We have been in Kota Kinabalu for 2 days now. KK is the capital of Sabah in North Borneo. The city is relatively clean and so is the sea. You can even see tropical fish just off the footpath. We spent the past two days exploring the city and visiting the places that I went to last year (Angus, I went to BED, but it cost RM15 entry, so decided not to go in).
I am not sure what it is, I have been getting very picky with the food. I mean, eating out every lunch and dinner sounds fancy, but there's only so much noodles/rice/cheap meals that I can handle. After all these weeks, I know it sounds soooo like me, but I have started to crave vegetables. We went to dinner last night - all I ate was green beans and tofu and rice. I think I am definitely still sick?!
Because we are climbing Mt Kinabalu tomorrow, we decided to acclimatise by staying at Mesilau Nature Resort which has an elevation of 1800m above sea level. We caught two buses to get to the Park Headquarter and a private ride to Mesilau. It's really funny - this bus tout was calling for customers by making mouse-like noises with his mouth. A couple of times I thought there were really mice, but it was just him really. After we got off the bus, it was freeeezing cold. It was a great change from the humid weather in KK and rest of Malaysia.
Mesilau Resort is right next to the entrance to the Mesilau route (more challenging) to the summit. The only accommodation we could afford was a dorm. It is probably the most expensive dorm in the world. It cost us RM100 each which is 4 times what we normally pay for a double/twin. Luckily we were the only 2 people in the whole dorm building. We had the whole building for our own use and we even got to boil ourselves some hot water for tea. We were contemplating testing every single bed to find out which one is the most comfortable, but decided that it could be a waste of time.
The Mesilau route was very scenic and challenging. It was very very very challenging compared to the normal route. Sure, I was very tired last year (thanks to Angus who insisted on going to BED the night before till like midnight when we had to get up at 6:30am for the pickup), but this year I nearly died after 2km. It was uphill as soon as we passed the checkpoint. There was mud, big steps, rocks and waterfalls and heaps of rickety ladders. But the scenery was great and there were not many climbers on the route. The track was heaps narrower compared to the normal route.
After the first 2km of uphill walking, my body started to feel exhausted. Distance on the track was supposedly marked every 0.5km. I am so sure that it was wrongly marked to trick people. Sometimes I walked for 20 minutes and still hadn't see the sign. Unfortunately our guide seemed to agree with the sign and confirmed that we had only gone like 250m. From here onwards, it was mostly a mind game of how far I could go.
We were however very blessed with the weather. We only endured patchy showers considering that it was raining the whole week up in the mountain. Our guide advised that the weather in the mountain is very unpredictable and can change any minute. I felt like I was up in the Himalayas. My Gore-tex rain jacket kept me nice and dry (thank you mother!).
It was very hard climbing Mt Kinabalu especially since I am still recovering from the virus. Every step felt like it weighed a tonne and I felt it was draining my body away bit by bit. I was gasping for air and it seemed that I could not get enough of it. The road to Laban Rata (guesthouse before the summit ascent the next morning) was just too far away from where I was considering I was going less than 1km per hour. It was a serious struggle.
It was pretty fun walking in the clouds. It was like walking in mist except the clouds are going by beside you. And no, you can't really eat them. You just get wet gradually.
Naomi also decided to pace herself off and left me stranded with our guide. He is a very talkative man. We were talking about everything from our trip, to Australia to conservation of parks in Malaysia to how to win lottery and what will we spend the lotto money on. Very talkative man. He was very discouraging at times especially when I asked him how far the next hut is and he answered that it was still far away and that I needed to pick up the pace or else we might not make it in daylight. Besides that, he is very knowledgeable about the environment and he even helped me to find pitcher plants.
Almost 10 hours later, we reached Laban Rata. This is almost 5.5 hours longer than what it took me last year. By that stage, I already felt that I was on top of the world.
I was that exhausted, I hardly touched that dinner buffet. For those knowing me well, there must be something wrong with me for me not to want to eat at least 5 plates of the buffet food.
We shared a room with an older American couple. I nearly fainted when they told me that it took them 2.5 hours to come up to where we were. They are from Colorado where the mountains are colder and higher than Mt Kinabalu. I consoledmyself a bit with this and also that they went on the easier normal route to Laban Rate. Naomi also managed to scare them off coming to Australia with stories of crocodiles, sharks, snakes and jellyfish.
At that stage, my body was just so exhausted and was in pain, I decided not to climb to the summit the next day. It was a shame as I really wanted to say that I did it via both routes, but I just knew that I probably would be more sick if I forced myself to the summit.
Oh, hot shower finished by the time I got to our room. The water was freeeeeezging cold. I am talking that you put your hands in there for 10 seconds you can't feel your finger kind of cold. Yep, deodrant saved the day.
Naomi woke me up at 1:30am and I still decided to rest and not to risk for the summit. I am pretty proud of her though, after what we did to get up here and that she had 1 hour sleep and still wanted to go to the summit. I think I used all my adrenalin and excitement in the last year's climb.
I waited for her to come back from 8am and was very worried that what happened if she fell down the rock face. Luckily she and the guide turned up at 8:15am. She was very excited on making to the summit and now that we are equal in our mountain climbing achievements again....maybe I need to do more trips without her to climb big mountains to stay ahead again.
It was sooo much easier on the way down. It rained heaps though. I am so glad that it only showed a bit yesterday. If it did bucketed down like today, I would not have made it to Laban Rata in daylight. We could not see the track at some parts because it was flooded. It was pretty cool to walk in the rain. I was well prepared with my rain jacket and pants and had my important stuff in the dry bag. The rain and the flood did clean my boots a bit though. They were very dirty on the ascent and by the time I got to the finish line they were just a little muddy.
I am still pretty proud of myself after we got back safely to the park headquarter. It was such a relief that we made it back after almost 10 hours of hiking the first day and 4.5 hours hiking the next for me and 9 hours for Naomi. I think just the effort needs to be congratulated.
We got back here and Naomi slept for 15 hours from 6:30pm. Deja vu. - P.
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