vlongweekendkinabalu

Useful Links

2009-06-28T10:49:00.007+08:00

About Mt. Kinabalu/Preparation for climb
1. Source 1
2. Source 2

Accomodation on Mt. Kinabalu
1. Sutera Sanctuary Lodges - You can book your accomodations for Mt KK here. Laban Rata is the only building there with heater. Meals are served in Laban Rata only. You can also find out about the fees that will be incurred for the climb.

Accomodation at KK town
1. Xplorer Backpackers - The one we stayed in. Good location and clean rooms. (reviews)
2. Akinabalu Youth Hostel - (reviews)
3. Trekkers Lodge - (reviews)
4. North Borneo Cabin - (reviews)
5. Summer Lodge - (reviews)
6. Alpine Homestay
7. List of accomodations on Sabah Tourism Board Website

Tour Agency
You can book the accomodations/transport on your own at the above links. Otherwise, the tour agencies can help you arrange for an extra fee.
1. Exotic Adventure - The agency we used
2. List of Tour operators on Sabah Tourism Board Website

After Thoughts...

2009-06-11T19:42:00.010+08:00

A few lessons learnt from this trip:-

Mountain climbing is not meant for people with short legs (inspired by Joyce)
Persistance and determination are the necessary ingredients for success (inspired
by Qin & Ping)
One should never overestimate one's abilities (inspired by Lynn)
Always respect your body!

Though this was the most torturing trip we ever had, it strengthened our friendship even more.

We decided that, one day, we would travel the world together, with a backpack

The 1st dreamtraveller destination was a graduation trip for Joyce, Lynn, Viv and myself – a 6-day trip to Hong Kong/Macau in 2007.

The 2nd destination was Taiwan. In 16-days, Lynn, Viv and myself covered Taiwan from Taipei all the way till Taichung. We vowed to return to cover the rest of the southern Taiwan.

And now, we have conquered our 3rd destination – Mount Kinabalu!

Where shall we go next?

courtesy of 1600 squirrels

Day 6 -- Saturday, 23 June 2009

2009-06-11T00:45:00.019+08:00

Were recommended by yesterday's driver uncle that Kinabalu has nice noodles, so we decided to give it a try. We woke up early and went to this coffee shop near Xplorer Backpackers. It was packed with people. It has a noodles stall and a laksa stall.

The malay auntie who took orders was very interesting - "what do you want to eat?" She said "we have MeeGia,MeePok,....,BanMien." She was speaking so fast that it sounded like a rap. It took us awhile to understand what she was trying to say =p

We ordered (Left) Mee Kia Soup and (Right) Mee Pok Dry. The noodles were average, but the char siew was delicious.

After breakfast, we got ready for check-out. The check-out time for Xplorer Backpackers is 1pm. As we will only be back from rafting at around 2pm, we did an early check-out.

Qin wanted to throw away her shoes which are still in good conditions. Reason being Apple will buy her another one... Greedy Qin! =p

Xplorer Backpackers allowed us to deposit our luggage at the small corner to the left of the reception. We were also allowed to use their facilities when we were back from rafting which was pretty nice of them.

It was a 1.5 hrs ride from Xplorer Backpackers to the Asia Paddler Whitewater centre. The journey is said to have a spectacular view of Mt. Kinabalu, paddy fields, water buffulos and Kiulu village. However, the drive was too bumpy for me. To prevent motion sickness from setting in, I willed myself to sleep after taking a motion sickness pill and putting on the seaband. I still felt a little giddy upon arrival at our destination but no serious symptoms.

There are 4 different grades of river for rafting in Kota Kinabalu.
Class 1-2 – Kiulu River
Class 1-3 – Kadamaian River
Class 3-4 – Padas River
Class 2-3 – Liwagu River

As we had a non-swimmer (Ping) and a first time rafter (Joyce) in our group, we chose the Class 1-2 – Kiulu River, which turned out to be the right choice.
All the other rivers require a full day rafting; Kiulu River is the only one with the half day rafting.

Kiulu River Rafting Tour

We were each given a life jacket, a helmet and a paddle before being divided into groups.

There were a total of 5 rafts. We had 8 people on our raft – 5 of us, a couple and the guide. The rafting tour began with a briefing session from our guide. He showed us how to use the paddle and how to get back onto the raft after a capsize. Then we all clambered onto the raft before our guide pushed the raft into the river.

Kiulu River is a rather calm river. Its shallowness (compared to the Xiugulu River Lynn and me went through in Taiwan, Hualien) resulted in less exciting rapids. It’s almost impossible to capsize unless you allow yourself to. Nevertheless, it suited us at that moment – we are still too tired for any extreme activities.

(Left) Padas River (Right) Kiulu River - Can you see the difference?

Our raft often get stuck on the big rocks on the river bed due to the shallowness of the river, but our guide always got us out of the fix by getting us to shift our weight to the front or the back of the raft.

The rocks, however, allowed us to ‘park’ our raft when we need to. There is one instance when our guide’s helmet fell into water. He parked the raft on one of the big rocks while waiting for the helmet to float within reach – it’s pretty cool to watch him manipulate the raft.

Our guide also tried to made the rafting experience more ‘exciting’ by doing little stunts like trying to push Joyce overboard and pouring water over my head @_@
It was entertaining watching Joyce’s reaction =p

There are several parts of the river (known as natural calming pools) where we can stop and jump in for a cooling swim.

It was during the first stop that we came to know that the group in the other 4 rafts are members of the Harley Davidson Club! They rode all the way here from Brunei!!! It’s likely that they were the same group we saw on the way down from Mt. Kinabalu, though we did not have a chance to ask.

Ping decided to try swimming in the river. She had her life jacket on so the probability of her drowning was pretty low. However, to be on the safe side, I decided to stay beside her. True enough, she started to panic as we drifted away from the river bank to the middle of the river – she no longer could feel the stones beneath her. She held on to me tightly. I tried in vain to convince her that the life jacket would keep her afloat and she could let go of me and try swimming – I was, after all, within reach. After a few round of failed persuasion, I decided that she should return to shore.

However, with my Teva sandals on and Ping clinging on me, I couldn’t move upstream no matter how hard I swam. We could see Lynn, Joyce and Qin happily climbing up rocks and diving into the river with the rest of the groups but they seemed not to realise our ‘disappearance’ and we tried in vain to catch their attention. =(

Finally, I gave up trying and told Ping “Let’s drift with downstream to the opposite river bank and let the raft picked us up later. It should be easier that way.”

I meant to calm her down by saying this. Instead, she panicked more. -_-

Left with no choice, I shouted loudly to the nearest guide (who was still quite far away). Coupled with some hand gesture, I managed to get him to understand that help was needed!

He swam towards us and took Ping away from me. At last, I am able to swim forward.

Exhausted, we sat at the river bank watching the others play.

Shortly, we were on the raft again. The raft drifted slowly along with the river flow allowing us to enjoy the tranquil surroundings.

The quiet moment was shattered when Qin looked into the water and absentmindedly made a comment on the water skaters in the river. She said “(Chinese) (hmmm…the kungfu masters must have learnt to walk on water by observing these little creatures…)”

We burst out laughing and once again the raft was full of laughter and chatter.

This is just so ‘Qin’. She never fails to generate funny ideas.

At the last natural calming pool, our guide taught us to perform a high 5 with our paddles by first, holding up and touching each others’ paddles (the high 5) followed by slapping the paddles on the water surface with a loud ‘PIAK’.
But no matter how hard we tried, we only managed a dull ‘thud’ and a pain in our arms….

Then we paddled full force towards the ending point where our BBQ lunch was waiting for us.

Our mischievous Guide & us

Our lunch & it's finishing fast...

Thanks to the Harley Davidson Group, we had a more sumptuous lunch – they actually changed the menu of the BBQ!

It was 2pm when we were back in Xplorer Backpackers. After bath, we decided to laze at the TV area, watching TV.

Soon, it was 5pm. As our flight is at 11pm, we had to find somewhere which will allow us to have a long dinner.

We chose the Italian restaurant at Jesselton Hotel.

After exploring the menu for 20 minutes, we put in our first round of order ...

Appetizer(Shitake Mushroom with spinach - This is yummy! The spinach was mixed with some light mayonnaise and the taste blended very well with the mushroom.

Seafood spaghetti (Dry) -This is nice too. The seafood used was fresh and the noodles was nicely done.

Pizza - This is not as nice as the two dishes before. Though the seafood used was just as fresh, the pizza base sauce did not blend in well enough.

We had to remind ourselves repeatedly to eat slowly. We took the extra effort to chew more before swallowing. It was difficult at first but soon we got the 'hang' of it!

The second round ...

Calamari

Lamb stew

The calamari and lamb stew were nothing fantastic. We decided to move on to the dessert.

I suggested ordering 2 desserts to be shared between the 5 of us as I was never a dessert person and I was already quite full.

The Tiramisu was horrible! Never had I tasted such a yucky Tiramisu - the cake was soggy and the rum wasn't fragrant at all!

Yummy Brownie with oogling hot chocolate

This was the kind of dessert that even I, the non-dessert person couldn not resist! It was simply too delectable! The bubbling hot chocolate was rich but not overly sweet. It tasted heavenly together with the crusty brownie! We were so in love with the dessert that we ordered another one.

The chef indicated on the menu that he invented this dessert for his wife - his wife must have felt very touched when she ate this!

Finally, our last drinks...(I bet the manager must have had enough of us by now =p)

(Left)Green apple Juice (Right)Green apple+pineapple juice)

Joyce waiting 'anxiously' for her drink...

Is this what I have ordered?

Qin got a super yucky strawberry milkshake which we suspected that the ice cream was spoiled @_@

Finally, something decent!

It was 8pm when we called for the bill! Despite eating so much, the bill turned out to be rather reasonable as there was a 50% discount promotion going on at that moment. =D

We then headed back to Xplorer Backpackers as the airport transfer was supposed to pick us up at 8.30pm.

Taking photo while waiting for the transport to arrive (Photoshop edited =p)

9pm: The transport still had not arrived! Angrily, I called Alvin Quek (our contact from Exotic Adventure) who said he will check it out for me. Five minutes later, he called back saying that the arranged transport had broke down on the way here and he would arranged another transport for us.

We were so pissed. If the arranged tranport had indeed broken down, he should have already been informed about it and not only know when I called him! It must have slipped his mind to arrange for the transport!

Moments later, I recieved an SMS from him saying that the newly arranged transport would only arrived at 9.30pm and assured us that we would not missed the flight. He did not even date to call me!-_-

The transport arrived alight before 9.30pm. The driver sped all the way. Luckily, we did reach KKIA safe and sound, and in time for check-in.

We still had time for a departure shot!

Waiting to board the flight

Stop disturbing me...Let me read!

DND!

..............................

HOME SWEET HOME!

Thank you Alan & Yiting for giving me a ride home!

.......... After Thoughts

Day 5 -- Friday, 22 May 2009

2009-06-08T19:48:00.016+08:00

Another bright and sunny day.
The aching in our legs seemed to diminish a little.

Today is the “sea, sand and sun” day. We are going to soak ourselves up in the beautiful islands of Manukan and Sapi and enjoy the beauty of the nature that is different from Mt. Kinabalu.

The sea was calm. I enjoyed my boat ride to the islands with getting any seasick symptoms.

Jesselton Point - Kota Kinabalu was formely known as Jesselton. Jesselton point is a ferry terminal where people commute to the nearby islands.

Ticketing center @ Jesselton Point

Nice calm sea

Pulau Manukan - 20 minutes boat ride from Jesselton Point.

We are getting really good at 自拍 (self take photos)

Qin recovered from her fever and was back to her hyper self. She could not resist snorkling in the beautiful sea.

The rest of us were contented with immersing in the sea which soothe our muscles; Ping was hiding somewhere in the shade.

Joyce and Lynn were fascinated with the ikan bilis

After snorkling an hour, Qin has another mission on hand....

As Qin approached the sea, we quickly got out of the water and engaged ourselves with some bonding games... (the cards were loaned from Xplorer Backpackers)

Beautiful Suntanning area on Pulau Manukan

Leaving Pulau Manukan for Pulau Sapi

At Pulau Sapi - we should have self-take instead....

(Left) The kitchen; (Right) The dining area

BBQ buffet lunch - The lunch was included in the island hopping tour. The seafood were super fresh, we had a second helping of everything except the fried rice, beehoon and cauliflowers =p

2 Huge iguanas on the Pulau Sapi - they looked pretty harmless; We were told that iguanas are vegetarians.

Sea Sand & Sun!!!

I love this - Super Baywatch feel

It was 1pm when we left Sapi island. Uncle driver drove us back to Xplorer Backpackers to freshen up.

After shower, we play cards again – Donkey this time.

After a few rounds, the punishment multiplied for 1 squat (the most difficult action for us right now) to 4 squats

The last battle between me and Joyce.......

And I lose......

The 4 squats were excruciating, unbearingly painful. After the punishment, I decided I need more Salonpas.

A dinner place arrange by Exotic Adventure. We were contemplating our supper choices in case the food was not nice but were pleasantly surprised to find the food rather delectable. The helping was huge too. We could not finish the food.

Needless to say, there was no need for supper. =p

We went hunting for Salanpas after dinner. There were none!

However, there was another brand 脱苦海 (escape from misery). It was pretty effective. Like what the brand said, we escaped from misery after using it. The pain was almost gone by the next morning.

At last, a good sleep...

Another postcard to document our feelings at that time:

We have decided to postponed the Nepal trip indefinately!

.......... Day 6 (Last day)

Day 4 -- Thursday, 21 May 2009

2009-06-08T17:38:00.016+08:00

We did not plan for anything today.
We meant it to be a free & easy day.
We slept in late.
We left for breakfast at 10am. (It’s the same bread and jam at Xplorer Backpackers so we decided to give it a miss.)
We limped down the staircase of Xplorer Backpackers.
It was a funny sight – all 5 of us holding onto the railing of the staircase and descending the staircase in a single file, sideway.
Even the receptionist could not resist the urge to laugh.
It’s quite embarrassing but we could not waste the day hiding in the room.
We decided to go for a massage after breakfast, hoping that the pain would go away after that.

Different types of tea

Our breakfast - the braised pork is the most tasty of all!

Gaya Foot Reflexology is just beside Xplorer Backpackers. After listening to what they have to offer us, we opted for the “Aroma Leg Massage”, which was said to be able to soothe the muscles and ease muscle aches.

Gaya Foot Reflexology

We went to the washroom as the massage therapists prepared the rooms for us. To our dismay the washroom has a traditional squat style toilet, which users had to squat to use the toilet. Our aching muscles made the process feel like overcoming an obstacle course with high difficulty. We winced at every inch we moved to lower ourselves to use the toilet and at every inch as we went up after that.

After the washroom episode, our legs hurt even more. We limped painfully to our assigned rooms.

Ping and Qin shared a room; Lynn shared a room with me; Joyce had a room to herself.

Massage in progress - taken by Joyce whose massage session ended half hr earlier than us.

The initial part of the massage was comfortable; I can feel my calves muscles loosen up. However, as the therapist pressed onto my stiff thigh, the pain was almost unbearable. I grimaced at each attack on my protesting muscles but I bit my lips as I struggled to endure it in silence. Beside me, I could sense that Lynn was doing the same too.

Next door, I could hear Ping screaming in pain.

Joyce, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying her massage – she even requested her therapist to increase the pressure as she was feeling ticklish!

Our legs (except for Joyce) felt worse after the massage.

Descending was still a problem!

We even had trouble going up and down the kerbs when crossing the roads. Walking around it was an easier choice!

Despite walking like old ladies, we were determined not to waste the day. We visited the Central Market, KK Plaza, Warisan Square and finally stopped at Port View Seafood Village Restaurant at the Waterfront.

Harbor View

Big red dried shrimps from Sandakan - We each bought a kg back for our mothers

Qin's mum said that the purple organic wild rice from the mountains are good for health - I bought half a kg back for Gran.

Port View Seafood Village Restaurant @ Waterfront

Joyce read online about the fresh seafood served at Port View and we decided give it a try. We spent a long time looking for the restaurant. The locals apparently did not the location of Waterfront well as we were directed in all sorts of direction except the right one. When we finally reached Port View, we were dead beat, dehydrated and our legs were aching badly.

To make things worst, I had a tummy ache. I went straight to the washroom upon arrival at Port View while the others went ahead to take order.

I had a hard time in the washroom going through the same ordeal with the traditional squat style toilet. With the soreness fully unleashed onto my muscles, it was virtually impossible for me to descend. I had to use my hand on the walls as support before I can finally relieve myself with much agony. I spent a good 20 minutes inside; never knew that this could be such a chore.

When I join the rest at the table, I found them fuming mad. There was no food at the table, not even a pot of tea.

I was told that the staff insisted that the minimum order was 1kg for each seafood and would not take any order lesser than that. Joyce tried to explain that there were only 5 of us and we would like to try some of the other dishes too; hence, it would not make sense for us to order 1kg of each seafood. However, the staff ignored her comment and left them at the table with some menus.

The staff did not even come back to follow up on the orders or offer us some other solutions. They just left us sitting there!

What kind of customer service is that?! Is double standard a common practice with them? Such that customers in t shirts and shorts are treated as dirt? Perhaps they thought that we were not going to spend enough to deserve their service, so they rather not do our business?

Whatever the reason, we were very pissed off. We cancelled the order and went off. We ended up taking a cab back as we were too tired to walk anymore. My aching legs coupled with a bad tummy left me with no appetite. We had a light dinner at a nearby KFC before heading back to Xplorer Backpackers.

Who knows, we were locked out. Sighz...what an unlucky day!

Seeing that Lynn is so crazy over the Naruto anime at moment, Qin suggested we try getting a Naruto figurine for her from a toy dispenser. But we got this instead. Can you see the resemblance?

After a hot shower, we once again coated our legs with Counterpain and Salonpas – we finished everything that was left!

It wasn’t long before we discovered that Qin was down with a fever. Her face was scorching hot but she refused to take medicine. She insisted that she was ok but she was already looking daze and she started to babble senselessly non-stop.

Unable to take her senseless gibber anymore, Joyce forced two Panadol down her throat and made her sleep.

Lynn started having sniffing away too. This trip really did stretch our bodies to the limit....

That night, the pain from our post-massage muscles set in. It was so painful that every toss and turn in bed woke us up. My tummy ache wasn’t getting better too – I kept feeling bloated and wanting to visit the washroom.

I woke up at 2am to find Joyce sitting up on the bed too. Her muscles and backache had 'finally' set in. Though the set in was slower than the rest of us, it was just as agonizing. She couldn’t get back to sleep.

I went back to sleep after another round of washroom-struggle.
Joyce still couldn’t sleep – she went to the balcony to call to her hubby to whine about her sufferings but this didn’t help to reduce her misery.

Finally, at 4am, when fatigue exceeded pain and self-pity, Joyce joined us in the la-la land.

.......... Day 5

Day 3 -- Wednesday, 20 May 2009 (Part 2)

2009-06-07T17:09:00.020+08:00

CONTINUE...

It was super windy at Laban Rata. Qin took a video to illustrate how strong the wind was.

The downwards journey was tougher than expected. The endless steps were extremely strenuous on my knee-joints, I used to think that going up the steps is bad enough; going down is worse. If only we had trained going down during our Bukit Timah Hill hike, we would not be in such a bad shape climbing down! =(

Nani used only a umbrella which double as rain shelter & support

Starting to feel the aching in our legs

Tired as she was, Joyce insisted on taking a photo with the pitcher plant on the way down

We did not make many rest-stops as it will break our momentum and pain in the legs will set in faster but we were still way too slow. The last 3km was torturing – I thought my legs would give way and I would just die there. Both my legs were in pain - from the foot to the thigh! Looking at my buddies, they were no better off.

The only rest stop we had at Layang Layang Hut to replenish our energy

It was really amazing to see how easily the porters hopped up to Laban Rata despite the weight they were carrying

TIRED!

EXHAUSTED!

I couldn’t help thinking ‘What are we doing here, TORTURING ourselves?’ We should have just gone for a relaxing trip at the beaches!

After what seemed like ages, the endless downwards steps finally ended. The last 500m is leading upwards now. I could see Qin and Joyce and TIMPOHON GATE just in front of me, at the top of the steps, but I simply could not move forward anymore! I had to rest!

Lynn, Ping and me sat down at the bottom of the steps. It took a good 5 minutes for our aching legs to be ready for the final lap.

We collapsed the moment we reached the top of the steps. The Coke and 100 Plus tasted heavenly as they trickled down my throat.

Finally! We are back at Timpohon Gate!

Seeing that we just came back from the mountains, some Malay tourists came over to ask us about the journey. We had no intention of deterring them from a possibly unforgettable experience, so we replied “It was an experience that we never had before!”

But I think they could judge better from the bad shape we were in that time. =p

We took awhile to regain sufficient energy to board the arranged transport back to the headquarters.

Unbelievable Records!

Our black & white certificates - Though we did not reached the summit, it was indeed an unforgettable experience for all of us!

We headed straight for lunch at Balsam Café near the Mount Kinabalu Headquarter. Balsam Café has a very nice ambience – a tranquil garden feel with beautiful flora surrounding it. However, there is one flaw and a critical one – the food is horrible. We didn’t quite enjoy our lunch but had a great time taking photos.

Balsam Café
Balsam Café之“不能说的秘密”(the unspoken secret)

Balsam Café - a nice corner

Interior of Balsam Café

Last glimpse of Mount. Kinabalu

Once again, we boarded the transport arranged by Exotic Adventure. A different driver was assigned to us each day. The van today was terrible – the air-condition was not working, the speedometer was reading zero and the worst thing, the fuel was getting low! For a good 2 hrs, the van seemed to be rolling downhill via gravity. With the setting sun shining on the van, it was like being in an oven.

The terrible van

Halfway into the journey, a traffic policeman on bike appeared out of nowhere and signaled for us to stop by the road side. Then, a few more police cars drove past followed by a van and a pack of bikers on Harley Davidson bikes. A few more police cars followed through after the pack. We had to wait till the whole procession passed through before we were allowed to continue driving. There must be some big shot in the group!

Finally, we reached Xplorer Backpackers and checked in to the same family as we had in Day 1. This time, we had a hot bath! The warm water washed away not only the dirt but also the tiredness. We all felt a lot better after that.

Then it was an hour of slacking before we headed for dinner. The staff at Xplorer Backpacker recommended us to a local dining area near the Wet Market for a BBQ seafood dinner. It was 20-minutes away by foot. Our legs were aching badly but filling our stomachs was more important.

We limped our way to the Wet Market. It was a big hawker area with rows of stalls selling BBQ seafood. It took us awhile to decide which stall to patronize as they all looked the same. The BBQ squid we had, tasted fantastic – it was fresh and sweet, we had a second helping of that. The fish and prawn were mediocre.

The stall that we chosen - we chose the stall which had the most patronisers

The spread that we chose from - we liked the squid the best

After dinner, we took a slow walk back to Xplorer Backpackers. We checked out the Foot reflexology shop next door and decided that we would visit it tommorow.

Getting ready for a mosquito-free sleep with 'Smiley Faces'

In the middle of the night, I was woken up by Ping. She was having a gastric attack. Groping in the dark, I managed to dig out the gastric pills from my bag. She felt better after taking the pills. I must say together with Joyce & Qin’s supply, we had prepared a very comprehensive first aid kit! =)

Slowly, we drifted back to a deep sleep till the next morning.

......... Day 4

Day 3 -- Wednesday, 20 May 2009 (Part 1)

2009-06-07T02:20:00.015+08:00

1 a.m.: I gowned myself in 1 t-shirt, 1 long sleeve, 1 hooded jacket, 1 windbreaker, 1 thermal pants, 2 track pants, 1 beanie, 2 gloves, 2 socks and my weathered asics shoes.

Just as I was wearing my shoes, Joyce walked-in in her ‘layered clothing’ – she was only wearing 2 long sleeves and a pull over for her top! Lynn was no better off – she had only1 knitted long sleeve, 1 t-shirt, 1 windbreaker and 1 jacket.

Looking at their pathetic attire for the bitter weather, we decided to donate some of our clothing to them.

Ping was down with altitude sickness. She vomited a few times in the night and she decided to opt-out for the summit climb. Joyce inherited her winter jacket and scarf while I decided to grace Lynn with my hooded jacket. I then slip-on my back-up down jacket. Yes I was that well-prepared. =p

Putting on the headlight; we were all ready to set off

Outside, the rain was still pattering hard and the wind never stopped howling. We met Nani at the dining area and were told that orders had been passed down to delay set-off till further notice. Despite feeling disappointed, we were glad to have the extra time for breakfast.

Then, on Nani’s cue, we set off into the dark. Its pitch dark the moment we get out of Laban Rata. Even with the help of our 21 LED headlight, we could not further than 1 meter away.

The rain made our way through the slabs of granite stones more challenging. The terrain on the way up consists mostly of large slabs of stones compared to the smaller ones we encountered on the way up to Laban Rata. We had to take extra care so as not to slip on these stones slabs – this slowed us down a lot.

After what seems like ages, we reached Gunding Lagadan Hut, where we were stopped – the rangers at Sayat Sayat Hut said it is too dangerous to proceed to the summit in this weather.

Outside Gunding Lagandan Hut

We were ushered into Gunding Lagadan Hut to wait for further notice.

Disappointed Climbers!

Half hour later, the rain and wind still did not subside. Finally, we were told that the climb to summit had to be aborted!

Disappointed, we hit the road leading back to Laban Rata. The way back was even more daunting. I couldn’t walk more than 10 steps without slipping – I inched forward ever more slowly for the sake of my dear life. When we are nearing Laban Rata, I slipped and fell on my butt. Luckily, my butt is cushioning enough to break the fall. ^_^

My shoes soles had lost all its traction! Moral of the story – Never wear an old pair of shoes during mountain climbing.

At last, we reached Laban Rata.

It’s 3.30am. The 2nd round of breakfast won’t start till 7am, so we decided to go back to bed and catch up on some sleep.

Lynn requested to bunk in with me as she felt too lazy to climb up to her bed. The uncles were still snoring away! Lynn soon fell asleep with the help of her mp3 player.

Lying on the bed and listening to the rainstorm , I couldn’t help feeling relief (despite being disappointed) that we do not need to conquer the last 2.7km in this weather. My shoes would not be able to take the challenge and I am bound to fall more if I carry on.

With a stirred mind, I drifted to sleep.

The sky was cleared by the time we woke up. The views from the windows were breath-taking! It’s a pity that we did not catch the sunrise.

Morning View from Laban Rata

I bought another postcard to document our feelings at this point of time.

Click for a larger view - The Low Peak which we never reached

Making use of resources =p

Postcard to be posted

Mailbox at the souvenier counter

We were sure we will come back again for the summit climb!

After breakfast, it was time to hit the road again.

In Dorm 11

SouthPark! - Joyce is soo cute!

Bye, Dorm 11

We stopped by the Helipad for photo-taking. The views from the Helipad are even more stunning and it was super windy there. There was a volleyball net set up in the middle of the Helipad – though it doesn't seem wise to play volleyball beside a cliff!

View from Helipad

View from Helipad with Laban Rata behind us

Paranoma View

Paranoma View of Laban Rata

Nice View from Mt. Kinabalu

TO BE CONTINUED .......... Day 3 (Part 2)

Day 2 -- Tuesday, 19 May 2009 (Part 2)

2009-06-06T15:53:00.011+08:00

CONTINUE...

After downing a few cups of hot tea, we finally felt rejuvenate enough to move to our dorm – Dorm 11.

Dorm 11 consists of five double-decker beds. A group of five uncles (also 3 Malaysians 2 Singaporeans) shared the room with us. There is a small heater in the room which will be switched on after 7pm.

We hastily unpacked and headed to the common bathroom. There are only 2 bath cubicles – one with icy cold water; one with slightly warmer water. Lynn and I got the latter. But it made no difference; we still jumped as the water hit on our bodies. We bathed as quickly as we could and slip into our warm clothes.

After coating our legs with Counterpain and Salonpas, we hit straight to the dining room for dinner.

Dinner Time!

Hungry climbers filling their stomachs

At 3272m, the food were warm and delicious enough – the black pepper mutton tasted extremely succulent. We all had two helpings except for Joyce who was down with cold as a result of walking in the rain. But even she could not resist eating a 2nd piece of mutton.

It’s postcard time! I chose a nice postcard with the view of the portion of Mt. Kinabalu that we will be climbing in a few hrs time and circulated it round the group for endorsement.

Click it for a larger view

The wind got bigger and the rain pattered hard on the walls of Laban Rata as night fell. But our spirits were high and we were all looking forward to sunrise tomorrow.

After dinner, Nani briefed us on the next day climb. She told us to pack light for the next 2.7km trek that was to come. A small backpack or waist pouch will be ideal.
More warm clothing was required as it would get colder as we ascend. The trekking poles were necessary too for the first part of the journey as well as the journey down; otherwise, our hands should be free to hold on to the white rope that will guide us to the summit. She commented us on our regulated pace on the way up – 6 hrs is the average record for most people. =p Nani said she was proud of our performance! She said that at the speed we'd ascended, we could set off at 2 am for the next day climb and would likely be able to reach the summit before sunrise.
However, as the next day climb would involve more slippery granite stones (these stones slowed us a lot), 'kiasu' Joyce suggested that we set off earlier at 1.30am and we agreed. We were dying to see sunrise!
Then comes the sentence that we did not want to hear.
She told us to prepare for the worst – the climb could be aborted if the weather does not turn for the better! It would be too dangerous to climb up in the heavy rain and howling wind.

We decided to have an early night so as to conserve energy for the climb that is to come. But it was only 8pm! No matter how I tossed and turned in bed, I just couldn’t fall asleep. To make things worst, our room mates (the uncles) started to snore, loudly and in symphony. The snores soon came from all directions – top, back and side. It’s impossible to sleep!
At 9pm, I gave up trying to sleep and groped in the dark for my iphone. With the music drowning the snores, I finally drifted to sleep.
The sleep did not last long. I was soon awakened by Lynn and Ping who were trying to get down from their double decker bed in the dark. As all three of us couldn’t get back to sleep after that, we went down to the dining room for a drink. All was quiet except for the howling wind and pattering rain. Hot water won’t be available till breakfast time at 2am, so we have to satisfy ourselves with plain water.

It is really amazing at how the walls managed to block out the wind and rain. At 3272m, I am gratified to the people who came up with the concept of shelter which protect us from the brutality of the nature. I am also glad that we chose to stay at Laban Rata – at least we do not need to trek in the wind and rain for every meal.

It was nearly midnight when we climbed back onto bed – in an hr time, another quest awaited us.

.......... Day 3 (Part 1)

Day 2 -- Tuesday, 19 May 2009 (Part 1)

2009-06-06T02:09:00.031+08:00

Finally! The day of the adventure!

We all woke up dazed, wondering for a moment where we are. Then excitement, nervousness and anticipation sink in!
Yes, today is the day!.

A sumptuous breakfast should be the way to start this day. But to our disappointment, there were only two loaves of stale-looking bread and some butter. There was a toaster somewhere at the balcony but we were too upset with our breakfast ‘spread’ to attempt to make it nicer. In the end, we decided to dig into our strategic stock – Digestive Biscuits and Milo. Poor Lynn had half of her digestive biscuits eaten up by us. (That was supposed to be her energy booster during the climb as she doesn’t like energy bars.)

Satisfied, we each took an anti-altitude sickness pill and set off to Mount Kinabalu Headquarter which is situated at an elevation of 1563m.

阳光，沙滩，椰树 & Mt. Kinabalu

Mt. Kinabalu, here we come!

It was a 2-hour ride along winding roads to the Headquarter. Though I was equipped with my motion sickness pill and the seaband which I bought for this trip, I felt giddy in no time. I let myself slip into ‘la-la’ land and that helps to curb the giddiness.

Joyce with our Quest route

After registration and collecting our packed lunch, we are all set to go. We are accompanied by a lady guide – Nani and a porter.

Kinabalu Park Headquarter

Our lunch boxes

Fresh and Excited

We took the Summit Trail via the Timpohon Gate.The trail starts with a pathway going down – this was pretty easy.

This doesn't look difficult, right?

We conquer the first 0.5 km with no difficulties.

Joyce & Qin @ Carson Fall

Then, it started to turn misty. Some of us asked: Is it raining? The others insisted: No…it’s just mist!
Nevertheless, we hastened our pace. It would not be nice to be caught in a thunderstorm in the mountains.

Our first Pondok (Shelter) – Pondok Kandis

This is one of the seven Pondoks which we will pass along the way up to Laban Rata. The Pondoks are 0.5 to 1 km apart. There is a water tank at each Pondok for thirsty climbers to refill their water bottle, so bringing along a 500-ml bottle (included in the packed lunch) will suffice for the climb.
The water here is untreated. To be on the safe side, we added purification tablet to the water before we drink.

See the guy behind Qin? Useful NS outfit!

As we proceed, I started to perspire profusely despite the cooling. We are still at the easy portion but I just kept sweating. Maybe it’s the side effect of the pills or the purification tablet; maybe it’s my body acclimating to the altitude increase. Nevertheless, I was soon soaked in sweat.
Joyce was my saviour! We mixed the water with the isotonic powder she brought and Tadah! – 100plus at 2000m elevation!

100-Plus!

Then the tough part began.

Stairs and more Stairs!

1.5km & Sweating!

Squirrel - Can you spot it?

Lethargic!

Ping & Qin started to feel the symptoms of altitude sickness – the aching pain across the forehead. Fortunately, panadols were effective on them. It was lucky that none of us suffered from serious altitude sickness during the climb.

It was nearing lunchtime and we still have another 1km to go before we reach our picnic area – Layang Layang Hut. The terrain after the 3km mark changes from yellow soil to granite routes. The granite stones are extremely slippery with rainwater from yesterday’s downpour. The trekking poles helped us to balance on these routes.

OMG! Such steep slope!

The granite stones are super slippery.

Our Lunch

The drumstick and egg sure look inviting. Though the food was cold by the time we had them, it was still a nice feeling to have something flavoursome going down our stomach.

The Pitcher Plant

Our first Salonpas & it really helps!

Change of Terrain - Back to soiled roads

Shall we just turn back?

Its getting colder - Time to put on more clothes.

Can you see the big, fat earthworm?

We are dead beat!

Oh my gosh!

The Enchanted Wood...

Our favourite tree

Will the steps ever end?!

Can you see that Joyce is enjoying the moment? Haha

Popeye the Sailorgirl in Enchanted Wood.

Change of Terrain to slippery granite stones - Joyce's back starts to ache.

The final 500m is the most taxing – it seems like it will never end. To make situation worst, it started raining cats and dogs. Within minutes, I was drenched – my windbreaker and trackpants did not survive the ‘torment’ of the rain.

Surprisingly, the rain freshen me up. I was spurred to charge to our destination – Laban Rata. In a distance, we could see the roof of a hut. “Twenty more steps” I told Ping. “Twenty more steps and we will reach.”
Then we started counting down…..when we closed up on the hut, Ping let out a loud groan. The sign in front of the hut reads ‘Waras Hut’ – we were still another100m away from hot bath and dinner!

Relief and joy washed through us as Laban Rata came into sight. It is already 4pm.

6km, 1405m elevation in 6 hours.

We made a new record in our history!

Upon entering Laban Rata, we headed straight to an empty table in the dining area and sank gratefully into the chairs while Nani helped us with the check-in.

Drenched & Hungry

TO BE CONTINUED ..........Day 2 (Part 2)

Day 1 -- Monday, 18 May 2009

2009-06-05T08:39:00.016+08:00

Lazy me took a day-off so as to ‘rest well’ for the Quest tomorrow.
By 3pm, Lynn and Joyce gathered at my place. We bought the travel insurance, did some last minute check before heading for the airport.

Yucky Lunch @ Changi Airport T1 Imperial Treasure

Departure - 自拍

We checked in at Changi Airport, Terminal 1 for Air Asia. We had 15kg allowance for check-in baggage among the 5 of us. We thought we could at least check-in 3 big bags as we were pretty sure that each bag will not exceed 5kg but we were wrong. Something must be wrong with the balance at Air Asia check-in counter!

In the end, we only managed to check-in 2 big bags and one hand carry! We had to split the rest of the bags among the 5 of us so that it looks like we each have only 1 hand carry and a backpack (when our backpacks were huge!) Luckily, the flight was not full and we were not stopped from boarding the flight.

One weird thing: Though we had check-in together, we were seated far far away from each other in a ¾ filled flight – Joyce, Qin and me were seated in the last row while Lynn and Ping were seated somewhere in the front.
Conclusion: Air Asia is weird. But what to do? We wanted budget!

Managed to catch a shot of the Air Asia plane before being chased out by the security ^_^

Flight was ½ hour late; but going through the Sabah custom took even longer.
Due to the recent H1N1 scare, we had to first go through a temperature-sensing device before going through the custom. Though all 5 of us appeared to have the same color on the detection screen, Joyce (as usual) was selected to be examined further with a forehead thermometer scan. Then, there was a long jam at the custom due to a PC breakdown. My queue was asked to wait in front of the malfunction counter for a good 30 minutes – by then, Lynn’s queue caught up. I decided to join Lynn in her queue and when I got through the custom, that counter was still out of service – Talking about efficiency?!

Out of the airport, we immediately saw the driver who was supposed to drive us to Xplorer Backpackers for the night.

My name was spelled wrongly. =(

The journey took about 20 minutes.

It was past midnight when we check-in at Xplorer Backpackers. We were given a family room with an extra mattress. By the time we settled down for the night, it was already 2 a.m. – 4.5hours to the start of our Quest.

.......... Day 2 (Part 1)

Realising a 'Childhood Dream'

2009-06-05T01:09:00.016+08:00

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