Never say Never

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Well,... you do it once and you think it was a bad idea... you do it twice and you start to worry about your sanity! I'm talking about climbing great big, huge mountains for absolutely no reason whatsoever!


I flew from KL to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on Tuesday 25th October.

Note to self - never fly Air Asia without coming prepared. I sat on the 2 and a half hour flight with very little food... oh no! But what made it even worse was that some of the passengers were given food... I looked up at the flight attendant expectantly and he told me that he could sell me something (?!) I said, "no thanks"... than about an hour later when the other passengers had finished their (half decent looking) food, and I had worked myself up into a paddy about not getting anything to eat and how this was 'Highly hypocrytical and wholly unfair since most of these people are supposed to be fasting now as it is ramadan anyway'... I asked whether I would be getting a meal?! "Erm,... no"... "but why not!?" ... "because these people work for the Malaysian government or army and have a special contract with Air Asia which means that they get meals on their flight"... "oh"... humph.

Arrived in KK and it was (typically) raining. Jumped in a taxi and headed to town. Sat in traffic for about half an hour but eventually got to the hostel I was looking for - Planet Kinabalu (recommended by LP,... not by me!) Settled in, went to Pizza Hut for tea (I WAS DESPERATE!) and then had an early night.

Wednesday 26th October

Woke early, walked down the road and booked into a nicer hostel - North Borneo Lodge (hot showers, clean rooms, comfy beds, free tea and coffee and free internet - woohoo!)

Then set off on a mission not to be swindled by all the tour companies out there, but get the most out of my time here in Sabah.

Found an Irish chap who ran a tourist info. company (Borneo Information centre), and who was able to schedule my coming week and book all that needed to be booked! 2 hours later I was sorted!

PLAN OF ACTION

Climb Mount Kinabalu - South East Asia's tallest Mountain (I've been told, at 4,095.2m!)
Visit Sepilok Orang-utan rehabilitation centre
Spend a couple of days looking for wildlife on the Kinabatangan river (try saying that even when you're sober!)
Head back to KK and RELAX!

Had to go shopping tho. I needed a warm/waterproof coat, a hat and gloves (this is south east Asia, right? ... near the equator!?) I met a group of 3 girls who were looking for the same 'equipment' as me and we arranged to meet at the mountain tomorrow!

Back to the hostel that afternoon, after a quick visit to the supermarket to stock up on supplies... emergency chocolate and raisins (I had images of Mrs Wardell and countless Welsh trips!)

Met up with a group of guys... I had to ask why they were all walking funny!? They had just got back from the Mountain that day... and wouldn't stop complaining about how much pain they were in - uhoh,.. what have I let myself in for!?

We all went out for a HUGE plate of pasta (Stocking up on the carbs!) before heading back to the hostel for a quick game of poker (Long time no play - you could tell, I was so out of practice!) before getting an early night (after moving dorms cos the other guy we were all sharing with was in training for the 'world's loudest snoring man competition'!)

Thursday 27th October

Early bus at 7am from KK to the Park headquaters of Mount Kinabalu.

Got on the bus at KK and who should be sat in front of me but Julian (I had met Julian on the way to Malaysia, spent about a week with him... more than enough time... before he started to really annoy me with his whinging and moaning... didn't think I would travel 2 and a half hours on a plane to bump into him again... grrr, and just before we climb the mountain, which, no doubt, he would complain all the way up, grrr)

We all got off at the park gates and headed up to reception. I waited for the girls that I had met whilst shopping yesterday, and when we were all together we got a guide and our climbing permits sorted. (not a cheap affair - one price, about 3p, for Malaysians... another, about 30 pounds, for foreigners!)

And so we were off. We had (wisely) chosen to splash out on a 90p return taxi to the starting point, about 1.5km away (good move - highly recommended!)

Within the first couple of minutes it all came back to me... what is it that posesses me to want to climb mountains!? It was hard going, sweaty and as far as I could see at this point, a total waste of time... grrr.

We stopped at each of the little shelters, approximately every Kilometer on the way up. Primarily to stock up on sugar (esp. Cadbury's chocolate biscuits!) and secondly to have a welcome break from the persistant rain/drizzle as we were heading through the clouds. (Note to dad... mac in a bag thingy is NOT waterproof... I have just discovered - it just gets v. wet and then sticks to you, so you end up being wet on the inside (perspiration!) and on the outside. urgh. However, on the other hand, universal sink plug is now back in opperation!)

The walk was a grueling 5 hours uphill ALL the way. It had actually been made more difficult by the fact that they had put in steps/shelves, I imagine they thought they may have been helping us, but it just meant that you had to step up the size of the step, rather than shuffling uphill... and if you are unfortunate enough to have little short legs like mine, this does not make the climb easy - one size does NOT fit all!

We eventually arrived at the Laban Rata Hut, where we would be spending the night, at approximately 3.30pm. We settled into our heated room (Its pretty cold up there on the mountain, there was a requirement for heaters! well worth the 6 pounds I'd paid. You could alternatively chose to stay in a non-heated lodge for about 3 pounds,... but you would have to be desperate, or tough skinned!) and had a hot shower - luxury!

After stuffing myself at the all you can eat buffet :o) of noodles, rice and 'various' meats, along with lots of hot tea and coffee, we settled down to get an early night; at 7.30pm! Well, I've come to the conclusion that that's a ridiculous time to even attempt to go to bed for grown ups! After an hour of tossing and turning we all whispered "I can't sleep", "Me neither"! We had a bit of a giggle at this and then realised that it could have something to do with the heat in the room... like when grandad used to put the electric warming blanket on our beds, but then forget to turn them off ... "Grandad, I'm roasting like a chicken in the oven here!" I spent the next couple of hours looking out of the little window watching the clouds moving over the twinkly town lights below... eventually fell asleep.

Friday 28th October

Woke at 2am... after about half an hour of sleep... grrr.

I dressed in all my warmest clothing, had a cup of hot coffee and waited for our guide to join us. But the guide was still having breakfast 30 mins after we had arranged to meet him! Thinking that we would be cutting it fine to get to the top of the mountain for sunrise (after all, this is what we had come all this way for!) we all set off and left a message for our guide that he could come and join us when he was ready! (the guides don't actually 'guide' the group, the path is well trodden enough, they simply walk at the back and ensure that no-one gets left behind, or falls off the mountain!)

We set off up the mountain again, following the other 50 odd people who had set off before us (there were apparantly going to be 96 people climbing to the summit that morning!) At first there was quite a traffic backlog of people all climbing the steps that had been put in for us, but it was reassuring to see all of their torch lights and know that you weren't the only crazy one doing this at this hour in the morning!

However, after a while it became annoying to have to keep stopping and waiting for someone to put on/take off a layer, have some food, or collapse,... so I stormed ahead, not quite running past people, but making good headway - it was a matter of survival, I was racing against time, it had become each man for themselves!

It can get quite lonely up on a mountain in the pitch black with only a really annoying tune buzzing around in your head, a mag lite and some raisins for company. But every now and again I would come across a bunch of people taking a breather and no matter what age, nationality, race, religion you were, everyone would say "Hi, how's it going?".... what a stoopid flippin question... "Oh, it's just fine and lovely up here isn't it.... yes, well, can't stay around chatting all day, see you at the top!", tut!

I really did think I'd lost it (or the altitude was getting to me) when about an hour into the walk I actually started to enjoy it! Besides desperately gasping for breath it was actually great fun to be wandering by moonlight across barren rock faces, pulling myself up on the rope like it was an assault course, looking at the millions of stars and watching the shooting stars race across the sky and knowing that I was going to be at the top of the highest mountain in South East Asia, in only an hour or so!

I got to the summit at 5.20am where I was greeted by about 12 other people (only 1 other girly... woo hoo! Go me! but should have maybe run faster to be the first one... maybe next time?!) and then stood for about 10 mins dancing around like a ninny and hitting myself in an attempt to warm up, before the sun started to light up the sky! I took a MILLION photos of random lumps of rock and the sunrise in the dark/half light/and daylight with numb fingers! (LOADS OF PHOTOS TO FOLLOW, when I find a computer that I can plug in my jobby!) Then when the rest of the group had joined us and we all had the obligatory photo in front of the peak marker (4,095.2m did I tell you?!), and the novelty had worn off (about 30 mins later) we all trekked back down again. Well,... it was worth it, really, to see the fabulous view being unveiled gradually as the sun rose, we saw Kota Kinabalu and the sea in the distance on one side and great expanses of vegetation and jungle in all other directions! It was even more rewarding to be able to see where we had come from in the dark!

It was just a matter of getting down now! With the sun on us, it was like a walk in the park... but across lots of big rocks, and with a couple points where you had to abseil down the rock face thrown in for fun! It was warm at least, and my fingers even started to warm up! (but that was painful... first I had pins and needles and then they swelled up to pudgly little things that were no use for tackling any zipper!)

Back at the hut, we re-fuelled with hot drinks and toast before setting off again on the last descent. It seemed like an eternity to get back down again. It was made even more painful by the fact that we had to get back down all those bleedin' steps again... the same problem in reverse... I had to take it really slowly to ensure that I wasn't going to take a tumble and end up going down on my chin! Also, it was like walking vertically down most of the way and my toes really felt the pressure as they were continually squished to the end of my shoes :o(

At the bottom we had another re-fueling session (I figured it was justified as I had burned a lot of calories in the last 2 days!) which consisted of another all-you-can-get-on-your-plate-and-eat buffet of rice, noodles, various meats.

I was then heading for Sepilock, the Orang-utan rehabilitation center. The girls chose to come with me, which was great, so we all sat on the edge of the main road waiting for an express bus to come and take us to where we needed to go...

An hour later we were still sat on the edge of the road, in the rain... feeling v. tired, stinky, cold, wet and miserable.

At about 3.30pm a bus arrived and we hopped on. It was pretty packed because a lot of people were coming from KK and heading home to their families for Hari Raya (Like our xmas). But we were grateful to be out of the rain (but we weren't warm! On these air con buses, not a chance! I kept my fleece on!)

A good number of hours later (about 8pm! We thought we would be there by about 6 at the latest!) we arrived at Sepilok and got a 'taxi' to the Wildlife resort (whic wasnt the Jungle resort as we had asked to be take to but it was at least next to the Jungle resort ... and it was a roof over our head and we were beyond caring) Before even taking a shower, we ate again (priorities - burger and chips for me - yummy!) then shower and bed. It felt like days since I'd last had a good night sleep and I'd walked for about 15hours inbetween!!!

Will update you all again soon... poss v. soon as I have free internet access here! But i'm sorry about not being able to post any photos to make it a little more interesting - they won't be far behind tho!

Hope that you are all well, and had a fun Halloween! (nothing really happens here for halloween... feel like i've missed out!)

Oh, and apparantly my lil bro and his band (Moriati & Sith) was on Radio 1 for a Halloween special at some point over the weekend (it's ok martin... you can pay me for the advertising when I get home ;o) !) but I can't find a computer ANYWHERE in Malaysia that I can hear it on... so you'll all just have to check it out for me at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?/radio/aod/rock_alt.shtml?radio1/oneworld_mon

... argh, and i've just found a photo on the radio 1 site... http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/urban/oneworld/gallery/cos2005/3.shtml
If you don't know, i'm not going to point out my sibling! (The hair is looking good bro! x)

'til next time,
Clare x

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Comments

[Kate & Geoff]

watch out for teh old man of the trees
Good to see you are keeping up with the hill walking - I'm assuming you will aslo climb Ayers Rock when your passing ! On other matters hug one of those orangs -otangs for me and send pics! Keep safe Kate and Geoff

[Nick]

Oh no!
No food and long time in plane make Clare a grumpy girl! ;-p Nice to hear you are scaling mountains again - I suppose with all the experience you'll soon be whipping up the slopes again, passed the ghurkas on their mountain training courses. "What was that," they'll say, "was it a bird? Was it a plane?". "No numpties, it's me," the woman will scream. "And I've pinched your food too. Neh ne ne ne neh." :-) Me x

[rachel]

u missin the orange grove yet haha
hey hon am turnin more an more green everytime i read what ur up too. Missed out on haloween tho pete was dresseda s a lady vampire an we all got dressed up behind the bar too. apart from that ur not missin much. keep havin fun honey luv rachelx x x

[Mum]

Here we go again
Ok Clarey...so you've done Kilimanjaro and now this..when do I have to fork out for the Everest expedition?? Seriously though I am soooo proud of you...and the fact that yet again you were up at the front ....must have been all that walking we used to do in Scotland!!! Keep on trecking and eating your way around the globe! Can't wait to see you Bali...we can climb to the top of the volcano together! xxxxxxxxxx P.S. If you can't get to hear Martin on radio 1 I'll bring out his cd....a signed copy might even get you a free meal some where !!

[claire]

forget the pain of mountain climbing, how the hell did you make it through the hunger pangs??? much more gruelling!!! always be prepared!!! when martin becomes a celeb you can make him buy you all the food in the world...you don't need to be a government official, just be a groupiE!!! ps am learning to cook. but i fry everything

[Dad]

Not Long Now
HiYa Clare Well I said I would add a comment, just took a little more time than usual, as you would say, v busy. We v busy here getting things ready and wondering how to get all your things on the list in the cases and still have enough space so I can have some clothes so as not to look indecent, could be loin cloths for a fortnight! Good to hear universal plug is functioning, but don't want to say too much or will have to send back lifetime supply of said items after recent complaint. Knew about shortfall of 'mac in bag thingy' but didn't like to tell you, there are two choices stew in your own juices and be relatively dry or be absolutely waterlogged, sadly will not be taking this one up with the manufacturer. Well, enjoy Singapore and get those pictures of the Big Monkeys up on the blog. See you Sunday. Dad. X.

[amy joe and alexander]

still sounds like ur havin a gr8 time even if ur cold wet n shattered.any photos of the orangutangs?write again sn xxxx

[Huw]

Oh wow, the mountain climb really sounds amazing, well done. I'd love to see some photos. Have just seen the photo of your brother's band, quite scary are the words that come to mind!!!!