Realising a 'Childhood Dream'

This is the start of the journey of realising a ‘childhood dream’.

Since poly days, we have been talking about travelling round the world and exposing ourselves to different cultures. Back then, we have lots of time to dream but no $ to splurge.

Finally, in May 2000, out of the 7 of us, 6 managed to go for a 6-month internship OVERSEAS!
The rest went to different parts of Australia and I went to UNITED KINGDOM!
Needless to say, the 6 months was a wonderful experience and it bonded us even more – though I am millions of miles away from them =(

Out of the many ideas we had, scaling the highest climber-friendly mountain in Southeast Asia – Mount Kinabalu was one of them. (Mount Kinabalu is ranked the 5th highest mountain in Southeast Asia.)

This idea was reignited during a BBQ session in January 09.

People involved – Joyce, Ping (it was a graduation trip for her), Qin, Lynn and me.

Rumours said that we have to book 6 months ahead for the climb due to the limited accommodation at Laban Rata – a mountain ‘resort’ for a night stay before the summit climb.

As we were only 4 months away from our desired climb dates, we frantically asked Sanctuary Lodge for accommodation availability but in vain. We then approach several tour agencies like One-Borneo, which gave us exorbitant quotations.

We finally settled with Exotic Adventures – which gave us a reasonable rate with little hassle of arrangement from our end. We spent approximately S$500 per pax, inclusive of airfare.
(You can save ~S$100/pax if you do all the planning and arrangement yourself)

People around me were awed when I told them about our Kinabalu Quest; partially because it is an all-girls team on this Quest.
More and more ‘horror stories’ from friends and blogs slowly surfaced as we planned for the trip.

Finally, we decided that training was vital. Lynn and I embarked on a weekly 2-hr Bukit Timah Hill hike with 1.5 L of water in our backpacks.

Joyce and Qin joined us occasionally but Ping, only once – due to studies commitment.

The hike always ended with a yummy lunch at Bukit Timah Hawker Centre.

Yummy Satay Beehoon & my favourite Sugarcane drink @ Bt. Timah Hawker Centre

To train harder, Joyce, Lynn and I took up kickboxing classes; Qin trained more with Apple; but exam-stricken Ping still did not train till two weeks before the climb (when her exams finally ended)

We started to do our mini vertical limit rounds up flights and flights of stairs at our flats. We make it a point to climb up the stairs but take the lift down, so as not to over-exert our knee joints – Clever ah?

One week before the trip, we embarked on a shopping spree at Army market and Mustafa Centre to pick up our necessities. Stuffs over there are real cheap. All in all, we spent about S$30/pax. (Of course, we did bargain a little.)

A rough list of what we bought and the price:
1. Trekking pole – It has a suspension & a torch, very good for support. S$10
2. Gloves – the army green ones & it doesn’t get wet. S$1
3. Gloves – a black one with a grip at the palm area S$3
4. Trackpants – not really water resistant but it block the wind S$6
5. Poncho – the army kind, very useful S$6
6. Headlight (21 LED, white light) S$6
7. Some food – Digestive biscuit, Uncle toby, Milo packs

Our parents were worried and tried to dissuade us from going, but we were adamant. Joyce informed her mum of the trip only the morning of set-off.

Rebellious, aren’t we? =p

.......... Day 1