Scaling down Mount Kinabalu

Third Day (14th Feb 2009)

……That morning.....after enjoying the sunrise and took several individual as well as group pictures…we slowly walked down the Low’s Peak…why la we penat-penat climb up then in the end kita turun juga..haha…I think it was almost 8am and the heat coming from the sun’s beginning to burn my skin…I had an experience during my 2nd trip when I got burnt…totally black…darker than black??..haha…charcoal la suda tu… there have this one particular person (a Japanese/Korean tourist I think)…he really appreciated his moment up there…I’ve forgotten the whole sentence…but it sounds something like this I guess..”… leave nothing but memories..” and that was exactly what he’s doing…he left his ultimate treasure up there…he wasn’t even cared about us around him…dengan selamba dia membuka dan menghembus meninggalkan kenangan “I was here..”...haha…I was leading the pack that morning as I knew how much it hurts to put too much strain to my leg/knees walking down the hilly mountain…I walked as fast as I could to and after 20 minutes I couldn’t even see the group behind….well, they were having another photo shot up there, weren’t they? Arrived at the Laban Rata stop after almost an hour and I began to feel the pain…hell with it…first thing I did once I’d arrived was, hang my clothes to keep them dry then cleaned the rest house…Pinny was there playing with her make-up..haha..and thanks Pinny, she helped me to clean the rest house…sweeping, washing the dishes/cups and re-arrange the beds to their original location….some of you might already knew that I’m no fan to messy place…yet I’m flexible…I was so hungry; good time to have a hot Maggie Mee and Coffee…I tell you, the feeling whilst eating the Maggie Mee up there isn’t something you can have everyday…haha…I went out several times to check up my clothes (if suda kering)….I didn’t wear any clothes (only jeans la..basah kena pelug) and it isn’t a good idea to open your clothes up there although you think the sun will keep you warm…once you’ve realized, you’re not a Dusun/Kadazan anymore…people might thinks you’re a pilak..hahaha…I was left no choice ba...there have this one uncle, a staff himself and I believe he has nothing to do other than waiting for his fellow guides to return to office and report their journey…I spent some of my time chatting with him about Mount Kinabalu and the new track called Via Verata…then there were several stories about missing climbers on Mount Kinabalu, unpredicted weather as well as numbers of climber throughout the years…I even asked him how one needs to do to become a guide and how does it feel to live there (10 days holiday per month)

Ini la kejadian apabila tersangat awal sampai di puncak... (me, Defoo, Dogoes and Mamai)

It was around noon, when the others arrived….some have gone straight to Laban Rata Café to have their lunch and some heading straight to bed…Mamai arrived and took his time to rest then began packing his stuffs into his beg….half an hour later, me and Mamai decided to walk down back to Timpohon Gate…Tom joined us and there were 3 of us…again, walking down the path we took the day before…susah-susah mahu naik, last-last turun juga…. All there of us were together until…I think it was after the 5th hut from Timpohon Gate when Mamai left me and Tom behind…me and Tom tried to catch Mamai but we just as strong as him…hehe…by the time we reached the 3rd hut from the Timpohon Gate, me and Tom had already lost all our absorber and spring ability in our legs….we slowly walked our way down and finally reach the Timpohon Gate…we were an hour behind Mamai (Tidur-tidur suda si Mamai boring..haha..) I was totally wet by my own sweat…changed my clothes then walked into the bus…resting and slept the whole journey back to Kinabalu Park main office…it is around 20 min driving but due to tiredness, I felt like I’ve slept more than an hours…so peaceful...haha….apparently, three of us slept the whole journey…huhu..

We had a mission to buy some groceries for a one night stay in Medang Rest House, Hot Spring Poring that night….without wasting any more time, which was already past 4pm…me, Mamai and Tom in Mamai’s kelisa heading straight to Ranau….stopped at Kundasang to buy some roses…haha…betul ka ni??haha...we were trying to find chilies, lemon and vegy….then melencong mencari “International” as what Tom calls it….I really didn’t get it at first….and still I am until now why he calls some restaurants as “international”...Tom, cuba kenen kau jelaskan???I think what he really meant was, he was looking for something universal…which also means a restaurant that serves ‘halal’ food? betul ka ni atau yang sebaliknya.…haha…So we ended up at this one wooden restaurant (on the right hand side of the road if you’re coming from KK)…Mamai and Tom ordered Mee Tuaran and I ordered a Mee Konomin….the last time I had Mee Konomin was 10 years ago I think when I was still in Sandakan….we were satisfied with the foods+chilies+100Plus…superb!!! And thanks to Tom for his kind heart to pay the food…

We continued our mission in Ranau…I told Mamai to stop at the night market place where we could find chilies and lemon and he did…I took the chance to buy several packs of “lada putih” to be brought back to Penang and he found our chilies and lemon there…then we made another stop at the Sabindo Mini Market to buy more groceries for a decent BBQ, dinner as well as breakfast…unfortunately, Sabindo run out of Ajinomoto….we had to look for any retail shop and we managed to buy it on our way to Poring (a retail shop after the bridge to Lohan)…yes! Finally we arrived at Hot Spring Poring, Mamai collected the Medang Rest House key and we went straight to Medang Rest House……

To be continued...