Kinabalu Trip - Part 3

A little bit more of the tiring trip:

Irene who dragged me into this freaky-mountain-thingy. Arrgh.


Darren is my roommate for this trip. Sleeping next to him was like sleeping next to a truck with running engine. He is born with the greatest natural snoring skill I've ever heard. Talented guy with a great sense of music. Haha.


Don't get confused. Ibans live in longhouse, Kadazans live in the one on the left (uh, I don't know what it's called). Kadazans are head-hunters (not hunting jobs-lah). A hundred of years ago, every Kadazan must behead enemy to prove manhood and braveness.


House of Skull. Those are real skulls hanging there. I'm not kidding you.


Darren and I had a full lesson of Kadazan cultural study. We are good students. We didn't ask anything during the lesson.


Pouline's dad brings us around to see Kadazan culture. The rest of the group went for water rafting. We stay dry and have a mixture of beer and stout.


We paid 10 ringgit to see Rafflesia. A Rafflesia usually lives 7 days. In the picture, you can see a 3 day-old Rafflesia and it's about the size of a volleyball. It will grow larger within the next 4 days until it reaches the size of a tyre (about 3 ft.) before it turns black and die. We're lucky to see 3 different phases of Rafflesia at the same time. Just that the size of a 3 day-old did not amaze me.


From left: WanShen who talked to the Mother nature. Mian Loong who couldn't hold his piss. Jasmine who was the first to reach Laban Rata and smiled all the way up.


Trying to squeeze 4 heads into one single picture.

But the result somehow makes me feel like this:



Then we managed to squeeze more heads into the mountain. No, I mean picture.


Thanks to Eric and Ynez, the local Sabahans who organized everything including accommadation, meals, and activities. Of course, not to forget Pouline and her friendly dad. Thanks for the hospitality.

Kinabalu Trip - Part 2

Here comes the reality:

Take nothing but pain. Leave nothing but shit.


The people who haven't sensed the pain before the hike.


Trivia.1
I was walking the trail alone in the jungle and I heard noises 10 feet away in front of me. Then I saw WanShen resting at a corner talking to herself.

Me: Did you talk to someone just now?
WanShen: Yeah. My mum.
Me: But I don't see your phone.
WanShen: I was talking to the great Mother Nature.

Very funny.


Trivia.2
WooiOnn told us that if you see a stranger or someone who looks like someone you know walking alone in the jungle, it could be that-kind-of-thing or god in the mountain. Fairy tale?

Then I saw MianLoong walking the trail in opposite direction. I was too tired to see his facial expression clearly. There wasn't any expression on his face though. I felt weird and asked him:

Me: Where are you going?
MianLoong: Toilet (with no expression)

The following day I asked him about it but he denied walking alone in opposite direction.
I was shocked. Who was that then?
But later he said, 'Oh! Sorry, now I remember I walked in opposite direction. I just suddenly felt like going to pee after passing by the toilet.'
'.........'


Trivia.3
The first 6.5km jungle treking and hiking was okay. But then I faced difficulty when I climbed higher.

It was the first time I felt that I was going to die. I was attacked by strong wind, thin air, cold whether, pouring rain, hungriness, and AMS (not PMS!!). I got this AMS which is also known as high altitude sickness (or Acute Mountain Sickness) when I reached around altitudes of 3000m. According to the porter, it is very common for a person to get AMS regardless of how fit you are. Once you get this sickness, you'd carry it with you along the way up until you take a longer rest. Just like sea-sickness, you would only get well when you reach the land. I'm glad that it's not PMS. Haa..

I couldn't breathe well thru the thin air. Persistent rapid pulse on the back of my neck has caused a serious dizziness to my head. And my heart was beating irregularly. I had to stop to breathe for every 5 steps I climbed up the steep rocks. All my limbs were numb and fatigue. I wasn't in a conscious condition.


Trivia.4
While we almost broke our back in the mountain, plants and trees changed significantly during the hike:




Some trees giving bizarre look.

It took me 9.5 hours to reach the base camp at Laban Rata whereas the faster group of my friends reached in 8 hours. The slower group reached about half an hour earlier because some of them waited for me. I went to sleep right after the dinner. The normal temperature at Laban Rata is 9-10 degree celcius but it dropped to 4-6 degree celcius. Later, we were being told that the climb to the summit was cancelled due to strong wind and freezing rain. I heard some people shouting hooray in the middle of the night. I would do that for sure but I couldn't open my eyes to cheer a louder hooray.

Then the following day we made our way down at 9am in the morning. The weather was much better. But some of us got sprained ankles and injured knees.

Freezing 6 degree Celcius when we are ready to go down at 9am.


Above the cloud

See how big group we are:

Before the hike. See that energetic look?


Taking a rest by the 3rd waterfall.


Going down at 6 degree Celcius in the morning.


This is my first encounter with Orang Utans. Orang Utans speak Aussie. One of them said, 'We should get going before we die in this monkey suit.' It is scientifically proved that Orang Utans have human intelligence to differentiate life-threatening risk and idiotic act.

On the same night, we were chilling at Starbuck, talking about the whole hiking trip. It was just like a dream going to hell and back. And we're glad that we come back alive.

P/S: Sigh. Don't mention about the nightmare of losing my phone.

Kinabalu Trip - Part 1

Before the hike, we had a relaxing night at a dance club Blue Note, inside of Shangri-La Hotel.

See, clubbing is what we good at.

Happy people: Darren, AiLi, WooiOnn, MianLoong


Pouline, the half-blooded Kadazan, did not hike with us because she had asthma when she was young. What a great escape!


4 minus 1 for the hiking


Tiffany who hired the porters as her own servants.


AiLi who injured her knee during the hike.

The clubbing's faces definitely look happier than hiking's.

Happy faces: WanShen, AiLi, WooiOnn and Jasmine.

My most overused phrase on IM: Screw you~~

Thoughts first waking up: Working in hell is a hell of a job.

My bedtime: Around 2am. My body and my brain don't seem to communicate well to get some rest.

Do you get motion sickness? Yes if somebody is spinning in a circle in front of me, would he/she get motion sickness first?

Do you like thunderstorms? Oh yes. But wait. Thunder or storms?

When you were little, you used to... pee anywhere, everywhere.

How you want to die? With my face down so that everybody can kiss my ass goodbye.. haha..

Do you believe in love at first sight? How about a love at first bite?

Dream vacation: How about a vacation in my dream? It would be more fun.

One time I got drunk and... my friend was throwing up all over me. Should it be the other way round instead?

What can't you live without? My heart, lungs, brain, body, soul, etc... what other things you can live without beside your self..?

I am addicted to... growing fungus and spiderweb at home.

What would you do with a million dollars? I would...play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with my niece!

Do you believe in God? God is alien intelligent life from outer space... :P

Have you ever moved? Of course I move, I'm still alive...

I can't feel excitement for the trip to Mount Kinabalu.

I'd be either screwed or f**ked up in the mountain because I didn't get trained up at all. On a more positive side, I heard that, as long as you can walk, you can hike Mount K.K. Thanks for the motivation, but still, I'm not excited at all. What's wrong?

Probably I'm worried about my ankles. I got a bad injury 8 years ago during a basketball training. I got my right ankle twisted badly, and I cracked the ligament of my left ankle. The ankles had become a cold detector during winter time when I was in the states. Whenever it snowed, I could feel my ankles' fuzzy emotion and they started to give me a hard time to walk properly.

I got this piece of information from Johny. He was staying at the same hut that we are going to stay at. Here's his piece of comment:

"Gunting Lagadan Hut is made of wood shelter with double decker beds, uncomfy, no hot water, no heating, when people walk outside your room or run, you can hear all their farking footsteps. The sound of wooden planks! And it's so cold if you don't wrap up warm enough, you aint going to get any sleep, bro! So bring super warm clothing to tahan 5-10 degreees celsius."

We've been playing hard all these while, now it's time for a punishment and we really have to pray hard. Pray.