[Guest Post] An Expat View of Genting Highlands by Marta
Hey peeps! Today, we have someone special to share some thoughts with us - our very first guest post by Marta Velez!Marta is a Portuguese, who has been living in Malaysia since August. Marta loves to travel and getting to know other cultures, and also her love for local gastronomy. On top of these, she has a passion in writing and recently she has paid a visit to Genting Highlands, and she would like to share her views with us.
So without further ado, we shall let Marta take us on a Genting Highlands trip through the eyes of an expat!
Enjoy:
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I have been living in Kuala Lumpur and
every time I have some time, mostly weekends, I try to travel somewhere,
further or closer. Honestly I always try to go to the seaside but this time I
decided to go to the mountains: Genting Highlands was my destiny!
I did not know what to expect, I did no
kind of research about what I could find there: the only thing I really knew
about Genting was that it had a casino and it was cold and I have to say that with
such low expectations Genting was a really pleasant surprise.
I
left Kuala Lumpur Saturday morning heading there with an American friend. We
decided to book a night on the First World Hotel to be sure we wouldn’t have to
worry about time there. The
bus took around 45 minutes and left us at the skyway entrance. For about RM3 we
got to have a skyway ride that last for about 15 minutes till the top of the
mountain and allows you to enjoy an amazing view over the mountains (at first
it is actually a bit scary). In europe the skyway itself is considered an
attraction, not a way of transportation, and it is usually really expensive and
less interesting so only that was worth the trip!
On top of the hill we found this fantastic
resort composed by four different hotels that are all interlink by tunnels (for
Malaysia, outside in Genting is really cold and quite often rainy). Inside this complex you find everything, from
restaurants to “street performers”. The decoration is from “out of space”, mini
copies of the Eiffel tower, cars hanging on the walls, a roller-coaster that
goes pretty much around everywhere are the things that turn genting into this
“new fantastic world”. I felt like I was in a movie!
We had dinner in this amazing place, Ah
Yat Abalone (don’t miss it!!) and hit the casino for a while. As Malays
can’t get in the casinos, Genting is full of foreign people that go there to
gamble, but surprisingly enough it is also full of families. After the casino we hit the bars (and there
are pretty cool choices).
Sunday
we walked around asking if there was something to visit on the mountain and we
got directed to the Chinese Temple: Chin Swee Caves Temple. Once again through skyway we got to this
amazing temple in the middle of the mountains. One really interesting detail is
the “Journey to Enlightment”, a path with statues representing the ten Chambers
of Hell. This Chamber show the suffering one would encounter in hell trying
therefore to discourage bad conduct. I have to say: slightly creepy but quite
interesting! The Chinese temple was a really amazing surprise as none of us was
expecting to find something like this in our small trip.
Back to Genting by skyway (how I loved the
skyway) where we got a bus to KL. I am just sad that the amusement outdoor park
was closed for renewal (until 2017 or so) that would just made the trip even
more amazing!
Nevertheless Genting is a perfect getaway
from the crowded, sometimes too busy Kuala Lumpur: there you have the view, the
food, the fun!
*Content and photos belong to Marta.
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Ladies and gentlemen, hope you enjoy reading Marta's experience on Genting Highlands. If you have any recommendations for Marta, please kindly leave your comments below and I'll pass it on to her.
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