Kota Kinabalu

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This is a delayed post, as our climb up Kota Kinabalu was just 3 days before disaster of an Earthquake in the exact same area where we were, struck, taking away many innocent lives. The thought of it was chilling and my thoughts go out to all victims and their families. Felt it was only appropriate to delay my blog post till later.

That's the unpredictable nature of nature isn't it? Anything can happen at anytime, even in the most unlikely places. And ever since my first encounters out in the wild, I've been brought up to always respect nature. Respect its beauty, its awe and understand that we are just small nuts and bolts of this massive ecosystem.

Kota Kinabalu is an amazingly beautiful mountain. The view above the clouds, atop bare rocks near the summit never fail to make me wanna stop in my tracks and take it all in. The climb up wasn't exactly easy. On the first day, even though we hit the lodge at early noon, our legs were almost half gone and we spent most of the 2nd half resting and recovering for the next day's summit climb. The summit, well, was the highlight. Climbing early in the morning always gives me the extra push, perhaps to escape the cold, or maybe to just race to the summit first so as not to miss sunrise. Air was crisp, cold and fresh. When first light arrived, a hoard of climbers have already crowded around the summit, wanting to catch the perfect sight. Always thought that moment of catching the sun rise on top of a mountain is special, something irreplaceable by any videos or photos captured. It was the same with Mt. Bromo, Rinjani, Fansipan and Korbu. Via Ferrata was another challenging yet enjoyable new experience. Walking on steep rock wall faces and crossing obstacles, we slowly got the hang of clipping and unclipping of the carabiners which we were relying on for our lives. The sun was blazing hot though and it soon turned into a sunbathing session in the late morning.

The 3D/2N and the days after that were a humbly experience which I learnt a lot from, especially on treasuring our lives and understanding just how precious they can be. More importantly, I've learnt to continue chasing our dreams and doing what we always want to do. For things that we have no control over, fret not, brood less, and worry no more.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Bravo
What an accomplishment and nice photo

[TeoYongSheng]

Bravo
Thanks!!