Situated some 2000 metres above sea level on Gunung Ulu Kali in the state of Pahang and justly famous for its casino de Genting. Genting Highlands is only 50 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur and is the easiest Malaysian hill resort to get to. For first-time visitors, it feels as if you have been transported to a temperate country, with a cool, spring-like , climate.
This highly commercialized hill resort in distinct contrast to other Malaysian hill stations such as Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill or Maxwell Hill, is not the place for eco or nature tourism. It is unashamedly given over to hedonistic pursuits including gaming, theatre style entertainment, amusement and theme parks, indoor video games, and coin-operated games. Indeed, it is touted as the ’’City of Entertainment ’’ and arguably was the first, purpose-built , one -stop leisure centre in Malaysia.
The Outdoor Theme Park offers heart pumping, high adrenaline, exciting , fun roller coaster
rides such as the Corkscrew Roller Coaster, Flying Dragon, , Cyclone and Runaway Mine Train. The Corkscrew is the highest roller coaster in Malaysia and it does a double loop at high speed. There is a well-landscaped artificial lake where boaters can paddle around to their heart’s content and the outdoor park has several roving clowns to entertain the children-and some adults-with their tricks.
In the Indoor Theme Park there is a huge variety of games as well as coin-operated kiddie rides, 3-D fun house, Motion Master simulator and arcade video games. Other attractions include the 2020 space Odyssey Ride, 3-D Fun House and Smash Factory. Tenpin bowling, snooker, and billiards is also an offer.
The Casino at Genting Highlands, the only one of its kind in Malaysia, is enormously popular and is one of the main reasons why this hill resort attracts about 1.9 million visitors annually. It offers a full range of international gaming.
There is the longest cable-car ride in South East Asia (3.4 km) which takes passengers through unspoilt virgin jungle You really do get some spectacular views..Passengers can sample the exotic jungle wildlife and see a wide range of flora and fauna. Other sights are Orang Asli setllements and you might just catch sight of the Rafflesia -the world’s largest flower.
There is a wide range of accommodation to suit every budget and taste including the 5-star Genting Hotel, the Highlands Hotel, the 4-star Resort Hotel, the Genting View Hotel, and the attractive Awana Golf and Country Resort, where there is an excellent golf course. The world’s biggest hotel, the 6300 room First World, is currently being built and the first 1, 000 room Tower is already open.
A wide range of local and western cuisine is available in Genting, including outstanding Chinese food at the Genting Theatre Restaurant.Other restaurants include the Coffee Terrace that is open 24 hours a day and the Kampung Restaurant with excellent, authentic cuisine for lunch and dinner. The Genting World Café on the ground floor of the Highland Hotel features five extravagantly themed outlets - Dance Café, Internet Café, Sports Kafe, Uli Kali Bar and Lounge and Pizza Factory.
Buses and taxis to Genting are readily available from Kuala Lumpur. Genting is 45 minutes by road from the Gombak Toll Plaza. Visitors can hire a taxi from the Pudu Raya or the Pekiling bus station, off Jalan Tun Razak. The cost is about RM40. Buses are also available from these stations but they only take you up as far as the Awana cable car station. A shulttle bus service is available from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) There is also the Genting Skyway which carries some 2000 passengers per hour; the cable-car system operates from Goh Tong Jah near Batang Kali with a stop at Awana before ascending up to the summit at Highlands Hotel.
Genting has a robust, garish, bustling, character uniquely its own and while it’s not to everyone’s taste, it is a good, cool, spring-like haven for gaming and family entertainment and less than one hour’s journey from Kuala Lumpur.
------ Added on 20th May 2002---
The modern day tourist to Malaysia’’s capital, Kuala Lumpur - or K.L. as the locals affectionately refer to it - soon discovers a fascinating range of spicy culinary delights. K.L., once one of the backwaters of south east Asia is today a prosperous, bustling, rapidly growing city with the Petronas Twin Towers the tallest building in the world. It’’s full of surprises and one of the most pleasant is the fact that ’’Klites’’ take great pride in their cuisine. Actually it’’s a misnomer to talk of a cuisine for given Malaysia’’s multi-racial population its more appropriate to refer to a trio of great cuisine, Malay, Chinese and Indian. Some of K.L.s best local food is to be found at one of the myriad, open-air eating stalls that crop up all over the city or in a spartan coffee shop. if your preference is for dinner out in the open air then the stalls at Jalan Campbell or Jalan Masjid India are great places to head for. You wont be alone though for these eating complexes - where Malay, Indian and Chinese food stalls are gathered together - seemingly attract half of the resident population most nights. Here you’’ll find everything from simple noodle dishes, stewed duck porridge, chillie crabs, mutton soup and the famous satay - that’’s best described as barbecued skewers of meat such as chicken or beef which should be dipped into the bowl of thick chillie and peanut flavored sauce that comes with it. Usually cucumber pieces, onions and cubes of rice are also served with the sataythese too should be dipped into the piquant sauce. At many of the Chinese stalls you will soon come across steamboat which is a charcoal burner, on the top of which is a ring-shaped container into which you dump skewers of meat, liver, fish, prawns, squid, quail eggs and vegetables. These all boil along merrily and when cooked are dipped into the various spicy, sweet, sour and salty sauces.