Journey Across the Causeway: Genting Highlands and Kuala Lumpur

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Date of Travel: Nov 3-7, 2007
Duration of Travel: 5 days
Main Cities visited: Genting Highlands/ Kuala Lumpur

Took a five day trip across the causeway from Singapore to Genting/ KL by bus which took about 6hrs to reach. Genting highlands as the name suggest, is located high in the mountains north of the main city of KL. Virtually run and owned by Resorts world, Genting is about gambling much as it is about theme parks and entertainment.

We stayed at the First World Resort. The rooms were very crammed but it was relatively decent considering the price that we paid for it. I didnt really enjoy the 2 days in Genting. Firstly, as non gamblers, that effectively already rules you 50% out of what Genting is about. The food is expensive and not the nicest considering the tourist market it caters for. Shopping is pretty decent but limited. The theme park was a major disappointment. While the view from the top of roller coasters were magnificent, many rides were just way too outdated, dirty and not exciting enough. However considering the much younger crowd it was meant for (ie: 6-15years old), this is understandable. The only good memory of Genting was perhaps the view from the top of the mountains. Although for most part visibility was really clouded (by real clouds), when the sky was clear, there were pretty stunning views of the city below.

We spent the next 2 days in KL city. It has been over 5years since I last visited KL and it has surely modernized. We booked a very comfortable and relatively cheap 4 star hotel right in the middle of bukit bintang where all the shopping, entertainment and night live were. Particularly impressive were the latest mega malls of Pavillion and KLCC which had some of the finest range of shopping products. Took a trip down to Chinatown in the morning. We probably went too early as not many of the shops were open but we did manage to catch a good traditional local breakfast there.

The Petronas Twin Towers are pretty magnificent and certainly add much color to the KL skyline. We wanted to take a trip right to the top of the tower but tickets were sold out for the day. So instead of going upwards, we went below to the KLCC Aquarium. It was decent but for its price it was not worth it. The collection of marine life in the aquarium was disappointing, but the overall design and feel of this underground aquarium was pretty interesting.

Overall, the trip was decent but not fantastic. But for its really cheap price we paid for accommodation and transport for this 5 days, we got what we paid for.

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