and the Malay cashier conveniently tried to keep the RM5 cents as his tip. I looked at him inquisitively before he looked like he got a start and returned me the 5 cents. I had wanted to see if there's honesty in that place and I sure got my answer soon enough.

It was a somewhat educational trip for me as I took a look at one of the casinos.

My idea of a casino still remained largely the same as the 1980s or 1990s HK tv shows in which they feature the gods of gambling. I was surprised to find the casino very advanced in the way they harnessed technology at the gambling tables. I had also thought that casinos were smoky and noisy, but surprisingly, it wasn't smoky and the noise was mainly from the tiger machines.

Before I went on the trip, as usual, the researcher in me went online to find information on Genting to prep myself better for the trip. But the information available was very little. I had little inkling of what or how Genting was really like. Nobody told me that there were 2 theme parks, indoor and outdoor. Nobody told me that there was a shopping mall connected to First World Hotel. My idea of Genting was very pathetic. I thought that it was basically a highland with a big casino, and a small theme park that was equivalent to the ones at pasar malam in Singapore.

Some people mentioned that the breakfast at First World Cafe was 'intercontinental' and had a 'good spread'. I had some high expectations of the breakfast and went there totally disappointed. 'Intercontinental' my foot! It was basically the cheapo breakfast you have at the hawker centre and is something that I wouldn't eat back home. But it's free lah, so can't complain much I guess.

The only accurate information that I had gathered from the internet was that Genting was very cold. Indeed, it was very cold for me. So jeans and a warm jacket or cardigan is a must-have if I ever go there again.

I must say I thought the crowd there was kinda low- to middle-income folks. Some people were rude, as noted by Coco too. But I guess where there're crowds, there will be rude folks.

Our itenerary:
Day 1: Reached hotel room at 4.30pm.

Had our lunch (or dinner) at Hainan.

Coco and I went to the indoor theme park for the rides while my parents and aunt went to the casinos.
Day 2: Coco and I went to the outdoor theme park while my parents and aunt went to the casinos.
Day 3: Coco and I explored the indoor theme parks and bought things (mainly hers) and did some indoor rides again while my parents and aunt went to the casinos.

I had a walkabout in Starworld Casino to have an idea how casinos were like.

The coach we took to Genting. A neat 6-hour trip