21 June 2006
We took a cab to Senai Airport at 6am for a morning flight to Kota Kinabalu Airport. The flight was for 2 hours, and we arrived in Sabah early in the day. After transferring to Trekker’s Lodge (our accommodation), we went out walking around town. Overnight at Trekker’s Lodge.

22 June 2006
Early morning transfer to Kota Kinabalu National Park Headquarters for Registration. We started off at Timpohon Gate at about 10:30am, reaching Laban Rata at about 4pm. Had buffet dinner in Laban Rata, then off to sleep by 7pm.

23 June 2006
Woke up at 1:30am to set off at 2am, to trek to summit for sunrise. Reached Low’s Peak at 5:45am, and managed to catch the sunrise. After that descend to Laban Rata for breakfast which was about 9am, and then started descending from Laban Rata at 10am. By the time we were down, it was almost 3pm. Transferred directly to Poring Hotsprings, having lunch in a town along the way.

24 June 2006
Spent the morning at Poring Hotsprings, wanted to trek to Lagadan Waterfalls but was unsuccessful. Had breakfast and lunch at the restaurant outside Poring Hotsprings (great food!), and returned to Kota Kinabalu Town in the evening, stopping by Nabalu Market for some souvenirs.

25 June 2006
White water rafting at Kiulu River (because Padas was flooded), and back to town by 4pm. Went out walking in the city again.

26 June 2006
First day of Basic Open Water Course, which is a classroom session. Ended quite late, at about 6pm. Went to get dinner at the roadside stalls.

27 June 2006
Second day of Basic Open Water Course (Shallow Waters Practical). We went to Police Beach at Pulau Gaya, where we learned quite a lot of the basic skills. We were also able to dive to 9.5 meters

28 June 2006
Last day of Basic Open Water Course (Deep Waters Practical). The morning session was more skills training and revision, and in the afternoon session, we managed to dive to 18 meters. It was a wonderful experience. Diving is fun!

29 June 2006
Free day spent at Manukan Island, doing Para-sailing, Jet Ski (super fun!) and snorkeling. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side, and we had to spend time under shelter away from the rain. I guess its good too, to have a good rest.

30 June 2006
Morning transfer to Kota Kinabalu Airport, for a return flight to Senai Airport. Again, 2 hours… and then back to Singapore and back home. Reached home at about 3:30pm.

The route from Timpohon Gate to Laban Rata Resthouse is just like 2000 meters of steps! If you can climb Bukit Timah Hill 12 times at one go, then you can trek up to Laban Rata! (minus the altitude sickness thing).

Here is what it looks like.

I took 5 hours and 30 minutes to get to Laban Rata – which I think is pretty slow. Hehe… But with my minimal training, I guess I am satisfied that I reached anyway.

From Laban Rata onwards, however, the trail changed a lot. For the first one kilometer or so, there were steps, some parts even had real wooden steps build for climbers, and even though we were trekking up at 2am, it was easy. The last 2 hours, however, were barren rock surface. There was a rope laid on the ground to lead the way all the way up to the summit, and all you have to do is just to follow the rope.

That surface would have been so much easy if it weren’t 3500m above sea level, but when I was there at 4am in the morning, I really needed to catch my breath every ten small steps I took. Its quite a challenge, especially, knowing that you need to reach up the peak before 6am to catch the sunrise.

According to our guide, Laban Rata resthouse is full every single day! And that means approximately 80 climbers (including the other huts) trek up Mount Kinabalu every single day! Wow! That a huge number to be squeezing up Low’s Peak. Hehe. And its true – I hardly had a place to stand when I was at the peak!

As a whole, the trip was awesome!

The great news is… yeah, I managed to get to Mount Kinabalu’s Peak (Low’s Peak – 4095.2m) before sunrise at 5:45am, and although the guide said that the sun is actually blocked by some clouds, I think the sunrise is awesome… simply beautiful! The weather was also wonderful – no rain or bad weather all the way to the summit! It rained on the way down though, but I guess I appreciate the good weather on the trip up, and it think that is all that matters.

Here is a picture I took at the peak!

Beautiful right?

Of course, there are things that I felt could have been better about my trek too. The gloves I bought up were not waterproof – I was in a “want to save money” mode after I got my trekking boots, and I didn’t get another set of gloves. Then, there were several parts of the trek which were kinda wet, and in some parts, I had to use my hands to assist my balance. My gloves got wet. As a result, my fingers were freezing when I got to the summit! It was literally numb, and I could not feel my fingers at times… and it was painful.

The other thing was also that I realise that I get quite bad Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)… or in layman terms – altitude sickness. When I reached the Laban Rata resthouse at 3000+ meters up, I was having a real splitting headache, so severe that I thought if the pain would not go away after sleep, I will not continue with the trek to summit. Luckily, the pain eased with rest and sufficient water and food intake. I pressed on with a mild headache, and I trekked really slowly, taking care to breathe deeper breaths as I ascended to the summit. It was a nice yet tiring climb up, but the satisfaction is all worth it.

The descent was painful too, on my toes. I was wearing two layers of socks, as advised by many who have been there, and yet, I could not escape from blisters from my first toe. Two of my friends used sandals for the descent, and it was less painful for them. I think there should be a way out for this – and I shall research into it. Could it be that my boots are too small?

The trek was only for the first two days of my entire trip. After the climb, we went for a night at Poring Hotsprings, White Water Rafting, and then for Diving. Sabah is a beautiful place, and I love it there! I feel I will make another trip to the peak again – maybe next year, when I am better prepared – better gloves, better fitness, and better camera!

Will report back if it really works!

Anyway, I’m all packed and ready for my trip, my pack is really big and bulky but light, filled with mainly clothes! There is no need to bring equipment along for the trek, because ready meals are available in Laban Rata guest house, and most of the time will be spent in Kota Kinabalu town itself. Come to think of it, it takes less time to go up Mount Kinabalu (4000+ meters) than Mount Ophir (2000+ meters) – because we start trekking at approximately 1800m for Kinabalu.

So excited! Wait till the photos arrive!

Will be charging my camera batteries, and buying more alkaline batteries in case my rechargeable ones run out for no reason. Heh! I MUST get a shot of the sunrise, and please pray that it does not rain!

Going to start packing right after this. I believe I already have everything I need in my room, just need to gather them together and into my bluey trekking bag. hehe… its been eons since I last set foot on a trek. Over six months! Time really flies when we get busy. Or did I go to Belumut this year? hmm… I’ve forgotten! Heh.

Alright then, time to start packing and get moving! I’ll be overseas for 10 days, but if I find an Internet cafe over there, I’ll do my best to drop a post! Wish me luck!

Its great, because just right up in a month’s time, I will be bringing these boots to the peak of South East Asia – Mount Kinabalu! I heard that the weather is like 4 degrees Celsius, and having experienced the wind chill in my feet in Melbourne, I guess these boots would be just the right equipment for such weather!

The boots are also made of Gore-tex material, so they are waterproof – but I don’t think I will be using them for any wet treks, more for keeping dry during wet weather. Well then, I’ll report back once I get to use them in the trek, to see if it is worthwhile getting for tropical treks!

One thing for sure – it’ll be heartsore when I see these boots covered with mud! Haha.. but its inevitable, well. So much for the passion for trekking!

The few of us met up yesterday to discuss stuff with regard to the trek. There are a couple of things I am yet to invest in… and I guess I will be investing in a pair of trekking boots, since I will really be going trekking quite often. I have highlighted the importance of having good footwear before.

Will be going shopping tomorrow for those boots! And that’s more motivation to trek more when I do!

I haven’t been training or running really regularly to get myself ready for the trek, but I still do exercise in my irregular schedule, running for about 30 mins at least twice a week. Well, I better increase the frequency during the coming 14 days. I realised why I am less motivated to run! Its because my MP3 player is spoilt! I used to play a very fast paced music and just use the beats of the music to pace me a while ago, but since the player was spoilt, I had never used any music, and I think without something to occupy your mind during the run, your mind will just wander and think of yourself being tired. Must go and get an MP3 player again soon.

Apart from that, I still need to get things like my waterproof (zip lock) bags, exchange some currency, get some high fiber energy food, and that’s about it! So very excited! Its a pity that my camera is a little bonkers now, but I will be bringing it up anyway. I have 2GBs of space of my memory card, even if half the photos turn out not as good as expected, I can still have 1GB of photos Good strategy right!

…try to walk as much as you can… Try to get at least an hour of walking into every day. In addition to this, try to get some morning and evening sessions of aerobic activity in, such as cycling, running or spinning…

Weekends and days off you should try to head for the hills. Try to walk for 6 to 8 hours, perhaps on consecutive days … Use the boots that you will bring with you to Kilimanjaro so that they are well worn in.

Seriously, to me, it sounds a little “to easy”. I was really panting my lungs out when I was climbing Mount Ophir last December! It sounds really easy to say that a certain trek “is a walk, not a run”… when you are carrying that 60 liter backpack with all your stuff – anything is a “run”! Haha… I’m not going to let my physical fitness be my obstacle to reach the peak of Kilimanjaro man! Not after I travel all the way to Africa!

One more thing to note is that I may really need to invest in a good pair of boots. So far, I’ve been trekking with sandals, or just normal sports shoes. Sandals are great for the wet treks, so you don’t get soggy feet at the end of every day. But ultimately I think protection is more important. During one of my trips to Berkelah Waterfalls, I slipped and fell on the slippery rocks and because I was wearing sandals, my toenails almost came off! It bled like… argh, I’ll keep gross the detail out. Haha… Sports shoes are good for trekking, but they aren’t made for trekking. The insole never fails to drop out after its first trek in water… and yuks, it really stinks after getting dipped in all the mud and stuff.

Actually I’m thinking I need a total of three pairs of footwear for all my treks! One pair of aquasocks for water based treks, one pair of boots for treks like Mount Ophir or Mount Kinabalu, and of course, one cheapo pair of slippers for wearing at night!

Our Sabah (Mount Kinabalu) trip has been arranged such that we reach home on 30th June. That was the earliest possible schedule since one of my team members will be having her industrial attachment until mid June.

So, that leaves us the month of July for our Gunung Tahan and Gunung Ayam trip!

Considering that we may all need to go back to school to help out in the NUS Rovers orientation camp, and that the trip may take about 11 days (Gunung Tahan is 7 days, Gunung Ayam is 3 days, plus 1 day of traveling), we need to leave in early June, and so I planned to leave for Gunung Tahan on the 5th of July! That is 4 rest days after coming back from Sabah!

Will we be able to take it? I think shouldn’t be a problem, since we are trekking Mount Kinabalu in the first two days in Sabah, and the remaining days are the less strenuous activities like “rotting” at Manukan Island and the diving course.

We haven’t fixed on the itinerary for the Tahan and Ayam trip yet, but according to HQ, Gunung Tahan alone is going to cost about S$150, including everything (food, transportation, guide fees etc). Actually, most of the money (more than half) goes to food, considering we need to supply ourselves with food for 7 days.

Sounds good! So, I will be spending almost one month overseas this vacation!

I was informed that the whole trip will cost approximately S$800 – S$900. This is actually quite cheap considering the rich itinerary – which includes climbing the Mount Kinabalu, white water rafting, a visit to Poring Hot Springs, Manukan Island and a Open Water Dive Course (SSI Certificate). I’m really so excited about the trip!

Okay. Some pointers with regard to planning a Mount Kinabalu trip. Planning must be really early, because for Sabah, Singaporeans will have to take a flight over, unlike the other treks in Peninsular Malaysia, were you can choose to get a coach or train. Therefore, critically, plan early! We started planning for the trip 6 months ahead. Well, its kind of difficult to get people to confirm their availability 6 months ahead, I know, but that’s the way it is.

We are traveling using Air Asia, a budget airline, since the trip is just over 2 hours. So make sure you get a good ticket price! I wish I could unravel the workings of the ticket prices, but I have no idea how it works at the moment! The last time Ivy checked the price, it was RM90 for one way. Today, I checked and its RM150! Gosh! Better book quick! That already means another RM60 for each person!

The other reason why there is a need to book early is because of the accommodation vacancies at Laban Rata (the rest house halfway up the mountain). Our contact was able to reserve for us eight vacancies until today, and unfortunately, we could only fill seven. Well, seven is good anyway! At least we have a place to stay for the night! I remember last year when we were in the Rovers executive committee, I had to forgo my trip because there were not enough vacancies in Laban Rata! So sad!

Anyway, so happy that I’m finally going to Mount Kinabalu… and getting my diving certificate!