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Published: October 27th 2006
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The Group
Dinner at a chinese restaurant on our first night in KK. The unidentified guy on the left is Yannick. He plays the didjereedoo. I'm sure there's a great quote for it but I can't find the perfect one yet. Essentially what contributed to more than half of this trip being as enjoyable as it was-hands down, the company.
Michael (another international student that lives on my floor) and I caught an evening flight to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on Tuesday. Before my trip I had phoned a friend back home, who'd spent some time in Malaysia, for advice varying from what to do and where to stay. She told me all that I asked and more but what we hadn't predicted became fates way of connecting us to an unforgettable experience.
Before we left for our trip we didn't exchange any currency since we planned on withdrawing Ringits (the local currency) at the airport. Upon arrival, we found that the airport was under renovation and NO ATMs in sight…foiled!
So having no ringits to pay a taxi with, when an eccentric guest house hustler, Vincent, proposed that he'd give us a free ride to The Tropicana (which was 20 ringits a night) we heartily agreed. In the van on the way to the guesthouse we introduced ourselves to people who, later on
THE Search
Vananh has a thing for mangosteen and I have a thing for pineapples and guava, so here we are at the market. We find neither and settle for Rambutan. in the story, would become the best traveling companions anyone could ever ask for.
So before I go any further I'd like to introduce my traveling companions.
1) Michael-Aussie dude who lives on my floor and is teaching me how to say things like I gotta take a poo in Aussie
2) Vananh-Cool chick from Orange county California that works on short contracts as a radiologist so she can take weeks off at a time to travel (inspiring-I think I'm going to try to do something similar).
3) Gareth-Sweetest and cutest most easy to embarrass engineer ever. Similar to Vanah, he does contract work and can take weeks off at a time to travel.
Trying to squeeze as much as we could into 5 days, as soon as we woke up the next day, we took a leisurely walk to the KK Park Office and booked lodging for the halfway point and caught a van to the mountains. For the first evening we stayed at a quaint little guesthouse about a 10-minute walk outside of the park headquarters. You would have to walk alongside the highway (for those of you who know how scared I am of cars
THE Sign
The typical asian pose in front of the National Park sign. and crossing streets, lets just say I might've pissed on myself a little…who knows, it was damp out) to get to headquarters.
Finding that we had a good hour before orientation, we decided to go on a short hike nearby. Halfway into our hike, it started to rain and soon enough we were all drenched. Finding we were unprepared for this rain, we headed back to headquarters for some hot tea and enough time for a light supper. The orientation was informative, but what stuck with me the most was how the women kept insisting on how much you had to keep yourself motivated and moving when you got tired. At the time, I didn't realize how important these words would mean to me.
During this trip, 2 things happened that helped me discover my reactions in unpredictable and somewhat extreme situations. The first one happened after we went back to our guesthouse. As we were peeling our wet clothes off, I noticed that my shoes had blood on them. Calming my fears, my new friends assured me that it was probably clay. Noticing that the texture wasn't clay, I came to the conclusion that I must have
On the Pier
Michael and Vananh on the boat ride. stepped on a poor lizard on our hike back. I was starting to feel pretty bad about the fate of this poor lizard until I pulled up my pants to find my right leg bleeding and my sock soaked with blood. The leach was so fat that he was passed out on my ankle. I have to admit, when my sister told me about how she got bit by leaches in Laos, I had foreseen my reaction to be of screaming and perhaps some tears. But instead I was calm and relieved I had not murdered a poor lizard. It also helped that everyone was calm (actually that might've been it). Too eager to grasp for the feeling of relief, I quickly found hesitation when I found 2 more on my left leg.
The night before we had decided to climb the Mesilau trail, although it was an extra 2 km, I heard that there was more plant and wildlife to look at. Our hike started with the meeting of our guide at park headquarters. I'm not quite sure how to explain him. His name was Rauldy when you met him but his name changes to dragon as the
Animal Freak Show
We went to an animal freak show-just for kicks and Michael gets a snake hug. hike progress'. So you hear in the background every few hours that the dragon is behind you. He was great. We all had our gear and our bags stuffed with emergency kits and warm clothes and the guy is wearing sandals, rolled up jeans and carrying a purple umbrella for a 6 km hike! The whole time we were hiking he would stop to occasionally "play" with his mp3 player so that you wouldn't feel like a stupid slow poke. He had the perfect way of staying close enough to keep an eye on you if you needed help but far enough back so you didn't feel rushed. What a gem. It was surprising how we were huffing and puffing our way up this mountain non-stop while he was texting on his phone and smoking a cigarette. There were times when I would be hiking in the middle of the jungle by myself for an hour and he would show up out of the middle of nowhere with ease. I swear there must be a secret passageway that they don't tell you about.
After about 5 ½ hours, I finally made it to the resting point, restaurant, and
Bamboo Orchid
I sold bamboo orchid at the Coop and I always wondered about the orchid part because the ones we sold never had orchids on them. our accommodations for the night. I was the last one to make it up in my group. Gareth had made it up 2 hours before us and had already had a couple meals, Michael had been waiting about an hour, while Vanah had been waiting about 10 minutes, and this was probably because she went back down the mountain to find me, fearing she had taken the wrong path (sure Vananh…).
The last 2 kilometers of the hike, before you get to Lows Peak started at 3 in the morning so that we could get to the top with ample time to see the sunrise. This might seem cheesy, but every time I would stop to take a breath, I would be taken aback and in awe at what I was seeing, every single time. The stars in the night sky of Mount Kinabalu was the most beautiful I've ever seen next to the stars that are nestled in the redwood forest back at home. About my 8th flight of stairs and 45 minutes into the hike, the most disappointing part of my trip happened. I started to feel symptoms of altitude sickness and started throwing up profusely and
Map
Map of the mountain. That's not to scale by the way. Its much bigger when you actually CLIMB it. cramping. Then it became…let's say, less magical? It eventually got worse and I started to feel the cloak of defeat and a rush of tears. When it became clear that there was no way I was going to make it up in this condition, I started to climb back down. Everything is fine now. The postcards I bought that says "I came, I saw, and I conquered" were given to 2 deserving people that made it to the top.
The remaining days of our trip were spent back in town with our new friends. Gareth left soon after to explore other parts of Malaysia while the rest of us spent our time swimming, eating, reading, and napping on the nearby islands of Palau Manukan and Sapih. We were so sore from our hike that the final days in KK also consisted of us pathetically and slowly limping with each step, avoiding street curbs, wincing at every sight of stairs, and having to take each stair step at a time for fear we would fall and eat shit.
Climbing Mount Kinabalu was probably the hardest physical feat of my life thus far. There were moments when I wanted to
Mosque
We passed a beautiful mosque so I took a picture. give up and turn around, especially when it wouldn't stop raining and I became cold, wet and hungry. But it was by far the best experience of my life. I highly recommend it.
*Note to others: After climbing mountain, don't head into town right away, go to the hot springs afterwards
The value of life deepens incalculably with the privileges of travel.
-Willis Nathaniel
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anonymous
non-member comment
that's too cool
hey there it sounds like you have tested your limits and came out with a new outlook on life! Those are some amazin pics too. What an adventure!