As i promised, i will now share the experience of climbing Mt. Kinabalu.
Our trip was a 2 days and 1 night on the 13th and 14th may.
On the 13th, we started our journey at 5am (meaning we have to wake up at about 4 in the morning). Then, we had a bus to pick us up at respective places. The total number of the people joining this 'expedition' is 24. A huge number right? hehehe... and can you guess how many girls in that trip? only THREE... the rest are guys... From UMS, the journey to Sabah National Park took 2 hours, so we reached at the Park at 7am. There, we had to register for the climb. All those preparation took about an hour plus. Then 22 of us took off to Mesilau gate to start our hike.
Another 2 went to Timpohon gate for their hike. For your info, there are 2 ways to climb up to Mt. Kinabalu. One is through 'Mesilau' trail and another through 'Timpohon' trail. So basically we started our climbing journey officially at around 9.30am. With us, we had a lunch pack and there were a few food inside it such as an apple, 2 popiah, 3 type of sandwiches, a hard boiled egg, one fried chicken, one can of 100 plus and a mineral water.
From Mesilau to Laban Rata(the resthouse where we were heading to) is about 8km hike. The Mesilau trail is about 2km longer than Timpohon trail and it's tougher. Actually it's kinda embarrassing where my friend and I was the last in the group to reach the resthouse at about 6.30pm. That time was really tiring, but when we reached luckily there's food left as the buffet ends at 7pm. LUCKY us right??
From Laban Rata(the place where they served food), we had to hike another 200m to reach our resting place. At that time, we were like &*#**&#!!! Anyhow, we managed to pull ourselves together to hike it so that we can rest. At 1st, I planned to wash my face, but the coldness of the water prevented me to do so. Imagine the temperature there at night was EIGHT degrees celcius. I was shivering. At night I didn't sleep well as I was having difficulty in breathing, not like my friend who slept like a pig. hehehe...
At 2am we woke up to continue our journey, that is the 'ultimate climb to the peak'. Everyone started their journey. The higher we went, the tougher it gets. Addittion to it, the air was very thin, therefore it's really tough to climb. For those not feeling well, it's not safe for them to climb it. The mountain guide really helped us. My guy friends vanished already as they were very fast.
We reached the top at 6 plus. Then we took some photographs before heading back to the resthouse. Actually when it's dark, you can't really see the steepness of the place, but when the way we hiked down, I was a bit surprised of the steepness. At the time we reached the resthouse, we had an hour rest. Then we went for breakfast before continuing our journey back.
At about 11am, we started to hike back. This time we used the Timpohon trail. Going down was hard for me as my knee wasn't that strong. So, I had to go slow. My other friends 'jog' down and they were quite fast. They reached at about 2pm where else I reached at about 5pm. Thanks to another friend of mine that accompanied me all the way, else I would be walking down alone.
This time I wasn't the last to reach as there was another friend later than me, as he had an injured leg. As we waited for him to reached, we rest at the Kinabalu National Park. He reached at about 7pm. Then, we head back to our house and hostels.
It was a GREAT journey but the next morning, both legs were soared, and I can hardly walk. Many people said, we paid to 'torture' ourselve, but it was a great experience and achievement for me. Though till today my leg still ache, it's recovering. I had fun time with all my friends and thanks for their support i manage to climb up mt. Kinabalu.
