On cloud nine

As the bus rumbled the Karak Highway, exuberance bubbled in me. We were going to Genting Highlands Theme Park. A theme park holiday was my type, as I enjoyed every single second of being there and trying out all the rides.
Soon, the road came to a climb and white fog came into view. The higher we climbed, the foggier and colder it got and soon the bus dropped us off at the Genting Skyrail Terminal.
It was a long queue of about 150 people but a fast moving one. In half an hour it was our turn to board the Skyrail
The Skyrail was something like the 'Cable Car' but they called it a 'gondola'. It ascended up the mountain, and in some places it got so foggy that the surrounding was just PLAIN WHITE.
After minutes of ascending, the surrounding trees turned from the tropical to the coniferous ones.
Alas! After half an hour in the metal cocoon, we finally reached First World Hotel. Which is where the theme park was. We actually wanted to leave out the outdoor park because of the freezing weather and go to the indoor one instead. But after seeing what the indoor park had (roller coaster going round and round and long Q), we decide that the outdoor park was worth enduring the cold weather.
At the ticket booth, the sign displayed that 2 rides were closed but the cashier said that only 2 RIDES WERE OPEN! We thought that more rides would be open as the weather got better so we just proceeded with the buying.
It was so cold that I could 'smoke' by blowing out warm air that condensed. Although it didn't rain, the floors were wet due to the dew that condensed when it came in contact with the floor.
Took the all the rides except the Dragon and the Tobbogan and the Sungai Rejang Fume Ride.
Now I shall describe the 'thriller rides'.
Corkscrew: Double 360 degree flips with lotsa jerks and drops. Very thrilling!
Flying Coaster: You get into a capsule where it is required for you to lie flat. Very fast! I always thought we were gonna crash into the pillars. Two 360 degree flips.
Space shot: 12 people sit perpendicular on a square capsule, strapped by safety belts criss crossing each other. Then it shoots up into the sky, not at the very fast speed, until the top. When I sat on the ride, on top was a foggy heaven. The bottom was not within sight because of the fog. The capsule will then drop down at an alarming rate that it dragged my face along and I felt I left my heart behind on top!
Yea thats all for today =)

Pewter

Set off at 9plus heading towards the Royal Selangor Pewter Company. At the entrance, there was a giant goblet made entirely outta pewter. It was in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest something which I don't know.
Now this company is not overnment owned, instead, it was a family buisness. At the entrance to the exhibition, there was a huge wall with lots of hand prints carved out from pewter. Those were the hand prints of the workers who have worked in the ompany fro more than 5years.
Pewter is made up of:

• Tin


• Antimony


• Copper

90% of Tin is usually added, though this may be different in the types of products manufactured. Pewter was traditionally made up of Tin and Lead, but with Lead being poisonous, pewter in those days were not food-safe. So, today, the elements used to make pewter are different.

In another part of the exhibition room, there was a massive wall made entirely up of pewter plates, each plate costing as much as RM 150. Every single plate was designed by hammering of carving out the patterns. There was even a replica of the Petronas Twin Towers, made up of 7000 pewter tubes. It was standing at least 3 storeys high!

It was said that when shaping out the pewter, metal scraps are wasted and there were these words on the wall 'No pewter goes to waste'. In the middle of the exhibition room, there was a huge hollow cube with pewter scraps packed inside. It actually weighed 1500kg and that amount of pewter can be made 1400 teapots!

Outside the exhibotion room, there was a big factory that could be viewed from close by a ramp leading down. One worker was making handles for the teapots by pouring molten pewter inside a mould and opening it up a 2 seconds later. Bingo! A handle slipped out like magic! It cooled so fast that any spillage onto the table solidified in to coin like metal. Then, the worker would dip the handle into the molten pewter and use the heat to 'chop' off the ends so that the unwanted ends would become molten again, without any wastetage.

In another part of the exhibition room, there was a worker imprinting patterns into a sheet of pewter, which would then we soldered and made into a limited edition tea set, cosing 8000RM.

In a corner of the factory, there was a 'School of Hard Knocks', teaching you pewter smithing. We attended the course which taught us how to transform a circular piece of pewter, into an ice cream bowl. It took half an hour and we even got to imprint our initials on the bottom of the bowl.

Another room we visited was the showroom, we showcased the products the company manufactured. The prices ranged from a 50RM teacup to a 172kRM Peacock. Most of the pewter products were handmade, so its the workmanship fee we were paying for.

It rained and we went back to hotel LOL

Away

I looked at my watch which reflected under the dim yellow light: 6.30am. I was setting off to KL from home by car. Had breakfast at McDonalds located just beside West Coast Park, then proceeded in the direction of the checkpoint. The traffic there wasn't too bad as we got through within minutes.
Along the North South Highway, there were coloured flowers planted along the road divider and teak trees along the kerb. Oil plantations were common there and you could just enjoy a breathtaking view of fields that only ended in the distant horizon.
The territories of Nothern Johor was hardly visible as the early fog had settled down over the canopy. Drops of water, reflected by the windows, were visible on the car dashboard as dark shadows. Soon, the slight rain turned to a downpour at an alarming rate, making the surroundings almost outta sight. As the rain cleared, a rainbow was suspended over the lands by invisible strings that attatched it to the sky.
'Brunch' was at a place called Restoran Jejantas which was basically an overhead bridge that loomed over the highway. There was an 'A&W' and 'KFC' there, not to mention souvenir stores that sold traditional Malay toys.
Soon after we entered the state of Selangor, we reached our destination, a hotel named 'One World Hotel' located in the town of Petaling Jaya. It was just beside a shopping center and that fact made it convienient for shopping and eating. Petaling Jaya is an upper middle-class estate, which meant that most of the people live in either bungalows, terraces or semi-ds.
Now I shall just skip to dinner, as nothing much happened in the afternoon. After a hard time trying to figure out where to eat, we finally decided to eat at the food court. I had the famous Penang Kuay Teow soup. Delicious!!! The soup was both sweet and sour, and when you drank it, it paints a spicy taste at the back of your throat! The kuay teow was both smooth and filling. Not to mention the price: 5.80RM for a gigantic bowl!
Afterwhich, we went shopping around the gargantuan shopping center. It had a rock climbing wall, a children's some sort of 'playground' with balls all around it. At peak hour, the whole place was packed, especially the cinemas: A long queue of more than 50 people!
Ok, that's all folks!

Happenstance Found

Now my blog's almost dead so I'm just in time to keep it alive. THis is a different type of post though, its gonna be a book review. But I shall only summarise the fisrt part as there is far too many things to summarise about in the book as there are just too many important points. yes, you might say, if this is a summary you should try to minimise the words. So if you say that, then I can just write the cover page.

Book Title: 1st book of 'The Books of Umber", titled 'Happenstance Found'
Author:P.W.Catanese
Here begins our tale:
The boy felt as if he'd emerged, fully conscious, out of nothing. His eyes were blindfolded and when he reached for it, an unfamiliar voice spoke, "Don't touch that." Knowledge seemed to float back to him slowly, but he still didn't know his name. The stranger told him to be quiet, at least until the worm passes. A moment later, there was incessant clacking and a finger was drew to his lips, a sign for him to be quiet. After the worm passed, there were footsteps and voices heard. A trio appeared in an archway. Their names were: Oates, a burly man; Sophie, an archer; and Lord Umber, a man always in search of an adventure.
The stranger spoke outta nowhere, "Call him Happenstance. Take him Umber. You'll need him for your next task. The boy has a note in his pocket, you'll find some answers there. Good luck Umber and Happenstance."
Umber then discovers that Hap (short for Happenstance) could see in the dark with his green eyes as he possesses nocturnal vision, a newe discovery for Umber and Hap himself. THe not that Umber received from the stranger through the boy said on the front cover: For The Eyes Of Umber Only. After Umber reads the note, Hap asks what was in it but Umber refused to tell him.
Umber later offered Hap to travel with them and Hap accepted the offer, not knowing what else to do. Along the way, Umber then told Hap that this maze of rocks was actually called Alzumar, which was buried by a volcano ash after a volcano named Mount Ignis erupted. He then said that the tyrant worm made Alzumar its home as it can't stand the light of the day. Umber then told Hap about the tyrant worm being a legendary man eater.
(What an abrupt ending...)

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My blog is not dead...