Kota Kinabalu - 11 September 2010 - 14 September 2010

Kota Kinabalu is a city on Borneo - also where Mt. Kinabalu was located. We spent an extra day there to get situated before the mountain climb.


11 Sept 2010
To get to Kota Kinabalu, we flew Air Asia, once we arrived in KK, we went to our hotel which was called Hotel Eden 54.  (I'm going to be honest, those pictures on the site are not exactly what you get, but the hotel was clean and quaint and just what we needed). After getting settled, we walked around to find lunch at one of the only places which was open, seeing as it was Eid, a lot of places were closed (Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country). We found an open air noodle restaurant which had a lot of Malay food - which wasn't bad at all. After that we walked around a little to explore the little town of KK and then went back to the room to relax. We decided to check out the night market but walked around near the water which was apparently where all the locals hung out and was a bit uncomfortable honestly. Chris bought some street food and we soon realized we were not at the night market, oops. We wandered around a bit more and then had a not so satisfying dinner at a place called Old Town Coffee - basically Malaysia's version of Starbucks.

12 Sept 2010
We woke up early and were were picked up by our tour operator and driven to Mt. Kinabalu park where the next day we would begin our trek up the mountain. On the way to the park, we stopped to buy some souvenirs and try some Malaysian fruit - I wasn't that impressed - but okay. Our guide drove us around the area and we checked in at the park.

At the park

Mt. Kinabalu

Since check in for our hostel wasn't until 2 we went around to the park museum and had lunch. After that we went to a war memorial for the Sandaken soldiers. It was a part of World War 2 that I didn't know existed but it was incredibly moving.

Sandekan Memorial

Sandekan Memorial

After that, it was finally time to check in so we headed to our hostel - Rock Lodge. We had a private room and apparently that actually means you share a room with 2 people, not 6, I guess. There were also bunk beds - it was the part of the trip which resembled summer camp. Ah well, at least there was hot water.

Rock Lodge

Bunk Beds

The other nice thing was that all of our meals were included in our package so we basically had a buffet for every meal. Although the food was good, I would be happy to not eat noodles or rice with every meal.

I took a nap while Chris walked around the park for awhile, I woke up and had dinner and then slept...or tried to sleep. Knowing we were going to climb a mountain the next day was kind of unnerving, but I'd say we got a few good hours of sleep.

13 Sept 2010 - The trek up Mt. Kinabalu
The package we purchased to climb up the mountain was a 3 day/2 night stay. I highly recommend this because the first night in the park allows you to relax and get acclimated to the altitude which could be a serious problem when climbing a mountain, especially so quickly. We woke up early to have breakfast and to meet our guide who our tour operator told us was one of the oldest guides who climbs the mountain, and he also spoke little English. I figured, well, it can't be TOO hard, I've taught English, so I'll just use a lot of hand gestures.

After dropping off some unnecessary items at the front of the park which we did not need for hiking (ie - extra clothes and bags) we found our guide. His name was Porinus; he was missing about 3 teeth, must have been in his late 50s and would later turn out to be my savior. Chris and I just looked at each other and thought, 'Awesome.' We got our transportation (do not let anyone convince you to walk to the base of the mountain - you are about to climb up 8.7 km, you don't need to add another unnecessary 4.5 km) and headed to the base. The average time to walk up the mountain to the stopping point, Laban Rata, is about 6 hours, we ended up taking about 5. You spend the first day walking up to Laban Rata which is where you can eat, shower and sleep.

So we set off - the climb up was hard, but not unattainable. There were lots of steps and I would advise you to buy a walking stick, buy 2 if you want, that will help immensely when coming down and also helped going up. The sticks are 3 ringets (roughly .85 USD) at the front souvenir shop, so just do it! (Also, don't buy them at the souvenir shop INSIDE the park, they go up about $15).  Make sure you take plenty of water - we each took 2 - 500 ml bottles and filled them up at the various rest stops. The water on the way up the mountain is unfiltered, but I have a weak stomach and I was fine drinking it.

Base of the mountain

Waterfall on the hike

At the 1km mark - pretty gung-ho

The package comes with a packed lunch and you eat it around 4km, it contained sandwiches, chicken, boiled eggs and an apple. After you eat, you start to feel like the rest of the 2km isn't going to be so bad. I mean you've climbed this far and it's just been several bits of a lot of rock-made steps, but it is definitely doable.

And that's where you would be wrong. 

The next 2 km were tough. There is a LOT of height to make up, don't forget you are climbing UP the mountain. When I finally saw the Laban Rata Lodge, I was SO happy! It meant, no more walking for awhile, food and warmth...or so we thought.

Start of the climb

Lunch break

Standing above the clouds

Laban Rata Lodge

3272.7 meters up

More shots above the clouds

We chose the Laban Rata lodge because they talk about having hot showers, heaters and it's where the cafeteria is, plus you have to make reservations early as there are 2 other lodges to stay at which do not have hot showers or heaters and there's something about lots of people in rooms and sleeping bags that I'm not a huge fan of. As it turns out, Laban Rata not only didn't have heat, which means no hot showers, but they had no electricity that week either. Lodge fail. Besides that, I'm sure they have the heat all fixed now and I would advise you to stay at Laban Rata as all of your meals are in the Laban Rata Lodge as well as the horribly overpriced store (9,60 ringets for a small bottle of water as opposed to the 1,60 below). Not only that but the other lodges require you to walk farther as well as climb a million stairs to get there (back down to the lodge for your meals and then back up to sleep).

When Chris and I got to our room, we decided we should shower, I mean, how cold could the water be?

COLD. 

It was the worst shower I have ever taken in.my.life. Not only was there no electricity, the water felt as if someone had melted 20 pounds of ice and poured it over you! Worst.decision.ever. I decided I really didn't need to wash my hair and we basically spent the next hour in a teeny tiny bunk bed trying to get warm again.  This time, we also had a private room, and shared it with 2 guys from the US named Colin and Nick. During the rest of the day, we played some cards, ate some dinner and went to bed super early as we were to begin the trek to the summit at 2:30am.
 
Why, yes, you would be correct, it is pitch dark at that time. And yes, you need a head lamp. And yes, I had to put my contacts on, in the dark, wearing said headlamp. (See above - no electricity).


14 September 2010
Nothing can prepare you for what happens in the next 3 hours. Everyone starts out together climbing up the numerous rock stairs, the faster people move forward quickly and the slow straggle behind. You have to remember you're ascending to 13,000 feet and slowly your lungs begin to feel tight. Just remember to breathe through your nose, also you have about 4 hours to get to the top before sunrise, it's not a race.  After the steps, comes the rope - the rope which you pull yourself up on. It is also so dark you cannot see what lies beneath you. I struggled a bit at this stage, seeing as this was probably the steepest side of a mountain ever and how in the heck was I going to get down? Porinus, our guide, came to the rescue and guided me the rest of the way, taking breaks with us when we needed to stop. (It was also at this point where I rubbed my eye and my contact folded and I proceeded to put my contact BACK in my eye on a dark mountain, with no mirror. Win!) After the 700m of the rope were done, it was a lot of steep walking. A lot of walking and a lot of stopping to catch your breath - we were definitely not the only ones to be doing this.

Trek up at 2:30am

The rope up

And then...THERE IT IS!

THE SUMMIT!

When we reached it, our guide pointed and told us to go up and we did. AND WE DID IT! We had climbed 13,435 feet of mountain. The view from the top was amazing, as was watching the sunrise from the top of a freaking mountain and above the clouds!

Sunrise over the mountain

At the top!

With our guide, Porinus

We took lots of pictures and then began our descent. While at first it wasn't too bad, we eventually got to the damn ropes again. And now that it was daylight, you were able to see the sharp sloping of where you had climbed. It would within your best judgment not to look down. Porinus came to the rescue again and we all made it safely down. We made it to the summit in about 3 hours, which was average and back down to Laban Rata in about the same time. We ate some breakfast, gathered our things, said bye to our new friends and headed back down.

Climbing down

Climbing DOWN the rope

Enjoying some breakfast after the long climb back at Laban Rata

Anyone who tells you going down is harder than up probably isn't lying. But it's not. Going up, you've got stairs and thinning air, going down you have sore knees and exhaustion. Honestly it's a toss up. It took us 5 hours to get down which is also average, but about 4 km from the bottom I wanted to die. My right knee hurt every time I stepped down, like every time, which is a major problem when steps are the only way to go. Plus it had rained earlier so a lot of the rocks were a bit slippery and that made us go even slower. Because I was walking to prevent my right knee from hurting so much, my left knee started to buckle when I walked. Around 2 km from the bottom we hoped it would only be another hour.

And then it started to rain. Which was really great. Superb.

Around 1.5 km from the bottom, I started to feel queasy. I was sweating and wet and my legs felt like they would give out at any moment and the stairs - omg the stairs. They were never ending - how did I not remember how many stairs we had climbed going up. Around 1 km, I thought only 1 km left and kept thinking about how much I wanted to be off that damn mountain and not walk anymore. Everywhere I turned there were stairs, about 500 m I wanted to give up and got emotional from the exhaustion and fatigue. Chris pushed me to keep going and I did. And finally the base was there. And I sat down. And it was awesome and I had climbed a freaking mountain. 

Once we got to the bottom, our taxi came and took us to base where we received our color certificates for reaching the summit and where my body finally gave in (out?) and I got sick from being overexerted. But it was over. We said goodbye to Porinus and I thanked him profusely. I should add that this is a guy who climbs this mountain 2 times a week, and has been doing so for the past 10 years. Crazy.

Our driver came to take us back to the hotel and not wanting to move again, we picked up drinks from the grocery store next door to our hotel and ordered Pizza Hut, which was the only place which delivered and we so did not care. We could barely move and after a hot shower we just laid in bed til we fell asleep.

While I do not think I personally will climb another mountain, it was definitely a good experience, one you should be prepared for. But one that I will forever remember.