July 21, 2009. Genting Highlands

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Genting Highlands is a big resort complex about 2 hours outside of Kuala Lumpur. It is high on a mountain top. The weather was very pleasant there, cool and misty.

On our way we stopped at the Baatu Caves. In ancient Indian legend a goddess had two children who were always fighting. One day they were fighting over a piece of fruit and the mother said whoever went around the world first could have ther fruit. One brother immediately jumped on a peacock and took off around the world. The other brother walked around his mother and father 5 times, saying they were his world. He got the fruit.

One of the places the first brother stopped on his trip around the world was Baatu Caves. The caves are 272 steps up the side of a mountain. The caves aren’t all that impressive. There is a temple and other religious stuff up there. There are also very aggressive wild monkeys.

After a while at the caves we continued on to Genting. We stopped at a Chinese Temple that was pretty impressive. It was built on top of a mountain close to Genting by the same guy who built and owned Genting.

We also stopped at Cradle Rock, a big round rock balanced on another. There were good views from there.

Finally we arrived at the resort. It was kind of like a tiny Las Vegas with stores, restaurants, and indoor and outdoor amusement parks, several hotels, and about 3 casinos. First thing we did was eat lunch, then we went to a casino where they wouldn’t let me in because I was wearing shorts. So I bought a pair of long pants and we went in. I wanted to play a little blackjack, but the there were no open chairs at any table. Instead I played roulette, betting red and black. The girls played another game that I had not seen before, but there were betting even/odd. Everything was in Chinese, so I couldn’t figure it out. Earlier we decided to limit our losses to 50 ringgit each (about $15.00 USD). After about an hour we all had lost all our money.

We walked around in the amusement park until it was time to go home.

We got home about 18:00. The girls were tired and went to their rooms. I walked around in Chinatown for a couple of hours, then found a cafe where I ordered beef and chicken satay for dinner. Met a 76 year old Australian who was on his way home to Perth. We talked for a couple of hours. He was a Korean War veteran and had a very interesting and unique take on the world. About 24:00 I returned to my room for the evening.

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