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Published: August 6th 2007
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The night spent on the floor of the Jakarta Airport was soon to be rewarded with a very fun, rewarding week. After a short layover in Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Kota Kinabalu. It is a very nice little city. Not a small town, the way I love, but an extremely homey city. We caught a cab towards the downtown area to find a hostel. After looking around for a bit we found the friendly Borneo Backpackers. My brother Robert was a bit frustrated after we found out that it would not be as easy as he thought to see the Rafflesias (the giant bornean flowers). We walked around for a bit to see the surroundings. We decided to check out the islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. I tried to stay up for the Italy x France World Cup Final, in vain.
In the morning we set out early to visit the beautiful islands of Sapi and Mamutik. Excellent snorkeling in the clear waters of the South China Sea. We spent most of the day in the water, and by the time we arrived back, the sun and swimming had taken most of our energy. After eating
the first Western meal in a few weeks (Pizza-Hut) I took some time to search for a charger for my Ipod (one of the few luxury items I carry) since I "exploded" the charger I brought back in Kuala Lumpur (note to travelers: there is no Ipod chargers in the entire city of KK). We prepared for the climb to the summit of Mt. Kinabalu, which would start early on the next morning, on a one our taxi ride to the base of the 20th highest mountain in the World.
Robert seemed pretty confident about the climb and reaching the summit, since he did most of the planning for that. I was less confident. Let's face it: I like to hike, but I did absolutely NO training for this. We had absolutely NO experience in climbing. On the base camp we met Azlan, our guide. Of course I only got his name right a couple of days ago, since I have a terrible memory for names. I just called him Azy. We hiked steep steps for 6,2 kms to Laban Rata, where we arrived in the late afternoon. It was exhausting. At Laban Rata we ate an extremely overpriced
meal (talk about monopoly). The few hours sleep only brought stiffness to the thighs, which I felt when I got up at 2am, to start the summit attempt. Robert looked excited, but around kilometer 7, felt the power of the altitude, and gave in to the nausea and fatigue. He decided to climb down to Laban Rata, and wait for my return. His forfeit discouraged me. Maybe I wasn't ready for this either. My knees were quickly swelling and hurting. Took rest breaks every 100 yards. And when I finally got to the verge of quitting, I thought of how much Asia has made me grow already. Strength came from somewhere as I realised that it would be my Mind versus my Body. Azy kept encouraging me, and he looked like he never took a step. I decided that my Mind was going to win this one. The last 700 yards of the hike were of intense pain in each and every step. My poor knee was suffering intensely. I counted the steps and said to myself: "fifty more, Mark... you can do it!" and took fifty steps over and over again. But finally, I reached the summit! The sensation
was undescribable. A costly and painful victory, but, perhaps representative of all that this place has tought me. If I conquered Kinabalu, there is nothing I cannot conquer. And in 2006 the World can say that at least ONE brasilian made it to "the top", to shake the green and yellow flag! (and I don't even get payed the millionaire salaries for this, unlike those 20-some losers on the Brasilian World Cup team). And when I thought my suffering was over, I remembered the 9 hour climb down the mountain (The sight of the mountain entrance was almost as beautiful as the sight of the summit). We caught a ride back to KK with Azy.
I could barely get up next morning from the soreness left from the climb (which would follow me for 7 days). Robert went back to the islands but I could barely climb down the steps of the hostel. Sean (the owner of the hostel) could barely catch a breath between his laughs. Sean was a chinese that had settled in KK and looked rather shy at first. We later found out how funny he was. He helped me to find a Ipod charger (only
Laban Rata
Home of the priciest food in Malaysia. found a car charger though), which saved me from boredom for the long bus rides on the next couple months.
We caught a bus to Sandakan on the next morning, but jumped out near Sepilok, where the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center was. We did not realise that we would be dropped off so far from it, and that we would not be able to find transportation. Luckily, we stopped a van from the Sepilok Jungle Hotel (where we had reservations) and saved ourselves from a 2 mile walk. After dropping our backpacks at the hotel, we hurried to the Orangutan Center to see their feeding. It was an expensive experience, but well worth it. The human-like animals (Urang = man, Utan = jungle) are extremely charming and seeing them upclose and the work done with them is quite an experience. After that, all that was left of our experience in Borneo was a short wait for the flight back to Kuala Lumpur, at the Sandakan airport.
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