After supper, Ketam went back to the backpackers while Deluxe, Kevin, Kien Tung & myself took a cab and head over to Dogongon to get our transport for the next day. We had a great time talking nonsense with our cab driver, and basically he brought us to Holan, as he himself didn't know where the area was. So we arrived Dogongon about close to 12 am, and met up with my cousin to borrow his car. Oh by the way, we got a Kancil instead :P Anyway, as we were heading back, we sort of got a little bit side track and ended up rounding around KK. But fortunately we had a map with us, and we were able to get back to the backpackers safe and sound. Thus ended day 1.
We woke up pretty early the next day, got ready and head to Kinabalu Park. As Kevin was driving, while I read the map, apparently our passengers entertained themselves by simulating as if they were in an airplane trying to kill time :P Anyway, our journey took about close to 2 hours from where we were to Kinabalu Park. And as we started to ascended into the heavens, we wind down our windows to enjoy the cool fresh air. That was when we started to feel cold and began to really enjoy the weather. The view there was spectacular, and we thank God for giving us good weather to drive up to Kinabalu Park and enjoyed His beautiful creation.
Upon arrival at Kinabalu Park, Deluxe and I went and register ourselves for the climb while the others went to the cafe and tried to look for something to eat. Once we've already paid for the park fees as well as the climbing permit, we headed to the cafe and met up with the others. Unfortunately for us, they were not able to cook breakfast for us because they are still having buffet which cost about RM25/person. So we bought some biscuits and took it as our breakfast. After we had finished the biscuits, we left Kinabalu Park and began our journey to Timpohan Gate where we know there will be no turning back for the both of us.We started out the journey not too bad. With both spirits were high we pressed on going for our journey. As most of it were steps, which was pretty easy for the 1st 3 KM. We noticed how the vegetation did changed as we climbed higher, as well as it was starting to get difficult to breathe. But never the less we pressed on and hope to reach Laban Rata before the sun set. As we were ascending the mountain we met up with lots of nice people who we had short talks with to help us forget that we were climbing the mountain. Things got worst after we passed the 3.5KM mark. That's when the steps became higher and harder to climb, and we weren't used to the high altitude which got us breathing even harder.
Our Guide - Lanting : For him it was a piece of cake to catch up with us
Feeling very weak, tired and hungry. We both started to regret on this journey to climb Kinabalu. But we knew it was too late for us to turn back. So we pressed on. And as we started to get even higher, it took like ages for us to pass 500 meters, and after every 5-10 mins I had to stop and catch my breathe. Fortunately for us, we bought walking sticks from the driver who drove us to the Timpohan Gate as suggested by our guide. He was really helpful and good to us. He even offered to carry our bags to ease the journey up to Laban Rata. By that time I was pretty much struggling very hard to keep up and pushing myself to the limits, whereby Deluxe was still in good shape walking up the mountain slow and steady.
We arrived Laban Rata about close to 6.30pm, where we were just in time for the sunset. Being able to reached there was a relief, while we took a few more pictures before we headed inside Laban Rata for our dinner. We were tired, hungry and couldn't think of what to eat. As we ate there, we seem to lost our appetite but rather loved to drink something warm while we were up there. By the time we finished our dinner, as we went out it was about 6-7 degrees celcius, and it was completely pitch black. We still need to travel again to our hut probably around 10-15 mins, and Deluxe quickly tried to reach the place hoping that we'll find the resting house. As it was total darkness, time passed as if it was very slow and we couldn't see any lights from the Gunting Lagadan. We were worried that we might have taken a wrong turn or something, even with our head lights we knew we were walking in a trail, but not sure if we will reach that place or not. Plus it was getting extremely cold, and after climbing a few more steps Deluxe finally saw the hut. As we quickly rushed to the house, one of the climbers opened the door and welcomed us in. We head straight into our rooms and tried to settle down. It was about 8pm then, and we tried our very best to sleep.
Inside Laban RataWe couldn't sleep at all that night, as we both tossed and turned while the cold air was like driving a sharp knife through our head not to mention that it was really freezing in there. Then we got up about 1 something in the morning, and start to have our breakfast. We brought Maggie hot cup along, and while Deluxe was still resting in the room I went and try to boil some water for our breakfast. As I reached the kitchen, there were already a few people who were boiling water and all of the stove was occupied. One of them, who was kind enough asked me to use his water first because his friends were still sleeping. I thanked him, and he was even kind enough to help me pour the hot water into the cup.
After breakfast, we rested for a while before Lanting dropped by our room and asked us if we were ready to climb. It was about 2.30 already in the morning so here we go. Climbing up Kinabalu the second time, and this time is even more challenging because it was freezing, and we can hardly breathe due to the fact that the oxygen level is getting thinner. By taking longer deep breath, it easily made us very tired as I basically had to crawl a few places. So much for people who said it was easy :P Anyway, as we continued our journey we reached to a point where we had to climb up the mountain using ropes. From this point onwards, there will be no more trees nor vegetation. It was dark, we were tired and we moved on to climb Kinabalu. I believe this would be the hardest part in climbing Kinabalu as we were like scaling the face of the mountain, and we took quite a lot of stops here because it was indeed tiring, and difficult to breathe. Even with our thief mask on, it was still freezing and breathing through it was very difficult.
Deluxe and myself ran out of water already at this point, and it was about another 1 KM before we reached Sayat-Sayat hut. It was already difficult for us to move on, especially someone like me who is a size of a cow get fatigue very easily. And to think that people really need to be physically fit as well to climb this mountain, where as I took the easy way out by not even training :P Anyway, we managed to reached Sayat-Sayat check point and replenish our drinking water. The sweet cool taste of mountain water, quenched our thirst immediately and we continue to climb Kinabalu. From that point onwards, it was starting to be very tough for me as I was getting extremely tired and sleepy. After walking for a few steps, we had to stop. The most 3-4 steps I had to stop already. With only 1.7KM to go, Deluxe and I throw in the towel. The guide suggested that we shouldn't go on because of my condition -_-" Yeah, basically I collapsed on the mountain and couldn't even move up anymore. Even though I asked Deluxe to go on without me, she said she wouldn't want to and also feel very sleepy already. At that point I felt very bad, so the guide suggested that we head back down to the Sayat-Sayat hut and rested there.
As we descend down the mountain, I kept on apologizing to Deluxe for not being able to carry on the journey and she said it's ok. As she couldn't carry on either, and it would be meaningless to carry on without me to the top. One Lanting opened up the hut for us, we straight away fell onto the bed and slept there for a good 1 hour plus. As the sun was about to rise, we were awaken by Lanting to catch a good view of the rising sun.
It was indeed a spectacular sight, and even though we never really made it to the top. It was pretty much good enough for us, as it wasn't too bad whereby with no training at all we can even reach to this high. As we stood there, greeted by the warm sun we felt contented and considering the fact there were few people who turned back at the early stage. It was good enough for us. We took a few more pictures there, and we began our descend to Laban Rata once again. After having a good rest, we felt more energized and was zooming our way down. Once we've reached Laban Rata, we had a good and heavy breakfast before we start our journey down to Kinabalu Park.
Unlike this time, it didn't took us long to reach Kinabalu park. We went downhill, and quickly passing each stops by resting for like 5-10 mins. After going down for like 2-3 KM, my toes started to gave away.. What happened was that, I forgotten to cut my toe nails, and it was pressing against the shoe which made it very difficult to move from there. We basically slowed down a bit, but we still moved on. When we were at the last 1 KM from the Timpohan Gate, I asked Deluxe what will be the first thing I would buy once I reached there. She answered "100 Plus". She knows me well, so as we pushed ourselves faster to carry on trying not to rest too long at the last stop. I felt contented that, after going through 28 hours of putting our bodies to the limit is about to end. Once we saw the gate, we were like so happy that our Kinabalu journey has ended.
Anyway, I guess the mistake that we made was that probably we didn't had breakfast or lunch before the beginning of the journey. Plus we started out very late, so it wasn't recommended. And also, we didn't get enough sleep whereby we slept about close to 2pm and woke up about 6am, and then on the 2nd nite we didn't get to sleep at all. But I believed that if we slept enough and ate enough. I could be certain that we'll both reach the peak.. But I guess, that didn't happened :P Anyway, will sum up on the next post.. As for now.. Stay tuned for Part 2
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