A mad Finn on a high mountain

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My first three days in the state of Sabah were dedicated to getting better. I had checked in at the hotel which was quite decent and thus suitable for being sick. I had even a TV with some five channels - only one of them broadcast English programmes though, but the others were great for studying Malay language… 😉 I only went out to buy more water, to eat or to watch a movie in the neighbouring movie theatre (Ocean’s 13 and Sherk 3 if anyone is curious what kind of films they show in Borneo. By the way, Shrek 3 was premiered in Finland over two months later than in Malaysia!) I had also changed some books in Miri and had now two good and thick books to enjoy. The reason for such devotion for getting better was that my friend Iris was coming to Kota Kinabalu in a few days time and I didn’t want to be sick then - let alone when we were supposed to climb the Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak of South East Asia.

On the fourth morning I woke up to sunshine and feeling much better. I decided it was time to quit the recovery programme and start enjoying the life again. I packed the bikinis and the towel and went out to find the way to the jetty where I could take a boat to one of the islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu. The first boat was going to Manukan island, so I jumped on it. There I enjoyed a few hours of sun, sand and relaxation until the boat took me back. Having less than two weeks of the holiday left I decided to bin the principle of eating meals that cost less than three dollars. So I had a great salad and a glass of wine with 20 dollars - which shows that you CAN enjoy food in Malaysia if you are prepared to pay for it. While having a cup of coffee at Starbucks, I was thinking how lucky I was: a great friend arriving and a move to a five star hotel waiting on the following day. The clouds really had shifted not only from the real but also from my mental sky.

The next day was equally sunny. I packed my backpack and took a taxi to Shangri-La resort, which Iris had reserved for us. It was the best hotel I’ve ever stayed and simply fantastic. I couldn’t help jumping up and down when I saw the room. Iris wouldn’t come until late in the evening so I went down to the pool. It started to rain later in the afternoon (the rainy season had started far too early - another sign of the effects of the global warming), but that didn’t matter, I took the full advantage of the treadmill in the gym instead. After having a dinner in the beach restaurant I went back to the room to watch a movie while waiting for Iris.

Finally she came and it was SOOOO amazing to see her there - on the other side of the globe. Her luggage hadn’t arrived with her but who cares about such small details. More jumping, a bit of champagne (Iris’s flame from London had sent the bottle, we learnt later - more men like that are required please), and a good long chat at the balcony ended the day that had been the best for ages.

The resort being so fantastic we didn’t leave it for the next two days. Much of my tan had faded away and Iris didn’t have any so we were mainly working on getting those perfected. On the third day it was time to start the active part of the week. We flew to Sandakan, a starting point for two wildlife excursions on the agenda. On the first day we made a day trip to the Turtle Island where the main attractions are the turtles which come to lay their eggs on the shores every night. Unfortunately the accommodation is very restricted and we didn’t manage to book one. So we missed the turtles. We were still trying to find some baby turtles from the beach, which should have been possible, but only one we found was sadly dead.

Fortunately we were luckier with the orang utangs on the following day. We took a taxi to the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary where it is possible to catch a sight of these close relatives of us humans. First we saw a video of the rehabilitation programme which explained how the sick or orphaned orang utans are taken care of until they are about two years old. Once they are ready for it, they are released back to the nature, but still have an opportunity to return to the daily feedings. That’s when it is possible to see a few of these big red apes, which share 96.5% of their DNA with the modern human genome making them highly intelligent and incredibly human in their expressions.

Apparently three or four orang utangs is the average number for visitors to see in Sepilok. We were quite lucky to spot six or seven. They turned up, one by one, by using the rope hanging between the trees. You could tell that they were quite used to the people, as most of them stopped to observe the audience and make a little show presenting their best tricks. They were offered milk and bananas, which they ate quite neatly. It was definitely one of the highlights in Malaysia.

After Sepilok we started a four hour bus journey towards another highlight - a very tall one. That was of course Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in South-East Asia. Viewed from the park headquarters it looked unbelievably massive and high. After a big dinner and nervous sleep we woke up to the bright morning. The weather was going to be on our side which is great when you are supposed to climb at over 4 kilometres. We organised the essentials: a guide, permit and insurance. After the breakfast it was time to go.

The route starts at 1900 metres and continues until 3300 metres on the first day. It is only six kilometres in length, but took 4 hours and 20 minutes from us (which is actually not too bad) as we were going upwards all the time. Most of the route consists of the steps which is generally much harder for the muscles than a steady incline. All the climbers stay at 3300 metres for a night. It was quite fun going up and see all the climbers from the previous day to come down. They were all so happy with what they had achieved and kept wishing us good luck. We even met Vicky and Trevor, the Australian couple with whom I was travelling in the midst of Sarawak - fancy meeting them there as Trevor put it.

We arrived in Laban Rata, the base camp in the early afternoon. Being lucky enough, we managed to get the showers amongst the first ones and I hired an additional jacket for myself as it was going to be really cold up there on the next day. After having lots of tea and a noodle dinner there wasn’t that much to do. We chatted a bit with the fellow-climbers, but mostly we were just dreading over the next morning. Around 7 pm, once we had negotiated the extra sleeping bags, we climbed further 200 metres to our non-heated hut for a night.

The wake up call was at 2.30am. It had been a fairly sleepless night as there were many rooms in the hut and people kept coming and going keeping lots of noise. The guide collected us at 3pm and the climb in the darkness towards the summit was to begin.

We weren’t the only ones. It was a long queue of people with head torches ascending silently towards the peak that was looming somewhere above us. This time we actually needed to climb using ropes in some places. Breathing was a bit difficult now; I could tell we were higher than I had ever been. I didn’t have any physical difficulties, all these long hikes I had been doing were paying off now, but something was wrong with my head. It was aching, I had problems keeping the balance, and my thoughts became blurry.

About the climb after Sayat-Sayat, which is the end of the tree line and the last check point before proceeding up to the summit, I don’t remember much. Neither I, Iris nor the guide did realise what was matter with me until I started to behave in the most bizarre way - apparently raging at everybody. I was suffering from the altitude-sickness, of course. Luckily we didn’t know how dangerous it can be. I felt very cold and declined to go up to the summit, where it would be even cooler and windier, until the sun was rising. So the guide took me under the rock shelter where I was sitting mute eating a snickers bar and staring at the clock. Speaking English felt nearly impossible and my eyes felt like I had been crying for a week. After ten minutes or so, my head still fuzzy, I was ready to go up.

The sunrise was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The colours over the mountains kept changing and the feeling of achievement was great. Had my head been okay, I would have probably been able to enjoy it even more, but it was pretty special now too. And most importantly, it was fantastic to do it together with a great friend.

It was absolutely freezing up there and as soon as the photos were taken, we started descending. It was light now and we actually saw the route for the first time. It was a scary drop down in some places, so we decided it was good we didn’t see in the first place where we had been climbing. In a couple of hours we got back to Laban Rata and had some breakfast. It felt weird that it was only 8am and we had already been up for hours. The final part was the most boring one, as that is the same route we had done on the previous day. We just wanted to get down as soon as possible, not least because of my horrible headache, and nearly run the steps down. In total, the trip took 10 hours and 20 minutes.

I was feeling really quite sick and we didn’t have the energy to wait for a bus so we took a taxi back to Kota Kinabalu. Iris had booked us a room in the same lovely resort for the last night. We were both too exhausted to even go out and lay by the pool. A little nap helped, however, and by the evening even I was feeling quite all right. It was time to celebrate the great achievement and great holiday!

On the following morning Iris left for KL and I moved back to my old hotel in the centre of Kota Kinabalu for the last night before catching a flight to Bangkok. I had lots of errands to run in the city, which wasn’t easy as my thigh muscles were in agony and even the smallest step caused problems. KK people seemed to be used to the sight of limping tourists, however, as many of them smiled and asked if I had been ‘at the mountain’. I was trying to make myself feel sad now when the trip was coming inevitably to an end, but all I felt was happiness and relief. I had had a wonderful journey, but I missed home and couldn’t wait to see my family and friends.

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Photos

Just recovered
Taking a boat to the TAR islands

How good can life be...
The beach at Shangri-La resort

The turtle hatchery
The staff at the Turtle Island picks up all the eggs that the turles lay on the sand and move them to this hatchery.

The magnificent Mount Kinabalu
and we were going to top it!