The YNOT Graffiti Showdown Finale Day 1

By Elie - 3:48 PM

[I am extremely frustrated at Blogger for NOT auto saving my drafts and also that Mozilla Firefox just crashed and my whole blog post in which I was ALMOST done with is just GONE like that. And now starting from square one.]

Yes, I have been missing for a while now and it is indeed for a good reason! Remember when I mentioned a while back about the YNOT Graffiti Competition by RWGenting? If you do, then good on you but if you don't, here's something for you to jog your memory with! In fact, if you notice I mentioned that the finale would be on the 13th and 14th of April 2013...which is where I've been over the weekends all thanks to RWGenting and Nuffnang who extended me the invites! Woohoo a getaway before the beginning of my final semester!

About 60 of us were whisked off at 8.30am from Wisma Genting all the way up the land where it is cold and misty all day long with 30ish being bloggers and the other handful being our plus ones. Lo and behold, my plus one for the weekend:

Nobody but my bestie of 14 years, Pui Yi! Excuse me for looking like a complete haggard here, I have my reasons and you will hear of my story later.

After an hour's worth of chugging, tugging and Pui Yi's snoring, we were finally up in the land of the cold and we had all of our luggage checked into the storage area and were whisked off to the outdoor theme park where all the life appeared to be! The first thing that the YNOT Graffiti competition did to transform the theme park was to have made it into a place so colourful, so artistic and so...not like what it used to be!

YNOT Come Join Us? Greeted by a board complete with what's happening for the day!

Graffiti artists at work! I understood later why they needed to wear a gas mask as though they were headed for war. They were actually at war...with the spray paint!

Colourful, artistic and something out of the norm simply covering the walkways from the entrance to the insides of the outdoor theme park!

Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. spotted at the outdoor theme park of Genting Highlands! Anyone as interested as me for Monsters University?

Artwork by my lecturer, Ms.Queenie! The story behind her art was that her children always shouted out "Yuhoo" in joy and the colours used were to depict the love that her children had for colourful materials! Talk about being a loving mum, huh Queenie?

We even got to be graffiti artists towards the stage area whereby the crew to the YNOT Graffiti Showdown had a whole box of spray paint ready for the public to go wild with on a piece of board just as the graffiti artists had! The only thing was...we had to share.

Everyone's suddenly reliving their childhood of going wild...legally now.

Obviously, Pui Yi got her hands on a bottle of spray paint too and did a quick rendition of "Elie and PY" around the middle...

While yours truly took the bottom to belt out "Elie loves Melody" (Melody being Pui Yi's unofficial English name) but it was hardly seen after a while...probably because I've written it too small or that I picked out the yellow spray paint...on a white board. *Inserts genius meme*

That wasn't all that was done that day because we were greeted by a BMX showcase just as we finished "vandalizing" the wall and I must say, it was very fascinating to see them do that to their bicycles.

I can hardly ride a bike, much less do that to it...if I had a bike.

That would be me if I were falling off from hitting a bump or something.

Their swift moves and quick legs along with an impressive showcase of skills were definitely something worth watching out for and we were nothing short of being in awe when they did what they were perfectly good at. People always thought that it was bad to be all "rempit" and stuff but the YNOT Graffiti Showcase by RWGenting this time sure brings a new light to the "bad" boys of the underground scene!

The Graffiti Raincoat Art Fashion Showcase was up next where graffiti artists of IACT College had their opportunity to turn an ordinary raincoat from RWGenting into a work of art and even got to parade them to the public. Who would have known you could turn a raincoat into your personal piece of canvas too huh?

Raincoats? Nah! I'll just make it my canvas, thanks. Check out the ONLY guy of the fashion show smack in the middle with a big devil on his coat!

Our fun didn't stop right there, of course. We got to test out the brand new ride of the outdoor theme park, The Waves! Found just next to the Corkscrew and Go-Kart rides at the theme park, The Waves dons an innocent look to it, appearing harmless and seemingly simple.

I got Pui Yi to look all tourist-y in front of the entrance to The Waves!

What looks like an innocent ride turns out to be...quite a mad one!

And then there's me...and Tania photobombing unexpectedly while I got a shot by Pui Yi!

Us on the ride. We were ready. And then we realized we weren't all that ready...

The ride was amazingly fun and it completely took us out of surprise because we didn't expect it to do what it did. Curious? Go ride it yourself! It's really good and really worth the queuing (if you have to on the days you get there of course) because in the end it's nothing but a thrill! A good tip though, if you're seated nearer to the exit of the box, make sure your companion is lighter than you because you tend to *ahem* slide.

We were treated with glorious foods at the Happy Valley Seafood Restaurant for lunch after where there were about 10 dishes in total and everything tasted really good. Unfortunately, we were so full by the time the 5th dish came to our table and most of the food had gone to waste. Sorry that we're all girls and we don't eat a lot! We got to check in immediately after lunch and the First World hotel room came as a wonderful surprise to both Pui Yi and I. Just last year, we were up in Genting with a few of our friends and we expected just the same looking room but there's been a pleasant change to the accommodation of the night and we're really pleased!

Two super single beds separated by a bedside table. Just in case you're wondering what a "super single" is, well it's smaller than a queen sized bed, larger than a single bed. Make sense?

Even the toilet looked like it had a good change to it, with ready towels FINALLY instead of having to ask room service come with it like the last time.

And...AND...the bath is attached to the toilet! I was so happy to see this because the bath and toilet in First World hotel rooms were always detached and I would get so frustrated looking at how skimpy both looked. I hated it!

Modified our room! It now has a larger than king sized bed and a bedside table for ME because I needed somewhere to put my glasses at night. That's Pui Yi; flat on OUR bed.

And then there's me, splatted on it. Yes, I did bring a soft toy in the end and the black thing beneath my wrist is my stuffed dog, Max.

We had a quick rest in our rooms and then headed down to meet the rest for the Songkran festival that Genting had brought in in commemoration with Thailand's famous Songkran festival that happens usually in the early April! For those who have no idea what Songkran is, well it's what the Thai nationals call their own lunar new year and it is celebrated with water splashes from one to another; each splash being a blessing from me to you. I was in Phuket 3 years back for the Songkran festival with my family and it was pure bliss! I came home with a bad sunburn though...

Songkran in Genting Highland's Arena Of Stars, outer area! This was the pre-show where just about 5 young boys (presumably Thai) were on the stage clad in only what appears to be Muay Thai shorts dancing to the beat. I pity them, it was freezing cold up there!

And suddenly I noticed that the sneaky Cindy was already in the ring playing with bubbles and getting mischievous with freezing cold water! Can't find her? Spot the lady in white smack in the middle with a red ladle!

Pui Yi and I before and after Songkran. It was a whole load of fun for the two of us even though the water was freezing cold, the bubbles were soapy yet slippery and the gusty wind practically murdered our lungs.

Picture lifted off my Instagram; hence the editing.

We had to leave the place shortly after 4.30pm because it got too cold and also that it rained. It didn't make a difference since we were already wet but it was really freezing and we couldn't take it; returning to our rooms for a warm bath instead. This is the shot I got in our room while she took her own sweet time in the bath while I froze!

It was cold that evening. No doubt about it! The view from my room. Just perfectly overlooking the outdoor theme park. Love!

An early dinner took place at the Coffee Terrace of the Maxims Hotel whereby we heard buffet per head costs about a fair RM 80 so Pui Yi and I were very lucky that this trip was sponsored by Nuffnang! *Sniffs* Thank you so much, Nuffnang for feeding us well, giving us a room to stay, giving us transportation and also for throwing us into a realm of so much fun! Pui Yi and I ~~stuffed~~ ate loads that night that eventually our plans to grab a midnight Starbucks was cancelled and we retreated to our own green tea in the end. Of course, our night didn't just end with a dinner.

The end? We don't think so! Love the eerie setting of this picture. It's really just the night, the misty environment and the Cyclone ride being photographed all at once!

We were whisked off to the outdoor theme park once more at 8pm and had managed to catch an amazing dance performance by Elecoldxhot featuring FIX! No idea who Elecoldxhot is? Well, maybe the winner of 8TV's Showdown 2011 and 2012 would ring a bell! Or maybe the champion of Tour Perth 2012 would sound better eh? Well, we got to watch them ALL at the outdoor theme park of Genting Highlands for the YNOT Graffiti Showdown instead and they are seriously, seriously good!

And I believe they will thank God for the talent they have been awarded with. Elecoldxhot ft. FIX!

Don't fret, I didn't leave you high and dry! I've got videos for you to watch here, here and here! Of course then there's my personal favourite for the night; the laser dance performance in which you could watch right here; because I am caring like that. Sharing is caring, right? You will NOT regret a single minute of their performance, really.

Unfortunately though, the night ended at that and our adventure for Day 1 finished at around 8.30pm but of course, Pui Yi and I were dead as is already because we woke up at 5am earlier in the morning out of...nothing. We just woke up. Everyone got to go do their own thing and our own thing was to sit in our room, grab some green tea and talk. It was amazing fun with her because there's just so much you could fit in a 14 year friendship.

Out on a cold, freezing night. That's just us, crazy like that.

Stay up for my Day 2 rendition of the YNOT Graffiti Showdown Finale! It'll be worth it! Oh but while you're waiting, how about getting yourself involved in the finale too? All you have to do is go to the YNOT Graffiti Facebook page and cast your votes for the artworks you think are best! I've got my bets on Queenie Yaw for the open category and Looi Mun Loong for the student category but you best hurry, voting ends on the 19th of April!