Wednesday, October 11, 2006
10 on 10
Yup, yesterday (10/10) is Richard's birthday (shame on those M203 who did not wish him) and to commomerate his 22nd birthday, we decided to pay Uncle Lim a visit, Uncle Lim Goh Tong that is. If you don't know who Uncle Lim is, shame on you being Malaysians.
The trip up to Genting Highlands was definitely a time to look back on fondly.
Trip up to Genting: RM5
Tickets for all-parks: RM46
Money spent on extra expensive food: RM30
Time spend in fabulous fellowship: Priceless...
So who went to visit Uncle Lim yesterday?
Me, Richard, Daniel, Adrian, Linda and Raj. For Linda and Raj, this would be the day they loose their virginity, their casino virginity. Actually there were more people who were supposed to come along too, like Ying Wei, but her mother paranoia of going up.
Daniel: Just bluff your mother that the plan change and we decide to go to Port Dickson instead.
Sure...
And so was TJ, but he is only 20 this year, so we scared abit that he may be left waiting outside the casino. So he told us that he would not go. Fine by us, his lost.
This trip can be separated into four parts:
Firstly, the trip up.
We met at 8.30am (super early. Havent really woken up that early for the past one year - unless we are heading to Seremban for the day). We helped Daniel to check the car as there would be six people in the car and we scared a bit la that the car may hiccup on the way.
We had dim sum in Cheras before heading up. The guys were singing and comparing songs from Linda's Creative Zen and the trip up was fun with lame jokes and bad singing.
The song for the morning: Tokyo Drift. How appropriate.
And the song for the day: We are the Champions.
We arrived at the summit at 11.00. When I went up to Genting a few months back with my parents, all parking bays were FULL. There are signs to tell you how many parking bays are there in each hotel and they were all stated FULL.
But yesterday, all signs had the word: WELCOME on them. Hehe.
And now on to the 2nd part of the trip: What we did there...
Since it was pretty early in the morning (by Uncle Lim's standard that is) the park was still quite empty. It being a weekday helped a lot too. And we had to decide which ticket to buy, outdoor park only, or the indoor too?
Me: I don't know. I want to try the 4D motion master tho...
And so because of that, we decided to get the entire package.
Daniel: After all, we are already up here.
If I am going to tell you what we did, you'll probably be bored to death. So we'll skip straight to memorable moments.
Memorable moment #1
Bumper car.
It was the first ride we rode, and we met this little cute boy who was waiting for his dad to finish playing. Adrian made friends with him, and it was so cute to see them together, never mind the fact about young kids not supposed to talk to strangers. Geesh, what do the parents teach these days?
When the father finished, the little boy ran to him.
Father: So you talking with the Uncle ah?
All of us burst into laughter watching the 'Uncle' word stab multiple time into Adrian.
I got to pity the bday boy here. He was the whole gang's target. Even the spectators notice.
A typical move by the hounds:
Super fun, and we went on it countless of times. So many times that when we finally got off, our necks ached at the whiplash and our legs trembled with cramp.
Memorable moment #2
Cockscrew
Richard was super adamant not to go on the ride, claiming that he was scared of heights and stuff. But we managed to drag him on and this was the picture that came out:
Raj: A typical look of terror, with clenched fists with white knuckles, clenched teeth, bla bla bla.
Daniel: Tickets, RM46; Picture, RM10; Look on Richard's face: Priceless.
They actually handed out RM10 to get that picture, what friends man!! Hilarious!
Adrian: Lose phone, can, lose camera, can; lose this picture, CANNOT!!!
Posing for the camera was the funnest of all. We had a competition on who can make the best pose. And this time Richard was no more the scared little boy.
His third time on the ride:
Yeah, everything else was posed. We actually went on the ride a few times to pose for the camera and then choose which picture to buy.
Daniel: Can we stop sitting this already?
Me: Yeah... damn sien leh.
Memorable moment #3
Go kart
With super slow go karts. The only funny part was wondering how would we get Raj's turban into the helmets.
And then we realise that Punjabs don't have to wear helmets at all. Their turbans protect them. It's like a cushion see... 6 meters of cloth, more than the one used on my matress.
Memorable moment #4
The Solero Shot.
The thing about this ride is that it is not scary at all. The scariest part is the anticipation. One could walk up to it, joking and laughing. And then you get strapped to the seat.
Me: Why am I doing this again??? Why!!!
And then when you are up there, with nothing to do, you just wait.
Raj: Are you counting Elena?
Me: No!! Are you?
Raj: Oh noooo -(drop!)- oooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
Yes, you read right. Rajinder Singh went on the Shot. We were betting among each other if the turban would fly off. And this huge guy with a large elaborate turban, after seeing Raj getting on, decided to get on too, and he wanted to sit beside Raj. Haha.
And when it gets misty,
Adrian: It was like in Heaven.
Me: Yeah...
Adrian: And He smites us down again.
Memorable moment #5
Or should I say most UNmemorable moment.
The 4D motion master.
Me: I heard you can smell the flowers, and when go through water, can feel water splashing.
Richard: Like what? All the workers standing on the side, and when the screen show water, throw together?
It was a bad ride, and we knew that by knowing that the funnest thing that happened was Mr. Bean on TV. Hell the title itself would have been a deterrance: Alice in Wonderland. I mean, COME ON!!!
So we went on it, and my God.. it was the most boring things after lectures. Even with all the shaking and water spraying in my face and crazy woosh of air, I would have fallen asleep if not for Daniel's commentaries. I was sitting right at the back, and he was right at the front, you guys can now see how he easily got Mr. Noisiest.
Yep... we were all laughing at each other and at our stupidity as an axe threatened to fall us, or someone was spitting on us. It was all 3D with very bad 3D specs, and we were complaining throughout the 10 minutes. And trying to dodge Daniel and Raj after the whole thing was over was funner.
There were many more memorable moments (hell, the whole thing was something I will never forget), like:
- Sitting pirates train with no lights turned on. Can't see nuts.
- Sitting the elephant rides and rockets and see who can fly higher.
- Raj can't sit tobaggan becaus too heavy, and Daniel can't sit becos too tall.
- Sitting the spinner makes Richard want to eat Marrybrown because the ride was just beside Marrybrown and we passed it at least 100 times.
Scariest ride in the park: Tea Cup.
It is an abomination. Horrible, horrible, horrible!!!
And thirdly
And who goes up to Genting Highlands without paying a visit to dear old Uncle Lim, the 'godfather' of our very own Uncle Lim Fung Kit fondly known as Adrian Lim to us.
And the funny thing was: they checked Linda and Adrian for identification, while I just strolled right through. That means I'm either look confident, or I looked old. Sobsob.
There is always an exhilirating thrill to enter the casino. My first time in the casino was stated here. The 2nd time was no different, I could feel the blood rushing as I watched as money was put where the mouth is.
We have discussed extensively on what we would do when we enter the casino. THe night before, Richard had won mahjong for the first time in the House of Vice, so we have decided to hang on to his luck, and since it was his birthday, we have decided to further use that birthday luck:
- Firstly the date: 10 of 10 (Oct)
- 2ndly his age: 22
So we were walking around and we were 'drawn' to this roulette table. We waited for a moment and the ball landed on 10. It was like a sign!!! To either to stay as the 10 beckoned or to walk away because 10 was already out. We decided to stay and watch abit.
Richard was all intellectual, taking notes and watching like a hawk. Daniel went along with him while I, having changed my capital of RM50 to chips, was the first to throw the gauntlet and hentam 2 RM5 chips on 10. And our first loss.
But I was also the first one to win big... actually not that big, 8 RM5 chip for my one RM5, big enough to pull me out of my losses and throw me to the winning side.
Adrian (returning from toilet): Hey, what number?
Daniel: 11
Adrian: Hey, that's what I was just thinking when i was peeing.
Me: So what number you are thinking now?
Adrian: 2.
All of us placed chips at 2. And loss. Haha... superstitious bastards. Haha.
It was all heart pounding and inward prayers and cursings as we watched the ball spins. Four youngsters among old ah kong and ah ma. Those old ones were throwing chips like nobody business while the young 'uns were all serious and staring at the board, trying to read the probabilities and trying to feel the numbers that are about to come. It was tension and pure sweat, all for what? 3 RM5 chips per round, while the old uncles were throwing at least 35 chips around and laughing.
Yeap, 3 RM5 chips per round. Richard plays the corners and dozens, Daniel plays black/red, while I too play the corners. No one dared to go for straights. But hey, we were still on a winning streak, albeit a very kuchi-rat, kichimaya streak which Uncle Lim would never notice. And it is cool as we always go for the same corners.
And since we are using cash chips there was no telling which chip belongs to who. And then the croupier will ask those three RM5 chips belong and three of us (Richard, Daniel and me) will raise our hands in unison. Super funny. And the glee when the chips are pushed towards us. Daniel had this theory of doubling up which we found out was called the Martingale betting system, where everytime he loses when betting on red, he doubles up on the same red so he would cover his losses and win at the same time... when he wins... According to wikipedia.org (my other new best friend), this betting strategy is fundamentally flawed in practice and the inevitable long term consequence is a large financial loss.
And there was this noob croupier who I think was a noob. When it was time to hand out the winnings, he had to calculate how much was won. He was scribbling numbers on the table and multiplying them while other more experienced croupier would have just gave out the winnings super fast. I was mildly surprised he did not pull out a calculator. Haha. And the most embarassing point was when the player had to point out that he made a mistake and the player told him the amount which he had the supervisor double check. Haha. But the players at the table were nice as they 'dealt' with him pretty kindly.
Daniel was having a huge winning streak with this noob croupier, because it seems that every 5th throw, he throws a 22 (either super randomly or some innate skill). So Daniel always hung on to the 19,20,22,23 corner and won. Instead me... my winnings were fast dwindling.
I have a feeling not many of you know what the hell I am talking about, no? Wait... do you guys even know what is roulette? Google is my new best friend, so look it up. I'll jump straight to the bets.
Below is a typical European Roulette layout (Uncle Lim uses Euro style, btw) and those colour circles are some examples of places that your chips can be.
Let's say each colour circle indicates RM1 and let's say the ball landed on 10 black.
Red - Straight bet - U win RM35
Brown - Split bet (u hold 7 & 10) - U win RM17
Blue - Corner bet (u hold 7,8,10,11) - U win RM8
Green - Dozen (u hold 1-12) or Column (u hold that column) - U win RM2
Yellow - Line bet (you hold 7,8,9,10,11,12) - U win RM5
Orange - Street bet (you hold 10,11,12) - U win RM11
Pink - Low/High, Even/Odd, Red/Black - U win RM1
"You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal from it" - Albert Einstein
So now you have a brief overview of what is at stake here, can you now appreciate how tension we were as we sat there, three young babies compared to the more experienced oldies who had more money to spare??
By the time a new croupier took over, I was only RM25 up. Adrian just walked in and flipped one RM5 chip on 0, and lo behold, the ball landed on green (0). And Adrian walked away with RM180. Talk about it!
We played on, Daniel went off to try the BIG/SMALL table while I lingered back and watch my money dwindle. Sob sob. Soon I was in the red again... and I decided to go try another table. There was this table with a ball on 10, and I decided to hentam a 22 on this table. 10 came up again. Wah sai. And I knew I had to give up with RM15 left in my pocket. I walked around, looking at people play BlackJack and Casino Wars.
Talking about Casino Wars. It is a super cute card game where a single card is given face up to the players and the dealer gets a single card. If the dealer's card is bigger than yours, you lose. Simple right? So simple that it was hilarious!!! And the minimum bet was RM25. Wahsai!!!
Anyway, we were about to go when I decided to might as well blow the last RM15 I have. I went back to the previous table which the 10 popped up and placed RM10 on 10. I had to squeeze through a couple, the old people were looking at me like I was a small kid and whispered among themselves that 10 had came up before and will never come up again.
I walked away with
For your info: the black-gold chips are RM100 while the blue orange are RM50.
I was the only winner and I left the oldies screaming with frustration.
10 on 10 came true, my friends, I was stunned, it was a miracle.
Adrian: It was a dumb bet. Because 10 came out before, chances are it won't come out again.
Daniel: Can I hug you?
We went home that night, all of us winners. Well, most of us other than Rajinder who tried this Money Wheel where he placed his bets along with the rest of them on 10. The Wheel is a wheel of 1 to 10, and the light stopped on 10. Adrian were already cheering and stepped forward to collect his winnings when the light shifted to 1. What a blow!! I wasn't there, but I could feel their pain. Haha... I would have screamed in frustration.
We left Genting Highlands at 1.30am in the morning. Again we squeezed into the car and Daniel drove us down. We still talked about music (Chinese this time tho) interspersed with talks on how we bested Uncle Lim, or how Uncle Lim cheated our money.
Adrian: This talk of how I won the ZERO is going to go on for days. And how Auntie How won 10 on 10.
Song of the Night (Linda: "To commemorate this trip"): Tokyo Dift (I purposely left the 'r' out as they can't pronounce it).
Imagine driving down Genting with people at the back shouting "Dift! Dift! Dift!"
Come back anytime. We'll ride the wind, babe.
- Jonny, Chrono Trigger
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