KK City - Day 4, May 20 2011

Slept like a log and woke with a pain like no other in both legs. Even better, we were on the 4th floor - more stairs!! 痛苦！To appease the hungry stomach, we went out for brunch at an eatery nearby.

- Ping2's tomato soup noodle

- My duck rice; rating B- because the rice and duck meat were too dry.

- Our hostel which is actually quite big.

- This was previously the Old Welfare building erected pre-WWII. It was unfortunately razed in a fire a few years back. All that's left are the columns and the works of street artists.

We also went to the Sabah Tourism Board, where the building is also one of the survivors from pre-war era. It was scorching hot by then, made us miss being up in the mountains. We wandered around, poking into book stores, looking at food, exploring the alleys. Though KK is a small place and gets boring after one day, it is still a charming place. We made a promise to come back and joked that we don't need to bring anything with us at all. There are banks, convenient stores, malls for every need.

- Bye Sabah, for now! (Taken by Ping2 while I slept all the way back)

(Another trip the next day which I had to wake up at 4.30am!! So sleep deprived this week I wondered how I pulled through.)

Climbing Mt K – Day 3, May 19 2011

In no time it was time to get up. The NZ guys didn’t seem to sleep well either; everybody just seemed to be waiting for the alarm and was up at the first sound of it. I was expecting an icy slap on the face when we opened the door but surprisingly it was not as cold as I expected, and hooray no rain!

We started our climb at 2.30am, groping around in the dark with only our headlamps. Though seriously lacking in sleep, I wasn't exhausted or sleepy, must be the adrenaline! It was also a strange, crazy feeling to be up and about in the dark at that hour and seeing blobs of lights in front and behind me. We were pretty fast and soon overtook most people. When we came out in the open, the moon was right there all full and bright on a clear beautiful sky. It was absolutely mesmerizing.

- Mountain explorers we are! (~Lobster)

- Km7, 1km+ to go! At that altitude, 1km is a looooong way... (~Lobster)

- South Peak and the moon...this is what I see when I close my eyes...(~Lobster)

- Dawn breaking at about 5.30am

- The rocks were very steep, it was cold, the air was thin, the peak is right there but you just can't close the distance!!

- Finally! The view from the top! (~Lobster)

- Oh yeah, made it up here alive and kicking and absolutely exhilarated! Poor Ping2 was not feeling as great though... (~Lobster)

- Our mentor =D (~Lobster)

- The mist came and went, it was like being in an enchanted land and it sure does look like a dragon lives here! (~Lobster)

- Line of climbers going down, see how the rope snakes through the terrain

- Looking back up..oh boy..no idea how I got up there (~Lobster)

- The Ping team with our guide, Margaret
- Interesting topography and plants up here
- View on the way down, it was like we'd discovered a hidden valley (~Lobster)

- Haha public phone that was rosak! Too bad or it'd really be the only phones at the highest altitude.

- Very steep descend; it looked so different in daylight I have absolutely no recollection of the route we'd taken (~Lobster)

- Finally back to Laban Rata! Last group photo taken before we made our way down (~Lobster)

- Saw some monkey cups

We took about 3 hours to get to the gate. The last hour was absolute agony as my legs gradually felt so stiff and painful. It also started to rain when we were just 1km from the gate. We had lunch (yay for chairs!), got our bags and said goodbye to Lobster for his wonderful company.

We went back to Summer Lodge and was given a family room instead of a twin. I immediately took a nap because I was extremely nauseous from the drive back. Woke up a couple of hours later, showered and went to look for food. While we were walking around and pondering, Ping2 saw a familiar figure walking by and yelled, "Lobster!!" By golly, such a coincidence! (Thinking back, we'd have totally missed him had we sat down at the first eating place or came out earlier or later.) Turned out he was staying at Borneo Backpackers which was just a block away from us. We later sat by the sea and chatted till it was midnight.

Post-climb thoughts: It was a very surreal feeling, like I was in a dream. That night, we were sitting there talking in the city with lights while just that morning, we were high up in the mountains with only our headlamps. In a way, it felt like nothing ever happened, even with the soreness of my legs. But it was also an incredible feeling and a very fulfilling experience for me. Right there, at Mt K, I felt something inside changed...

Climbing Mt K – Day 2, May 18 2011

Woke up bleary eyed and found the rain had stopped (yay!!). Had a light breakfast, took our packed lunch and went to meet our guide.

- Our packed lunch, which we ended up only eating the banana and some sandwiches..

- Comes in a SSL eco-bag where the logo started to come off when it gets wet...hmm..

- That’s our destination right up there!

Initially planned to carry our own backpacks up but we ended up being sissies. Our bags each weighed 6kg (!!), so we paid our guide RM48 (RM8 x 6kg, return) who carried both Ping2 and my bag. Ping3 (henceforth known as “Lobster”) was an experienced climber so he had no trouble with his bag.

- The Ping Team (haha absolute coincidence!), our climbing permits

- Ping1, Ping2, Ping3 at Timpohon Gate (Pix frm Lobster)

- Inhuman feat!!! From the Gate up to the peak and back down in less than 3hrs!!

There are distance markers every 0.5km, we cheered whenever we reached one. At first it was steps going up and up, after point 2.5km it started to be rock steps, which I found much easier to navigate. We also met people coming down about 3hrs into the hike.

- Just keep going up, just keep going up... (Pix frm Lobster)

- 3km mark! Halfway!! (Pix frm Lobster)

- Our 40 year old guide who looks much younger

- We brought along our "best friend"..

- Pening pening... fooling around. There are about 7 stops (or huts) along the way, this one has a funny name. (Pix frm Lobster)

- Porters carrying up supplies, all thanks to them we have food up at Laban Rata..

- The intersection with Mesilau route at about point 4km

- 5km! One more to go! (Note that I'm holding a lollipop which I don't know how to eat ..@_@) (Pix frm Lobster)

- Gah, neverending!!

We've had beautiful weather all the way and then it started to rain when we were almost to Laban Rata. Ping2 was feeling out of breath so we rested at Warus Hut for a while.

- Our dorm, which was another 10min walk from Laban Rata resthouse...oh no... with NO heater and NO hot shower due to power supply failure.

- Heavy mist on the hills after the rain, temp @ 9C

- Beautiful sunset after dinner

Shared a table with a guy from England who was climbing alone. He'd spent the past week in Bali and some parts of Indonesia. First time to Mt K and Sabah as well, he wants to visit Asia more in the future.

As we had to get up at 1.30am, we tried to go to sleep at 8.30pm. We were in a super tight 4 person room with the other bunk beds occupied by two guys from NZ (before they came in we'd secretly hoped that we'd be able to hog the room..too bad =P). Initially I was worried that they might snore but they didn't and I couldn't sleep anyway...too cold and also probably due to drinking too much hot tea... =_=

Climbing Mt K – Day 0 & Day 1, May 16 & 17 2011

Day 0

Flew into KK very late in the night. Checked in at Summer Lodge for a good night sleep, which unfortunately I didn’t get because I don’t adapt well to strange beds. The room was simple and clean though the bed sheets looked old and well worn. We had a private bathroom and the room was A/C-ed.

Day 1

Our journey to Kinabalu Park won’t start until 11.30am so we had a VERY simple complimentary breakfast at the hostel and then went out to explore.

- White bread with 3 spreads to choose - butter, peanut butter or jam; beans; coffee, tea and water

View Larger Map

Summer Lodge is located right on Jalan Gaya, the area where every corner you turn you’d spot at least one backpacker hostel. This area is very popular with tourist/backpackers because it’s about a 15-min drive from the airport, tons of cheap accm, almost every bank has a branch here, small eateries everywhere, a few shopping complexes, bars (there’s one just outside our hostel!) and it’s right beside the sea with access to several small islands nearby by boat.

- Boats for rent to nearby islands

- The bar right outside us

We found KK to be so much cleaner than Penang and immediately liked this little town.

- On the way to K Park, superb weather

- Lunch: Sabah style Char Mee, Fried Yellow Noodles. They eat it with chilli & ketchup!

- Suspension bridge over the river

We finally arrived at K Park and the weather turned cloudy. The moment we stepped into our hostel it started to rain. There goes my plan of exploring the park..

- Grace Hostel, we were in Room 4 bunk E & F. Nice and cozy. We were the only two girls with four other guys in the room.

- Heavy mist in the park when we went for dinner

- Dinner Buffet at Balsam restaurant, hearty meal before the climb

Met a guy from Taiwan (i.e. Ping3 aka Lobster) who was climbing alone and was bunking in the same room. We got along well so we invited him to join us the next day since he hadn't decided if he's taking Mesilau or Timpohon. He turned out to be great company and an experienced climber so it was lucky of us to know him.

After dinner, I was having a hard time trying to keep my bag as light as possible.. another sleepless and cold night...