GENTING DAY 2

Day 2: First World Hotel -> Chin swee Temple -> Bowling @ First World -> Casino -> Dinner->Movies

 

Woke up at 7 and started the day with Peter Parker.

 

Spidey man on TV

We actually packed bread from Singapore the day before for our breakfast. Afterall food sold at Genting arent cheap. Our plan for the morning will be a visit to Chin Swee Temple, which is about a 15 minutes drive down from the peak of Genting Mountain.

"
The Chin Swee Caves Temple is situated in the most scenic site of Genting Highlands. Within the Temple is seated a black statue of the Reverend Master Chin Swee who has long been referred to as a deity in Fujian Province for his supernatural abilities to summon rain and drive away evil spirits. The Temple attracts many local and foreign devotees from Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and China. "

We board the free shuttle bus at 9am outside starbucks at the entrance of First World Hotel (Carpark area). It's only today we found out that Starbucks is closed for renovation till August. Didnt get to try out the stuff. The price is about the same as Singapore's price though.

inner of bus

Chin Swee Temple

Chin Swee Temple official Website: http://www.csc.org.my/


the magnicifent view from the 'balcony of the temple'

 It's certainly situated at the most scenic part of Genting! Even if you are not a staunch devotee, its still worth visiting the temple for its scenic views! You are even able to view Genting Highland Resort at certain points of the temple!

"
The Chin Swee Caves Temple, which was officially opened on 29 March 1994 by Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik (then the Minister of Transport), overlooks lush green slopes of virgin forest with a view of the winding road ascending to Genting Highlands. Such is the tranquility of the place that just by standing there one can feel the peacefulness of the environment in the midst of the moving white clouds and gentle cool breeze"



buddha statue at main entrance of the temple

they provide accomodation for religious devotees too!

unique rooftop

Spot Genting Highlands Resort!

Snapshots of the temple

 Chin Swee Temple comprises of indoor and outdoor walking areas. Basicially its outdoor walking area is somewhat similar to Singapore's Haw Par Villa while the indoors are mainly chanting halls and memorial halls including one in memory of Goh Tong.

"
Construction of the Temple was both arduous and dangerous due to the steep and rocky terrain, which made it impossible to utilise modern machinery for fundamental work such as piling. However with the same tenacity and determination that he put in when building Genting Highlands Resort, the late Tan Sri Lim who acted as the planner, architect, designer, contractor and supervisor used manual labour for the digging of the foundation for the temple. He and his team manually dug holes of 80 to 100 ft in depth for this tricky hill slope development. After all these tedious and time consuming work the Temple was completed in 18 years. More importantly, despite adopting such manual approach in extremely difficult situations and risky environment, there were no casualties nor work related accidents reported during the whole period of construction."

Pagoda against the clear blue sky



view from Chin Swee Temple




In memory of Goh Tong

 

showcase of the journey to enlightenment

The journey to enlightenment showcase the different level of hell which one will see when you visit Haw Par Villa.

look at the grass/plantations uphill

Chin swee Skyway Station

As mentioned earlier in Day 1, the skytrain was closed for maintanence and hence we are unable to boaard the skyway at Chin Swee Temple. It's located slightly near the 'outdoor' merchandising area and the area where people tend to put fire crackers.

fire crackers

Yup! Fire crackeers are allowed in Malaysia and there seems to be a never ending stream of people awaiting to put fire crackers despite it not being the Chinese New Year season. I guess its probably cause it symbolises 'huat' so potential gamblers may want to 'huat' for their gambling stint later on in Genting!



Main attractions of the temple

Goh Tong Statue

We had our lunch at the vegetarian restaurant in Chin Swee Temple. Its located at the entering point of the temple - bus dropping off point.

 

Vegetarian Restaurant @ Chin Swee Temple

Chin Swee Vegetarian Restaurant Offical Website: http://www.chinswee-vegetarianrestaurant.com/

Menus ( Set and Ala carte)

We ordered their set meal for 4 persons. They are quite flexible and allow us to change a few dishes. By right, set meal for 4 persons consist of :

• soup of the day
• Stir fried vegetables
• Asam Fish
• Stewed Ginger Duck
• Bitter Gourd Stewed Chicken

We topped up and changed the stewed Ginger duck item to Yam ring.

Appetisers and their homemade hot herbal tea

yam ring

stir fried vege/ assam fish/bitter gourd Stewed Chicken

Disclaimer: Do note that the food portion reflected in the image above are not the actual food portions served to us.Especially for the bitter gourd Stewed Chicken, the actual food portion is about 4 times of whats shown in the image.

soup of the day ( thumbs up)

We are the only two groups there, perhaps its because we had our lunch too early and also its a weekday. Their service is pretty good.
We encountered the case of an alive flying insect in our plate of vegetables. And requested for a change of dish. They readily agreed and they prepared another stir fry vegetables( a different kind) for us. We are satisfied with their attitude and service towards this matter. They have handled it well. As of this, do note that we do not think that their hygiene is bad. Live fly can fly in afterall after the dish has been cooked.This is not a matter of hygiene, hence I highly recommend visitors to Chin Swee Temple to patronise this vegetarian restaurant as their service, food quality is kinda good.

interior of the restaurant

Receipt for lunch

After a sumptious lunch, we board the 11.15am bus back to First World Hotel.

 



Chin Swee Temple Shuttle bus service (Free)



shuttle bus

Upon reaching First World Hotel, we went to Genting Bowl located at First World Plaza level2B. They even feature glow in the dark bowling!

Theres a Studio K Family Karaoke above Genting Bowl too. Near Genting bowl is a Nike Factory Outlet Store. The prices are generally cheaper than usual Nike price, but definitely the price range still belongs to branded goods.


Genting Bowl and Karaoke (studio k)



Rates for Genting Bowl as seen on web

For more information about Genting Bowl, information can be found on Genting official website: http://www.rwgenting.com/en/themepark/games_facilities/bowling/operations.htm

We played a total of 2 games, and borrowed 4 pairs of bowling shoes. Total cost reflected in the receipt below. Cost is definitely cheaper, if not around the same price as playing in Singapore.



Receipt from Genting Bowl

There's also a food court near Genting Bowl! We returned back to hotel at around 2.30pm, to change into proper attire for Casino!


Back at First world Hotel (corridor)

There are a few entrances to the Genting First World Casino. One of it is at the first level while the other at second storey. It' not difficult to spot afterall there's security guard/police stationed there. At least two each time but we noticed that security could be more lax in the night.


Centrestage of First World Plaza

 We left Casino in less than an hour and headed for dinner at 4.30pm. Hainan Kitchen restaurant was highly recommended by Genting so we decided to give it a try.


Hainan Kitchen Level 2

It's located at level 2, near the Curry House outlet which we had our lunch on the first day. We ordered Roasted Chicken rice, Char siew Rice and Chicken Curry rice.There's little lean char siew met, mostly fats. The curry is alright but the chicken is too frozen. It's quite hard and separating the meat from the bone can be quite a challenge. Ambience and service wise is good.




Bill for Hainan Kitchen

When we were there, they had this promotion for porridge buffet (supper), after 10pm. The price is cheap though at approx RM10.

Since we passed by Baskin robbins at First World Plaza while on our way back to our hotel, we decided to give it a try since we have been told by people that Baskin Robbins in Malaysia is much cheaper than in Singapore.

We ordered 4 cones of different flavours. No photos taken though. The scoop is small as though its the junior scoop. Could have been more.



Bill from Baskin Robbins





View from the level of our hotel rooms' lift lobby



The movie - Brave

 We had some free time before our last programme of the night - Movie @ First World Cineplex so we headed back to our rooms first. We went to purchase the movie tickets after our visit to Chin Swee Temple in the morning - before our bowling game so we are able to arrange our schdule. We purchased the 3D ticket as its cheaper than Singapore's 3D ticket which usually cost about $14. The 2D and 3D tickets doesnt differ in price by a lot. Some of the movies like Brave
was shown even earlier than Singapore. It was only released in Singapore theatres in August but it has begun screening in Malaysia Genting in July.


In the end, we catch the amazing Spider Man 3D at 8pm! A total of RM 21 per person including a snack. Thats even less than $10 SGD for a 3D Movie ticket.



Movie Stub

We were wondering whats the snack, and it turn out to be biscuit wafer. We were issued that together with the 3D glasses at the entrance of the theatre.


Wafer snack

The size of the theatre is bascially around Singapore's size. We paid an extra dollar more (that explains the $1 in $21 for a premium seating) which is actually right at the back of the theatre. We totally didnt regret opting for that. The seats are much larger and theres arm rest and more leg space. The seats are almost all filled despite the amazing spider man being not a newly released movie.

To sum up, it's quite a good experience with First World Cineplex! We ended our second day adventure with Genting First World with Spidey!



on our way back to Tower 2 where our rooms are



Side-note:

Malaysia's Fire rescue

Malaysia's Fire Rescue car seen at Chin Swee Temple!