Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia

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Now it was time for the hard bit of our trip, climbing South-East Asia's tallest mountain Mount Kinabalu. It's 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) making climbers susceptible to altitude sickness. Whereas in Peru we climbed higher on the Inca Trail, we were acclimatised to the altitude, here we went from sea level to the peak in under 22 hours.

The first day involved taking a bus from the port town of Kota Kinabalu up to the start point of the walk at 1800 metres above sea level. Although the walk to our overnight hostel was only 6km, it was unrelentingly steep, taking us nearly 5 hours. By the time we were approaching our hostel at Laban Rata, I needed to stop every 100m or so for water.

Unfortunately for climbers, the top of the mountain is usually covered in cloud shortly after sunrise. To get the best chance of a view we left the hostel at 2:30 am with just our torches to guide us. Today we walked even slower, sometimes taking 45 minutes to cover 500 metres. The walk to the summit was only 3km, but it took us over 3 hours. the op of the mountain is often just sheer granite which requires climbers to haul themselves up on ropes. Its equivalent to walking up a 1 in 3 road for 3 km, but with no air to breathe.

It was worth the effort, though. We reached the peak just before sunrise, watching the stars give way to dawn and then to Borneo below us. Unlike the Andes, where you are surrounded by other tall mountains, Mount Kinabalu stands by itself, giving you and even greater sense of being on top of the world. The town of Kota Kinabalu was over 160km away and it was in the shadow of the mountain. I think this is the furthest I have ever been able to see without being in an airplane.

The wind at the top made it absolutely freezing so we only stayed for about 15 minutes. As we walked down we realised the main benefit to walking to the summit in the dark - you can't see how difficult it's going to be! After about an hour the breathtaking views were replaced by cloud. Our elation at reaching the top was quickly forgotten as we realised how difficult it would be to get down.

By the time we'd reached the bottom, some 8 hours later, our knees were wrecked. There are thousands of steps which really take it out on the knees and ankles during the walk down. I'm writing this two days after the climb and every muscle in my legs ache. It strikes fear into me every time I see steps - and our hostel have put us on the third floor!

Whilst I'm in agony just doing the climb once, our guide had been up over 700 times. Also, the hostel at Laban Rata does not have any other way of getting supplies other than people carrying the stuff up. These porters carry up to 30kg on their backs. There were a surprising amount of women porters and also some 14 year old boys who were earning pocket money in the school holidays! More incredible still was the board at the start of the walk that displayed the fastest ever ascent. A man from Spain did it in an astonishing 2 hours and 38 minutes.

Close to Kinabalu park was another national park - Poring Hot Springs. It's the only national park I've been to that's been completely tiled. The hot spring water is fed into numerous bathtubs which weary mountain climbers sooth their aching muscles. There are also swimming pools and water slides. It was the best possible way to relax after that mountain. Also here was a canopy walk which is suspended between trees and 41 metres above the ground. The canopy walk was great, but the steps up to it weren't!

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