Tuesday, November 08, 2005

cell genting trip

Did I mention that this is my 3rd time up Genting this year? I don't remember, even as a child, going up the "sin city" so frequently!

My first was in April when our MMU CF had a reunion-cum-holiday, followed by a hosting trip to a Filipino missionary couple in July. In exactly 3 months after that, I'm back in Genting, but with a whole different group of people.


spinner at work
The colourful Spinner with its gleeful occupants


With my cell members, we stayed at the 2-room condo in Awana Genting Highlands Golf & Country Resort. I remember they used to have a jacuzzi in the master bathroom. They must've removed it coz there was this huge void which looked too big for a normal bathing space and the manual for which to operate the jacuzzi was still stuck on the cupboard door.


taking a nap
Alvin forever in the sleeping position


As soon as we had checked in and marked our territories with our bags, we went straight up to the Theme Park. Good thing there weren't as many people that weekend, but we did see busloads full of Indian nationals making their way to the various rides. It used to be TARC students swarming Genting, their campus is just a stone's throw away from the foot of the hill.


baby isabelle
Our new addition to the CG, baby Isabelle


Too bad Lawrence, our former cell leader couldn't join us. Juliet the organiser couldn't make it either. In place we had Chee Ching's sister who was here from Penang, and Nobu, KC's colleague and my newfound Nihon-jin friend.


nihon-jin waving
Meet Nobu Hiraiwa, the Malaysianised Japanese


We were out there freezing our bums off till evening. It's like a city that never sleeps. In the daytime, people will be crowding the place, trying all sorts of rides and attractions. When night falls, the City of Entertainment will be all lit up and can even be seen from as far as Putrajaya on a clear day.


charlie's angels
Doing the Charlie's Angels pose


They even took me into the casino and educated me on the various "games" they had inside. Some of the card games looked familiar but I don't remember playing with money. It was quite enlightening seeing how the croupiers have to turn their hands out everytime they deal with the tokens and how the supervisors will "swap" croupiers if someone at the gaming-table was on a winning streak.


guys on phones
Supposed to be one of the winning shots for the CG Promo contest


After all the fun and education, we returned to our condo exhausted. It was a great idea to cramp together; John, Beng & baby Isabelle occupied the smaller room, the 4 grrls took the master bedroom and the rest of the guys slept in the living room. Even though space was a luxury, we had a great time bonding.

After breakfast at the Rajawali Restaurant, we had a little sharing by Sunny, our cell leader. I think he planned on giving a proper "sermon", but since we had guests, he used some pocket cards with Chinese characters to share on how the ancient Chinese actually knew the one true God. It was most appropriate since CC's sister is Chinese-ed and Nobu can read kanji characters.


spinner at work
Such colourful contraption this one is


So in the end it was not merely a cell outing, it was also bonding, educational, evangelistic and refreshing. :)

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