San Sao and I departed from LCCT on
1 July 2012 taking the 9.30am flight.
Both Sean and Ye followed San Ge to the airport . Haha, the 2 boys were still so sleepy but it’s
sure feel good to have the 2 boys seeing me off at the entrance of the airport.
We were very excited as we have been
preparing for the climb. San Sao has
been more diligent as she has started her training for past 6 months the moment
she knew about the climb. As for me, the
intensive training started the last 3 weeks before the climb. Not too bad considering that I had to undergo
a minor operation a month before the climb.
Suan was worse off than us as her training was doing housework as she
did not have a maid during that period.
Suan met us shortly at LCCT and soon our plane took us to KK airport
Terminal 2. KK airport was surprisingly
warm but it did not dampen our excitement.
We met the rest of our group members who are Suan’s current and ex-colleagues. Later, along the day, we found that they are easy
to get along with.
It took us 2 hours to reach Kinabalu
Park from the airport. We dropped by Giant
to replenish our climb supplies. We
spent the first night at Kinabalu Park.
The place was beautiful and the air was great. Haha, I even found that the dining atmosphere
at Balsam restaurant to be romantic as it was next to the majestic Mount
Kinabalu. Everything looked so majestic
and great. After our buffet dinner, we
went back to catch our early sleep as we tried to catch the earlier climb which
was at 8.30am.
Before the climb
We had our early buffet breakfast at
Balsam Restaurant. The day began at the
park HQ where all climbers must register for the trek. We were all milling around the park offices,
before that we bought some last minute item like head gears which were priced
quite reasonable. Climbers were issued
with tags which was individually numbered with day of departure, must be
carried o n the trail for the duration of the climb.
We rented the hiking stick from the
guides as there no sticks were available.
After all formalities were completed, we opted to take a bus ride to the
official start, The Timpohon Gate.
We started around 9am as we tried to
leave earlier as weather in the afternoon at the top mountain can turn wet and
miserable from about 3pm onwards.
The Climb
The earlier stages were quite easy
. There was a waterfall on the left of
the track of the 1st km. From a group of 7 , we broke up along the
way. The appealing aspects of the trail were the regular appearance of rest
huts every km. I had to use the toilet
at 1st stop as I had quite a heavy breakfast. By the time I reached Mempening helter at
KM3, my stomach started to rumble. We took a break and had our lunch at
Layang-Layang Shelter which was at KM4. We
were earlier given our lunch pack which consisted of 2 apples, 2 eggs, some
sandwiches and a bottle of mineral water.
Fortunately I brought a bottle of 100 plus, it surely tasted more appetizing
. I didn’t manage to finish the egg and
sandwiches as I ate the prunes I bought along.
Later at Layang-Layang, Suan
rejoined me with Zaharah. After the
break, we moved on. The climb after
Layang-Layang seemed more taxing and required some scrambling up some very uneven
section of tracks. It’s not too
difficult but became quite tiring after some time. At this point, there was slight drizzle and
we quickly put on our raincoats.
Fortunately it was not a heavy downpour and I dreaded to think of
walking in heavy rain. Along the way we
bumped into potter carrying supplies and luggages up to Laban Rata. We only carried the essential supplies as we
paid the potters to carry our luggages for us.
I truly pity the older potters who seemed to be struggling with the
heavy luggages. My heart goes to them
but they would prefer for us to let them carry the luggage for them to earn an
income. Sigh, how tough life can be for
some . But on a positive note, they all
looked healthy and some are more agile and active than younger people.
Climbers could refill their drinking
water at each shelter but I did not as I could only finish my one bottle of
100plus. Probably the 2 apples
helped. A reminder to myself : to buy
another bottle of 100 plus and some bananas and no no to energy bar.
Lessons learnt during the climb was
try to avoid taking big steps as it would take a toll on the leg muscles. I applied some sunscreen but fortunately the
rainforest was quite dense , giving us plenty of protection. However, to play
safe I still apply the cream and put on my biggest hat.
Altitude started to have some
effects after Layang-Layang, so we started walking a little slower. However I started to go ahead of the rest
again very soon after that. Kwee Yap commented
probably it’s because of the way I’m trained.
My only spare training time was in the early morning after I dropped
Tong to kindy. I would rush to the small
mountain and sped up and down the mountain.
Everything was done in a speedy manner as I had to be on time to
work. At this stage, we started seeing
some of the climbers descending from the previous day’s expedition.
Most of them were in good spirits
and gave us encouragement to move on.
However many looked weary, well not surprising considering they have
been awaken since 1.30am for the summit climb.
There was another trail known as Mersilau trails but we did not attempt
that as we heard that trail is more difficult than the more popular Timpohon
track but less steep overall.
Past 5km mark, the track finally
clears the thicker forest growth of the mountain and emerges on to a rocky
plateau for the first time. It was
really awe- inspiring feeling to be more than 2500 m up, even though the view
was obscured by heavy mist.
At this point, I began to feel mild headache and the flu I had since Saturday did not help
much either.
As the track elevation approaches
3000m , the alpine terrain and floral growth was nor markedly different to the
rainforest below. Tresses were bare of
any leaves, instead carrying large clumps of what looks to be moss. It was quite a sight for me who was not
familiar with alpine environment. During
the climb, I did not meet any animals except for a mouse like animal.
I was so ecstatic to reach KM 5 and
looking forward to reaching Laban rata restaurant as the weather was cold and
my fatigue began to set in. I reached
Laban Rata around 2.30pm and quickly ordered a bowl of hot noodle soup while
waiting for the rest. The noodle was
quite expensive but it was expected as all supplies had to be carried up by
porters. I made a mental note to finish
all food as it was all hand carry by the porters. A foreign hiker walked past and asked what I ordered
so she could order same item. Haha, I
guess, I must be famished by then and the noodle never looked so appetizing.
I also manage to write a postcard to
send home. There was a postal box
provided which was very convenient. Suan
and Zaharah reached half an hour later and also ordered the same soup. San Sao and Francis reached shortly before
4pm and we waited for the buffet dinner to be served before checking into our
hostel. The dining room at Laban Rata is
quite pleasant to unwind from the walk.
We stayed at Gunting Lagadan which was about
200m from Laban Rata. As the weather was
too cold, I believe it should be below 5 deg cel then. I skipped bathing for the day as it was not a
heated hosted. I must salute San Sao as
she took the cold icy shower. I couldn’t
sleep well that night probably as the accommodation is dormitory style and its
non heated.
Day 2
We had to wake up at 1.30am to prepare for the
summit hike. As we did not intend to go
down to Laban Rata for buffer supper, we made do with instant noodle with hot
milo. Hah, instant noodle never tasted
better then.
We started our climb around 2.45am. I found that day 2 climb to be much tougher
than Day 1 climb due to combination of fatigue, high attitude and nausea. There were unrelenting steep and staircases
were really tiresome. After that, we
emerged into open rock face, where the magic of the climb began.
The white rope that accompanied all
climbers to Low’s Peak began here with a very steep climb up some treacherous
rock faces. I needed to literally pull
myself up parts of the rock face here, which were an exhilarating experience, when we climbed, it was a clear night and the
clouds stretched as far as the eye could see.
It was full moon and I could see some big stars and I may say this ranked
as one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Along the way, I was simply pulling my weary
legs up, scampering and climbing my way up the sheer sides of Mount
Kinabalu. Fortunately Suan was with me
and motivating me to move on. We were
lucky in certain parts as there was a local guide who helped us through.
If I remember correctly, we reached
Sayat-Sayat checkpoints were our tags were checked. The gradient can be
incredibly steep in parts, there were parts where I had to grap the robe which
was bolted into the rock face. Both of
us were literally pushing each other to move on. I was so tempted to talk short break after
few paces. My throat felt so dried and
stomach felt so empty. I began to realize
that I had quite a high metabolism, as my stomach got hungry very fast.
Around 5am, we could see Low’s
Peak. Suan was so motivated and kept
going up. My feeling was different. Where we were less than 50-m frm the Peak, I felt
like giving up. I asked Suan to move
on. I rested on the rocks as I experienced
nausea and headache. My fear of height
came to haunt me again. I was fighting a
losing battle and I told myself to take it easy. Whatever is meant to be, let it be,haha, I would
still be satisfied with my achievement.
More than half an hour later, I saw San Sao. She was as excited as Suan upon seeing the
peak. I asked her to move on. I couldn’t remember how long I sat on the
rocks when I heard a guide enquiring and prodding me to move on. He was very kind to offer his help. By then, I guessed I have sat long enough and
thought well, why not. There was another
helpful guy helping me up. Not long
later I reached the top to join San Sao and Suan for the photo session on the
Top. As it was getting quite crowded, we stared making our way down. After all the hardship, now while I am writing
this blog, it began to dawn on me that I should spend more time on the top to
enjoy the scene. Heck, I did not and
wasted no time to leave the place haha. Around 7am, the sun up and it was a
clear blue sky. The view was majestic
and I took a few photos. I personally
found the descent more scary as the day was bright and I could see what I climbed
earlier. My heart took a beating
whenever I had to negotiate dangerous sections.
At that point, I started cursing
myself for taking such risk.
I followed a guide down and reached
the hostel around 8.20am. The descent
took less than 2 hours which was considered quite fast as I followed the guide
closely. The rest joined me around
10am. As my stomach was grumbling by
then, I went down for breakfast first. We
finished our breakfast around 11am and started our descent. We started the descent slowly but later we
sped up as we realized it took us too long to complete each KM and we might
miss our lunch. After Layang-Layang,
Suan and I sped off. We experience
different degree of sore legs, knees and ankles. Suan was like a captain, urging me to move and
we hardly took any break. We literally limped our way the last 200m to Timpohon
Gate as our legs threatened to give out.
I have a new respect for Suan as she hardly stops
for a break despite having zero training for the climb. I guess she has a stronger mind than many of
us.
San Sao joined us less than an hour
later and Zaharah and Francis joined an hour later. We boarded a bus back to park HQ. We could not make it for the buffet lunch but
we were still served fried rice. After
collecting our certs and returning the hiking stick, we took bus back to Tune Hotel
, KK.
That night we had seafood dinner
which comprises of crabs, prawns, chicken, fish, 2 vege which were all quite
big portions. It came up to around Rm27
per person which was reasonable as the serving was big and seafoods were fresh.
We had a great sleep and I woke up
refreshed and more positive. Even the
legs pained were more bearable. However,
soon I experience sore throat as I did not drink enough water during the
climb. We managed to shop for some
clothes at I Borneo shopping mall which was situated next to Tune Hotel. Accommodation at Tune Hotel was clean and
comfortable. We had Ayam penyet for
lunch and took a cab to the airport. Did
some final shopping at airport where we bought some seafood. No one return empty handed. This is surely one of the more fulfilling travel
experiences we ever had. I’m surely glad
to know that San Sao was very happy and contented with this travel. She could still walk and not limped like most
of us after the climb. I’m also truly
grateful to Kwee Yap for taking care of the kids during my absence , giving me
a peaceful mind to focus on the climb as well as his moral and financial
support. This trip is like a reunion
with my close secondary school mate and we managed to go through hardship and
happy time together just like old days.
I also get to know more about my sister in law. I find her attitude and fitness level would
easily put many younger people to shame.
Lastly, I have a new respect for
this mighty mountain and those who attempt to scale it. “KOW TOW”.
I’m truly humbled by this experience and hope to emerge from this a
wiser and stronger person. Hopefully
this has somehow cured my fear for height? Haha, only time can tell……wow and I surely
had a great time writing this.
