Awana Skyway & its Old-Fashioned Gondola Cable Lifts - @ Genting Highlands [Now Known as Resort World Genting]

Many of us are no stranger to the long line of cable cars connecting Genting Highlands to a mid-highland town known as Gohtong Jaya but i doubt most of you are aware of another cable system within Genting by the name of Awana Skyway!

I knew for quite a few years that there is a separate cable system (chanced up the station at Chin Swee Temple then) although i was under the impression that it was already phased out and no longer in operation.

Weirdly, the notice clearly missed out the operating hours for weekdays and i did manage to take a ride on a Wednesday. The only difference was that my ride that day would not stop at Chin Swee Station.

Nonetheless, i bought a one-way ticket (RM 6.00 per person) despite Mr Kon's heated declaration that there is absolutely nothing at Awana Station. That's the problem with me; i must see to believe!

No queue because it was barely 8am! Punters like Alex would have likely gambled the night away and 8am is barely a few hours of sleep for them.

Note the dissimilarity with the cable cars from the more popular Genting Skyway. Painted in bright yellow with a red stripe on top, the gondola is bigger than the types we see nowadays and would fit well in Hongkong movies originating from the 60s to 70s.

Honestly, i love the retro design!

Touted to be a scenic journey, the cloud mass right outside would be a major deterrent factor to block whatever nice scenery i should have been entitled to.

Maximum capacity = 30 persons. Given its age, please stop your hyperactive kids from rocking the gondola! The cranking sounds it made could be unnerving for the older scaredy cats. 

Please be assured a staff member of the Skyway is stationed within the gondola; he/she will ensure that the door is latched and then locked for further protection. For any emergency, he/she will also contact the control station using the above obsolete talkie system.  

Ventilation windows are located somewhere around knee-height; a position that made it extremely uncomfortable for me to take pictures! Thankfully, the glass windows were not that stained and i could still take pretty okay pictures without bending down my knees.

A panoramic patch of grayness. 

The distance covered was said to be 2.4 kilometers and the persisted cloud mass was bad news to me; i would not want to waste my precious sleep just to remain stuck in a sea of grayness! 

At this point, i was hopeful that things will turn out better. 

YYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSHHHHHH!! Greenery with clouds swirling around them! 

According to this website, Awana Skyway was built in 1977, a good twenty years before the Genting Skyway, to ferry passengers from Hotel Sri Layang to Genting Hotel.

Chin Swee Station! My thought is that this station would be opened during the operational days i mentioned earlier. Although you have to pay for a ticket to take the gondola, i would prefer forking out the money rather than taking the free yet boring shuttle bus from First World terminal.

10,000 Buddhas Pagoda [万佛塔] - the icon of Chin Swee Temple. I am concurrently working on a more detailed post on the temple! 

Another big mass of clouds looming right ahead of us! Don't ask me what kind of cloud this is as i am no geography student! 

No point in showing all of you many pictures of nothing. 

Fast forward to five minutes later when i finally reached the final destination; Awana Station. I timed the entire duration of the ride which came out to be approximately fifteen minutes. 

The fog was making it extremely hard for me to explore the area and i could hardly see anything more than a hundred meters away! 

I did notice a helicopter pad and some housing with restricted access. Since there was nothing else to see, i decided to save some time for the jackpot machines! 

More passengers (all appeared to be the staff of Resort World Genting) on my return trip which cost me another RM 6.00. Question: would i take the gondola again? 

I might as i would still like to explore the area surrounding Awana Station! 

There must be something!!

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Location

Very near to the Genting Skyway; follow the signs pointing to Awana Skyway.