Blogs from Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, Asia - page 10

Well the last few days was an experience and not necessarily a good one - hard to believe that I am saying that about one of the things I had really looked forward to doing along with than working with the Orangutans that is and that was to Climb Mount Kinabalu But when you read on you may be will understand this comment. But lets start at the beginning; we had to endure a grueling 5 hour car journey from Sepilok to Kota Kinabalu. It was the shame the numbness in certain parts of my anatomy couldn't numb me to the sight of the endless miles of Palm Oil Plantations. We drove for 2-3hours with no break in the swathes of forest that had been cleared. It was scary to think how many miles that ... read more

Hello it's Ben. Yesterday we climbed Mt Kinabalu (why is it called 'mount' not 'mountain' kinabalu?). It was one of the hardest things Sarah and I have ever done. Some facts about the mountain. It is 4095.2 metres high, the highest in South East Asia, and we went right to the top! (although the start was at 1563 metres i think) and the area it is in has 4 climate zones. Our first day of walking took us up to a rest house called Laban Rata where you could sleep and eat. It was a 6KM walk up some incredibly steep slopes. The terrain ranged from dry mud, to wet mud, to deep mud! to stones, to large boulders, to shallow streams, and slippery granite rock! and of course any combination of the above! I'm not ... read more

What a climb, mount k is done in two days the first day we hiked up to the half way house, 4 hours of lots of up hill!! very steep and rocky path, we arrived about 4ish and managed to to it in just over 3 hours! not bad i would say. Chilled for the night and got some early kip, as we were up at half 2am to start the next part. I got really bad altitude sickness and manged to throw up twice on the way - not nice but managed to keep going and make it to the top. a very hard and gruling trek, but worth it at the top, a totally brilliant end to Raleigh, wicked to actually get up mount k as i have been looking at it for ... read more

Got up at 6.00 to catch a bus to Kota Kinabalu park HQ. Catching a bus in Malaysia is not simple. The controllers or drivers on all the buses have ask you where you are going. When you give them the answer all of them seem to be going to that destination. So i say Mount kinabalu HQ, a friendly divers says yes, this way....quickly. I follow him and he shows me to the bus. It's 7.00, the journey takes 2 hrs and I need to be on the waiting list by 9.30. Assuming that when you get on a bus in Malaysia, it will set off is also a mistake. The bus driver waits and waits and waits for more passengers. Meanwhile I see the other buses leaving. So the driver starts his engine, which ... read more

Am 22. April ging's dann endlich los. Wir, Tom und ich, machten uns auf den Weg zum "Base- Camp" des Mount Kinabalu. Dort angekommen wurden wir erst mal zum bezahlen aufgefordert, und ich musste mich schon wieder ein wenig aergern, weil wir als Touristen den 5fachen Preis bezahlen durften. Letztendlich kam mich der Aufstieg dann auf knappe 70 Euro. Am naechsten Morgen machten wir uns dann auf den Weg zum Fruehstuecken. Nach dem Fruehstueck begutachteten wir die Karte und entdeckten, das der Eingang zum Aufstieg noch weitere 4,5 km entfernt lag. Ich haette mir gerne einen Bus genommen, da der aber wieder weitere 7 Euro extra gekostet haette, und Tom sagte wir seien schliesslich zum Berg gehen hier und nicht zum Bus fahren gab ich nach und wir liefen die Strecke zur Power Station. Auf ... read more