Mt Kinabalu - thinking back

As I was blogging about my 2008 Kinabalu experience, it brought back memories of the 1st climb last year.

Last year, Rachel and I were the last recruits. We had only 1 1/2 months to train.

This year, we were among the "firsts" (got such word ah?). We had 6 months to train.

Last year, the average age group was 38.

This year - 43

Last year we had 20 team members, 12 men and 8 ladies.

This year - same.

Last year's group were more adventurous. They ate wild durians before the climb.
This year's group were a bit cautious. They had oranges, pears and bananas.

Last year when we arrived at Park HQ the first day, we could see Mt Kinabalu.
This year, many who had never been here before were not sure whether to believe us or not.

Last year Day 2 at 7.30am we had to put on our ponchos.
This year Day 2 at 7.30am all of us were dry.

We had to weigh our bags for the porters to carry to Laban Rata.

Last year, we messed up Park HQ with our stuff. We had so much stuff. Last year's porter fees rate was RM6 for the 1st 10Kg and RM6.60 thereafter.

Last year, we averaged out the cost equally. Each had to pay RM88, if I'm not mistaken.

This year, we tagged all our bags and let Peter Lai and Gan do their job. They were in charged of weighing and recording the bags for the porter to carry. We had less stuff this year. Each had to pay according to what their bag weighs. This year porter fees are much higher. A flat rate of RM8.00 and they charged us extra RM4 making it a total of RM12 per kilo because we planned to stay in Laban Rata for 2 nights.

Last year we went by the Timpohon trail (Summit trail).

This year, the Mesilau route.

Last year me team took about 6 hours to get to Laban Rata.

This year, I took 10 hours 20 minutes.

Last year it rained at 2.30AM on the day we planned to summit Low's Peak. The wind was howling, the Laban Rata Resthouse building was shaking.
During the Summit Push, we had to wear thick warm clothing. My gloved hands were freezing and my cheeks numb with cold. Whenever I stop, my buddy had to hold me, otherwise I fear the wind would knock me off my feet.

This year, we had the perfect weather during the Summit Push. I don't even have to wear my balaclava, well, not until I reached Low's Peak.

Last year, Rachel went for a midnight drink (2.30AM) with someone.

This year I went with her.

Last year the weather was good when we descended from Laban Rata.

This year, it rained throughout the whole night and it was still raining when we started out from Laban Rata.

Last year I arrived at the foothill (from Laban Rata) at..about 3PM. (One of my team members was sick)

This year - 1.30PM.

Last year we had 2 climb T-Shirts - Red and Maroon.

This year - only 1, but it looked better than last year's.

Last year I had 1 coloured certificate.

This year - 2 certificates. :)

One is to certify that I had climbed to Low's Peak via the Mesilau Summit Trail, and the other to certify that I had indeed climbed to Low's Peak.

2008 Mt Kinabalu - planning and organising

Mt Kinabalu. I was there last year.

I can't believe I signed up to climb Mt Kinabalu again this year. We decided to go by the Mesilau trail which is the longer route (2.2KM extra) rather than the Timpohon trail. Just before the christmas musical last year, I started collecting names for the Mt Kinabalu 2008 expedition. We were hoping to go in June during the peak season. By the end of the first day, I had 13 keen wannabe mountain climbers on my list. Unfortunately, Peter Lim's (also nicknamed as Messner) name was not one of them. He co-organised and co-led with KG during the September 2007 climb. Most of us found his presence comforting.

KG was the key person during this July 2008 climb. He appointed me as co-organiser to make his life easier. :)

By February we had 18 on our team, one of them was from Sabah (Mt Kinabalu is in Sabah). Airasia had a promotion in December 2007 and the flights to KK (Kota Kinabalu) were booked then. Our planned date was 18 of June, since there would be a full moon during that week. Airasia however didn't have good rates for that week. We ditched the idea of climbing during a full moon week and started looking for cheap flights on any Wednesdays of June and July. We finally found a cheap morning flight on July 2nd. Only 9 of us managed to get the RM6.00 promotion, while the others had to be booked at RM70.00. Taxes were at RM70 per person. To be fair to all, we averaged the flight cost and each of us had to pay RM101.60.

The flight back to KL were booked in February 2008. We planned to return on a Sunday, 6th of July. Usually, the airfare is more expensive on a weekend, especially on a Sunday. We had been monitoring the airfare in the Aisiasia website for about 2 months. Not willing to take anymore chances, I told KG that I was going to book the return flight by the end of February.

KG on the other hand was arranging for the heated rooms at Laban Rata, the mid point in Mt Kinabalu. He wrote an email to Sutera Santuary (the company that dealth with the logistics of the Kinabalu park) in December, but was told that it was too early to register for July2008. They did however sent us a quotation for the 3 nights and 20 beds we requested and boy-oh- boy were we shocked at the rates they quoted us. RM 15,814 for 20 of us meant that each had to fork out RM 790.70. How in the world did they come out with such figure? Last year, each of us paid RM 130 for 3 nights (meals were pay as you order basis). A few emails to and fro Sutera revealed that they had come out with a package deal for 2008. They have included all the meals in the package. We were thinking.. RM790 less RM130 = RM660. Wow, the meals up in Laban Rata was so expensive. So we asked them for a breakdown of expenses and told them to minus the breakfast at foothill and lunch when we descended from the mountain. The list goes like this :

Bishop Head Resthouse (at foothill) - RM 35

Dinner at foothill - RM 45

Packed lunch for 2nd day - RM 25

Dinner at Laban Rata - RM 45 X 2 nights

Heated bed- 1st night - RM 60 X 2 nights (Unheated beds - RM40)

Breakfast at Laban Rata-1st morn - RM 40 X 2 mornings

Set lunch - RM 40

Total - RM435

RM435 seemed more reasonable than RM790!!!

Okay, check this out. We booked earlier than the registration date frame. Sutera told us that 7 of us would have to stay in an unheated hut for the 2nd night. Hmm..... nevermind.

Over the following months KG had been deligently calling Sutera to find out if they had space in the heated rooms for the 7 persons who would have to sleep in the unheated hut.

24 June 2008, 1 week before the scheduled climb, Sutera wrote an email to KG saying that 16 pax would be in the Laban Rata Resthouse (heated), while the other 4 would have to stay in the unheated hut - Gunting Ladangan, about 200 meters away from the Laban Rata Resthouse. KG replied asking if they could do us a favour by putting the 4 together with the rest and it didn't matter if some of us would had to sleep on the floor as long as they provide the mattressess. They agreed without charging the extra RM20 to the 4 people.

That settles the rooms at Laban Rata.

Meanwhile, over at my side, I had to deal with the flights and hotel rooms in KK Town. We planned to stay one night at KK town after we descended from Mt Kinabalu. We planned to stay in KK Daya Hotel, same as last year's. As for the flight bookings, I had made altogether 8 flight bookings, called Airasia 5 times, spending more that 60 minutes on the phone with them. Airasia changed our flight time without informing me and I had to call them to reconfirm our schedule again. One person decided she wanted her flight from Sunday to Saturday due to family commitments.

We had 2 new recruits in March making the total to 20, the maximum number of people for our team. We wanted to make full use of the transportation in KK. We hired 2 vans, each had a passanger capacity of 10. We used this transportation company owned by Faustine twice last year and once in March this year. He is very friendly and realiable. Even with the 41% hike in petrol prices in April, he still charged us the old price.

In April, Aunty Chris, a 60-year old lady decided she didn't want to endanger her life by conquering Mt Kinabalu. She opted out. We had a quick replacement. The son of the new recruits. Many had wanted to join in, but we operated on a first come first serve basis and they had to sign a commitment letter. This commitment letter basically states that the climbers had to medically fit, undergo physical training regularly, participate in all training hikes organised by the group, work as a team, accept and obey the decisions of the Organisers, to pay all expenses for this event,.. etc.

2 weeks before the climb, someone opted out because of leave complications. We got a replacement within the next day. Her total airfare came up to RM415. Most of us paid RM240.60 for our airfares.

There were moments of joy and trouble during the 6 months of planning.

1) Trouble with Sutera

2) Trouble with Airasia

3) Concern for team mates who couldn't make it for the training hikes

4) Enjoyed the spending time with people during the training hikes

5) Enjoyed seeing the team interact with each despite of the age difference and generation gap

6) Enjoyed knowing everything before hand

That's all I can remember at the moment.

Jul 2008 Mt Kinabalu - Meet The Team

Adlin from Sabah was absent throughout the whole trip. He only appeared on the 6th July in the airport to see us off.

This year's team is of the older group.

2 are in their 20s
8 in their 30s
3 in their 40s
6 in their 50s
1 in her 60s

The average age is 43.

12 men, 8 women.

3 married couples,

1 mother and son,

3 men who are single,

5 married men

4 married ladies.

Number of people who made it to Laban Rata - 19

Absentee - 1

Number of people who made it up to Low's peak - 15

The people in charge :

Advisor - Peter Lim

Organisers - KG & Eunice

Team Leaders - KG & Esther

Team Doctors - Doc James & Doc Peter Ch'ng

T-Shirt Design - Danny & Rachel

Banner Design - KG

Photographers - Doc Peter Ch'ng & Rachel

Transportation-KK - KG

Worship Leaders - Esther & Peter Lai

Guitarist - Peter Lai

Luggage Weighing - Peter Lai & Gan KL

Left Luggage Despatch - Chan Boon Pin & Lu Vin

Packed Lunch - Francis & Hendry

Climbing Certs - Peter Lai & William

Experiencing Mt Kinabalu for the 2nd time-Day 5

We were blissfully asleep till 7AM when the the alarm rang. So nice to sleep, so difficult to get up. I forced myself to get up and wash up. Esther had an additional 15 minutes of sleep while I was in the bathroom.

We went down for breakfast at 7.45AM met up with Peter Ch'ng and mom and Francis.

Immediately after breakfast we went to Gaya Free Market located near our hotel. There were so many things to buy... from paintings to seashells, to T-Shirts, to jewellery and crystals and....lots more. My eyes were on the jewelries. I love crystals and anything bright and glittery.

At 10.15AM, Chin Yih (my cousin's husband) came with the church van to take some 12 of us to Calvary Charismatic Church. Esther and I went with Adele in her Land Cruiser (I think).

The lights were pretty dim and the electricity went off a few times. According to the pastor of that church, no one knew the cause of it. Electricians came to check during the weekdays and it worked perfectly fine.

The preacher was Margaret Steward, mother of Pam Steward. Pam Seward came to Agape to preach in year... 2006 I think.

After church, we head back to our hotel to check out. Then we went for lunch at this famous noodle shop.

It was already 2.30pm when we finally arrived at the Filipino market. I been to twice and both times I went to the same vendor to get my crystals. It seems that every 6 months the vendors would change their stall location in the Filipino Market itself. Last year, I got hold of their card and I brought it with me this year so that I wouldn't spend so much time searching for the stall.

There, this is the stall. We spent 2 1/2 hours just choosing the colours and they created bracelets out of some 20-22 crystals.

The food stalls just beside the Filipino market.

At 5.20PM, Chin Yih and Adele came to pick us up. We went back to their place to wash up before heading to the airport to meet the rest of the team.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8.05pm and our meeting time was at 6.20pm. Adlin, the 20th person who was suppose to climb Mt Kinabalu with us, showed up to see us off.

After checking in our luggage and obtaining the boarding passes for the team, I went to get Min Chee's Seven Star Garoupa Fish.

We met our DIGI friends at the airport. They were booked on the same flight as us. The flight was on time. Yay! We arrived at LCCT KL at about 10.35PM. Esther's husband, Voon Fui came to pick us up.

Experiencing Mt Kinabalu for the 2nd time-Day 4

The room lights were on, as were the last two nights of our stay in Mt Kinabalu. It was already past 3AM. Rachel and I couldn't sleep. We could hear people outside our room getting ready for the summit push. Shortly after 2AM, I could hear the rain fall outside.Thank God no wind, I thought to myself. I remembered last year the wind was howling and the whole building seemed to shake.

Sensing no point in trying to sleep Rachel (or was it me?!) suggested going down for a drink. Might as well.. I thought to myself. So we went downstairs and guess who we saw? Lu Vin and Doc James having a free cup of tea from the buffet spread. We joined them and ordered a pot of hot chocolate for ourselves. Our conversation? We talked mostly about our neighbours. :)

At 3.45AM, most of the people in the dining room had either gone back to sleep due to the rain or attempted the summit push hoping that the rain would subside later. The lights in the dining room started going off one by one. We thought they were closing and decided to go back to our rooms. Before we did that, Rachel thought it was a good idea to check the temperature.

We went out and she took this picture. 8.2C at 3.48AM on the 5th of July. Then we went back to bed. It rained continuously and I wondered whether the climbers would be allowed to go past the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint.

Apparently, they were told it was risky and dangerous and the Management would not be responsible for those who wished to summit. Everyone turned back.

Most of them, if not all, were disappointed. They left their wet raincoats and shoes outside their rooms.

Our group was blessed to be able to summit the day before. Rachel and I snuggled in our warm beds and slept till it's time to get up. I think we set the alarm at 6.30AM. We packed our bags and headed down to the dining room for breakfast.

We ate heartily, knowing we needed the energy to descend later.

This picture was taken at 8AM. The rain was falling down steadily. We planned to start our descend at 8.30AM. Hamiri, the head guide told us that it would continue to rain like this, and it would be better if we leave as planned.

At 8.45AM, we started our final journey. Thank God the rain subsided to a light drizzle. By 9.15AM the rain stopped completely.

The ground was still very wet and we could see the rain water racing down the mountain.

Anyone who had been on the Mesilau Trail would say that it is more scenic than the Timpohon Trail (Summit Trail). Here are some good shots Rachel and I took to prove that the Timpohon Trail has it's own beauty.

Surprisingly most of the team weren't far away from each other.

At one point, I managed to catch up with my sisters.

This is the most scenic view if you are using the Timpohon Trail. Unfortunately, the fog seemed to cover most of the mountain. After this point both Rachel and Esther went ahead of me, while KG and I became sweepers.

Another nice view. I missed this view for the hill.(first pic on the left) :(

An up-close picture of the ground.

At 10.44AM we came to the Mesilau/Timpohon junction.

While I was focusing my camera on KG, this Mat Salleh jumped in front of him and wanted me to take his picture... I obliged. :)

The pitcher plant off the Timpohon Trail. Rachel took these pictures.

Some of the porters we saw along the way. They were paid RM3.00 per kg and 1 porter could carry between 20 - 30 kg per trip.

The Timpohon Trail is basically steps all the way up to Laban Rata.

KG left Johnny and me after the 2km mark. He went to assist Esther.

More steps. Esther was complaining about them. There was waterfall at the end of the journey.

Timpohon hut at last. At 1.30pm Johnny & I were the last ones to reach the Timpohon gate.

Faustine came to fetch us to Park HQ.

We collected our certificates and luggage at Park HQ.

We proceeded to Grace Hostel where we were allowed to bathe and repack our bags.

At 3.30pm we said our goodbyes to the mountain.

At 3.45pm we stopped at a marketplace and had something light to eat before we have our celebration dinner at 5.30pm in Inanam. By now the top of the mountain was covered with fog.

We arrived at Gaya Seafood Restaurant at 5.30pm. My cousin Adele pre-booked 3 tables from this restaurant.

Adele ordered the dishes through the telephone. She arrived 10-15 minutes later bringing with her, Chin Yih, her husband, Alisa, their daughter, her parents, my parents, Aunty Chris, Aunty Annie and Doc James' wife, Denise. Denise flew into KK earlier this morning.

My family, cousins, niece, uncle and aunties.

Our celebration dinner .The food was good, better than last year's.

We left the place at 7pm, Rachel went to the airport with Cynthia and Serena. (They are from Agape too. KG invited them for dinner too since they were in KK). KG accompanied Rachel to the airport. The rest of us went to KK Daya Hotel to check in.

As usual, we tested all the switches in the hotel room see if they were working or not. 2 lights were not working and the smell of shellac was so strong when we turned on the air-cond. Esther dialed reception and complained. They gave us a better and bigger room. :)

Later we met up with my uncle in KK. He is my father's brother, Uncle Raymond. I may have met him once before but I was never acquainted with my cousins. We stayed as long as our eyes could open and said our goodbyes at 11PM. When we reached the hotel, all we could do is to wash up and get to bed as soon as possible. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Experiencing Mt Kinabalu for the 2nd time-Day 3

4th July 2008. The people (Cilla, Rachel, Esther and I) in my room set the alarm at 1.30AM. Did we sleep? Esther didn't sleep at all. Cilla and Rachel slept. I was awake most of the time. When the alarm bell rang, we got up immediately to wash up and get ready for breakfast and the final climb.

At 2.30am, most of my team members were here having a good breakfast. This breakfast would have cost us RM15. In our package, we paid for a more expensive breakfast (RM40) after the climb. Based on experience and because we didn't want to hurry, we knew we couldn't make it back to Laban Rata by 10AM, so we might as well have breakfast before the climb.

The temperature was about 7C. It wasn't as cold as last year's.

At 3.15AM, we started our final leg to the peak. It was a windless and moonless night. We removed our thick jackets just after the start of the hike. 15 of my team members attempted the summit push. Just before the 6.5KM mark, Helen felt ill and rest for a while. We felt sorry for her. She was with us last year, but didn't attempt the summit push.

After some 10-15 minutes, she overtook me. Apparently she purged everything out from her stomach and she felt so much better. We were all walking in a long line, and I was the last in line.... as usual :).

We reached the Sayat-Sayat hut at 5.40AM. Some of my fellow team members had to visit the toilet. This is the only toilet up in the mountains.

Everyone had to show their tags at the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint to gain entrance to the summit.

Sunrise at Donkey Ear's Peak through the viewfinder of Doc Peter's DSLR Nikon D70s.

Dawn awakening at 5.48AM. The view was simply spectacular. Everyone stopped where they were to take pictures. Such a beautiful sight.

This is the South Peak. The picture on the left is taken when we are approaching it. The other picture of South Peak was taken just after we had summited Low's Peak, heading back to Laban Rata. South Peak is also known as the 1 Ringgit (Malaysian currency) peak by the locals. The South Peak is featured in our 1 Ringgit.

Donkey Ear's Peak taken from my camera.

The endless walk to the summit.

Plants found growing on the surface of the ground between the rocks.

I've been here before, but missed all the KM marks. This time I made sure I had enough batteries and memory space to take lots and lots of pictures. BTW, the background in the picture on the left is not Low's Peak. It's the South Peak right after the 7.5KM mark.

This is Low's Peak, the highest peak in South East Asia. My sisters were already up at the summit waiting for me. It was 8.40AM when I took this picture. I remembered telling myself... I must take this picture... I'm so near yet so far to the peak. Last year, I hardly had the energy to climb up this path. Every step I took, I had to stop and rest for 10 seconds. This time, I found that I had more energy... probably because I took my own sweet time walking, taking pictures.. etc.

Made it at last. All three of us. Esther was on her way down even before I reached the top. She said she was feeling cold. Rachel waited for me. I arrived at 9.05AM and left the peak at 9.15AM. I was the last one to sit on that rock for the day. Chan Boon Pin was before me and I chased him away when I reached the peak. He was sitting at the peak savouring the moment, looking contented and pleased with himself. I must say, he had the right to feel so good. I've seen him training very hard in Bkt Kepayang. Most of us doubted his ability to summit, especially when we often see him limping slightly during the training hikes.

This is Low's Peak taken by Doc Peter's D70s Nikon DSLR.

This is KG, forever SMSing to Messner (Peter Lim) and others.

We came down as a group. There were 7 of us - Johnny, KG, Hendry, Rachel, Me, Lu Vin and Chan Boon Pin. At this moment, we had the mountain all to ourselves. We were the last group to leave the mountain.

As we were walking down, Henry complained feeling dizzy and wanting to sleep all the time. He said he felt like this since the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint. He must have been suffering for several hours without anyone knowing. Feeling concerned I held on to his hand so that he wouldn't suddenly fall. After sometime I had to let go of his hand because I wasn't very sure footed of myself.

We reached the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint at 9.40AM. KG told Hendry to take 2 Panadols while he (KG) visited the toilet again.

The Panadol worked like magic. Hendry felt much better when we were ready to leave the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint.

Here I am at the 7KM mark, taken as we were descending from Sayat-Sayat.

Now comes the rope session which I hated so much. I think the guys were waiting for me to get off the ropes. Rachel asked a guide to lead her down earlier so that she can capture some shots of us climbing down. KG helped a lot by telling me what to do, where to put my foot on.. etc. At the same time he was making jokes about me to Johnny. I ignored them and concentrated on which step to take next.

The 6.5KM mark and the 6KM mark. The sun was hot. It was already noon and it seemed like an endless walk right after the rope session. Rachel, Hendry, Lu Vin and Chan Boon Pin had gone ahead.

I walked ahead to take pictures of the surrounding. We finally reached the entrance gate (this gate would be closed if the weather's bad, preventing people from going up the mountain) at 1PM. The Gunting Ladangan hut is situated near this gate. KG had to visit the toilet again. Johnny waited for him while I made my way back to the Laban Rata Resthouse.

Lunch awaited me when I entered the dining hall at 1.30PM. Esther was counting the time I took since I left here early that morning. The journey to the summit and back took me about 10 hours. I didn't mind at all. I was happy. Happy to have spend more time at the mountain rather than to hurry back to the room the sleep. The weather was perfect. What more could I have asked?

After lunch, we went back to our rooms. The people in KG's room had to be evacuated. They were placed in the other 4 remaining rooms and had to sleep on mattresses. This was the arrangement between KG and Sutera Sanctuary Management. 4 people were to sleep in the unheated Gunting Ladangan hut the 2nd night. KG wanted all to to sleep in heated rooms, so he suggested for the 4 to sleep on mattresses with the others. KG went to Doc James' room- room number 10, Chan Boon Pin went to the guys room - room number 5, and Siew Kheng (wife of Boon Pin) came into my room - room number 6. The 4th person was Adlin and he didn't make it to Laban Rata as promised.

By 2.30PM, people were seen testing out the hot water in the bathrooms. I bathe at about 3.20PM. Some guys came over to bathe in the ladies bathrooms because someone forgot to switch on the hot water in the guys bathroom. It would have been alright if it weren't for the fact that there were only 2 bathrooms (and another 2 rooms for toilets) in the ladies bathroom. So some poor ladies had to wait a longer time to have their bath.

At 3.40PM, the sun was shinning, perfect for photo taking. The Lais and the Gans were checking the surroundings of Laban Rata. Doc James was seen outside on the balcony with a new found friend. I couldn't resist but take a few shots here and there.

This was what I took with my compact camera. Awesome view! I went back to my room to let my sisters know that the view was just too great to miss.

They ignored me. :(

Laban Rata stands at 3272.7M above sea level. Well, I was glad I took pictures when I could because 20 minutes later the sun began to inch it's way behind the clouds. And 30 minutes later when Rachel came out to where I was, it began to drizzle.

We went back to our rooms. KG temporarily rested in our room, while Doc James came looking for his walking stick. He got stuck in the room with the Tan sisters and KG, chitchatting and telling us more about himself.

By 5.30pm, someone knocked on our room door and announced that dinner was ready. We went down and met the group from DIGI who had just arrived from their hike up via the Mesilau Trail. RW was part of the group. I was happy and glad that they arrived early.

After dinner, at about 7.30pm we had a singing and worship session led by Esther. Some people from the Management joined in too.

We went back to our rooms by 8PM and started packing our stuff to make more room for Rachel who volunteered to sleep on the floor (with mattress of course). We were so tired that by 10, we were all dead to the world.... Surprisingly.. Rachel found it difficult to sleep. I woke up a few times too.