Mt. Kinabalu

I was just passing by this false peak (picture on the left).



Picture on the Right: The sharp peak-like mountain behind me is not the actual peak. I am moving on nearer to you and the peak. Wow! I can see so many stones piling up the peak. Must be hard to climb! Hahaha! You can't see it. It's not captured on this shot.

Can you see my red hood at the bottom left of the picture. My photographer said his hands were freezing and he could not take a good picture. Well the pointed stone behind me is not the peak. I am not there yet.

I took this picture before I reached the top of the mountain. I was excited to be almost there!

The worn-out wooden board reads something like this, "You are now on the highest point of Mt. Kinabalu.." Just imagine how many people must have climbed up and held it! The temperature was 2 degrees Celcius and we were freezing cold.

After all the pictures, here are the facts and story:

Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain 4101m (13,455ft)in South East Asia. It is located in the state of Sabah on Borneo Island. Historically the Philippines and Indonesia also claimed Sabah as their territory but Malaysia won.

We prepared several chocolate bars, and a water bottle each. There are many water refill shelters along the climb. We started at about 8:00 a.m and reached the 11,000 ft resthouse between 2:30p.m. - 4:00p.m. 1 out of the 19 of us had some breathing difficulty due to the thinner air at higher altitude and decided to rest at the resthouse. She received a certificate that she attempted to climb up to 11,000 ft.

I took some time to walk and enjoy the change in vegetation. As you hike higher, the plants are more stunted and shorter. I saw several pitcher plants or monkey cups along the way. There were a lot of ants in some of them. They attract and trap insects. My friends and I were on the lookout for rafflesias which are the biggest flowers in the world. We saw some rafflesia bulbs which looked like very deep purple compact cabbage. We understand that they fade in 3 days after they bloom and stink as they wilther.

After dinner, we slept early. Then we woke up and had an early breakfast around 2:00 a.m. Around 2:30 a.m. we tied a flash light and our camera around our neck and lined up for the final climb. We had a guide between every six hiker. We needed our flash light (torch light)as it was so dark. We had to use both our hands to hold the rope when we climbed this time. It was rock-climbing!

We reached the peak from as early as 5:30a.m. - 9:30a.m. I was up around 6:00a.m. We waited to watch the sunrise but the dark clouds would not give way. It was around freezing point and with the strong wind, the cold was almost unbearable.

The air was very fresh and I was actually on top of the world! I felt great. I had made it! When I looked down I could not believe I had to climb down those steep rocks. I had to fight against the wind. No wonder they made us hiked up in the dark I thought to myself. I was at the resthouse and had my brunch at 9:30a.m. A friend came down at 11:00a.m and showed us her sun scorched skin. Now it make sense that the rocks heat up pretty fast and the heat from the sun is intense so we had to start in the wee hours.

Are you bored by now? Do you want to see more pictures I haven't shown and the trail? Click here Oh, my muscles ached for a few days. I'm heading to the natural spring and bath in the sulphur water now.