A weekend at Genting Highlands

Helloooo there! I got back from a super short (just overnight) Genting Highlands trip on Sunday. Been wanting to write up a post as quickly as possible after I came back. But I'm down with flu and cough bugs (now slowly developing into sore throat, eeeks!) so I don't have much mood and energy to pen down words. The trip was short, nice (bit tiring for me though) and I have soooo much excitement to share about!

However, the excitement was kinda dampen by knowing a sad news today that there was a serious bus crash at Genting Highlands with over 30 fatalities :( .Condolences to the family members wherever they are.

Okay, before sharing more on the trip, just a brief introduction to Genting Highlands (from Wikipedia):-

Genting Highlands (Malay: Tanah Tinggi Genting, Chinese: 云顶高原,) otherwise known as Resorts World Genting, is a hill resort in Malaysia developed by Genting Group. It is nestled on a mountain peak (maximum elevation about 1,860 metres (6,100 ft)) within Titiwangsa Mountains on the border between the States of Pahang and Selangor of Malaysia. It is accessible by car from Kuala Lumpur in one hour, or also accessible by a cable car called Genting Skyway (3.38 kilometres (2.10mi) which at its opening used to be the world's fastest and South East Asia's longest gondola lift.)

We went up in two cars around late morning of Saturday. The journey up was winding but the roads are definitely much better and wider now. My last Genting trip was more than ...I think at least 7 years ago. When our cars were heading up half way, it started to rain. Outside looked foggy too. Visibility was low at some points but the traffic wasn't heavy. Thankfully, we reached the destination...and just the right time to check in! 

We stayed at First World Hotel...a huge hotel! I stayed here before during my last trip. Its lobby is always packed with people, the kind of scene you see at busy airports! 

First World Hotel is a 3-star hotel with a total 6,118-rooms and it is the fourth largest hotel in the world by rooms. It was the largest hotel in the world until The Palazzo, an expansion of The Venetian in Las Vegas officially opened on 1 January 2008. 

View of the hotel from outside, very colorful indeed.

Below the hotel is a 500,000-square-foot (46,000m2) plaza called the First World Plaza housing shopping malls, arcades, food outlets, Starworld Casino, and the Genting Indoor Theme Park. It has a mini stage for weekly performances (such as magic and music shows) at Times Square, surrounded by replica of the Statue of Liberty and an Oscar statue. Other attractions include the Watersplash Pool (an indoor water theme park for children), Genting Sky Venture (Asia's first free fall stimulator) and a Cineplex. - (from Wikipedia)

Sorry for no photos of our room as I didn't snap pictures of the interior of the room itself. I'll just be descriptive here, okay? :) Our hotel room was small but decent and we had a very good view of the outdoor theme park. Refurbishment had been done as the room looked newer and brighter. Our only gripe was the bathroom and toilet were extremely small!!! Imagine it fits only one person standing inside with not much space to even turn around = =" . Our room came with basic toiletries (shower cap, shampoo & soaps) and bath towels. There was a small flat screen tv mounted on the wall and a fan. There were no fridge or coffee, tea stuff. You can get hot and normal temperature water from the water dispenser located outside the hotel room (you probably got to walk a bit as the water dispenser is normally located near the lift lobby and I believe every floor has it). Basically that's it...

There are other options of hotels in Genting such as Genting Hotel, Highlands Hotel, Resort Hotel and Theme Park Hotel. They should be more pricey than First World Hotel. 

Towards the late evening, the weather turned colder but thicker clothings had kept us warm :) . We walked around the indoor theme park. Bright decorations and lights had kept Lil Nat so occupied and mesmerized. We didn't try the rides except 1 which was actually for kiddy. The big carrier goes one slow round the indoor theme park. Lil Nat was way too small for most of the rides.

Our carrier looked like the floral carrier but in another design - ship!

As for dining, everywhere was soooo crowded! Food cost more here but we were spoilt with choices. There are fast food outlets (McDonald, KFC, Marrybrown, Burger King etc), Chinese, Western, Thai, Indian, Malay cuisines, cafes (Coffee Bean, Starbucks etc), bakeries and many other small eateries. For our dinner, we settled for local Chinese food - a plate of char siew rice cost about MYR17! Ouchh, we could feel a pinch for our wallet. Should have taken picture of it...looked kinda pathetic = =" . Most of the dining places were either packed with diners or there were long queues! Even places like Starbucks there was not even a single table available! It's just a normal weekend. I can't imagine when it is public holiday especially long ones.

After dinner we walked around from First World till up to Theme Park Hotel. We also window shopped as most of the stores are common ones we seen around such as Watsons, Sasa, Factory Outlet Store (FOS), Lovely Lace, Cotton On, Padini, Adidas, Nike etc. Oh, they have Tangs as their anchor tenant too. The shops here generally closed at midnight which is good for those late night shoppers.

We also spent a bit of time outside to enjoy the really cold breeze at night. After much walking, we retreated to our room to....rest, rest and rest our tired legs!!! :D

The next morning we were greeted with nice morning view from our room. Weather looked good and clear!

Nice view from 16th floor! 

The room didn't come with breakfast so we headed down for our breakfast. We settled for Nyonya Cafe as their breakfast sets looks decent and at the price range of MYR13-15.00. The main meal (either toast bread, fried mee siam, packed nasi lemak, porridge or chee cheong fun) comes with a hot drink and 2 boiled eggs. Well, the food was alright but not fantastic. I took the fried mee siam set, the noodle was too salty for my liking.

We walked around the shops again (brought few small items), the men headed to the casino and we ended up killing time at Starbucks (crowded again and we got to wait a little while to spot an available table!). Lil Nat took a short nap there too. I should have ordered my favorite Caramel Machiato in hot! I ordered iced instead and it was raining at that time. Brrrr...cold!

So then it was time to check out. As we were leaving Genting, it was still raining. Overall, it was a nice trip but I didn't get to do or see much or even step into the casino. I was all with Lil Nat. Perhaps when she's older we can takes more rides and do more extensive tour around. 

Well, that's my little post on Genting Highlands. The cold breeze is definitely an enjoyment there. Have you experienced Genting Highlands before? 

The product used and reviewed are based purely on LBK's personal experience of using the product and humble opinion. If the product is a sponsored item, it will be stated as SPONSORED. 

 "A smile is a curve that sets everything right"