Yeap, I’m back from my latest trip to Genting Highlands. Just like what Jason has commented previously, I’ve been there countless time in my life, but surprisingly, I’ve never grown bored to those trips to a cooling, breezy, misty and sometimes, FROSTY (especially at night!) highland resort. In fact, what made me very excited about this trip is that I’ve finally materialised the dream of bringing a decent camera up there to get some photos - woots!
I’ve taken exactly 746 photos up there, but just as usual, more than 75% of them will be thrown away since I’m yet to learn how work harmoniously with my new Sony Alpha. Plus a few instances of forgetting to turn on that Supersteady Shot function (well the camera manual said that it’s better to turn it off when I’m using a tripod), I’ve got a whole lot of photos that are horrendously blurred by my trembling hands (and what made that worse was the frigid air!)
Before I move on, I would like to apologise my absense in my immediate blogosphere neighbourhood since I was very busy after returning from the vacation. I have a stack of blog updates to catch up on my beloved Google Reader, but don’t worry, I will drop by your blogs as soon as possible. Hang on, folks!
To make the Internet a tolerant and friendly place, I would love to tuck my heavyweight photos underneath the Read More tag. So do expect a swash of photos after the jump!
*Note: Most photos are arranged in chronological order. Landscape photos are clickable! 
Uphill journey - We were navigating this notoriously tricky and steep turn when an idea struck me and I immediately wound down the car window, stuck my camera out and got this photo. I love the motion blur on the road! The cars are relatively sharper than non-moving objects since they are moving at a speed relatively slower to the car (no, not Physics lessons again!)
Our room - One of the crappiest photo I’ve taken so far, not to mention completely ignoring the Rule of Thrids. Our room didn’t even remotely resemble the ones featured in the hotel magazine, but that’s kind of expected. We had two families living in two, unconnected, rooms (which was a big hassle), with five people in each room trying to get enough bed space on the two super single beds. In the end my brother ended up sleeping on chairs!
The Zen-like bathroom - it’s definitely my favourite part of the whole redesign thing the hotel went through last year. They’ve scrapped the whole interior of each room clean and then redecorate them ground up. They’ve widened the bathroom, which comes with a really modern-looking wash basin, a transparent shower cubicle (one bad thing - no two person can share the bathroom at one time since it’s transparent). That means a long waiting queue for the toilet in the morning.
View from my room, on the 18th floor - looking down towards the Kuala Lumpur direction. At the center is the police station, and it’s the Ria Apartments to the right. Genting Highland sits on the border of two states, namely Selangor and Pahang, and surprisingly, the border runs between the two separated blocks of the apartments. Interesting, isn’t it?
The Pagoda and Awana Hotel - with the former overlapping the latter in the photo. If you’ve noticed, the perspective of this photo is identical to that of the above. It’s not digitally zoomed in however - I just whipped out my telephoto lens and got this shot!
Winding mountain road - The road leading up to the highland resort is known to be notoriously steep and dangerous. I used my telephoto lens to got both photos, with the one to the right on a larger optical zoom. There’s an emergency lane at the top center in the photo to the left - it’s a safety feature to let vehicles with malfunctioning brakes come to a complete, harmless stop. Well, I wouldn’t even WANT to imagine my brakes failing!
Theme Park Hotel - hanging precariously close to the cliff! The mist was rapidly invading the area so I hastily took this photo without even looking at the viewfinder before retreating back into the warmth of my room. I wouldn’t want to get my lens wet or fogged up!
Abandoned building project - it’s sad to see buildings that are stopped halfway during construction and see all the materials going into waste! The wet and cold condition in this area will only help to accelerate it’s decay.
Space Shot, from ground up - Space Shot is one of the biggest star in the amusement park because of the thrill it offers. Twelve riders will be boarded onto the chairs, three each per side, and then they’ll be hauled up the 55m-tall tower, and only to be followed by a heart-stopping free fall! On a side note, it was rumoured that a fatal accident caused this thrill ride to be dropped by it’s sponsor, Solero (it was previously known as Solera Space Shot). The reason behind it was… long hair. They said a girl got her hair caught between the wheels and died from complications.
Sweet relief from surviving the free fall - nothing beats the triumphant feeling of surviving the drop! I’ve never rode on it this time round because I was tugging my heavy dSLR along (plus, it’s late evening, it’s going to be very wet up there). I took a few candid shots and this turned out to be one of the best. My personal record was riding that little monster for EIGHT consecutive times… it was last July.
Up in the sky - the photo to the left exhibits motion blur from the falling car. That must be scary! The photo to the right was taken a few seconds before the drop with my telephoto lens - riders are suspended for approximately 10 seconds (the timing varies from each ride) and then dropped towards the ground. It needs a little cropping to remove the obvious tilt!
Corkscrew, Malaysia’s first double-inverting roller coaster - it’s so far the first and only ride that offers riders inversions in my country. It’s a shame that we don’t have so much thrilling roller coasters around, unlike in the US (like those in Cedar Point and Six Flags parks). The corkscrew inversion wasn’t really nauseating as expected - in fact, you don’t really feel it because you’re traveling so fast and you’re most probably busy screaming.
Up and away! Brace yourselves! - I sneaked into the exit of the ride to get a nice spot right beside the chain lift hill. Since it was already dark, I purposely increased the shutter speed to create the motion blur. Only if I could make it a little longer, or the effect will be even better 
the corkscrew to the right is the second inversion (the first inversion is vertically above me).
A trail of light - With the strong spotlight in the background, I could have opted for a relatively quick shutter speed. But in order to do justice to the ride’s excitement and speed, I’ve opted for a 0.5s shutter speed. I braced myself against the metal railing to get this photo as sharp as possible since the whole structure was vibrating rather violently as the roller coaster zoomed past me.
Corkscrew - the first one was shot using telephoto lens, as it is evident in the photo that distances between objects have been highly compressed. The second one is shot using maximum optical zoom with my ‘regular’ lens when the roller coaster car was navigating through it’s first inversion.
Spinner in a cold and misty night - Spinner is one of my favourite night time photography subject because it produces rings of light when shot with a slower shutter speed.
View from my room window, at day and at night - this is one of the very few rather clear and sharp night shots I’ve taken! I regretted for not using the tripod because I thought that my hands are steady enough… not! So yep a lesson learnt - use your tripod whenever it’s possible, even when you find it troublesome!
Japanese garden - A short walk away from the hotel lobby, there is a quaint little Japanese-themed garden. I love the use of lush green plants because it adds a lot of vibrancy to the park and complements the “Japanese” feeling. The waterfall photo is shot at a slow shutter speed of 0.5s to accentuate the falling water.
For lunch, we had chocolate muffins! - my cousin, brother and I went to Kenny Rogers Roasters for lunch on our last day. We opted for chocolate muffins over vanilla ones, since all of us have this unexplained, extreme affinity for anything that is flavoured with chocolate.
Nothing beats a warm lunch in a cold weather! - I had the Quarter Chicken Meal for lunch. I love Kenny Roger Roasters’ mashed potato - it taste incredibly good and way better than those found in KFC (IMHO, that is). The fruit salad was a bad choice because I was aware that cut fruits lose their nutrients very quickly, but heck, after 3 days without eating any fruit (except banana on the morning before departure), I didn’t care that much.
Interior of First World Plaza at night - We had McDonald’s the night before as supper (it was around 12.30am when I took these two photos). The usually crowded plaza was void of human presence, except the area near the fastfood outlets. It was pretty scary, having all the lights on but nobody around.
Interior of First World Plaza in the morning - I like that the design of the plaza makes good use of natural lighting, as seen from the ceiling windows in the photo to the left as well as sun glare in the one to the right. They’ve even built this Venetian-style canal in the building, which you’ll need to purchase a pass (for a small price) to ride on.
Water droplets on the car window - It drizzled when we were driving downhill. Luckily it wasn’t a heavy downpour since that would have forced us to stop in our tracks and get shelter, since the road will be horribly slippery and dangerous. This photo marked my first attempt to take a photo using manual focusing (I have a lot to learn from IngSiang, who is very good at using MF!). At least something was in focus, heheh.
The End!
This post wraps up my vacation! I really had a great time up there, although it was also the first time that I didn’t enter the amusement park for a ride (I bought a pass just to get myself in there to take photos!).
18 responses to Aloha! I’m Back! » Leave a response
hey hey! after clicking read more my browser almost died
but… the photos are the sechs!!! i love the ones shot my ur telephoto lens. and the night time light trails!
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whoa! awesome photos with your new gadget. haha. put it to good use! so the 3 of you guys had loads of fun ey. hehe
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That’s so funny! Ivy and I had Kenny Rogers last night, what a coincidence! My favourite is the macaroni and cheese.. I’ll never have a Roaster’s meal without it. Also, the picture of those chocolate muffins is amazing! Not because it’s food (Okay, maybe that’s part of the reason, hehe..) but because the colour combination of the photograph is gorgeous!
The photos were a joy to go through. I haven’t been to Genting myself, but it kind of reminds me of Puncak, a mountain area in Indonesia. The mist, the height, and the greenery kinda brought me back there. I should make a note to visit Genting. It look gorgeous! =D
Glad to see that you’re back, Teddy. And I hope that you somewhat recovered from having to sleep on chairs when you were there. =P
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Hey Id, glad to see you around! I would really want to thank you for the plug in your previous post. THANKS!
The last time I had Kenny Rogers was at least a year back! We settled for it because by the time we were hungry from the cold, almost every food outlet we’ve been to was flooded with people (which means you’ll have to wait for ages before you’ll get served!). The Kenny Rogers outlet there was a little smaller and was tucked behind escalators and elevators, and it was almost void of customers when we went there. Teehee.
Speaking of coincidence, I had Kenny Rogers today AGAIN with my family because mom just got lucky with some Kenny Rogers vouchers she’ve got from Jusco. I had an identical meal (with the same combination of side dishes!)… but it’s still nice! If I am given a choice, I will stick to their mashed potato and aromatic rice because the former is simply TOPS while the latter is more filling than the other side meals. I quite like the macaroni and cheese, but sometimes they overdose it with cheese which makes me a little queasy later.
Let me guess… Puncak means ‘peak’ in Bahasa Indonesia, right? I think I’m going to love Puncak too! Genting is quite a nice place to visit, sans the casino because I never quite like people saying that they went there just before there’s a casino there. What a bunch of misers! Couldn’t they learn to appreciate the mist, the fog, the forest, the crisp, fresh, frigid air? That’s what I call luxury, heheh.
My brother slept on chairs for the first night… I did nap on one but it wasn’t that bad afterall!
Amazing… your pictures have made me feel soft and warm and fuzzy inside!! It really reminds me of our “theme park” that we have in our capital city, three hours away from where I live… but much better.
Your shots from your hotel room has really brought me to ZEN for sure… I would LOVE to see such a wonderful site. It’s almost as if the place was above the clouds, a castle in the sky… where is Genting anyways?? Is it in Singapore, or Malaysia? I think I should research it a bit… but anyhow, I think it reminds me of what my hubby’s parents have told me about their trip to Malaysia, how there was a theme park or casino at the top of the mountain and you can only get there via Gondola.
Ah, hopefully next year, I can make my Asia trip happen… it would be such a wonderful time to view all the things that I hope to see. So beautiful… do you have any more pictures from the Japanese Garden? I love looking at the pictures of sceneries.
You looked like you had a ton of fun… you should have magically brought me. I would have had so much fun there… ^_^ Heheheh j/k
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Thank you! Actually they’re the few nice ones I’ve fished out from that pool of 730+ photos. Many of them turned out to be blurred because I forgot to turn on the optical stabilisation mechanism. What a fool I was
anyway I guess what makes the amusement park in Genting so unique is that it’s blessed with cold weather all the time! Other amusement parks in my country will make you all sweaty and dirty after playing in there all day long, given the warm and humid tropical climate… but not so at Genting!
The hotel just got a recent facelift! They’ve kinda demolished the entire interior of the lobby and the rooms as well, and incorporated the Zen theme into the design. Very nice! It will be better if their bathrooms come with bathtubs though, although it’s impractical and a waste of water (but perfect of hopeless romantics like me). Genting is a highland resort in Malaysia, accessible by car and bus from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. It just takes us 1.5 hours for us to get from my home to the peak.
I think the gondola thing is that bus passengers will have to alight halfway up the mountain and switch to the cable car network - Genting banned access of private buses and coaches to the peak in an effort to preserve the environment (and to ensure that their own buses have a monopolistic control over direct transport, heheh)
For the Japanese Garden photos, I’ll try digging through my photos and see if I have any nice ones to share. I’ll inform you when I publish them, just to keep you posted.
I would never go on any rides in Genting. The safety level is questionable. Many incidents but was only allocated a small column on the media. I rather play bumper cars and some arcade up there.
Sony Alpha A200 + Teddy = Nice Photos! Keep up the good work man. If I may comment, you need to align your angles differently. Forget about all the theories (except for the techniques). I’m sure you’ll make this a profitable hobby *thumbs up*
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I hate space shot! I always find my self crying on the ride.. pfftt..
hey.. I love the bathroom too..
If I go there (Genting Highland), I will probably do the same thing like u!
>I bought a pass just to get myself in there to take photos!
okay.. maybe i will play something at the children play site.. ada ker??
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my top loved photos.
1st one. The very very magical effect of light flares. Hehe. I love magic.
the first photo of the space shot. the structure was sharp and stood out from the background like a 3d effect. which is why it is cool.
the first picture of the corkscrew had perfect lighting.
the night shot from your room was really really cool. it’s another version of city lights.
the muffin shot and the shot of water drops were amazing as always. it;s amazing how you find your macro angles.
haha, and you still had fun after so many times at genting, didn’t you. it’s nice and cool. for me, i get bored very very easily, especially when you think of the long waits for rides. haha. but anyhow, great pictures~!
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Thank you!
First photo - I’ve traced the tracks of the roller coaster using Paths, which I stroked them with a customised brush (thus the floating bits of sparks). A little darkroom magic!
First Space Shot photo - I initially thought of framing the structure according to the rule of thirds but decided that centering it will be nicer… well, I hope so! I shot the structure at an angle, and I’m wondering will it be nicer if I shot it from the front.
First Corkscrew photo - I actually photoshopped it (using Shadows and Highlights) to make the photo appear to be properly exposed. Dirty tricks!
Night shot from my room - The only clear night time photo I have so far (sans the Corkscrew one). I blame myself for being too lazy to set up my tripod!
Muffin and Water Droplet photos - Thank you! The muffin one was just a random shot, I didn’t know it will turn out to be such a cutie! For the water droplet photos, it’s actually a good example of a bad photo because I’ve made the water droplets at the SMACK CENTER of the photo… whoops.
I had so much fun there all the time because each trip brings me different experiences in photography. I’ve never rode on any theme park rides this time, because I find them a little boring… I hate queuing up too!
hey nice entry..i was there on monday too (2nd) but just for a day trip
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teddY, may i know which hotel you stay?
Before this i knew that Genting is in the border of Pahang and Selangor, but i didn’t know that the Ria Apartment 2 blocks was right at the border. The last time I went to stay at Ria Apartment, they put me in Pahang Tower (i’m from Pahang :P). But there are lots of rumours and stories of haunted Ria apartment. Me and another friend of me heard weird noise late after midnight, when other friends have fall asleep. That was an unforgettable experience for me.
Oo, and your Sony alpha200 is doing great. I like those pictures, especially the picture of roller coaster, where you increase the shutter speed.
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Whooops I forgot to reveal one of the most important details of my trip! We spent two nights in Resort Hotel
we’ve been doing that since I was a baby, except for once when we failed to get a booking at Resort Hotel and have to settle for Theme Park Hotel.
Actually the two blocks of Ria Apartments are separated by the state border… now that’s really interesting. I only knew about it when I read about it in a museum somewhere in Genting Hotel.
There are a lot of stories about haunted rooms in Genting! I usually don’t care so much about the tales, but I was slightly disturbed when my close friend told me about his experience of waking up midnight in his room. He said he saw figures outside the window *gasp*
*NOTE: I’ve replied some comments personally, so check out your comment if it’s not here.
@lix
Whooops sorry my bad! There’s like 20+ photos after the jump and I forgot to warn that even if you have a fast connection, your browser might lag upon loading. Telephoto lens is a joy to play around with, but they’re just too heavy for me! I get sore wrists after shooting with it for an hour or so…
@allie
Thank you! It’s actually two guys and a girl - she’s my maternal side coussie
@NoktahHitam
Yes, you’re right. There were quite a handful of accidents inside (and outside) the amusement park, but I heard that Genting has tried every possible way to blackout possibly damaging news. The arcade was quite nice, but it was a little stuffy in there! First World Plaza needs better ventilation, since hot air rises and they didn’t have air conditioning system installed (well, who needs it when it’s a HIGHLAND resort?)
@saffa
Wow, but you still mustered enough courage to ride it *claps* I remembered a few years back when my cousins and I made this pact to ride that little beast for at least once, and in the end they all chickened out and I was the only one on it. There’s a lot of things to do up there, even if you’re not planning to enter the Amusement Park! Casino aside, you can actually got for mountain walk and hiking, rock climbing and etc.
@med
Oh I never knew that! Ahhh, we could have met or something!
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absolutely amazing photos you have there! I like the first photo, it’s like some initial D kinda movie poster. About the solero, the girl was my friend’s cousin or something like that. It was awful when she told us what exactly happened. I’m kinda scared of that though, like i don’t even know which seat she sat on!!
btw, i didn’t know that there’s a japanese garden there. The last time i went to stay there, one room was occupied with 10 to 12 girls!!
And knowing girls, we took 3 hours for everyone to get prepared. You go to genting pretty often, which is good. But it’s like i’ll go either before you or after you. This time around, i’m only going on the 22nd of june. 
Never get to bump into you. 
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Thanks for sharing the border info with me, I’ll let my friends know the next time we go to Genting Highlands.
I also didn’t know there is a Jap garden at genting. I will be quite busy for coming weeks. May not drop by your blog that often.
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pergh.. those photos were awesome!
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oh? I didn’t leave my comment here? maybe because I was too speechless to comment. i was so stunted by your amazing photos! hehe.
my fav are the free fall one and the roller coaster! wee! (though i’ve never rode on the roller coaster on genting, because as I was tall enough to ride on one, it was closed due to bad whether. the last time I went there was… 3 years ago? you have to bring me there Teddy! haha.
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