Little-Wonder.Net - Personal domain and blog of Brenda Tan

The more I think about that whole hulabaloo that took place last Friday morning (Ref: previous entry), I am starting to suspect it’s one big fat lie. (Read: betrayal)

But then again, who am I to jump into conclusions anyway?

We ended up going to Genting Highlands in the end. Jaime, being rather furious at having to call of the trip at literally the last second, decided that at that juncture, he’d attempt everything just to put the whole trip back on track.

A timely decision on his part, because at that point in time - I can honestly swear that I had completely given up. Considering how we encountered glitch after glitch, I’ve already come to terms with the fact that the trip has already crumbled under my hands. Hell, I even unpacked in a fit of anger.

He asked for the travel agency’s number, so I gave it to him.

Likewise for our booking reference number.

And the next thing I knew, he was calling everyone to tell us that the trip is back on again because (1) he managed to secure four tickets for the night time coach to Genting at 10.00 P.M. and (2) he managed to get his girlfriend, Jessica to go at the last minute. (Which means that the parental restriction not allowing me to travel alone with two guys will be lifted - meaning that the trip is a definite go.)

The downside? We have to pay for the new booking.

But at that time, all of us were so desperate to carry on with the trip that we willingly forked out almost double the original amount for only half the trip.

So, I guess the whole drama had an (almost) happy ending?

A pretty good trip, though I found myself getting pretty angsty and irritated at quite a few points. But well, a holiday’s still a holiday.

Travelog and photos beneath the link below.

The Arrival
We only reached Genting at 4.30 A.M. on Saturday morning (11th August 2007), too early to do anything at that time - so we all decided to catch up on the sleep we’ve lost on the 6 hour long coach ride up. Damn those stopovers disrupting our peaceful slumber.

Oh, and speaking of the coach.

Apparently, we were lucky enough to be assigned a double-decked coach. And I must say, the interior of the coach itself is rather lovely too. We were allocated seats in the lower deck, which was nice and cozy - with only two other people on the lower deck with us, meaning that we could talk as much as we wanted without having to fear of disrupting all the other passengers.

I slept quite fitfully too, which was rather surprising considering how I always have trouble falling asleep on moving vehicles.

Normal Routine Activities
Genting is known for it’s theme parks - so there we went. Not going to write much about the rides we took because I’ve written about them plenty of times before. (After all, I’ve been to Genting Highlands like 40 times in my entire lifetime and no, I am not kidding about this.)

Jaime, Jessica, Paul and I - waiting in line at one of them rides.

However, most of the good rides were either closed for maintenance or other reasons - and most of which happened to be my favourite rides. Argh.

My low blood pressure problem prevented me from going on some rides as well. Not that I minded - I am satisfied enough standing by the side, video-taping the rest of my travel buddies on the rides with my camera and grinning and waving at them. After all, I would avoid some of these rides even if I didn’t have the blood pressure problems, so it makes no difference to me.

I shall not go into detail regarding the shopping either, because there is usually nothing constructive to write about something as mundane as shopping. All I can say is that the guys were pretty bored while Jessica and I throgged the shops. (One of them even whined.)

Accident-prone people will suck at pool
That’s me, I guess.

I was again, having one of my off-days while shooting a few rounds of pool with my travel buddies. The usual problems - the white ball going into the hole when it’s not supposed to, balls bouncing off the sides when I’m aiming for the nearby hole, and basically just getting all my angles wrong.

The guys played like pros. What’s new?

While attempting a particularly difficult shot which entailed quite a fair bit of stretching and balancing on my part because I have short arms, with one leg balancing precariously on the pool table, I decided to abandon that extremely uncomfortable pose and instead, attempt that shot with my left hand holding the cue stick instead. (Note: I’m ambidextrous, but my right hand is stronger.)

Apparently, I used too much force and the cue stick slipped, causing me to slam my left hand right into the pool table.

Several layers of skin were stripped off the joints of three fingers, with two of said joints becoming all swollen a couple of hours after that fateful pool game. Needless to say, I had a difficult time taking showers subsequently because the wounds would sting really badly at the slightest contact with water.

Then again, I’m an old-timer at this, being the accident-prone individual that I am.

Wrong medication
Only discovered this a day after we returned from Genting Highlands.

Apparently, I had mistaken another packet of white pills for my antihistamines while I was packing for the trip four days ago, which means that all the while I was in Genting - I had been popping the wrong pills.

The antihistamines? They were at home.

What I was unknowingly taking for the past two nights were pills for nausea.

Little wonder my legs are all covered with hives now.

Baskin’ Robbins Ice Cream?
Quite a bad experience, I daresay. The staff just wouldn’t give a hoot about customer service, and considering all the bad attitudes we’ve been receiving from several other places as well, we’re all wondering whether these were common sights in Malaysia.

First incident at First World Plaza’s outlet.

Paul and I decided to place orders for two ‘Junior Single’ (Junior sized, single scoop) ice creams. Apparently, the ice cream parlour had run out of Junior Single sized cups, and gave us a ‘Regular Single’ (Regular sized, single scoop) instead without telling us.

Imagine our shock when we were told that we had to pay for the more costly ‘Regular Single’ ice creams instead of the ‘Junior Single’ ones we had ordered initially.

A small argument between yours truly and the cashier ensued, but the bloody cashier was so insistent on us paying in full for the damned ‘Regular Single’ ice creams, despite the fact that the whole mix-up had been their fault.

It seemed as if we were practically forced to accept the ‘Regular Single’ ice creams. (Service guy is worried that we would not get any ice cream after all if he tells us that the ‘Junior Single’ sizes are sold out, decides to keep quiet and slip us a ‘Regular Single’ without our knowledge despite being fully aware that it’s more expensive. Who cares? He thinks. Better to have them pay more than to lose their business.)

Fucked up service. If there are no more ‘Junior Single’ sized cups, open your bloody big mouth and say so, for heaven’s sake. Don’t just keep mum about it.

Second incident at Highland Hotel’s outlet.

Jessica and I placed orders for ‘Regular Single’ sized ice creams. (Decided to steer away from ‘Junior Single’ for fear of a replay of the previous incident.)

However, we were shocked to discover that those ice creams cost 10.50RM apiece at the Highlands Hotel outlet when they only cost 7.50RM at First World Plaza’s outlet previously.

Despite our badgering, the staff insisted that the price of the ice cream was the same at all the outlets. What aroused our suspicion further was that there was absolutely no price menu on display for the various sizes at that particular outlet when there was one at First World Plaza’s outlet.

Sulking, Jessica and I had no choice but to come out with the money despite us already being fully aware of the possibility of being cheated. We could have rejected the ice creams, but we weren’t too fond of creating a scene.

After both incidents, Jessica and I christened Baskin’ Robbins as ‘Basket! Robbins’, and decided we’re never going back there again. We’d prefer Ben & Jerrys over Baskin’ Robbins anyday.

The Companionship
Put a group of four people together for two and a half days, and you’ll discover a lot of traits about them which you’ve never known of before.

Like how Jessica is always so cheerful.

Jessica (on the right) and I.

Like how Jaime lugs around an inflatable pillow covered with white ducks in the coach and around the hotel room.

Like how Paul is always arguing with me. (To be frank, I was extremely irritated, but just decided to shut up because we were on vacation and there was no point starting a quarrel over it.)

Like how Jessica is always so caring towards everyone.

Like how Jaime can take up to forty-five minutes in the bathroom with everyone else yelling at him from outside.

Like how Paul likes Padini Authentics (a brand of clothing) as much as I do.

Like how Jaime can sprout random nonsense that don’t make sense. (Pointed out by Jessica, confirmed by yours truly.)

Like how Paul doesn’t like smiling in pictures because of his braces.

One of my favourite photos, but Paul’s not smiling AGAIN.

We made quite an interesting travel group, I daresay. But damn, I still miss Grace (who was unable to join us on this trip due to parental disapproval)! :(

Other Memorable Events
1) The squabble in the hotel room at 5 A.M. on the first day regarding whether Jaime had phoned room service for two pillows and one towel or one pillow and two towels. (The latter was correct.)

2) How the group of us had manage to confuse all the personnel in the Room Service Department with our constant phone calls with conflicting requests. (Not to mention Jaime and I’s conflicting stories about why we ended up initially forfeiting our trip to Five Stars Tours - the travel agency we made the bookings from. No wonder the receptionist kept giving us weird looks when we finally reported for our coach trip.)

3) How the lockers at Genting Theme Park were constantly getting jammed. They were trying to be all tech savvy by implementing receipts with printable barcodes as ‘locker keys’ but it was constantly backfiring in our faces despite having read all the instructions carefully.

4) How someone had thrown up in the ride before us at the Pirate Ship and how it took the ride operators fifteen minutes to clean up the mess in full view of all the other riders in the queue. And how midway during our ride, Jaime suggested we imitate someone throwing up to scare the shit out of everyone else on board the Pirate Ship.

5) How it started raining when we all decided to leave the theme park and go for lunch. What appropriate timing.

6) How the food everywhere was oh-so bad. (Kenny Roger’s was a disappointment. The various noodle restaurants we tried were also disappointments. The only place which pleased us was Marrybrown which was ironically, a fast food place.)

En Route Home
We were assigned seats right at the front of the coach despite my specific request for seats right at the back. Thus, we had to contend with light constantly shining in our faces as the coach cruised down the highway - especially in the evening after sundown.

The fact that the two coach drivers were constantly chatting away at the top of their voices didn’t make things any better.

And grrrrrr - you certainly do NOT play pop music in the coach when you’re fully aware that all the passengers are trying to sleep!

Considering how I was sitting directly behind them, I had to resist the urge to give them a kick in the arse so that they can get the hint and clam up. (Of course, I didn’t.) The result? None of us caught a single wink of sleep.

All in all, a good trip. Certainly not the best one, but not the worst either. At least it was enough to please especially Jaime, Paul and I - especially after having that giant bomb of bad news fall on our heads early Friday morning which well, I am still very sore about.

Speaking of which, I still need some answers.