High on a highland

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

I find this tagline really catchy, though I fail to remember the product it is used for. Which makes me wonder what the point is if you remember the ad but not the product. But then I digress.

Yeah, so Sayesha's back in town. And unlike Starbreez's fears, I am not dead, but very much alive and kicking.

I went to Genting Highlands for a much-deserved mini-vacation over the weekend.

























And I did a lot of things for the first time.

I went to a casino for the first time in my life and gambled.

Oh dear. I gambled. Bad bad girl.

Highlights of my trip:

- Awesome weather. Though it got quite brrrr at times, but it was a welcome change from Singapore's tropical heat and humidity. And the general levels of stress I'd been facing lately.

- During the bus ride to Genting, they could find no other freaking movie, but they chose to play 'Speed'. And since it was a night ride, I found it really freaky when each time I woke up, I would hear someone saying frantically "There's a bomb on the bus!" Of all the millions of movies in the world, why would anyone choose to play 'Speed' in a bus that's speeding uphill? Why why why??

- The security guard at the casino entrance asked to see my passport because he thought I was under-aged. Yeay!!!!

- Ok, I admit it. I was (still am, on most levels) totally totally clueless about gambling in a casino. Zilch knowledge. I think I made the dumbest statement of my life when I told my friend, "Let's go to the casino early in the morning. There won't be too many people so we can make a lot of money!"

- Did I ever mention how much I love the Malaysian people? Every time I visit Malaysia, I find new reasons to fall in love with the place. But the thing that remains constantly close to my heart are the smiles on the Malaysians' faces. So genuine, so from-the-heart. It's a lesson in life. Really.

- Orange flavoured ice lolly as I shivered in my jacket in the freezing cold weather. Outta-the-world feeling!

- The way words are spelt in Malay never fail to amuse me. Ice cream = ais krim. Ticket counter = tiket kaunter. Ambulance = ambulans. Lobby = lobi. Reminded me of the time I was working on some books for Malaysia and the reference books I received spelt 'Science' and 'Physics' as 'Sains' and 'Fizix'.

- An amazing conversation between my friend and the guy at the information counter.
My friend - "Where can we go horse-riding?"
Info counter guy - "Huh?"
My friend (trying to "clarify himself") - "Err... Riding a horse?"
Info counter guy (with a cry of recognition) - "Ohhh!"
Wow, some clarification that was, huh? Wonder how different 'horse-riding' is from 'riding a horse'. But who cares as long as it works!

- The guy at the information counter was trying to call up the ranch to book the horses. "No one picking up." He told us. "Maybe there are no horses." Suddenly visions of horses in uniform, sitting at the booking desk taking calls from customers filled my mind as I tried not to laugh in his face.

- We found a little horse ranch with a very sad-looking white horse. "Oh, let's bargain and get the ride really cheap!" My friend and I decided before we approached the guy. Our grand plans to bargain went outta the window when we were told that the ride only cost 3 ringgits. It made me incredibly suspicious. But my 3-ringgit horse ride, the shortest in the history of mankind, was totally worth it.

- The cable car ride down the hill was fantastic. The fact that you could not see the end of the cables because of the heavy fog, making you feel like you were just going to be swallowed by nothingness, just added to the thrill. I think my friend freaked out a bit because of that. And it did not help that I said, "Gosh, it would be so cool if we just died here."

- The Safari pub we partied at was pretty cool too. After a really good performance, the unbelievably friendly band members came down and mingled with us. It was awesome. I was totally high. And no, the orange juice I'd had had nothing to do with it. It was just the feeling.

- But the greatest high? My friend's incredibly good fortune and gambling skills ensured that our entire trip ended up being fully sponsored by the Genting casino. ;)