Mountain Kinabalu, the peak

Helloooo, have been posting too many wordy posts previously. It’s time for me to blog with more pics.

I would like to continue my KK post. If you missed out the first part of my KK mountain climbing story, do click here to view it.

 

We slept in a dorm at Laban Rata after having our dinner. Not long after (approx 2am), we got to wake up to continue our journey to the peak of the mountain. Before the hike, I felt uneasy and nausea. But then I knew I have to eat something. Hence, I kinda forcing myself to chew on a bun.

The feeling of dizziness worsening during the first 30 mins. However, I kept forcing myself to go on. Without any warning, I actually vomited at the side of the sloppy mountain. After vomiting, immediately, I felt great. I was so relieved by then.

It was sooooo dark when we were climbing up the mountain. We have no idea where were we and what kind of mountain were we climbing. All we knew was keep going up up up. We climb awhile and rest awhile. Frankly speaking, it was quite tiring to climb this mountain especially for people who didn’t do much training like me. What kept me going the most was my mind. I kept telling myself to go on just because I paid for this hike. If failed to reach the peak, memang memalukan lar. lolz

The happiest moment was to able to see the sunrise although it was quite cloudy on the day. Once I took off my gloves, my fingers were numb. Gosh, it was freaking cold out there.

 

   

You could see the hat that I was wearing was different from other pics. It was almost Christmas, that’s why I purposely brought the Christmas hat along :) just to snap a pic ><

 

  

It was scary to look down the valley. One wrong stepped could end up to death ><

We were amazed to see the pathway that we have gone through during the pitch dark morning. It was freaking sloppy. When we were heading back, I felt the time was crawling instead of speeding. Perhaps the clearer we could see the surrounding, the harder to walk.

I met these 2 sweet aborigine girls half way through the mountain. They descended so fast and agile. I reckoned they climbed the mountain frequently. It was just a piece of cake for them ><

After descending from the mountain, we got to wait for another partner of mine for quite a long time before we could head to the town. Anyhow, I had an enjoyable climbing trip in Sabah. Thinking back, I couldn’t really imagine how brave and naive I was to plan this climb impromptu.

Alright, that’s all for now. Enjoy climbing, I reckon it would be more fun if you climb with a group of friends who have a strong will. Having a strong body doesn’t mean you are strong internally. get it? haha.

 

Mountain Kinabalu, Sabah

OMG, I am slacking for the whole day. But who cares, it’s time for me to blog again. Looking at the Veni Vici Vidi column on my blog’s sidebar which you could see right now is the list of the mountains I have conquered so far with the dates on it. I just realized that I never blog about my experience on climbing Mt Kinabalu, Sabah. So, decided to blog for the sake of remembrance for the future.

Well, when I was almost having my finals of SAM in 2008, I came out with a crazy idea of climbing Mt Kinabalu. Don’t ask me why, the answer would be aiks, it’s complicated to explain :D

Since it’s hard to find kakis to climb together at the very last moment, the easiest way is to search online for kakis. In the end, I knew a woman from the net who was interested to join me at the same time, without thinking twice, JOM d. Here, I would like to thanks heaps to my parents for letting me to go to this trip alone with a total stranger. Their mentally supports is always helpful for me no matter what situation I am in. Plus, so happen one of my friends, ZhiYong, boyfriend of my dear friend, Mei Ying would be there at the same time, I invited him to join us. Here goes our journey.

I met with my climbing partner for the first time @the airport. Once my dad saw her, he was relieved as well. Well, old sayings said, never follow a stranger home. This was true, but the risk that I have taken was worth it at last :)

Firstly, we went to the agent office to finalize everything. Will tell you the contact at the end of my KK post. After that, a driver drove us to the Kinabalu Park which was situated deep in the jungle. It was raining heavily at that time too.

This was my temporary accommodation for Day 1. When we were there, it was freaking cold as I was not used to cold weather.

Some souvenirs shops that you could find at Kinabalu Park. The area was surrounded with lots of trees and not to forget, the freaking tall Mt Kinabalu that I was going to conquer on the next day. Basically, we walked around the park and it was kinda relaxing though.

Freaking awesome right? so much mist some more

The very next day, I was so not prepared to climb *takut* as basically I have not been training on my stamina. Not at all other than frantically swimming for 2 days at the very last minute. When thinking it now, I totally have no idea why was I so brave and naive few years ago. But, at least, I experience it with no regret for the climbing part :)

We boarded a mini bus up the winding road to the main entrance for the climb. We were welcomed by a freaking amazing sign board. OMG, how could those ppl climb up and down on this mountain for less than 3 hours. This is insane. (2 x 4095m) But it’s the fact.

My partners for the climb and of course, the great guide as well. I guess he has been climbing up and down for dunno how many freaking times. He even helped my friend carried the heavy bag. Other than the guide, while on our way up the hilly slope, we saw lots of women, especially were carrying “look_like_it_was_a_heavy_basket” on their head and climbing up the mountain like nobody’s business. This is truly amazing. I was astonished to see how fast they could walk with the heavy burden on it. *Salute*

It’s true if you have heard ppl saying that climbing Mt Kinabalu is actually climbing up the staircases & easier than climbing Mt Tahan. but this is true only for the first half part.

This was the food that we received earlier before the climb ><

Because my other partner, the woman, Sarah couldn’t climb up the hill at our pace, the guide told us to climb up on our own.

Easy? Medium? Hard?

Personally, everything is about your mentality, not much about phsycial capability. Of course you are fit to climb if you choose to climb at the first place. I actually kept telling myself that I could do this. If not, you definitely will give up easily. Trust me!

The air was damp and my hair was full of droplets

I dunno the exact time I reached Laban Rata. Let me recall. hmmm. We started to climb around 8.30a.m. And reached Laban Rata at 3pm something if not mistaken. This means the journey took us approx 7 hours to finish HALF WAY. Anyway, I was delighted because it mean, I can eattttttttttttttt.

The temperature was approx 9.6 celcius plus the never stop blowing strong wind plus the wet clothes I were wearing making myself totally helpless and it was freezing cold

The must do thing is to order a hot chocolate/milo. Yummyyyyyyyyyy.

My other partner reached Laban Rata around 7 something. We were too exhausted and the scary part was, we have to wake up at approx 2.30am the next morning. I hardly doze off because of the scary weather ><

Till here now. have a great day everyone :)