GENTING DAY 1

Spore(cck pick-up point)->Genting Highlands (First World Hotel) -> Genting Strawberry Farm -> Gohtong Jaya

 

We were supposed to reach by 6.15am at cck gain city to board our 6.30am bus. But around 6am, we received a call from WTS bus attendant too confirm our attendance. It seems like everyone has already reached and my family is the last to board. Its typically a 'come early, go early' policy. People tend to board the bus early so that they will be able to arrive at the destination early. Same for departure, if all passengers board the bus early, all will reach Singapore at an earlier time.

Our groupon voucher entitled us to WTS CEO Gold cruiser.



WTS CEO Gold cruiser to Genting Malaysia

Yup. Thats the bus we took. It's pretty new hence this explans why the WTS labels have not been up. It's super comfortable on this 25 seater bus. No entertainment provided but ample leg space assured!

The different type of buses WTS Travel provides can be found on this website: http://www.wtstravel.com.sg/coaches.html

They are at least 90% similar to the photos shown but of course you have to expect a little wear and tear on the actual bus seats.

We departed at 6.15am and cleared Singapore and Malaysia Customs by 7am. It was an early Sunday morning, and hence no queues formed at the customs.

Along the way to the custom and after clearing them

 Together, there were three WTS buses in total ( 2 platinum 1 Gold cruiser) departing for the same destination - Genting Highlands Malaysia.



It was drizzling while we were clearing the customs!



We were told by our bus tour guide (yes, there's one) that it will be a 6 hour journey to Genting with two pit stops: Yong Peng and KL.

Along the way

In an hr, we reached Yong Peng. We saw other buses from the various travel companies from Singapore. Not forgetting the 'fleet' of WTS buses that depart towards Genting from various pick up points.

Fellow WTS bus

Yong Peng is a popular stop over destination for Singaporeans heading to Malaysia. This probably explains why the food prices at Yong Peng have been rocketing.

Yong Peng!

There were many passengers there having a quick bite before heading on. We were given 20 mins to settle food + toilet needs. There are quite a lot of cubicles and no fees imposed.

We didnt grab any food since we just had our breakfast. Some of the food prices which we noticed are:

• fishball noodles @ RM 6.50
• pomelo fruit @ RM 25
• starfruit @ RM 4
• Chewing Gum one small packet of 5 sticks @ RM 1.60

one small pack of chewing gum cost RM 1.60

You shall decide whether its pricey given the context that it's in Malaysia.

souvenir shop at Yong Peng

Nasi Lemak (Fried Chicken) seem popular with the visitors there maybe cos its the least expensive. There are a wide variety of puffs including Portugese egg tarts sold.

We left Yong Peng at 8.39am and we reached our next and final pit stop for toilet break at 10.50am.

Second and final pitstop

Set off in about 15 minutes time as its basically just a Tandas stop. Along the way, we caught a glimpse of the Petronas Tower! Weather has been on our side once we step into Malaysia territory. It's basically bathed in warm sunlight with clear blue sky and fluffy white clouds above our heads.

the beautiful sky/scenary

Resort World Genting Billboard

Police Station @ Genting

Finally, we reached Genting highlands at 12.30pm. Weather was kinda chilly. It was 21degree celsius.

Having read on trip reviews, we know that First World Hotel which we will be spending two nights there, houses 6118 groups of guests. 3pm is their offical check in time while 12pm is their official check out time. We decided to try for early check in if possible.





Awards for First World Hotel 


 However in 2008, The Palazzo and expansion of The Venetian in Las Vegas beat its record.
It's about a 5-10 minutes walk from bus depot to the main lobby given that we have to squeeze past massive crowd, as its the peak period of arrival and departure. You can just followed the cover walkway, and you will see Starbucks coffee first. Then continue walking and you will reach the main lobby. Little did we know, its the last day of opeerations of Starbucks on our first day there, as they are on hiatus for renovation work.


Lobby of First world Hotel + Queue number


The lobby is dimly lit and be warned, it reeks of cigarette smoke. Despite no smoking signes being put up, visitors simply ignore the sign and apparently theres too many people there and the personnels of First World Hotel are unable to handle it. There's much confusion with the queue too as people are holding different forms of hotel check in ticket from their various travel agencies. This applies to us too. Directions could have been placed even clearer and more people can be employed to direct human traffic during peak hours.

However, dont worry, check out is quite hassle-free! There's self automated machines to process check out. This will be mentioned in DAY 3 entry.
We queued to get our queue number: 0284. It was only 0196 when we obtained our number. Hence we decided to go for lunch as the queue numbers does not clear fast.

We had a short tour around First World Plaza while looking for suitable makan places.




part of First world Indoor Amusement park

Miniature version of Eiffel Tower

There was a Korean dance performance at the central stage of First world Plaza at that time. I must say that their dance moves are very refined!


Kpop dance at central stage of First World Plaza

Most of the eating outlets were packed with people since its lunch time. We passed by Curry House which is near Hainan Kitchen, on level two of the plaza.

Curry House @ First World Plaza

Curry House has the layout of a typical foodcourt style hence plenty of seats. It sells 'economical' mixed rice. Halal definitely. Its quite spacious and empty hence we decided to give it a try, but we regretted after trying and we understand why its business is brisk despite lunch hours.

Bascially, you order the main you want (noodle/rice/...) from the lady behind the counter, and she will scoop the relevant main for you onto a plate and pass to you. There are plenty of side dishes from normal vege to fried delights to their notable curry chicken.

Curry house incredible receipt

As we were too appalled by the final monetary figure of 4 plates of cai fan, sadly we didnt take any photos of the our food. However its just normal mixed rice vege. Ranging from 3-4 side dishes per person. Please dont be mistaken by the 'dory fish' in the receipt, we DID NOT order fish, fresh fish persay We merely ordered sweet sour fish, and that cost RM6 (SGD2.6) for a mere serving size of typical local mixed rice store owner would give. Other than that, they did record our side dishes correctly, but not the quantity. So that come to us 4 plates of mixed rice/mee goreng for RM77.15. Which is a whopping SGD 33.50. It's even more expensive than the zi char which we ate for dinner at Gohtong Jaya which will be elaborated at the later part of this post. Also, there's quite a considerable amount of MSG in its food. Oh and did I mentioned? There's 10% service charge too, though its of food court setting. So, to conclude my family's experience with Curry House is bad.
One friendly advice is: You can stop by for a meal, but do that at your own risk.

 

We went back to check our queue number after lunch at 1.45pm, and it's only a 0259. Ours is 0284.
We loitered around the lobby and I must emphasise again that the air is quite polluted here because of inconsiderate smokers. But the air is cooling at 23 degree celsius and water from the tap is cooling too.

Our WTS Groupon voucher which we purchased, entitle us to 2 deluxe room at First World Hotel. We requested for joint room, if not side by side/opposite rooms. The front desk assisted us with the check in and room enquiry, however at that point of time, there are no more available non-smoking joint rooms. But there's one or two joint rooms left in the smoking area. We hesitated as my family members are non smokers. However we decided to give it a try as we do not quite like the idea of staying at different floors as this means a greater inconvenience to us. We were surprised that the joint smoking rooms turn out to be fine! It doesnt reek of cigarette smoke, though one of the room did but it faded off soon.



Room 'card'

There are two towers and we are at Tower 2, Level 12.



Our hotel rooms - Room 921 and 922!



Toilet - separated standing washing facility and sink area

door (2 levels of security ledge)

small desk + laundry area

The hangars are designed to be non-removable. As seen, there's an electronic safe box, mini fridge, hair dryer, kettl
Do not expect a big room afterall they are accomodating 6k+ people. However room size is suffice and comfy for short stay. our joint room makes it even 'bigger' in a sense.
It's on the hill and given its cooling weather all year round, there's no air-conditioner but fan provided.



fan controller

Fret not, they provide coffee/tea/creamer/sugar satchets too!Replenished daily!



one packet per room

Shortly after settling down, we set off for Straawberry farm for a visit and Gohtong Jaya in the evening for our Zi char dinner as recommended from the Genting itinerary.

 

Thumbs up for Water dispenser of hot and cold water located conveniently to our rooms.

lift

 

Do note that the First World Cafe is situated at level 8. Visitors normally patron it for its buffet. My family went on the last day for buffet breakfast. Review in DAY 3 entry.

Lobby cafe at the lobby of First World Hotel

Temperature check before we head out!

According to the itinerary, we could take the skytrain which will alight at lower Genting Skyway.however it has ceased operation for maintenance and will only resume on 02 August. Luckily they provided us with free shuttle bus there. We board the bus at the bus depot. Its at the very end of the depot.Upon reaching lower Genting skyway via bus, we were quite lost as to which bus we can take to reach strawberry farm. Luckily we met a friendly resident there who was on her way home near strawberry farm.There are two different shuttle buses from lower Genting skyway. One goes straight to strawberry farm while another to Awana/Gohtong Jaya. It comes every 20 minutes.  We eventually board the shuttle bus at lower Genting skyway that heads to Gohtong Jaya at 4.30pm, since it comes first. The lady was kind enough to tell us that we need to tell the driver we want to stop at Gohtong, if not the driver will just drive directly to Awana hotel! It's just a short walk from gohtong Jaya stop to Strawberry farm, basically just head up slope



pathway leading to strawbery farm




Strawberry Farm!

Abundance of strawberries for picking!

The farm offers visitors to self pick strawberries from the farm or one can just buy ready packs of strawberries hand picked earlier on. The price does differs alot but its worth it to have a try at freshly pluck strawberries!

 



It's free to step into the farm and observe the strawberries closely! But do note that the owner does not open up all sections of the farm for viewing and harvesting!

More of the farm!



self picked strawberry!



products filled with goodness of strawberries!



walkway that leads you to flower land~



plants and flowers!



plot of strawberry land at level 1!



a mix cultivation of flowers and hydrophonics

There are plants/vegetables cultivated too! They are on sale too so if it happened to be your last day at Genting, why not buy some home. Freshness guaranteed!

 

old cucumber





biggest lettuce ever seen!

flowers and more potted flowers!

Hydrophonics!

Pumpkins! ( Perhaps for Halloween~)

Fruits/vegetables on sale

Before you exit the farm, be sure to take a look at the organic Mushroom section. It doesnt smell exactly pleasing since its decomposed organism, but its interesting to look at the cultivation process of Mushrooms!

Organic Mushroom Section

Different types of Fungi grown @ Strawberry Farm @ Genting

We left the farm at around 5.30pm and dark clouds (?) were looming.



It did drizzled but luckily no downpours experienced! A 5 minutes or less down slope walk lands us back at Gohtong Jaya!

Gohtong Jaya Genting!

Gohtong Jaya is a main township in Genting Highlands (Pahang Malaysia). It was erected and named after the chairman of Genting Group, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong. It houses several shops, apartments, housing areas. Its mainly famous to tourists and even residents nearby for its cheap yet nice delicacies. Mainly, zi char. We saw many Malaysia registered cars stopping by for a dinner with their family on this Sunday evening!

Hotel Gohtong Jaya taken at 7.15pm

Be sure to walk along the shop houses from Hotel Gohtong Jaya. It's just situated opposite the tall pine tree in the previous photo! If you are looking for zi char, then walk further down and dont stop even after seeing a building/hotel and there seems no more sign of shophouses anymore. Continue walking and soon old buildings like these below will surface. Thats where the real deals are! We were puzzled and almost didnt continue walking until we enquired a passerby and know that its just right ahead. Its practically a 5/10mins walk down from Gohtong Jaya Hotel. The first few stores from Gohtong jaya hotel mainly sells malay food, while there are plenty of chinese zi char stores further down.



Long stretch of Zi Char Stores!



a few of the many zi char stores

We had our dinner at Restoran Yik Kee as thats was whats recommended in the itinerary and we decided to give it a try since we are spoilt for choices!

At 6.15pm, we were the only customers in their shop. Halfway through our dinner, we then see another group of visitors whom we believe are fellow Singaporeans too.

中国茶

铁板豆腐

莲偶汤

三杯鸡

马来凤光
 

The helpers at the restaurant have been very helpful. Sumptious spread of food as compared to lunch. Price yet comparable to lunch. Worth giving yik Kee Restaurant a try! All of us didnt regret it! Howeer, should we visit Genting again, we will be giving it a miss as theres still other Zi Char stores to be tried!

Yik Kee's Bill

We left the place with a hearty meal at 7+pm.

Fruit Loot of the day!

Fruits/sweet potato (other than strawberries) were bought at Gohtong Jaya (the shophouses).


As its getting dark, we decided to head back to our hotel. We initially intend to take a shuttle bus back to First World Hotel ( the one which we took to Gohtong Jaya), however it happened to be their dinner break, which means no bus for that hour.


bus stop

backdrop of bus stop



Bus parked at the bus stop for dinner break :(



 

A taxi driver happened to see us 'stranded' at thee bus stop and gestured to us. He is a private freelance cabby and on his way up to Genting to fetch his customer. Since he has a bit of time and its along the way, he agreed to give us a lift at a discounted price of RM20. His car boast an incredible horsepower and he is able too speed on the road yet keeping the car in full control while steering through corners. kinda a 'roller-coaster' ride, but definitely a good experience.

We reached First World Hotel at 8. It's about 20 minutes ride away in his car. Temperature check: 19 degree celsius.

Time check



lobby of First World Hotel during off peak period (night)

We then went to the drive through area at the entrance of First World hotel to check out the bus timings for our trip to Chin Swee temple in the morning tomorrow.

free shuttle bus timings

There are a couple of free shuttle buses provided by Resort World Genting including the one to Chin Swee Temple, however all are subjected to changes.
We spotted the bus to Highlands hotel. Quite a few people boarded the bus, probably off to the casino!

Free Shuttle bus to Highland Hotel

At the lobby area near Starbucks Coffe (First World Hotel), theres the miniature design of Genting Highlands, comprising the hotels and amusement park.

First World Hotel

BIRD EYE VIEW OF GENTING!

A long tiring day and we conclude the end of the day at 10. Temperature dropped by a further 2 degree celsius but that seems the furthest it can go for the period of our stay. Definitely a nice weather to be in, but still, jackets needed!

 

 

Side-note:

 

Room availability on display at the lobby of First World Hotel

We went in the month of July where its supposedly the off peak period, but still First World hotel is fully booked. It remained the same for all three days of our stay there. So, do book early if you are planning a short getaway to genting!