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| Sunday, 30 November 2003 |
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'Suicidal rides' : A Winged Bird-Part III Tuesday, October 28th 2003. YMCA, Kuala Lumpur City, Malaysia.
All spruced up, luggage brought down and locked in the luggage room, where it's to wait until its night journey to Singapore, we wait for the self-proclaimed "Punctual" Martians to turn up. And turn up they do, an hour later just as KL Rotaractor Joanna arrives. As it turns out, we gals had been told by the guys to be ready an our earlier to departure time. Talk about Male Chauvinism! A breakfast of chapatti at a roadside Indian Restaurant, it's to the KL Central Bus Terminal we go to catch the Genting Express. While the Cap and Vice Cap of the crew, Mr.Fernando and Mr.Shah go to buy the tickets, the rest of us perch ourselves between two steel horizontal poles, the public bus waiting seats. The G.E bus coming every half an hour, one and a half hour's later, after watching bus after bus going off, speculation arises among the gang as to what's happening and what course of action to take. "Maybe there were no tickets?" "Maybe they haven't found the ticket counter" "Perhaps they're lost..." "What shall we do?" "Perhaps we should go looking for them" "And get lost too?" The matter probed, questioned, discussed, debated and arguemented by everyone, Lumindra and Nilanka finally team up and go on the search, while Anura and Niluki team up and go Shopping! About 15 minutes later Fernando and Shah turn up flourishing their tickets, saying there was this big queue to get them. "Where's the rest?" asks Fernando. "Two became detectives and went looking for your'll. Two became crazy and went shopping. The three intelligent ones with common sense are here" I answer. Our bus due to leave in 10 minutes Shah, Lalinda, Daruni and myself step in while Indika sprints off to get the others. A minute to take off, they arrive and we're off at last to the Ulu Kali Mountains, the cradle of Genting. About an hour later arriving at the Genting Skyway Station the trip to the Highlands is through a 20 minute journey in a cable car. It's into the CC, away from the station and over the mountains we go, climbing higher and higher. It's a magical feeling, not of flying, but gliding. Gliding across the Ulu Kalis, up a 2000m altitude. The scenery and atmosphere around us, is pretty similar to our own N'Eliya, mountainous, green, misty and cold. Arriving at Genting, it's not the simple theme park I expected. It's 3 Theme Parks (Indoor, Outdoor and First World), Casino, Cyber-Games Centre, Snooker-Bowling Alley and Shopping Mall all combined together. It's huge. It's packed with people. It's colourful and full of noise. It's a city of its own. The next hour is spent in the indoor theme park searching for the outdoor theme park entrance. Up one escalator, down another, getting directions from counter A, being directed to counter B, it is after having walked around in what felt like circles we finally come to open air and have our first glimpse of the outdoor world. And what a world it is. Roller Costers, Bumper Rides, Rock Climbing, Spinners, Dinosaur Land, Waterworld with rides, paddling boats and splash pools,.... And everything's so colourful. Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. All the colours of the rainbow plus much more. And the noise. I thought the inside was noisy. This is voicy, with screams, shrieks and laughter all along. Getting our tickets-purple wrist bands with Genting Theme Park written across, we go for Space Shot-a tall tower with seats suspended on all sides, to which your buckled, taken up and then let to come crashing down. It's legs dangling, clenched hands and screams galore. Handbags, wallets, cameras and camera clicking instructions given to Niluki whose opted to stay out of all what she calls "Suicidal" rides, it's to the 50 minute queue we go. My turn comes up. I'm in the chair. Strapped up. Oops, I've forgotten to remove my slippers. I kick them off. The thing slowly ascends up. It stops at the top and there's an excruciating suspense of anticipation and dread. A whoosh sound goes like that of a hot air balloon being pumped up with air and the next moment...Argh...Argh...ARGH. "Another round of Space Shot?" asks Shah. "No Thank You". Our next venture is into the Spinner, another thriller ride. You sit on this swing like chair fixed onto a merry go round which rises up and starts to spin around like crazy. Niluki meanwhile feeling a bit left out, voices that we next go for something less "Suicidal". So we go for Astro Fighter. Astro Fighter done, we go for Flying Dragon. It's a 20 minute walk and then a 20 minute wait. Telling Niluki it's another children's ride, when our turn comes we all get into it, putting her into a carriage as well. Says Niluki afterwards "A kid's ride! That! Going round and round and up and down in full speed...". Next it's to the Sungai Rejang Flume Ride. Sitting on a damp seat in a two seater boat, getting my feet soaked in the ice cold water at its bottom I'm off. There's a hand rail in front and around the sides but since it moves in dead slow pace I don't hold on. Niluki seeing the seemingly mild progress gets into the second boat. Entering the open air (we got in from inside a building) a mountainous hill like thing looms ahead. The next second, painstakingly slowly, it's up the hill we go. There being no seat belt or anything feeling myself slip backwards I clutch onto the side rails and pull myself up. What on earth's happening? And just what's going to happen when I reach the top? What? Zoom-Crash-Splash. ARGH! Sungai Rejang Flume Ride completed, it's a head to foot drenched freezing Bird and her gang who make their way out. "So how was the Sungai...?" I ask Niluki. "Nice. Very Nice" comes the reply "Crashed. Splashed. Frozen up. Hair messed. Clothes wet. V.V.Nice". Ride Tea Cup and Ride Pirate Train to calm selves down, with half an hour to go we want our last Thriller. Niluki having had enough Thrillers to last a lifetime goes off with Anura to the Casino. The rest of us go for Cyclone, another roller costerish hair raiser. The time's 5.20 P.M. Our bus to KL is to come at six. Searching for the casino takes about ten minutes. Finding the girls in it takes another. 5.40 P.M we're off to the cable car skyway which takes another 10 minutes to find. 5.50 P.M we're in the CC. 6.10 P.M we're down in the bus station. Fortunately, the bus for once is late. "Right" I tell Captain Indika once in the bus "We're in the bus. Things were a bit last momentish and rushed but everything's okay now". "For now, yes" comes the answer "But what about catching our 10.00 P.M train to Singapore tonight!". |
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Today's Bird and her gang's big day to be at Genting Highlands. Woken
up early morning to the by now familiar sounds of "zzz..." and
"ZZZ..." around, making my way around the clothes, accessories
and what not strewn floor (which is mostly dominated by Anura's ***) it is
to the loo I go. The morning's essentials done, stepping into our ruffled
nest, the rest of the gals are yawning awake.
