Journal Entry 4: Holiday at Genting Highlands

Day 1

After an estimated anticipation of three weeks, the day to go to Genting Highlands has finally arrived. We woke up to the consistent ringing of the alarm clock. Though it was 5.45am in the morning, I was too excited to feel any signs of exhaustion. We set off for Kovan MRT station for our breakfast before getting on an express coach which will bring us to Genting Highlands. The coach was quite comfortable: with lush plush seats and personal entertainment system. As soon as I lodged into my seat, I was up to my neck in games. However, it was cut short when we reached Tuas Checkpoint. We were required to get off the coach and scan our passports. It was a long queue and we had to wait for almost half an hour before the coach set off for the Johor Bahru Checkpoint where we were required to check our belongings. Once the bus continued on the journey, I immediately returned to my games. By the time I had played almost a quarter of the games available, the coach had reached a place called "Yong Peng". We had our lunch before continuing the journey. It was yet another 3 hours of journey before the coach halted again. We had reached Kuala Lumpur. We got down the bus for a 10 minutes toilet break before setting off. The coach went off and we reached Genting Highlands. It was a total of 8 hours of arduous bus ride from Kovan to Genting Highlands.

We got down the bus to stretch for a while before heading towards the lobby to check in to our hotel: The First World Hotel. First World Hotel is the world's largest hotel and is adjoined to the First World Plaza, which boasts 500,000 sq feet of indoor theme park, shopping centre and food galore. Rumors said that we had to wait for a minimum of an hour before getting the hotel room card. However, we had to wait for only 5 minutes before it was our turn to go and obtain the room card. The level we got was the 20th storey. It was quite high as the highest storey was 28 storey and we do not want the highest storey. We went into the room and the air was a bit stuffy. We rested for 15 minutes before going to the First World Plaza for our "shopping session".

Soon, it was time for dinner and we went to a restaurant for our meal. The food they served was delicious. We continued our shopping before going to one of the signature attraction: The SnowWorld. The SnowWorld was the coldest place at Gentingand the temperature was -5 degree Celsius at night. We bought the ticket for the 9.50pm to 10.30pm time slot as it would be quite cold already. We entered the SnowWorld and we enjoyed ourselves there. We had snow fight and we tried on Cresta ride which was exhilarating. Though 40 minutes in there was quite short, I enjoyed myself very much. After a visit to the SnowWorld, we went to buy our supper at KFC before heading back to the hotel for a good night's sleep as it was a tiring day for me.

Day 2

At the break of dawn, we woke up due to the chilly wind blowing into our hotel. We went down to the First World Cafe for our breakfast before heading towards the Theme Park. We bought the family package for only $196. After which, we went to try out a series of different games. For the Outdoor Theme Park, we tried the The Flying Dragon, The Monorail, The Boating, The Double Decker Carousel, Antique Car, Rolling Thunder Mine Train, Flying Jumbo, Astro Fighter, The Matahari and The Dinosaurland. All the games were quite interesting and the queues were extremely long. For the Indoor Theme Park, we tried the Adult Bumper Car, Reindeer Cruiser, Rio Float, Venice Gondola and the Ferris Wheel. However, I was a bit disappointed as I did not get to try out the Grand Prix FunKart-something similar to the F1 Challenge.

After trying out all the games, the one I like most is the Antique Car. Since I did not get to try out the Grand Prix Fun Kart, the Antique Car was similar but it was moving on a constant track and I cannot get the freedom to travel wherever I wished to. The one I dreaded most is the Adult Bumper Car. It was not very fun at all. The Bumper Car was not as interesting as the one in Singapore. The Bumper Car is very hard to steer and I cannot get to turn the car easily. What a disappointment!

It was an extremely exhausting day for me and I retire to bed quite early.

Day 3

The last day of our trip to Genting Highlands was quite boring. We aroused from our sleep due to the disorientating ringing our my digital watch. It was extremely tiring as I did not get to sleep well the night before due to the cold wind blowing into the hotel room. We went to the First World Cafe for our breakfast before heading to the shops located near Highlands Hotel to buy some souvenirs. After which, we went back to the hotel to pack up our belongings, so as to be ready when we checked out later. We took our bath and went to have our lunch before checking out of the hotel. After which, we boarded the bus which will bring us back to Singapore. When we reached the Woodlands checkpoint, there was a massive jam as it was peak hour. We waited for an hour before setting off towards Kovan station. At the Checkpoint, two pepole were identified to have smuugled chewing gum to Singapore and they were fined after their chewing gum has been confiscated.

Once we reached Kovan station, we went straight home. As I was going home, I thought to myself, the trip to Genting was rather fruitful. We get to see clouds floating below our hotel room. It was rather misty and most of the games station had to pause before continuing when the mist is not so thick. This is to ensure the safety of the passengers on board the games facilities. Given another chance, I would want to go to Genting Highlands again for the coolnig weather which we cannot experience in Singapore!