I'm back!

Though my legs are aching, I am so happy that I had managed to climb to the summit of Mount Kota Kinabalu! Yeah! It was a challenging and mentally exhausting climb that I was really relieved that I could reach the summit. And of course, I must say that I might not be able to complete the climb if Jianhui did not help me to carry my things and water for the last 2.7km. He had also been taking good care of me throughout the whole trip, making sure that I got drink and eat enough for the climb. And my sis was always there to take good care of me too.

On Saturday, Jianhui came to my house to pack my things into his bag, then my dad drove all of us to the airport. I was feeling excited but nervous at the same time as I know it was going to be a challenging climb.

And so, there were a total of 9 (Jianhui, Papa Alan, sis, Liewen, David, Vivien, CK, Junhui and me) of us going for the climb. Teck Loon and Jiaqi couldn't make it as they were too busy with their wedding preparations.

It was a 2hrs plus flight to Sabah. When we reached Sabah, it was already 8 plus and we took a van to Marina Court Resort Condominium. It is like an apartment with 3 bedrooms, a large living room with kitchen - just like a normal condo. Papa Alan, sis, Vivien, Jianhui and me shared an apartment together. After settling down, we went for dinner at "wang jiao". I'm not sure if we are too hungry or what, but the food tasted damn good. I love the "maggie mee", Satay and the Sour Plum juice! After dinner, we were so tired that we went back to rest.

On Sunday morning, we went out early in the morning, searching for food. After walking for a while, we couldn't find much so we went to another "wang jiao". I ordered chicken rice, but it wasn't nice at all man. I had a sad lunch. =(

About 1pm+, we checked out to go to Mesilau Nature Resort to prepare for our hike. Along the way, we stopped at the petrol station and we bought happy snacks, ice cream and drinks before we carried our journey to the resort. It's about 2 hours ride then we reached the resort. David helped to check in and then we can go to our rooms! It is quite cooling as compared to city. We had to climb a slope before we reached our rooms. Electricity would only be up at 5pm and so we chatted outside the room. We also made friends with our "neighbours" who were going to climb Mount KK the next day too.

When the electricity is up, we put our stuff in our separate rooms. Each room has it's own toilet which is very convenient. Then, I realized that our basin has puke all over it and the TV is down. =( It was really disgusting. Fortunately, somebody came to check out our room and they got it all fixed for us. Then, we went for our dinner. It was really cold and so I worn track pants and jacket for dinner.

We were having steamboat for dinner! On a cold weather like this, it was really nice to eat steamboat. I love the mushrooms and the yellow mee. And it was so shiok to drink hot soup on a cold weather like this. After dinner, we went back room to do some packing before we went to bed at 10 plus. We packed all the necessary things for our stay at Laban Ratan and the rest to be sent to headquarters. As usual, I couldn't sleep well. Too excited? Maybe.

Our Survival Kit

On Monday (which also happens to Papa Alan and sis' wedding anniversary), it's the day. After thinking about climbing it for many year, I'm finally going to climb it. We had happy breakfast of nice sausage, scrambled eggs and fried egg. Then we were all ready to start the climb - the start of our "torture".

Group Photo before we start our hike!

We engaged the porter to help us carry the bag. It costs RM10 per kg and our bag weighs 15kg for 4 of us (Papa Alan, sis, Jianhui and me). The rest of them carried their own bags up. *Applause* Especially Liewen, CK, Junhui and Vivian who actually brought their super powerful and big camera up Mount KK.

When we were first started, we were panting like hell. But, as we carried on, we started to get used to it and kinda got the momentum to go on. It was a long 8km up to Laban Rata via Mersilau trail. As we were climbing up, I really regretted not training for the climb. It was definitely not an easy climb like our usual trekking trip to waterfall. It's a test of patience and perseverance. Jianhui kept on feeding me food and water.

At about 5km, we had our lunch. It felt good to eat the sandwich and bananas. I threw away the apple as my apple looks rotten. After lunch, I was feeling a bit more motivated as we were left with 3km to reach Laban Ratan.

My dearest sister and me!

My climbing buddy!

When we reached the 6km mark, the scenery and the vegetarian was very beautiful. Though we had to struggle the climb on the "dragon eggs", we were motivated. We were so happy when we finally reached Laban Rata. It was freaking cold at this attitude. Most of the trekkers were already there. We were so relieved and happy to take a seat at the resthouse.

Beautiful sunset at Laban Rata

After a while, Papa Alan + Sis, CK + Junhui came to join us too. We took photos of the beautiful sunset and had a happy dinner before we went back to our room. And we were so "lucky" that our rooms were below the resthouse which meant that we had to climb down to our room after dinner. '''>_<

And the best thing about our room is, the toilet is outside the house. It's kinda scary to go to toilet actually. We packed our bag for the final hike the next day then we went to sleep as early as 8 plus. It was so freaking cold even when I was wearing 2 long sleeves top + 2 jackets. As usual, I couldn't sleep at all. In fact, Papa Alan + sis and Jianhui also couldn't sleep.

And then, we woke up at 1 plus to start to get ready for the hike. I was in a daze when I woke up and it was freezing cold. After getting ready, we headed to the resthouse for "breakfast" or rather supper. We had a quick breakfast then it's time to start the real hiking.

When we first started, I was feeling breathless. It took me a while before I got used to climbing and my breathing started to regularize. After climbing about 700m of steps, then it's time for Spiderman! We had reached the point when we could not use our walking stick and got to hold on to the rope. It's kinda scary as it's really high up. Even if you are scared of heights, there is no turning back as it's impossible to U-turn since all of us are on the rope. As we continued to climb, it's getting colder and colder.

Then, we reached the checkpoint. We were tired but it was crowded at the checkpoint and so, we decided to rest after the climb by the rope. We thought that it was a short up slope but we were so wrong! It was so windy and steep that I was totally struggling to climb up the slope. It was really freezing cold. And yes, the slope was freaking long and steep.

When we finally reached the end of the slope, I was panting like hell and feeling really very tired. We hid behind some rocks to rest to catch our breath. At this point, it was getting easier to walk and I was getting very motivated to reach the summit. =p Towards the last part, I had to climb using my hands and legs.

Giving me a "helping hand" when I needed it

At around 6 plus, we finally reached the summit! I was feeling so happy that I had finally reach the summit! Mission Accomplished!

We did it!

After resting for a while, the guys were feeling too cold and they wanted to descend. While descending, we met Vivien who was about to climb to the summit. We urged her to carry on while we descend. At this point of time, I was feeling so tired that I would use my butt to go down the slope at times. Haha. Along the way, we saw a round rainbow! This is a beautiful sight! And now that it's no longer in darkness, I realized that the slope was really steep. I guess that's the reason why they started the climb at 2.30am instead of 6am as it's too scary to climb under the bright sun.

When we reached the spiderman part, I was feeling a bit scared to climb down. Thanks to Jianhui who was always there to help me whenever I needed help. =p

When we were done with spiderman, we saw Vivien. She was damn fast to catch up with us or rather we were too slow? We slowly made our way down to Laban Rata.

Now that we had finished the summit, the harsh truth hits me - We still have to climb 6km down to the headquarters. '''>_<

We had a quick breakfast then we rushed back to our room to pack our stuff to prepare to descend. There's no time to rest at all.

And it's time to descend. The "dragon eggs" path was not easy for us to descend and given that we were already feeling so tired, it's just pure shag. Moreover, my legs were started to feel weak and tired that I would always sprain my ankle when descending. And then when we reached the 4km path, it was worse. There's nothing to see as it's all fern, fern, fern and fern. And the steps were all covered with graphite. That's makes my feet very painful when I was going down the "niang jia" (I name it as niang jia stairs as it's never ending just like the drama) stairs.

I had no idea how I did it. But, we managed to reach the headquarters by 1600 - target set by our dear commando.

Job Done!

I'm just too happy that I had completed the climb - back to civilization finally!

The van drove us to headquarters to collect our certificate and luggage. I was feeling so stoned that I couldn't be bothered to do anything. David and Liewen were really nice to help us to collect lunch boxes for us. And it's only now then I realized that in the rush to descend, I had left my specs at Laban Rata. : ( It's my favourite pair of specs. Sigh. Is this a sign that I must go Mount KK again? Hmmm...

After our lunch, we boarded the van to go back to Marina Court Resort Condominium. The guys concussed on the bus while I couldn't really sleep. I just can't wait to have a good bath and dinner. I was really happy when we finally reached MCRC.

All of us bathed and then we went to Hai Xian Wang to eat seafood dinner! After eating so much of energy bar, chocolate, eggs and beehoon, I'm just so happy to eat seafood! The portion of the food (except for the crabs) was really big and to my surprise, we managed to finish all the food!

After such a sumptuous dinner, all of us were too tired and so we went back to sleep. I bet all of of us had a good sleep after the climb.

On our last day at Sabah, we finally had a bit of time to walk around the city. There's nothing much in the city actually. And so after a short walk, we went back to MCRC. Jianhui and I went to wang jiao to buy our favourite Sour Plum drink. But somehow, it tasted not so nice today.

Soon, it's time to go back to Singapore. We had a quick lunch at the airport then it's time to board the plane.

Home sweet home.

 
All of us with our Certificates! We had conquered Mount KK!

All in all, it was a fun and fullfilling trip. It was definitely a memorable and wonderful experience which I would remember for life.

If you ask me, will I ever climb Mount KK again? I don't know. Maybe or maybe not? The view is spectacular but the journey was just so... SHAG. But then again, who knows? I may be crazy one day and decided to climb Mount KK again. Haha.

Special thanks to David for organizing the trip. Special thanks to Jianhui and Sis for taking such good care of me. Special thanks to Liewen, CK, Vivien, Junhui, Papa Alan for helping us to take photos. Special thanks to Vivien for lending me her friend's walking stick and rubber band when I needed one desperately during the climb. Special thanks to Jianhui and Papa Alan for helping us to pack our stuff and squeeze into the bag.

It would not have been a wonderful climb if not for all my climbing friends. =p We did it TOGETHER!