On the first night after we had been out to the shops we got back wanting to shower. The water heater wasn't working. The temperature is was too cold for me to just step into a non-heated spray of water (cold by my standards... I live in 30 degree weather so 20 degrees is cold to me).
We rang the front desk. No wait. There was no number for the front desk. It was the operator - we told her the problem and she said she would send maintenance to have a look. I, meanwhile, was sitting on the bed wrapped in a towel and bluddy close to freezing cos half of me was wet from hanging out in the shower waiting for the water to heat up.
5 minutes later the operator rang again and said they couldn't get anyone to come to us anytime soon, so she'll get the front desk to call us to arrange for a hospitality room. What? Fine. I waited. (I'm pretty sure they're using the term 'hospitality room' erroneously but never mind that for now.)
Eventually the front desk clerk rang up and said she would send someone with a room key for a room in Tower 1 (we were in Tower 2) where I could use the hot water in the shower.
Could we get a bathrobe so I can walk about downstairs in the lobby in my shorts and tee and then back again in my pjs, so I don't have to get ACTUALLY dressed to go there and back?
I'm sorry, she says, but bathrobes are only available in World Club rooms. Sigh. I know, stupid. Which is why I requested one... cos I don't have one in MY room... innit?
No sorry, we cannot give them out to NON world club members. Honey, you fucked up, your hot water's not working. I'm not asking for a souvenir. I just need something to wrap over myself to get from Tower 2 to Tower 1 and back again.
Maybe you put on the clothes you had on earlier, walk over there with your toiletries then bring a new set of clothes to wear back to your own room after you shower, she tells me.
Say what now? I'm already naked and my clothes from the day are in a pile on the semi wet floor...
Oh then you wear some clean clothes over, shower and put them back on?
Is she seriously telling me what to do? The Cheek!
I'm not going to put CLEAN clothes on my NOW DIRTY SELF.
Oh, yes, I'm sorry about that. Someone will come over shortly with the key. Thank you for understanding, have a good day, she says.
Wait a minute, don't THANK ME. I'm NOT being understanding. This is unacceptable. This is NOT a good resolution to my problem. Can we just change rooms? Sorry, no rooms available, she says.
And again, Thank you for understanding, have a good day. Then she hangs up.
What in the bluddy fuck!
I decided to wash my hair in the sink, wet half the bath towel and used it as a washcloth (albeit a super large one) to wipe myself down, and then proceeded to dry myself with the other un-wet half as best I could.
My sister decided she would just go to bed without a shower.
Anyway, the next morning we splashed water on our faces, brushed our teeth and went out for the day.
Thankfully by the time we got back the hot water was up and running.
We decided we now need a revenge holiday to make up for this horrid experience. Maybe we'll pick one of the other hotels.
And now, the pics.
You may be called First World Hotel (yes, that's what the hotel is actually called).
But you seriously have LOUSY service! Bleugh.
The hotel as seen from ANOTHER hotel where we had breakfast
This is Genting Grand. We want to stay HERE if we come again. It was Genting's very first hotel + casino ages and ages ago. And to date is still one of the best hotels there.
There's also Crockfords which is relatively new. And is also a Forbes best something something many years in a row. It's also super expensive. But you GOTTA love a hotel that calls its smoking area a Secret garden.
One of the best things to do when one is travelling is EAT. I saw a Burger & Lobster so I popped in.
This was a snack about 2 hours after we had lunch at the hotel lobby while waiting to check in.
We shared the plate (half beef half lobster). Delicious.
The best part was the lightly toasted buttered brioche.
I think that might be my favourite type of bread in the world.
I really like this majestic looking snake in the middle of the shopping mall. I get that CNY is way over and they're a bit behind in taking down the decor. But it's still a grand looking snake.
The last time I'd been up to Genting Highlands was 12 years ago. A lot's changed since then, but somehow the Ripley's Believe it or Not has withstood the test of time. We didn't go in, but it was nice to see that not everything was new and improved. There's a sort of nostalgia at seeing something from one's childhood, tucked away in the corner as it were, amidst the oh-so-conspicuous sparkly, shiny, loud jumble of fancy, multi-coloured, adrenaline-producing rides in the middle of the megamall!
I suppose it's a good thing those used capsules can be made into something useful...
not sure how viable the production of said something will be tho...
The sister spotted a Harry Ramsden's and we simply HAD to try it.
It was disappointing. And a bit of a waste of stomach space imo.
What WASN'T disappointing was the
Nasi Ulam (steamed rice with
very finely sliced/chopped aromatic herbs and spices like
daun kesum aka laksa leaf aka Vietnamese coriander, onions, chilli etc. and sometimes vegetables like cucumber and long beans - this is a gross simplification tho) that we had for dinner at a Peranakan restaurant.
It's weird that we were just in Melaka last month (aka the land from which the Peranakans hail, and so is well known for its Peranakan cuisine - if you throw a stone in any direction you'd hit a Peranakan restaurant!) and yet the two Peranakan restaurants we tried in Genting were so much more satisfying than the ones we ate at in Melaka!
The next morning we took a cable car ride to the Genting premium outlet stores where I decided to splurge on some
Venchi chocolate after the previous night's pissiness regarding that whole hot shower situation. And ice cream. We shared a cup of gelato. It was so good!..
That ice cream plushie on the right was a free gift
6 nuggets of chocolate cost me just under $17 USD (about 95gms). I did say I decided to SPLURGE.
The view from our cable car
It was pretty decent weather for a cable car ride. It did storm later in the afternoon.
Chin Swee Caves Temple
The link above takes you to the wiki page, but I've copied the most fascinating thing to me about it here-
Construction of the temple was challenging due to the steep and rocky terrain, which rendered modern machinery unusable for essential tasks such as piling. Lim Goh Tong, serving as planner, architect, designer, contractor, and supervisor, opted for manual labour to excavate the foundation. His team dug holes 80 to 100 feet deep on the difficult hillside. Despite the labour-intensive and time-consuming nature of the project, the temple was completed in 18 years. Remarkably, no casualties or work-related accidents were reported throughout the construction period.
The sister bought a bunch of tees for her son and husband from the outlet stores, and some snacks for her daughter. I didn't get anything besides that bag of chocolate nuggets. Here's my combined loot from the previous day + the chocolates. She had twice as much in the end. Maybe even more.
I also bought panty liners cos they're really cheap in Malaysia so I pick some up every time I'm there.
Clockwise from top left (approximately) :
+ Shower gel (it was 1-for-1 and I wouldn't pay so much for lovely minty shower gel at full price...)
+ 2 packs of Saborino 1-minute face masks (you can find a ton of Youtube reviews)
+ Beryl's chocolate covered popping candy for the boss cos I just found out he loves popping candy
+ Nuts for snacking in the room or on the bus ride home
+ Disposable cotton face towels in case they still hadn't sorted out the hot water by the time we got back to the room
+ Too-expensive splurgy chocolates
I also bought a long open front cardi with a hood but I've laundered and put it away by now and I'm too lazy to take a pic of that for you. But it looks something like this.
The one I got has a textured knit, and I love how it looks like the hood of a cape when it's not atop my head - the fabric rests on the top of the shoulders in a bit of a pile (bottom right) instead of getting pulled backwards from its own weight straight down the back (bottom left), you know what I mean?
Lunch was at another Peranakan restaurant and the pic above shows only HALF of what we ordered.
Top left - Lobak. A meat roll, typically made with a filling of minced meat (pork, chicken, or a combination), seasoned with Chinese five-spice powder, and wrapped in bean curd sheets.
Top right - Kerabu Ladies Finger where kerabu generally just means 'salad' or a 'vegetable dish'. This is steamed (very tender!) ladies finger / okra with a topping of chilli sambal.
Bottom - Assam Laksa "is a popular noodle soup dish from Penang, Malaysia, known for its rich, tangy, and spicy flavor profile. It's a distinct variation of laksa, using a fish-based broth with tamarind (assam in Malay) for a sour kick, unlike the coconut milk-based broth commonly found in other laksa variations."
Assam Laksa is also one of my sister's all-time favourite eats.
Dinner was a cup of honeydew melon for me, and a rendang chicken pie that had been sitting in the fridge from the day before, and a tuna salad in a tub for the sister. We just couldn't put anything else in after that awesome filling lunch!
By the next morning however, we were ready to rock and roll! The yam balls with mince meat filling behind the travel monkey were prettily made to look like swans. Sadly, the food looked WAY better than it tasted. Ah well. Not every restaurant can be a winner. The dumplings on the left were pretty decent tho. Nothing to wow about, but nothing objectionable either. Which, all things considered, was pretty much all I could ask for. (I mean, it could have been a whole lot worse than just unobjectionable!)
And that's that. I'll not be travelling till the end of May so for now I'll just sit quietly at home and get back into the swing of regular life. But I TOTALLY CANNOT WAIT TILL BANGKOK! Woot!
