Top 20 Photos of 2013 - #8

#8

The more I look at this image the more I love it. I had wanted to snap a picture of the cable car that ascends and descends the slopes of Genting Highlands. Unwittingly I also captured the other modes of transport that operate in getting people up and down Genting Highlands - bus, car, taxi. Genting is famous for hotels, the casino and the theme park, among others, in addition to refreshingly cool temperatures. In this photo you can really get a sense of the incline on this steep and winding road. It is also very dangerous, particularly at night and in wet conditions. Shortly after our visit here, a bus full of people tragically lost control while descending, and fell down a ravine, resulting in a number of fatalities. This photo stands as a reminder of the real perils of the road to Genting Highlands. You can never be too careful.

Day Trip from Kuantan - Genting Highlands - Bukit Tinggi - Kuantan

This was our 2nd day trip this year after our Kemaman and Cherating trip in May earlier this year. Due to the success of the first such day trip, we were all excited for the second one.

A temple with a view. Chin Swee Caves temple complex at Genting Highlands, Malaysia

No day trip is complete without the company of great friends who help to make it a peaceful and enjoyable time. Thanks to Kenny, Grace and Sharmayne for spending the day with us and Kenny for being the driver for the day.

The drive from Kuantan to Genting took around 3 hours including one stop at a rest station for a bite to eat. We left home at 7am.

During the course of the day I took a lot of photos. I'm not going to share them all (if you're friends with me on facebook, you will have seen them already!), but I will pick out some of the better ones for this post.

As seems to be the custom in Malaysia, while ascending the hill to Genting Highlands we wound down the car windows, stuck our heads out, and enjoyed the cool breeze which we don't get to feel anywhere else!

Windows down, I snapped this photo half way up the hill to Genting Highlands

The hill to the summit is steep and has many twists and turns, it's like riding a roller-coaster at times! You can ascend by car, taxi, bus or cable car

The first place we visited was the Chin Swee Caves temple complex located almost at the very top, around 6,000ft above sea level, and it was cold!!!

Entrance to Chin Swee Caves temple complex, Genting Highlands, Malaysia

Temple entrance

Mist swirled around the temple complex. Reminded me of life in England!

The mists came over the hill and covered the temple courtyard. A lone tree stands against the weather. I was surprised to see some people in shorts and t-shirts!

Soon the weather cleared up and this stunning pagoda was clearly visible under blue skies

Here's another view of the pagoda from a small window in a tunnel of caves

Took Lauren and Sharmayne up for a walk around the caves at the Chin Swee Caves temple complex

Great landscape of a settlement at Genting Highlands, Malaysia

Spotted this lady looking out over the hills from Chin Swee Caves temple, and had to snap a photo

Incense is burned outside the temple

And large joss sticks burn against the hills of Genting

Next stop was a nice lunch at a roadside restaurant. The food was great, but in the space of 10 minutes we had encountered 3 different people trying to sell us things or get us to donate money for something, basically harassing us while we waited for our food. This is a common occurrence in some places here. The best thing to do is politely wave them off.

The Genting Highlands Strawberry Farm was the next place we visited. On the whole I was really disappointed with the very small strawberries, so we didn't pick any.

Strawberry Farm entrance

Let's play 'Spot the Strawberry' . . . ok, there are a few to the left!

Family photo at the Strawberry Farm

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Strawberry Farm was the Lavender Garden. A small fee is charged to enter (RM3 for adults, RM1 for children) and there are many beautiful flowers and a large field of lavender to admire.

Fie in the Lavender Garden

Rows of flowers decorating the wall

Sharmayne, Lauren and Leah pose for a photo in the Lavender Garden

The next part of our day trip took us back down the hill from Genting and up the next hill to Bukit Tinggi. Bukit Tinggi is not at the same altitude as Genting Highlands (it's only around half way up).

Colmar Tropicale, the French-themed village at Bukit Tinggi

Inside Colmar Tropicale, Bukit Tinggi

We bought our fridge magnets at Colmar Tropicale and then hopped on a bus to the rabbit farm.

Leah watches as Sharmayne feeds a rabbit

Sharmayne and Lauren trying to feed already full rabbits!

Briefly went to the Japanese Garden. Lovely scenes of nature, but Fie and I were too tired to walk much further!

The final photo is a viewpoint I looked at admiringly from the Japanese Garden at Bukit Tinggi. Love the hills on the horizon:

We left for home at around 5:30pm, stopped for dinner at Karak, and arrived in Kuantan at around 9:30pm. Had a little nap in the car on the way back home. It was a tiring trip but very much worth it!

Looking forward to the next day trip :)

Genting Highlands - Part 5 - 6,000 feet above sea level

At Genting Highlands resort, we were soon struck down by aches and pains, stomach complaints and in my case, a throbbing head which felt ready to explode! 

It wasn't until we decided to leave Genting on Thursday night down the 18km road to the bottom of the hill upon which this resort stands, that my mother-in-law told us.

Genting sits at an altitude of 6,000 feet! That's almost a quarter of the way up Mount Everest. No wonder my head felt as though it was slowly expanding!

Wednesday night I barely slept at all due to a bad stomach. The pharmacy and some Nestle yoghurts came to the rescue the following day. But we were all pretty tired by the 2nd day and decided to leave that night.

The altitude played funny tricks with us. Apart from the mentioned symptoms, the hot chocolate sachets we brought up with us became tightly filled with air, which disappeared when we got back to Kuala Lumpur (KL). That's exactly how my head felt!

We also later discovered that the tablets in Fidelia's medicine box had melted and were stuck to the edges of the box!

Talk about 'under pressure!'

When we left on Thursday night, Florianna, my sister-in-law, quite skillfully drove us down the winding wet, slippery and at places, dark decline, 18km down the hill. We savoured the crisp, cool mountain air, whilst passing by two separate car accidents to a much lower and bearable level of the atmosphere.

From the top we saw an incredible sight in the darkness of the city lying below, softly illuminated in amber lights. It was a moment that kind of took my breath away. From the bottom I looked back up the hill through the back window and observed the majestic Resort World Genting standing tall and illuminated at those heady heights. I struggled to decide which sight was the most spectacular.

Genting Highlands - Part 4 - Indoor Theme Park @ First World Hotel

We spent the bulk of our time at First World Hotel, Genting Highlands, at the Indoor Theme Park located on the first floor above the lobby. It's quite spectacular with myriad sights and sounds, trains trundling slowly through the air, shops lining the paved streets, and a boat ride through a mini-Venice accompanied by Pavarotti's classic "Nessun Dorma".

We bought day passes for the Indoor Theme Park and it was such a joy to see Lauren having such a fun time playing on all the rides and spending some quality time with two of her aunties, Florianna and Florina.