| Tuesday, 17-Apr-2007 00:00 |
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Mt. Kinabalu: You rule! part 1
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After the Mulu trip, we went straight to Kota Kinabalu and checked in to Sutera Harbour Resort (totally posh), because the next day we were going to conquer Mt. Kinabalu. What, you think I made this up?? We totally did. And let me tell you, I didn't have much enthusiasm/ energy for another adventure trip, but Abah already paid for it... so, buat je lah. You can see on our faces (me & Hani) how tired and drained we were. I don't know where Abah got his energy. 
As I said before, I didn't do any training prior to this climb so... my experience is a total anomaly compared to other mountaineers because of that reason lah. The climbing up of the mountain to Laban Rata, the last pit-stop for climbers before the Peak, took us almost 7 hours, when our guide, John, told us that on average it only took 5 hours to climb up. I know!! We totally suck. If you see us smiling in the pictures, please know that we were TOTALLY FAKING IT. John told us we were lucky because the day before it was raining hard, and the trail would've been much harder to climb were it was wet. Thank you, God. And I mean that, wholeheartedly.
We finally reached Laban Rata around sunset. When I saw the dorm, I almost cried with relief! Relief was short-lived though, because there was no hot water, and our heater doesn't heat up the room at all. Freaking cold! Luckily I packed packets of wet tissues so we used that to freshen ourselves with... I think I might just die if I had to take a shower with the icy cold water (exaggeration). Didn't even eat, because we were too exhausted to bother. It was while I was lying on my bed, covered in barely adequate blankets that I realized I definitely could not climb UP anymore. I definitely could not wake up at 4am and climb to the peak. I was done. Hani came to that conclusion earlier because she did have a harder time climbing up due to her asthma. In the end, only Abah was determined enough to do the 4am climb to the peak tomorrow.
Stop judging! 
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