May 1, 2011

My Mount Kinabalu Tale (Part 2)

The Climb

The next morning i woke up refreshed. Walopon i aku ni seorang yang sangat susah nak tido (especially at a strange/new place) tido malam ini memang sangat nyenyak. Penat agaknye. The bathrooms here don't have water heater, maka AIR NYE SEJUK GILER! Pagi tu mandi ala kadar je sebab dah mandi beriya sebelum tido (heh, alasan).

We took our breakfast at around 7.30am, took some photos, then got on the bus to Timpohon Gate. The bus ride took about 10 minutes. Everybody is required to attend a short briefing by the mountain guides at the Timpohon Gate.

 Breakfast!
i had nasik lemak with omelette for that extra energy. They also offer toast, cereals, variety of breads and buns.

Magnificent!
 Mount Kinabalu from; the view Kinabalu Park. This view kept me going.
The start: at Timpohon Gate.

Ini lah rupe Timpohon Gate dalam Google Map iPhone.
In the middle of nowhere!

We were lucky that the weather was good that day. Tak panas sangat, tak sejuk sangat masa mula-mula mendaki tu. As we get higher, the tempreture dropped. It rained a bit in the afternoon. That time memang sejukkkk dan penattt.. 

 And the journey begins!

Endless big stair-like trek.. Penat!

The trek goes up and down like this.

We started climbing as a group of maybe 9 people but two hours into the climb, our group was left with 4 people. The others are either too fast or too slow for us. Only Mariah, Ali , Abang Isnin and i. berjalan mengharungi bukit-bukit itu. It's funny, dulu mase naik Bukit Kutu pon kitorang jalan sama-sama. Now pon stuck together. i'm grateful for these people. We didn't walk in silence. We chatted, debated, laughed and SING throughout the climb. It made me forget that i'm tired. Biler kitorang start nyanyi lagu Isabella, terus hujan. Memang betul-betul katak panggil hujan. Huhu.


 Meet my companions; Ali, Mariah and Abang Isnin. We call ourselves The Fellowship of The Elwood. (don't ask me why)
These people made my journey fun and more than bearable.


It's gonna rain! The boys are helping cover my bag with a plastic bag.

Climbing up, we can see many changes of type of plants around us. Near the bottom, the trees are like any other tropical trees - tall, leafy, and huge. As we go up, the plants gradually changes to bamboo-type, bonsai-type and lastly, moss-type. Ah-ma-zing!

 Started off with tropical, leafy trees. (ignore that purple girl please)

 Some pretty flowers

 Delicate leafy-moss. Errr.. sorry dunno their scientific names.

 Gorgeous neon-green moss.

This type of moss looks like corals in the sea!

As we get higher, lagi banyak this bonsai-like trees.

Enough about plants. It took us almost 7 hours to get to Laban Rata, where the pit stop and accommodation  hostel is located. That is 6 kilometers climbing up, people! Oh boy, sangat la bersyukur dan happy sampai situ. At this points my legs were so sore that i can't feel them anymore! Not to mention the cold weather and our wet clothes. My 7 hours of climbing dikira sangat lembap okeh. Ade mamat salleh ni 2.5 hours dah smpai.
 
 Laban Rata at 4pm.
The sight that made me squeak with joy.

i shared a room with 7 other girls. It's more like a dorm actually. Sampai je bilik, kitorang sume melepet kepenatan. Bilik tak rupa bilik dah. Our things were sprawled all over the place.We were too tired to care.

Selepas mandi (yes, i took a bath. The water was ICE COLD but the thought of going to bed without shower after 6 hours climb is unbearable) we went to the canteen for dinner. Dinner was yummy. Bila lapar nak mampos memang semuanya yummy kan? Tapi sebab penat sangat, tak selera nak makan banyak.

My dinner!

 Subhanallah!
A gorgeous sunset at Laban Rata. Priceless!

Miss this moment :'(

We went to bed at about 8pm that night coz we have to get up at 1am to resume our climb. Despite being ultra super-duper tired, i can't sleep coz BISING! Ade penghuni asrama bilik sebelah-sebelah memekak. Stress gila dah penat takleh tido pulak. i fell asleep at about 11.30p, kol 12.30pm dah kene bangon. Sigh.

The journey continues: Laban Rata to Low's Peak

Sumpah sejuk! For this journey i wore a thermal t-shirt, a sweater and a windbreaker with khakis and 2 layers of socks. Glove pon yang waterproof (lesson learnt sebab first time dulu tak waterproof habis basah tangan and sejuk sampai tulang). i think i'm one of those people yang tak tahan sejuk. Memang berbungkus habis. 

After a light breakfast/supper, we started our journey at 2am. It was cold. Initially there were stairs, endless stairs. Then it changed to a rocky path. At some points the path got more challenging, more vertical, that we had to use ropes to climb. But most of the time the path is only slightly inclined. No matter how challenging or how easy the path might seem, it was not an easy journey for me. About an hour into the climb, i felt sleepy and nausea. Sumpah la kalau boleh nak berenti dan tido je. i didn't care if i don't get to the top, as long as i can sleep. But i can't simply sleep. Kalo tido memang takkan bangon dah wehh.. This are symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). Makanya memang aku menahan diri daripada berhenti terlalu lama. Even though penat, i just kept on walking. Biar lambat dan lembab, jangan berenti dan tido.


 Semasa masih segar, bertenaga, belum mengantok dan belum rasa nak muntah. Sempat posing!

Ni la contoh keadaan dah nak give up.

First ray of sunshine. The sun is rising and we haven't reached the top!

The last few meters to the top is the hardest. Sebab dia extra inclining. Ali, Abg Isnin and i memang tak larat sampai kitorang berpuas hati utk hanya duduk di situ dan tengok je sunrise, tak payah pegi puncak. We told Mariah, "Babe, ko pegi la. Aku nak dok sini. Same je view sunrise kat sini and kat atas tu. Ko pegi la, kitorang tunggu ko kat sini". But she didn't buy it. "i'm not going without you guys" she said. Reluctantly, we got up and mencuba sedaya upaya untuk sampai ke puncak. I WAS PRACTICALLY CRAWLING, I SWEAR! Mariah's an angel. If it's not for her, i wont reach the top.

 Ko nampak tak perempuan pakai serkop opah tu? Haa... That was me practically crawling.

 Muke takleh blaaa..

i'm finally there!!
Penat lelah berhasil juga.

i can't resist putting up this photo:

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HAHA!
i didn't notice i did this. i guess this is my true feelings. Happy but why-the-eff-did-i-do-this kind of feelings.

Once i was there, hilang segala kepenatan. i came here for THIS. For all the great view. Allah is great.

And Then We Went Down..

Harus lah cam-whore banyak-banyak kan kat atas nunnn? 

  
 Gayat!

 Happy nak turunnn..

 Reflection

 Gamba profile Facebook. Hikhik.

 Baru boleh ceria.

 Donkey's Peak

Seringgit Peak
(sebab ade gamba bukit ni kat duit seringgit)

 Way above the clouds

 Berhati-hati lah!

 Beautiful Mariah!


We returned to Laban Rata to get our stuff and continued our way to Timpohon Gate. The way up was exhausting, but the journey down is a pain in the bottom, literally. Lutut sakit yang amat. walaupon malu, tapi saya mengaku yang the four of us (The Fellowship of Elwood!) are the last ones to reach Timpohon Gate. Masing-masing sakit kaki. Mariah injured her knees, poor girl.

 My favorite Kinabalu girls.

 Nenek kebayan nak turun.

 Penceria perjalanan saya. Terima kasih!

 Off we go.


So.. There goes my Kinabalu Tale. i wasn't the fastest to reach the top, but i'm not the last either. Tapi masa turun memangggg the last. Muahaha.. Regardless of time, i'm proud of myself to made it up and down for the second time. It was one hell of a journey for me. When i was there, i swore that i won't do it for the third time but now that i think about it, why not? Aku nak pegi third time kalo Via Ferrata. Hihi.

Okay, roger and out!
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