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...

Conquering Mount Kinabalu

It has been 2 days after the tiring but fun trip to Mount Kinabalu and Poring Hot Spring

I’d say…the trip with newly-acquaintance-friends was fun and adventurous…I had a great time getting to know new faces and new jokes…bunyi macam singa si Kuai consider joke terbaru juga..haha..you’re one hell of a girl Kuai…I don’t know how long one can survive if you were to join a hunting trip at night…haha….unique yet special..

First Day (12th Feb 2009)
First day…everyone was nervous…or was it only me? because I’m a very shy person ba...I kind of arrived earlier than expected and had to wait over 2 hours…no worries though…I wasn’t mad and nor saddened by that…not a biggie…understandable ba Kuai, Zi and Defoo yang ‘main tapuk-tapuk’ di atas bukit…haha…then ada lagi rakaman video durang di dalam kereta...haha..Earlier I had already collected the rooms’ keys (Liwagu Rest House) but I wasn’t feeling good about entering the room without the others….so I waited la kenen dengan tabah until the blue coloured Viva arrived…that early evening about 7pm, I think…we had our dinner at the nearby restaurant, opposite the junction to Kinabalu Park…if I wasn’t mistaken, it’s called Pinarata…and had a nice small ice-breaking chat…I was with Kuai, Zi, Lumis, Pinny, Bopp, Defoo and Gidong at the same table whilst the others…Mamai, Sumpitz, Gurangak, Dogoes, Tom, Nokurogia and Kupi at another table next to us (click their names to get more updates and pictures)….right after dinner, the entire members went up to the Liwagu Rest House and had a nice warm shower in the darkness…another ice breaking afterwards where each of us had to introduce ourselves to the members...then the climax of the night was a bottle of Chivas courtesy of Gurangak along with fun game of cards…

Second Day (13th Feb 2009)
As early as 6am..I woke up and washed my face...went down to the Raflesia Restaurant to have my breakfast...I was so hungry and I couldn’t bare any longer to throw some shit out of my ass….terkimut-kimut terkena air sejuk...haha…the bathroom door in our room can not be locked even closed ba..hehe..nanti terbangun orang dengar hembusan nafas dari belakang…haha…I had a decent breakfast buffet…fried rice+egg+waffle+bread+orange juice…then another cup of hot coffee with the others at the Liwagu Rest House before we spent another an hour waiting for the bus to transport us to the Timpohon Gate as well as an arrangement for porters to carry some others stuffs to our next stop at the mid-top of Mount Kinabalu….several group pictures were taken and at around 9:20am we off to the Timpohon Gate then began our journey up to Laban Rata stop…we left the Tompohon Gate at around 9:40am that morning…I was with Mamai, Tom, Sumpitz leading the way up but later after the 4th hut…there were only me and Sumpitz struggling to reach Laban Rata stop..Mamai and Tom arrived and had their lunch at Laban Rata Café about 20 minutes earlier than me and Sumpitz…if I wasn’t mistaken it was already 30 minutes past 2pm…four of us then went to the rest house where we were planned to stay/rest….had our rest/sleep whilst waiting the others to arrive…and finally at about 6pm, everyone was there resting and some chatting about about their journey up from Timpohon Gate…spent the whole night inside the rest house to get enough rest before another challenge to the Low’s Peak of Mount Kinabalu at 2:30am….Kuai Love introduced us with her friend ‘L’ and she was kind enough to prepare a decent breakfast for us (Me, Mamai, Defoo, Kuai, Zi, Tom and Nokurogia)..Thanks kio L…hehe..ada apple and orange lagi..haha…

Third Day (14th Feb 2009)
We walked from Laban Rata at about 2:30am slowly making our way up to the peak….climbing up the rocky mountain using ready made rope and several staircase to heaven was difficult enough…it was to me…and I’m pretty sure most of the members felt the same tiredness as me…except for Mamai who always looked strong..maintaininng his step towards the peak…there were me, Mamai and Dogoes when we reached the Sayat-Sayat Gate and when it was already 1km from the Low’s Peak….Dogoes was already way behind us, leaving me trying to keep up with Mamai’s pace…I failed and he left me when it was about 500m way up to the Low’s Peak…Mamai was the first to reach the Low’s Peak at about 5:20am that morning, followed by me and Dogoes couple of minutes later…then came Defoo, Sumpitz and Gurangak….Kuai was the first woman in the group to reach the Low’s Peak though…. too bad Pinny, Zi and Kopi didn’t make it to the top…at least you ladies tried kan…there’s always next time…Thanked God for the good weather we had during the whole trip up Mount Kinabalu…we were given a clear sky…bright moon and stars…calm night without any strong wind at all…..

To be continued….