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Published: September 15th 2010
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So I left Cairns and flew via Darwin to Singapore.
I ended up emailing an old colleague from Amsterdam to go out for a beer and he invited me to stay - so I was staying in fancy Robertson Quay for the night, very nice.
We went out and had a stroll and ate some cheese and drank a lot of wine...slept for most of the next day and then had to go straight to the airport again! It was a great night though and fun having a chat about Amsterdam times!
Being slightly hung over I was not in the best of states to fly to Kota Kinabalu to climb the Mt Kinabalu...but I had a night's sleep and felt much better. The transfer van came and picked me up at my shabby back packers and then took me to a super deluxe resort (didn't I feel cheap..) where we picked up my fellow climbers. It was a group of older people but some of them were very fit!
We met our guide and porter (not me - I carry my own things! But they all arranged for a porter..) and off we went!
(It was very steep,
much more so than I expected..so I took my time and enjoyed it and nearly 5 hours later I made it to the camp at 3200m. It was a great camp with a gorgeous view of the mountain. It had rained on the way up and I was soaked from the waist down (at least I had a rain jacket!) so I felt cold and miserable and unprepared. That was until I met my roomies...2 english and a dutch guy. They didn't have rain jackets and they were wearing converse! All of a sudden I felt like a well prepared experienced climber..
After a great breakfast at 2.30 we started up the mountain at 3.00 to get to the summit for sunrise. Dark and cold cold cold. Very steep again and a little scary at times. One third of the way up 6 climbers were down to 3..
Me and one of the ladies climbed together and reached the summit just in time and it was gorgeous!!!! Views were stunning and it feels damn good to be at 4095 m , until you realise you have to go back down..
I took it easy down to the camp, trying
to be nice to my ankles and wobbly legs. Then after a great second breakfast I headed down the mountain. I just wanted to get it over and done with so I pretty much ran down - and it was great fun!! Slippery and scary at times and my knees and especially my ankles were killing me but it was a great work out and I really enjoyed it. The thought of Jim running up this mountain though, just blew me away - its a big mountain!!
At the bottom I was rewarded with a certificate... and a buffet lunch!!
I was very pleased with myself and the experience until later that evening in the backpackers in KK. Imagine the muscle pain when one hasn't exercised for quite some time and then does it intensively for over 10 hours..I could hardly walk..pathetic!
Either way I dragged myself to yet another early flight and arrived in Tawau to get diving again. To be continued..
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