9:13 AM
triple8s
04 August 2011. 2 days before our trip. After seven months of planning and four months of saving, we're finally packing all our stuff preparing to climb Mount Kinabalu. We have to exercise our packing skills so we can fit all our stuff into a 40L backpack and a 30L backpack :D
06 August 2011. We had dinner and a few drinks with couple of our friends. After the usual Friday night out, we decided to spend the next few hours at Changi since we were hoping to tour around our favorite airport. However, the check-in counters are still closed and yet to open at 4:00 in the morning :(.
After a few hours of waiting, we're finally waiting to board our flight. We usually book the cheapest plane fare that we can grab when we travel. There are only a handful of airlines who operate from SG to KK. We decided to take the SIN-KUL-BKI because it was the cheapest flight we can get. Two planes and two countries later, we finally arrived in Kota Kinabalu :)
Whenever we are in KK, Jay makes sure that we stay in Borneo Beach House (BBH). It is located in Tanjung Aru and a stone throw away from Kota Kinabalu International Airport. This is my second time to stay in this backpacker's inn and Jay's third. We had dinner and prepared for the next day's climb.
07 August 2011. The day of our climb arrived. We woke up at around 6:30 in the morning and waited for the van to pick us up and bring us to the jump-off point.
From Tanjung Aru, our journey started. It was an hour drive from Kota Kinabalu City to Mt. Kinabalu Park. The temperature started to drop when we arrived at Kinabalu Park. Our guides did the registration for us and gave us our packed lunch and our IDs :)
There are two ways to trek the Mount Kinabalu Summit Trail. You can either start via Timpohon Gate (trail in red) or through the alternate route Mesilau. Mesilau starts from Mesilau Nature Resort, 15 km away from Kinabalu Park HQ. Before climbing, we decided that we will be going via Timpohon, because it has a 'shorter' route going up (but doesn't mean 'easy' :P).
The trek started in Timpohon Gate at around 10:00 am. The weather was perfect for climbing. It wasn't that cold and it wasn't hot either. Our target is to reach Laban Rata (10,735 feet asl) before dark so we can eat and rest and prepare ourselves for the summit attempt. Our guide, Kuya Jon, have climbed Kinabalu more than a thousand times already! He told us that the average time to reach Laban Rata is 4-5 hours. Calculating this, we said that we can probably reach the hut by 3:00-4:00 PM. 
We only brought 1 backpack with us, containing our change of clothes, jackets and toilettries. Jay carried the backpack while I brought our hydration and trail food. We also bought walking sticks to assist us in our climb, since there are a lot of serious 'stairs' going up (and when we say serious, we mean the whole trek is a combination of stairs, stones like stairs and huge ascending steps).At around 12:30, we decided to stop by Pondok Mempening to eat our lunch. By this time, we were 8262 feet ASL and we still have a long way ahead of us. My energy is starting to wear off and was getting pretty tired. After 30mins, we resumed our trek.
3 hours later, we were still a long way from Laban Rata and rain started to pour. We were already at a high altitude, oxygen is getting thinner everytime we ascend, and it was getting colder and colder for every 100-meters or so. As we make our way up, the path becomes granite so it makes going up slippery. Good thing we have our walking sticks with us!
6:00 PM. Drenched and tired, the yellow roofed resthouse started to appear. We ran to the resthouse so we can find some warm shelter and have our dinner. We approached the reception to get our keys. We thought we can already give ourselves a rest, but the receptionist told us that our hut is at Gunting Lagadan, a few more meters up from Laban Rata *sniff*. We decided to eat first and rest for a while before trekking to our hut, and somehow hoped that the rain will stop by then. The buffet dinner was nice and their coffee was great. Actually, I was quite surprised that I wasn't feeling nauseous or whatsoever at Laban Rata's altitude. I conquered AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness)! :DWe reached our hut and headed to our room. We shared the room with two other climbers from Italy. We have to wake up at 2:00 in the morning for the summit attempt. We changed to our warm clothes, put on fresh socks and a jacket a pair of gloves to keep us warm. I was thinking whether to wait for 12mn to show Jay the video that I did for our 3rd Anniversary, but I decided that we needed to rest more, so I asked him to watch it already :)
11:00 PM. I woke up having a terrible headache. The headache and nausea can only mean two things. AMS or migraine. Either of the two will only mean one thing. I will not be able to push through with the summit attempt! I popped a medicine, removed my jacket and gloves, and tried to sleep again. However, my situation didn't get any better. If it were anything, it has gotten worst. Jay decided to not push through with the climb anymore. He said to me (like he always does whenever we go for a climb): "...going up is optional, going down is mandatory". It was devastating but we both knew it was all for the best.
08 August 2011. 07:00 AM. The nauseous feeling is still there but it was tolerable. We packed our stuff and headed back to Laban Rata for breakfast. Jay said to check the temperature in the view deck so we can eat our food there. The temperature is a cuddle-weather :) This is the closest as we can get right now to Mt. Kinabalu's summit.When I stepped out to the view deck, there was a box on the table. A small, pretty, wooden box. I was speechless. I sat there and held the little box and looking at Jay. He said "dapat, summit gift mo yan..." and then he asked me to open it... There, in the box, was the prettiest diamond ring I have ever seen. I was still speechless, and tears started to run down on my cheeks. Then Jay said... "You will marry me :D", put the ring on my finger, then I said "Of course!"
After our breakfast, we started to make our way down Kota Kinabalu. We made it just in time for lunch. By that time, our legs were wobbly because of the steps and didn't really want to see any more stairs for the next few days. We treated ourselves to a sumptuous meal and celebrated our 3rd Anniversary as a newly engaged couple :)
Was it tiring? Very much! It made every bone in our bodies ache so much we can barely stand up and walk properly. But it was also a trip we'll do all over again. Because on that very tiring trip, was the day when THE mountain changed us... <3
Did You Know...
Mount Kinabalu (4095m) is not the highest mountain in Southeast Asia (not even the 2nd highest!). Currently, Hkakabo Razi (5881 m) of Kachin, Myanmar is the highest mountain in SEA.
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