Late Entry - Genting Part 3 Final

Woah... I can't imagine this Genting Trip actually took 3 posts to finish. Perhaps it just me... so much to tell and believing it will get too draggy if I were to combine all into 1 single post.

Anyway, we went to bed and only woke up around 1100 hours. By then, my parents had already woken up and gone for breakfast, with my dad hitting the casino to try out his luck.

Aron and I felt it was too late for a breakfast and decided to have some entertainment at the outdoor theme park. I forgot if it's called Space Shot or Vertical Shot, but it's those rides which you get strapped in and lifted high up in the air and then you get dropped all the way down. Woooo... adrenaline pumping, especially liked the feeling when it begins its initial drop, with your ass totally lifted off the seats. Just my kind of ride.

We went for other rides and by 1500 hours, we were famished. Time for a late lunch! Walked all over the place and finally settled on Bah Kut Teh. Super expensive (I feel) at RM 36 for 2-pax portion, but definitely worth it. I like its strong herbal taste compared to the normal peppery Bah Kut Tehs you find in Singapore.

After lunch, we decided to take a break and chill out at Coffee Bean with our DS Lites.

If you are wondering what happened to the repair of my dad's car, the stupid repair guy actually said he would drive up to First World Hotel lobby when it's done up. In the end, the car was only ready at 2330 hours! Totally loss for words...

Okie... back to chill out at Coffee Bean playing our DS Lites. If my memory didn't fail me, we should be playing some Tetris game and another one which is similar to Monopoly, but Super Mario Bros style. Once we had almost drained our DS'es batteries with all those wireless connectivity, we went back to the hotel room to charge them up.

Finally it's night, we tried out the indoor bumper car ride and roller coaster, feeling like a fool to have waited so long and only to have the rides finished in seconds (roller coaster) or minutes (Bumper Car). Sigh, anyway, we had too much time to waste before the live band starts at 2100 hours. We had a few bottles of beer and spent more than an hour there, even had the chance to hear one of the patrons singing 小薇 horribly... totally no sense of rhythm.

It was about midnight and we went into the First World Casino to see if my dad was playing Pontoon (also known as BlackJack) after getting back the car earlier, as I had mentioned above. Surprisingly, they seem to have removed all the Pontoon tables and shifted them all to Genting Hotel Casino. I changed some money and tried my luck at other games like 3 Pictures.

Tough luck! Within half an hour, I was losing RM 50. It may be little to you, but I was ACTUALLY trying to save money! >_<>(It was almost 0200 hours) and the worse part is he didn't join in the gambling at all, just standing behind us while we were playing.

Our luck changed for the better in Genting Hotel Casino and I finally broke even by using the "Hit and Run" playing style. I used to be impatient and will simply bet in every round possible. I realised that I have to "pull back" sometimes and maintain a comfortable "reserve". Too rush and I may end up losing all I had won earlier.

By 0530 hours, I had won enough to cover all my expenses in this trip. Seeing that my dad's cards were not too smooth, I actually advised him to take a break and rest for the night (or should I say MORNING). Surprisingly, he listened and agreed to me! WOW! He would be very stubborn in the past and will ask me to go take a rest first if I wanted to, but this time was totally different. Maybe it was also because of the "damage" from the car repair earlier and he didn't want to have any chance to lose. We cashed in our chips and went back to hotel room, tired but definitely satisfied with our results at Genting World Casino.

The next morning, we checked out and headed back to Singapore. Cut the post short, we reach Singapore at approximately 1800 hours. Home Sweet Home!!

Oh yeah... and back to the arms of my lovely MongMong...

Late Entry - Genting Part 2

Time to continue Part 2 of my Genting Trip during the CNY holiday.

I stopped at how people were still smoking their lives away even when they were standing in front of NO SMOKING signs in the hotel lobbies, entertainment centers, everywhere! Just so irritated with them!
(>_<)

Anyway, Aron and I walked around to see if there was anything else to do, other than trying to spot eye candies. Looks like it was the school holiday period or something like that, huge crowd of young children, boys & girls with their families. Totally packed and squeezy everywhere we went.

Got so bored of walking and decided to go into the casino for free drinks while waiting for the movie to start. (Economy bad, need to save money! Heh heh heh)

Finally, time was 0330 hours and we went in, eager to find out if it was really worth the RM16 we paid for the OSIM massage chairs movie package. We started fidgeting with the controls and woah, really feels good to have a massage after a whole night of walking. Somehow, after about 10 minutes into the start of the movie, it began causing discomfort and with all the vibration and shaky massage motion, found it rather difficult to enjoy the movie.

Final decision: OFF THE DAMN OSIM MASSAGE CHAIR!

Personally, I felt Underworld: Rise of the Lycans was a well-paced movie. You know sometimes, some movie sequels are slow compared to their predecessors, but so far, all series in Underworld has been up to my expectations.

Alright! Movie finished and it was approximately 0500 - 0530 hours on Friday. WOW! Freaking hell, first time staying up so late just to catch a movie. Anyway, guess we were too tired and retired for the day.

End of Part 2

To be continued...

Late Entry - Genting Part 1

Late entry for recent Genting trip during CNY holidays.

I was on a long leave during the CNY week.
初一 and 初二 were Mon and Tues, I had to take the remaining Wed - Fri leave since my company forced us too. All because our partners mostly resume office operations on the following Mon after CNY.

Since I was on such a long leave, casually asked my parents if they were keen to go up to Genting for a short break. My dad has been working very hard whole 2008 and I want him to have a rest before starting a new 2009. He did not immediately agreed for the trip and said he would have to check if his schedule permits.

And the end conclusion: Yippeeee! He was able to make it.

We set off on 初四 morning at approx. 1030 hours after our breakfast. Oh btw, I also asked my friend of 15+ years, Aron, to join us for the trip. Anyway, back to where I was... we hit the Malaysian highway by 1110 hours and "chiong" all the way towards KL.

Cut the story short, we started ascending Genting Highlands around 1530 hours and by 1545 hours, we reached Chin Swee temple. Tough luck, traffic jam during this time! Seems like alot of cars were stopping along the sides of the winding road and I was wondering what happened. I SHOULD NOT have asked to know why... cause the unexpected happened.

There was smoke rising from my side (front passenger) of the car. I immediately wound down the windows to look out, trying to see exactly where the smoke was emitting from.

DAMN! From the front left wheel!

My dad decided to stop the car along the road as he also felt there was insufficient power to get the car going up the mountain. We opened the bonnet and there was smoke coming out from the car engine, with a terrible "burnt" plastic + metal smell.

One driver who had parked his car in front of us earlier asked us what happened, and we said we didn't know, just that the engine doesn't seem to have enough power to keep the car going. He mentioned that there could be a problem with the clutch.

We just nodded our heads and decided to let the engine cool down first before trying to ascend the mountain again, since some of the cars which we saw parked along the side earlier had started ascending after half and hour's cool down time.

Things couldn't get any worse! It started raining and we had no choice but to get back into the car and spend another 45 mins inside.

At about 1745 hours, we realized this was not the solution and we decided to call up Genting Hotel's helpdesk to get some tow truck to tow our car up to the workshop near the hotel. We called the number of a tow company provided and was disappointed to know that even the mechanic wouldn't want to risk getting his tow truck up the mountain, especially when there's a jam. Ohhhh yes... it was still freaking jam at 1800 hours!

Just when we thought all hope was lost, an Indian guy approached our car and asked if we needed help with our car. He inspected the engine compartment and found that the clutch pads had actually worn out (the car is Manual Transmission) because of the constant friction during the jam. He said he can either pull the car to a nearby workshop (down the mountain) or provide repair services on the spot (at a higher price though). We decided to get his repairman to do the repairs on the spot because our car is afterall a Singapore car, and we would have trouble if the car was not returned to us (you can never be too sure when you are in a foreign land).

The damage: A whooping RM 1,400!

Tadaa... there you have it! Losing money even before you step foot into the casinos.

Anyway, it doesn't seem like we have a choice and we agreed to engage his services. We managed only to hail a taxi up Genting Highlands at 2030 hours. When we arrived at First World Hotel, we were famished! Immediately did our check-in and went for a quick dinner of noodles at the noodles house (just beside Hainan Restaurant).

Aron and I were excited to have finally reached Genting. Actually, not really exciting for me, since I have been here quite recently in 2008. Aron, on the other hand, had not stepped foot in Genting for more than 10 years!!

We walked around, enjoying the cool air and I suggested catching a movie, on an OSIM massage chair! I did not managed to try it the previous time I was in Genting because the movies then were not to my liking.

We booked the 0330 slot for Underworld: Rise of The Lycans. Must be crazy! Watching a movie at 0330 was something out of this world and I would never do in Singapore. (>_<")

Anyway, we went into the casino for awhile to busk in the CNY ambiance, totally SMOKEY! Cannot stand the smell, especially when the NO SMOKING signs were put up all over the hotel lobbies, halls, everywhere but THEY STILL SMOKE!

End of Part 1

To be continued....

Do we really have to... ?

Just something to think about...

Stepped into the MRT train and found a nice comfy seat to last a long journey from the east to Boon Lay. Suddenly an old aunty or uncle boards at the next stop, in the same cabin as you. And of all places, stands right in front of you.

Question now.
Do you...

1) Get up and offer your seat?
2) Just not bothered by their presence?
3) Just not bothered by their presence and pretend to fall asleep?

Alot of goody-2-shoes will choose the Answer 1.
Of course, because it would seem the nicest thing to do.

However, some would choose Answer 2 or even worse, Answer 3.
Pretentious beings are the worst lot and they know who they are.

For me, it depends.

If my alighting stop is like 2 - 3 stops away, I will definitely choose Answer 1.
But if I am traveling from the east to Boon Lay, I might just go ahead with Answer 2. Anyway, even if I were traveling such a far distance, it depends on:

1) How old is that aunty/uncle?
2) What is my mood that day?

Screw all those who try to be Mr/Miss Nice-People and condemn me for my answers.
Who cares about what you think?

And of course, you probably haven't met those aunties/uncles who THINK they deserve the bloody seats on the MRT train. Some of them deliberately talk loudly in front of you, trying to get your attention, and some carrying items like plastic bags of groceries or whatever will actually "accidentally" bump the bags against your legs.

Come on, whether people offer their seats to the elderly is entirely up to us.

I had seen a recent newspaper article with a snapshot of a guy holding a handphone sitting on the Priority Seat in the MRT train. The contributor wrote that there was an elder standing nearby and "flamed" the guy for not gving up his seat. Why does it bother that contributor so much?

From the angle that the snapshot was taken, it looks as if it was taken at same level as sitting down opposite the fella on the Priority Seat.

Perhaps you have perfect aiming talents and can capture clear full-view shots of this fella, or maybe you were also sitting opposite the fella and complaining about him not offering his seat to the elder standing nearby.

If my second guess was correct, why don't you just get up from your seat and offer to the elder nearby and stop whining?

I may be wrong about my guesses, but that's that.
Anyway, thinking about this at this very moment just made me want to end this post. Totally no mood.

Ciaoz!

Doomsday Is Near

2 yesterday, 3 today, how many tomorrow?
That's a very critical question.

1 by 1 I see my new found friends leaving, because of company retrenchment. It seems the company is not in good shape and has no choice but to cut the number of staff. And to think I had earlier asked my boss when logistics side will be employing a new staff to handle the work left behind by the previous logistics coordinator. Just so close to being AXED!

Who knows, tomorrow will be the official announcement, wonder if anything bad will happen to me.

I was asked earlier by my boss to attend a meeting with a colleague (who was being asked to leave today) in the afternoon. Of course, I hadn't expected this colleague of mine to be asked to leave. Suddenly my boss started saying things like, "Whichever company or boss in future will appreciate if you have some interesting ideas to bring up for product development."

I was like (-_-")!!!

Why was my boss saying such things? Especially when there were only my colleague and I in the room. I just had a bad feeling that bad fate might befall one of us! Shit man!!!

Anyway, I put that behind me and continued doing my work. At around 6plus in the evening, my colleague was asked to go into the room, which a lot of my other colleagues have been asked to earlier today.

At around 7 plus, the talk was over, damage was inflicted and my colleague walked out shocked. Shocked that he had also been asked to leave, since he heard that only 2 will be AXED today.

In the end, some of us decided to go for dinner together and I joined in. Everyone was still discussing on why they were asked to leave and why management couldn't wait till after Chinese New Year.

A lot of views were exchanged but I just kept quiet. Who was I to comment? I am in no position to voice out anything since I am not one of those asked to leave. But who knows really? Just one thing on my mind, ALWAYS BE PREPARED.