Ascent Into Hell
This weekend it's Deepawali here in Malaysia (and, I'm guessing, everywhere else in the world) and every hotel lobby and shopping mall has these gorgeous displays celebrating it. I'm not that up on the Hindu religion but it seems a very positive and upbeat, and that might sound a bit patronising but it's not meant to be.
As a result this has been a holiday weekend for everyone in Kuala Lumpur it seems, so along with just about everyone in KL I took a trip up to the Genting Highlands yesterday.
This is an 'entertainment resort' and I must say that their website does them little justice. I thought it looked a bit tacky, but a trip out of town and up into the hills along with the chance to visit a Chinese temple was too good to turn down.
It started off promisingly, I was collected on time from the hotel - even though the person who'd invited me forgot to tell the driver I was actually coming. Luckily for me the other member of the group asked the driver when they were collecting me and that's how I got to go.
As we drove up and up into the clouds, I was getting really excited thinking I was on some kind of adventure. I was hopeful for some monkey action but as the bus reached the spot where they usually appear for the delight of us humans, there wasn't a single primate to be seen. Of course now I realise this was an omen.
Next stop was the first cable car station. It was closed for maintenance and by the looks of things only just, 'cos the cars looked wrecked! We drove further and further up and our ears were popping and the air-con in the car was switched off as the outside temperature dropped and dropped. The second cable car was operational and I initially decided to face my fears and go to the next stage in that, until I saw it swaying that is! That was my cue to get outta the line and back to the safety of the van along with a couple of the others. As a nod to facing fears I did use the squat toilet in the ticket office, so to be fair I'm still an intrepid adventurer.
The next stage on our journey was the Chinese Temple - properly known as the Chin Swee Caves Temple - this was a big old piece of heaven, up there in the clouds.
This is the big pagoda.
We parked up and took some time out to explore - sadly not enough for my liking but there ya go - it was just an amazing place. A lot of it is carved out of the hillside, and there's all kinds of stuff going on there. What really took my breath away and opened up my heart - which feels like it's been closed off for a very long time was the big statue of the Buddha. I managed to get some alone time just marvelling at it and stilling my mind - just what I needed.
I'm so glad we took the time there because what was to come next couldn't have been more opposed to the peace of the temple if they'd tried.
The Genting Highland Resort - Google it and share my pain - is an enormous piece of all that is bad and greedy and ugly about humanity plonked on top of a levelled off piece of paradise. There's theme parks both inside and out, several casinos, fast food restaurants that run the gamut of McDonalds to Burger King, shops selling nasty, tacky things made of plastic that will never biodegrade.
There's very little natural light - although to be fair this high up huge enveloping mists seem to descend and cloak the place with a dampness that can only be the tears of Mother earth as she sees what's been done here.
Then there's the noise, bells, sirens, plinky-plonky computer games of destruction and devastation, children screaming and whining (not too many laughing - so much for it being 'here for the kids' then), tinny music and the babble of an entire city of people searching for something that can never be found in this hell on earth.
There was no respite, even in the loos the noises seemed to be piped in, just to make sure you didn't pee in peace either!
Most regular readers know me, I am far from being one of those 'down with capitalism' types. I love to shop and sometimes I love to shop for shit. I celebrate the kitsch and the cute, I embrace X-Factor and Big Brother for God's sake, but this place was just too much. Luckily we were there for a "mere" three hours, any longer and I fear I might have taken one of the guards assault rifles and 'gone postal'.
They actually have several hotels here, can you imagine staying 24 hours in a place like this? It'd be like mainlining Sunny Delight!
Still, its nice to get out, eh?
As a result this has been a holiday weekend for everyone in Kuala Lumpur it seems, so along with just about everyone in KL I took a trip up to the Genting Highlands yesterday.
This is an 'entertainment resort' and I must say that their website does them little justice. I thought it looked a bit tacky, but a trip out of town and up into the hills along with the chance to visit a Chinese temple was too good to turn down.
It started off promisingly, I was collected on time from the hotel - even though the person who'd invited me forgot to tell the driver I was actually coming. Luckily for me the other member of the group asked the driver when they were collecting me and that's how I got to go.
As we drove up and up into the clouds, I was getting really excited thinking I was on some kind of adventure. I was hopeful for some monkey action but as the bus reached the spot where they usually appear for the delight of us humans, there wasn't a single primate to be seen. Of course now I realise this was an omen.
Next stop was the first cable car station. It was closed for maintenance and by the looks of things only just, 'cos the cars looked wrecked! We drove further and further up and our ears were popping and the air-con in the car was switched off as the outside temperature dropped and dropped. The second cable car was operational and I initially decided to face my fears and go to the next stage in that, until I saw it swaying that is! That was my cue to get outta the line and back to the safety of the van along with a couple of the others. As a nod to facing fears I did use the squat toilet in the ticket office, so to be fair I'm still an intrepid adventurer.
The next stage on our journey was the Chinese Temple - properly known as the Chin Swee Caves Temple - this was a big old piece of heaven, up there in the clouds.
This is the big pagoda.
We parked up and took some time out to explore - sadly not enough for my liking but there ya go - it was just an amazing place. A lot of it is carved out of the hillside, and there's all kinds of stuff going on there. What really took my breath away and opened up my heart - which feels like it's been closed off for a very long time was the big statue of the Buddha. I managed to get some alone time just marvelling at it and stilling my mind - just what I needed.
I'm so glad we took the time there because what was to come next couldn't have been more opposed to the peace of the temple if they'd tried.
The Genting Highland Resort - Google it and share my pain - is an enormous piece of all that is bad and greedy and ugly about humanity plonked on top of a levelled off piece of paradise. There's theme parks both inside and out, several casinos, fast food restaurants that run the gamut of McDonalds to Burger King, shops selling nasty, tacky things made of plastic that will never biodegrade.
There's very little natural light - although to be fair this high up huge enveloping mists seem to descend and cloak the place with a dampness that can only be the tears of Mother earth as she sees what's been done here.
Then there's the noise, bells, sirens, plinky-plonky computer games of destruction and devastation, children screaming and whining (not too many laughing - so much for it being 'here for the kids' then), tinny music and the babble of an entire city of people searching for something that can never be found in this hell on earth.
There was no respite, even in the loos the noises seemed to be piped in, just to make sure you didn't pee in peace either!
Most regular readers know me, I am far from being one of those 'down with capitalism' types. I love to shop and sometimes I love to shop for shit. I celebrate the kitsch and the cute, I embrace X-Factor and Big Brother for God's sake, but this place was just too much. Luckily we were there for a "mere" three hours, any longer and I fear I might have taken one of the guards assault rifles and 'gone postal'.
They actually have several hotels here, can you imagine staying 24 hours in a place like this? It'd be like mainlining Sunny Delight!
Still, its nice to get out, eh?
Labels: Travel
posted by JoJo Smith at Sunday, November 07, 2010
3 Comments:
Hi JoJo,
How are you? We follow each other on twitter. (I've changed my user name a few times so you probs don't know who I am) We used to speak on Myspace years ago. I'm from Preston, but now live in Scotland via Leeds!
I've recently started a blog on here too :)
Las Vegas....I wondered how you had managed that trick. Some repentant architect probably ordered the Buddha after the fact...
It really is like a smaller version of Vegas - or so I was told by folks who'd been to both - saves me the trip to Nevada!
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