RIAN FARISA

MOUNTAIN OF FOOD EXPLORACE II – Arrival Day (July 17, 2012)

If it’s Jakarta, then the journey from the airport would be anticlimactic. You know the drill, all the fuss on getting a proper transportation just to get yourself to the city most of the times won’t be easy and on the icing of the ‘lovely’ cake after you got one? The traffic!

But that’s not the case even in the bleak but lively KLIA – LCC Terminal. Lucky for us, we went to Genting for the special invitation from Resorts World Genting, so no worries about the plane fare and the lodgings! After you’re done with the airport, then you’ll witness the view you’ve only seen in Jakarta’s midnight traffic. Malaysia proper comprises of around 20 million citizens, while Jakarta and its satellite cities only already have that many. Surely you can imagine how crowded Jakarta is, how dynamic it is, how colorful it is and also how miserable it is.

In Malaysia, it felt as if we can fly! Though the distance between the airport and Genting is probably like Jakarta to Cikampek, give and take yet we went uphill, still we finished it in around almost three hours. The same as if I’m heading to Bandung from Jakarta. This happen probably because the drivers are all educated and none of them buy the license through the back alley.

Anyway, it’s my second time to Genting and it’s already a bit cold there on the peak. My wife and my three fellow bloggers were excited but also anxious about what lies ahead. I assumed that it’s gonna be sort of The Amazing Race show we see on the TV since the PR seemed so secretive about the nature of this Explorace.

The Mountain of Food Explorace II event was designated for food bloggers and enthusiasts alike. Some were chosen because of their nature as bloggers and some of them applied for this opportunity through the social media line. In short, there were 20 of us from three different countries ready to compete in a race to explore about what Genting has to offer culinary-wise and also the adventures.

After resting for a few hours in the busy-but-getting-better First World Hotel, the biggest hotel so far in the world with 6000ish rooms, and had our dinner at the ubiquitous Marrybrown down at the mall, which was not provided by the organizer unfortunately, we gather around at Hotel Resorts and got introduced to one another. The dress code for tomorrow’s battle was provided by Wrangler, both tops and jeans. Though my jeans a little too long, might as well just flip and seal it a bit then!

The twenty of us were divided into teams of two and I got myself teamed with Evelyn. She’s part of the Nuffnang blogger community alongside several other enthusiastic Malaysians alike. After the introductions, we were given the first challenge for tomorrow and that would be to gather around at World Club Lounge of First World Hotel at 9 am as a team. Not sure where and what we’re gonna be doing afterwards but for now, the organizer entertained us first with VIP tickets for the Freeze show, apparently a famous show of synchronized  ice skaters, a little bit of humors, and a lot of magic tricks all in a single show!

So off we went upstairs for the show and got seated. Unfortunately they didn’t allow us to take picture or even videotaping it but it was one helluva show for a change! Freeze is a feast for the eyes for their tremendous skill in ice skating, acrobats, and thrilling magic tricks. It’s also a combination of people from Eastern Europe and Chinese, all adept and with good looks too! Now that’s a rare combination.

Awed with their performances, finally it’s time to have a supper, a very affordable 2 ringgit only nasi lemak down again at the mall, getting us some rest and ready ourselves for tomorrow’s challenges. Still a mystery but I came high spirited, ready to enjoy the fun, and most of all, the food!

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Pictures will be added soon!