| Mt.
Kinabalu is the highest peak in S.E. Asia at around 4000m in altitude. The
mountain is located in the Kinabalu National Park which is about 2 hrs drive from
the Borneo capital of Kota Kinabalu. We took a 2 hour flight from Johor Bahru
airport, just on the other side of the causeway from Singapore. After we
landed at KK we spent 2 days getting to the mountain, reaching the peak, and
then heading back to KK. We decided to stay a night at the small town with
the hot spas before we started to climb the mountain the next day. This
wasn't our best decision of the trip as the spas turned out to be similar to
having a warm bath in a large bath that looked like it was first built in
the 70's. Add to that about a hundred people swarming around you with
little kids yelling and you've just about got it. The 'hotel' we stayed in
made us feel like we were back in rural China and we never did find out what
was causing that smell.
The next morning we hitched a
ride to the reserve and on the way we caught our first glimpse of the peak...a spectacular but daunting sight. We got the paperwork done
and found and
shared a guide with a Malaysian man, Kevin. We started out on the trek at
about 10:00am and for the next 6 hours we covered 6 kilometers of uphill stretches
and stairs. The first 4 hours was through tropical rainforest and
then the landscape and vegetation started to change as we got higher up in
altitude. For most of the day there had been cloud cover which was a
blessing in the hot weather. About an hour from the hostel we were at the
rest stop we suddenly the clouds cleared and the summit came into view. We
were tired and our bodies were hurting but seeing the summit was the kick
start we needed. Finally we made it to the hostel which was surprisingly
comfortable. There was delicious hot food and any kind of drink you wanted.
This surprised us because everything up the mountain has to be carried
up by hand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of the resting stations along the path. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Part of the hiking track. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Labang Rata guesthouse. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The water tanks along the track. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Where is that damned mountain?? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We shared a room with a Dutch
couple who were doctors. She became very ill during the night which may have
had something to do with the altitude. After four hours of sleep, we met our
guide at 2am the following morning to start our 3hr hike. You have to get to
the peak for daybreak so that there isn't cloud cover. Rebecca was grateful
that if was dark all the way to the peak because she thinks that if she saw
what was in front of her she might have turned back. We reached the summit just in time for dawn and
the view was spectacular. In the distance we could look down and see storm clouds
and the lightning reflecting off the clouds. The view was spectacular and
despite there being about 50 other people there that had reached the top,
the feeling was tranquil. After more than a day
of climbing and hurting, we had a feeling of achievement and accomplishment
knowing that what we had done wasn't easy and what we were seeing has not
been witnessed by many people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Us with Kevin and our guide, William. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We stayed at the peak for about
30 minutes and then started our hike back to the hostel. This took about 2
hours. We had breakfast and headed back down the mountain at about 10 am. We
had some heavy rain on the way down and Rebecca's knees found it
difficult, but we finally walked/staggered out of the park about 4pm. We
caught a local bus back to KK and then headed back to the beautiful Shangri-La at KK for the next 3 days...a perfect way to recover and rest our aching
bodies.
|
