The Land Below The Wind: Mount Kinabalu - Day 6

My...this is taking longer than I wanted. There is so many things I wanted to blog about...but I guess I should really stick to finishing the series first since I'm so close to coming to the end of the trip.

Day 6 was the longest for the whole trip, since we had to wake up at 2am in the morning to get ourselves ready to the main hike up the last 2KM of the mount. I didn't really slept much that night due to the coldness and also partly the pressure - I had headaches the moment I tried to sleep. But I guess the adrenaline helped keep me charged for the final effort to fulfill this journey.

We did mange to have some Milo and instant noodles - though the noodles felt bland and really didn't fit too well at 2am in the morning. We waited rather impatiently for the guide to arrive at 2:30am with the other residents of Gunting Lagadan. Some of the more experience hikers told us to take our time as we ascended the first few hundred metres - the advice was that we should go up slowly so that we have time to get use to the change in altitude - if not we might not feel use to the sudden change in pressure, which could lead to headaches...dizziness...even vomiting. Not things I would like to experience even before we reach half-way up ;p

We didn't take many pictures - if any - on the way up because it was still very dark. Again, I'll let the pictures do the talking cause if I was to describe my thoughts and experience while on the way up, I'll probably take several entries to complete ;p Oh...and Pang had to opt out of the attempt because he didn't manage to buy a new shoes to replace his worn out boots. Pity really, cause I think he would have had any problems ascending the last 2KMs.

A snapshot of Gunting Lagadan - well part of it anyway - while waiting for out guide to show up.

I'm not sure if this was taken before we went up...looks a bit bright. But it was nice shot by YL of the scenery overlooking the area from Gunting Lagadan.

Not much trail to walk around - mostly rocky and a bit slippery, particularly at night where you can hardly see what's in front of you as you move about.

The journey up was...long...felt like I was never going to reach the peak. I took this picture as we were nearing the peak...I think it was about 500m to go. I really should have trained more...hehe out of breath every 10minutes or so (less probably ;p). Kitty and I went ahead of the others and kononnya tried to reach the peak for sunrise...haha...we tried and nearly made it ;p We missed the sun rise unfortunately as the sun hid behind heavy clouds and mist.

Hikers, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the sun rise, some waiting for more light before taking more pictures of the beautiful scenery - and beautiful it was!!

Low's Peak!!! We reached about 6.10am and after waiting for another 15mins, FL caught up to us. FL told Kitty and I that the others couldn't make it and headed back to Gunting Lagadan. Again a pity, but we were not about to miss the chance of a lifetime - must take some pictures as evidence of the climb!! :D

Hehe...more posing ;p

Haha...I haven't wore such thick clothing since I came back from the UK. Fortunately I kept those jackets ;p

We started our descend around 7am with the other hikers. We took our time and just enjoyed the scenery - truly breathtaking!

Haha...the trip down was far easier than going up. And far easier too, now that we could see where we were actually going. I was practically crawling up at some place for fear that I fall off some ledge ;p But most of the way was really rocky surface, albeit at an incline.

Haha...really feel like I was on the top of the world ;p

A final camwhoring picture before we moved off at a faster pace so that we can make it in time for breakfast ;p

YL posing against the Laban Rata accomodation. We stayed further up at Gunting Lagadan. Unfortunate for YL and his gf - and Pang as well for not making it up to the top. Let's hope they give it a shot again soon. It'll be worth it! :)

We had breakfast at Laban Rata before hiking down all the way to Timphon Gate - this time we went down straight via the Timpohon trail cause it was shorter, hence faster to lunch! ;p

Anyway, the trail was all muddy cause it started to rain heavily on the way down. Hehe...Kitty and I kind of ran down half the way - we just wanted to finish the trail. The Timpohon trail was more boring, with not much of a view, but loads of mud and slush. With around 2.2KM left to go, we legged it to reach the gate - with rain pouring heavily on our backs.

Haha...and were we shivering when we finally go to the gate. Quickly settled down and bought ourselves a nice cup of coffee while waiting for the others to reach ;p By the time the others arrived, most of us were starving and couldn't wait to get our hands on the buffet lunch - at 4pm ;p More like high-tea!

We made our way to a hotel - couldn't remember the name - nearby, had a good (and most importantly, warm!) meal, rested a bit and head off to Kota Kinabalu where we planned to stay the night before flying back to Penang.

Haha...I slept all 3 hours of the journey back to KK. I was feeling good, but while not exhausted - it was sure tiring. I was glad that I'm going home the next day ;p

Not pictures here, but we stayed at an inn near the airport - which was a pretty cozy little place. That night Pang got us to play a little game - a guessing game to be more precise. Basically he started a story off and we had to finish it by asking questions. Confused? Haha...well, I'll explain it another time...but suffice to say it was meant to spook us with the story and in some ways succeeded ;p

Anyway, with the rain and all, most of my clothes were wet and I had to sleep in my jeans and the remaining T-shirt I had...good thing we were heading home the next day ;p

I'll blog about the last day of the trip next- hopefully it wouldn't take me another week to do so hehe: The Land Below The Wind: Leaving - Day 7

The Land Below The Wind: Mount Kinabalu - Day 5

It has been super busy for me last two weeks, also some ups and some downs at work - but mostly just busy. And I'm glad that most of the planned events and work has been completed or at least they are on track to be.

Anyway, I will leave job related talks for another entry - since it's certainly not my intention to do it on this 5th post of my trip to KK. And it's the most exciting part, the main part and also the only reason for having the trip in the first place.

The day started off early, with a hearty English breakfast - all with the intention of providing that extra boost of energy as we made the hike up Mount KK. I have thought about how to recount the journey...and for fear of boring you guys (and myself too!) with countless words, I'm going to let the pictures to the talking - or so the saying goes. Plus for me, the main reason for blogging about these whole journey day by day was simply so that I could come back one day and reminisce.

So here is a shot of the hotel we stayed for the night at the "kaki" of Mount KK. It's about 30mins to the Mesilau trail we had planned to take.

Hehe...all of us with our walking stick - more useful when coming down to ease the strain to the knee.

There is a park at Mesilau itself, though we were only interested to begin our journey ;p

OK, before we begin, must have group picture-lah. Hehe...be sure to check out the "After" picture at the bottom of this entry ;p

A quick check on Pang's watch to see how high we were already before setting off. Apparently we were almost at 2K metres at the Mesilau start point. 4K - 2K = 2K left...easy la, right? Or so we thought LOL!

Just to make sure we were on the right trail ;p

See those plastic bags I was carrying? Those were part of our lunch - there was fried chicken, a boiled egg, a can of coke, and the rest were all cheese or ham sandwiches. Oh...and there was an apple as well. These were all we were going to have till we reach Laban Rata for dinner. We started off around 9:20am and estimated to reach Laban Rata around 4-5pm. Haha we reach around 7pm...tired and hungry ;p

We were delayed probably because we stopped a lot to take scenic pictures and also to eat ;p I was like snacking every 40 minutes or so ;p

Hehe...loads of posing and cam-whoring ;p

Man...my neck started aching after a while...but so long as I didn't take it off, I guess I didn't feel the pain...yet.

Taking a break. Pang was carrying two bags - his own and LT's bag. The perfect gentlemen - since LT was getting tired as we moved higher up. Oh...and see Pang's shoes? Hehe...DIY fix after the soles started coming off...it was still OK then...but it was tough for him later on as it started to rain and the path got slippery.

The trail was an "up-and-down" - meaning we hiked up several hundred metres before trekking down a few hundred metres. The Mesilau trail is far longer than the Timpohon trail - but the former is more scenic and much more beautiful - hehe with lots of places to take pictures and enjoy nature.

Well, that was before it started to rain...slightly at first and then it fell more earnestly. Wasn't too much trouble though since most of us brought either a rain jacket or rain-...(what do you call those plastic rain jackets?)

This was kind of the end of the Mesilau trail - also half way to Laban Rata. At this point, there was still about another 3 hours up Summit trail to reach Laban Rata.

Also managed to see pitcher plants along the way. Pitcher plant = Periuk Kera. Used to study it in school last time, but never had an opportunity to see it up close ;p

Getting wet and a bit slippery, but we pushed on...hehe what other choice did we have? Head back down? It was nearer to go up than down at that point ;p And what do you call that "blue disposable plastic rain jacket" ? We were close...though we were getting tired and just wanted some hot food. The rain was making it colder than it seemed...

Hehe...this is a close up shot of Pang's shoes...it caused him a lot of pain since he sole kept slipping off as we were reaching Laban Rata. He had to stop and re-tie the shoes multiple times...I salute him for the having the perseverance to continue.

This is the "After" pictures ;p We were all a bit dazed, with FL wasn't in the mood for any picture taking ;p

I stuffed myself with food - it was a buffet dinner so it was all for the taking! ;p I was cold and hungry...and my shoes got soaked wet...but still it didn't stopped me from filling myself...erm...sufficiently ;p

By the time we finished our dinner, it was around 8pm already and the sky was dark. Only then did we know that we still had to climb another 10 minutes to our lodgings at Gunting Lagadan. Hehe...along the way, I guess Pang lost his patience and I think the most memorable part of that 10 minutes hike was the different swear words that came pouring from him as he vents his frustration at having to cope with a less than complete shoes - it was dangerous for him as well cause it was so easy to twist an ankle in the dark, especially the path was rocky and slippery.

Anyway, we did make it to our lodgings and thought we could settle in for a good night's rest. Well, that's what we thought...till we found out how cold it was going to get later on...but that is for me to tell in the next entry ;p

More to come in: The Land Below The Wind: Mount Kinabalu - Day 6

The Land Below The Wind: Poring Hot Spring - Day 4

On the fourth day, we left the city and headed off towards Mount KK - not the hike up just yet, but we planned to visit the Poring Hot Spring and try the canopy walk at the Kinabalu Park. We were half-way through our Sabah trip and yet this was only the beginning of the real objective of the week long journey.

We were excited of course and along the way, we saw quite a few peaks, which prompted us to started guessing which one was the famous mount that we were supposed to climb the next day. It certainly wasn't difficult to spot the peak that was highest:

A shot of the tallest mount in South-East Asia along the way...

We reached an area with a spectacular view - the place was purposely built for tourist to snap pics of the famous mount. And we didn't allowed ourselves to miss this chance ;p

Moi with the mount...
We shall make the attempt tomorrow! Unfortunately not all will be making it...
Right opposite the photo-op area, there is a whole row of stalls selling souvenirs and the like

And how can I not pick something back from the Land Below the Wind? Haha...this is my second orang utan t-shirt; the first was a souvenir from a friend when he went over to Sabah for a trip - has been years since then...

One last shot of the "Gunung Kinabalu"

After that stop, we headed straight for the Kinabalu park to have our lunch in a restaurant just outside the said park.

In the park, we started off with a 30 minute (or so) documentary on the park and watch beautiful scenes of the mount, the area surrounding it and also the flora that inhabits the land. It only wet our appetite more for the next two days.

Oh...and we also discovered why the place was called "Poring" Hot Spring. Poring stands for bamboo in the Kadazan Dusun language. And bamboo can be found aplenty in that area.

After that it was off to canopy walk - we left the hot spring for last ;p

"Take nothing but photographs...leave nothing but footprints..."

A picture taken with some very old "poring"

Taking a break after a short hike up to the canopy walk area

Going up for the canopy walk...wait...there is a photo-op!

Posing while on the canopy...hehe probably just to prove she is not scared ;p
It's 100 to 200 feet above the forest floor.

Hey! I'm pretty steady myself...hehe the sun glasses helps with the look ;p

A very tall tree and must be very old too...that's how the canopy walk is suspended from these trees...

Next destination: Hot Spring!

This is actually a swimming pool - with very very cold water ;pNow this is a "hot pool" - very hot one that has not been mixed with some cold water
Hehe...I don't think anyone tried this...
Now, this is where we waited to fill our "tubs" with hot water (plus some cold water to make the "dip" a bit more bearable). These are public bath tubs and are free to be used. It took pretty long (like an hour) to fill up the tub with water...enough water to dip in anyway.

You can also pay to use the private tubs for RM15/hour

Getting in before it gets filled up :P It was taking too long!

I was sun burnt...and still went for a dip. Hehe should really be doing this after the tiring hike...Oh well...time didn't permit. So if you are going to Mount KK, make sure you visit Poring Hot Spring after the climb down.

It was pretty satisfying...though was feeling a bit tired from over-soaking ourselves in water that was too hot ;p

And the worse thing after that was that it started to rain...cats and dogs. Some of us ran all the way back to the main building where our transport was waiting - and got throughly wet. The rest took their time for the rain to petter out before making the attempt.

Anyway, it was a relaxing day before the real deal. So the next thing we did was to head to a hotel, which was about 30 minutes from the Mesilau trail start point, to take a rest. Dinner was covered in our package and we got a chance to try out some local alcohol too ;p It was sweet and I'll probably get drunk on it - often - if it was sold in Penang lol! ;p

More to come in: The Land Below The Wind: Mount Kinabalu - Day 5