Friday 8 May 2015

Climbing Mt Kinabalu in April 2015


Mt Kinabalu is a 4096m high mountain in Sabah, East Malaysia and it's only a short 1 hour+ flight from Singapore. I've been itching to climb a mountain and do some hiking for ages.

There are some reasons why I chose to climb Kota Kinabalu. After some research on the Internet, I've found out that it's climbing it is not a walk in the park, but it's not so challenging that people do not make it to the summit. Most do. 70 years old people do it, young kids do too. I'm young, relatively fit, and wanting to find challenges in my life. If not now, then when?

After some on and off training of climbing stairs, walking briskly at 15 degrees incline in the gym, and lots of cycling, I felt more or less physically ready to conquer the beautiful Mt Kinabalu. But I was reduced to a heap half way up the mountain and I'll tell you what happened.

Day -1
At the doctor's, he diagnosed me with throat inflammation, sent me home with 3 days' medical leave and 6 types of medicine. He advised against climbing the mountain, and said that the illness will travel down from my throat, to lungs and finally to my stomach. I'm 26 years old this year, and I thought the time when I was young and foolish were over. Well, I guess I'm still young and foolish!

Day 0
While I enjoy travelling alone, I didn't want to go alone for my first overnight hiking trip, I've went with a few friends. I took the medicine religiously and on schedule, never missing a dose. I felt fine. Off I went with my backpack to the airport, in high spirits and lots to look forward to.

That's us at Changi Airport (SK, Jaren, me, Thiri and Peggy)
A short flight via Airasia after, we reached Kota Kinabalu and it was 15 mins taxi ride into the city where our rented apartment was. After dinner, we rested and slept early for the night to prepare for the long day ahead the next day.

Day 1


It's the day to the start of the climb! We woke up at 5.30am, snapped a quick picture before leaving the apartment. The bus we arranged with the tour agency to pick us up at 6am never came (they forgot to arrange it despite sending them a email reminder the day before), we took a cab to Mt Kinabalu two hours away and reached an hour later than we had planned. The tour agency later covered the RM200 for the cab fare.

We twirled and twisted on the road trip there, and finally reached the 1800+m elevation. The point where we will start our climb.


 The board which shows the top timings for a climbathon a couple of years back. People always say "Nothing is Impossible" but I think I'll take nothing because those timings are impossible for me.

Our porter and guide showing us the route that we are going to take - starting at Timphon Gate.


If you are planning to climb and wondering why the climb is so costly, here's the reason why: RM325 goes to the Sabah Park Fees if you're a non-Malaysian above 18 years old. These fees are twice to five times as much compared to a Malaysian national.

And so, we began the 6km journey with 1,200m altitude ascend. The sky was cloudy so it wasn't too warm. But it's a tropical rainforest after all, so it was humid. April is the dry season and it hadn't rained for two months. But the nature is amazing because the trees were still lush green. Onwards we go!

Going well. YEAHHH!
Stopping is for losers!
I don't even need to take a rest!
Even have time for a picture!
Stairs... I'll climb them like I've climbed the thousands before!
Sweat is fat crying. Fat is sad, really depressed today. It can't stop crying.
You mean I have half the distance more to go? Will I make it?
I've only covered another 0.5km?! You gotta be kidding me!
More?!
I've spotted a few labourers carrying food and other essential items up. This guy was carrying rice, cans of soup, some veggies and strangely, some chilli bean curd!

Our porter with our bags stacked high up. We gave him 22kg of load, and including his 5kg, that's a total of 27kg. He charged 10RM per kg both ways.

At 4.0km, we stopped for lunch for about 30 minutes at a hut. It was a prepacked sandwiches, chicken and an apple given to us at the bottom of the mountain. There was a slight drizzle so we took the chance to rest for another 15 minutes more. Then, we continued the journey.

After the 5th km, the terrain started to change. It was less muddy and rockier. The flora and fauna that lined both sides of the path are changing. They are temperate shrubs and bushes with smaller leaves and shorter stems. It was becoming colder and my perspiration has dried up. I guess my fats were crying on the inside.


I'm on the same altitude as the clouds!!!

I've read so many blogs articles saying that the walking sticks were a god-sent and it's a must to rent. Not true. It's up to your own preference, as two friends went perfectly fine without them. They are an additional weight to carry but it did save my butt from kissing the rocks a couple of times when I lost my balance though!

The last part was the steepest and it took us about 1 to 2 hours to cover the final kilometre. We had to throw on an additional layer of jacket because of the cold. It was probably about 10 to 15 degrees at 3pm.

We made it! Isn't the view gorgeous?

We reached before 4.30pm at Pendant Hut for the Via Ferrata briefing. There are several huts at the base camp but Pendant Hut is only for people under the Ferrata programme.

We got into the hut and staff showed us the way to our dormitory - I've never cringed so bad at seeing a flight of stairs in my life before. Our soft comfortable bunk beds with a warm sleeping bag were just 15 steps away, but it just seemed so impossible to take another vertical step at that time. I was totally exhausted. After watching our horrified faces quickly turning white, the staff directed us to another room that was on the same level. We had to share a room with several other Hong Kongers, but I couldn't care less.

Another surprise was that due to the dry season, our hut was rationing water - it can only be used for drinking and flushing the toilet! We didn't get the chance to brush our teeth nor take a shower before sleeping after the day's hike. Not taking a shower wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be, as it was so cold and I didn't feel sticky at all.

Buffet dinner was served at the Laban Rata Hut. When I sneaked up to use their dormitory toilet, to my surprise, people were showering in lukewarm water and the taps were flowing! So I guess that water is not a shared resource there and it depends on the individual water supply that each hut has.

Magnificent sunset just before dinner. Everyone was jostling for space on the balcony to take picture of the sunset. My elbows won the jostling match to give us the opportunity to take this picture.

The problem for me began after dinner and lights out. My tummy started rumbling. It felt like there were hundreds of ferocious monsters having the third world war with artillery in my stomach. I tossed and turned in the sleeping bag for six hours, unable to sleep while making numerous hurried trips to the toilet. When the lights came on, I had to make a decision on whether to continue the trip to the summit. My face didn't have any colour and my lips were white. My body didn't have a chance to rest from the previous day's hike and I was dehydrated as well. My stomach was still churning and I swear there was a little man inside flipping roti prata.

After some light breakfast at 2am, we geared up with warm clothes and a headlight and continued on our way to the summit. I did not feel well to say the least. After an hour of slow but steady stairs climbing, I was nauseated and started taking breaks more often for longer periods. After two hours, my stomach finally quit holding on to my breakfast and left the half digested glory behind. I immediately felt better, but still weak. At some parts of the trek, it was an almost 60 degrees vertical ascent and one had to grab the ropes to propel one up. I pretty much used all my strength I had from my mummy's milk to not fall.

After that, at probably 3,500m elevation, I had to stop every 50m or so to take a break. When I just concentrated on placing one foot in front of another and on the few occasions I looked up from my feet, and saw the never ending rocky ascent ahead of me, I just wanted to lie down on my back with my arms and legs stretched out in a big star shape and not move again. But of course, I trudged on step by step slowly with frequent enthusiastic encouragement from my friend which I greatly appreciated, yet I mostly ignored, even frustratingly, as I wanted to reach the summit before sunrise so bad yet my body was so weak. I didn't want my friends to miss them because of my weakness as well. During one of my breaks, a kind-hearted stranger offered to share with me some of her food as she saw that my lips were so pale.

When the guide told me that the last 800m of the 3km trek will be flat, I couldn't be happier. I would jump for joy if I wasn't so exhausted. Every step that I took brought me a little closer to the last stretch of the ascent and then it would be an easy, flat walk! With that boost of motivation, I pushed my body harder and plodded along quicker for the next hour.

When we reached the 800m mark , I couldn't believe my eyes. The guide was accurate in saying that it was flat and there were no more steps, but he forgot to mention that the path was tilted at a 30 degrees angle! That mother daft bastard!

If I had been not sick, I would probably just raise an eyebrow, shoot some eye daggers at the guide and continue walking, but at that moment, a wave of frustration, weakness, exasperation overwhelmed me. My face crunched up and tears fell. Drama, I know I know. On hindside, I know I'm also lucky that up till that point of time, I haven't experienced something more physically and mentally demanding in my life yet. It's after all just a leisure mountain climb with a company of supportive friends and a (lying) guide and I did make my decision to go against the doctor's advice so I gotta take the responsibility for it!

 And so, after recovering from that few seconds of weakness, I started walking again.

 I've grabbed this picture from my friend and this was how the route was like. The sun was peeping over the horizon so we had to hurry a bit. By then, we would have trekked for 4.5 hours at a snail pace.

Sunrise!

 Picture of wefie
 Actual picture of wefie

 

The views were majestic, I can't choose my favourite picture! After the sunrise, we climbed for another 45 minutes more to reach the actual 4095.2m Taman Kinablu Summit with the rather antagonising name of Low's Peak.

Then we began the descend. Unfortunately, I couldn't participate in the Via Ferrata as I was feeling up to it. What I got in return was plenty of time to descend at a leisurely pace, admire the scenery and take lots of pictures :) The guide was using my camera most of the time.





Now that the day was light, I could take a better look at the path I've ascended in the early morning - omfg. There was a slight drizzle for about 10 minutes so out came the waterproof clothes. If the climb up was physically exhausting, the descend was mentally tiring. You don't huff and puff with muscle strain as with climbing up, you grit your teeth with the pain that shoots through your feet and up your knees with each step.

My stomach also unexpectedly became 10 times worse. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it did. The cramps were so excruciating I felt like rolling around on the floor. I had to recycle the content of my digestive system back to nature directly without the facility of a toilet a couple of times too. Ah, embrace the Mother Nature!

The descent took us about 9 hours with 2 hours break at the hut. Most people manage it in less time though as we were one of the last groups left.


A final picture with famous Mt Kinabalu in the background. The good part about taking our own sweet time to descend was that we managed to catch some bits of the early sunset as well :)
 
So what happened next?

As medicine of any kind were not provided in the hut - 'we're not doctors', they said, I waited to return to the city to see one. The doctor suspected food poisoning or food allergy and prescribed diarrhea medicine, hydration salts as well as steroid cream to soothe the massive patches of rashes that erupted on both arms a few hours earlier.

I was more than a qualified patient.

All of us got a body massage the next day and returned safely to Singapore. I had mostly recovered, but my legs were constantly reminding me that I forgot to stretch them before ascent and after descent. I almost couldn't get out of bed two days later and was limping to the office. My colleagues commented that it looked 'painful'.

Whenever I saw a flight of stairs, I broke out into a cold sweat and ran away screaming hysterically in the opposite direction. I was also successfully granted a personal protection order for all the gyms to keep at least a 20 metre distance away from me for three weeks.


How much did the trip cost?

Arranged 2D1N tour including permits, transport from city to mountain, 1 night's accommodation, 4 meals and a private guide - 550 SGD
Air tickets via airasia from SIN to KK - 130 SGD
Accommodation in the city - 25 SGD/ night
Porter charges - 4 SGD/ kg
Walking sticks rental - 4 SGD / piece
Taxi from city to and fro airport - 30 SGD shared among 5 of us

What did I get out of this trip?

Every challenge comes an opportunity to learn or improve right? I'll knock myself on my head if I have learnt naught from this trip. 

Pain is temporary. Pain can overwhelm all your senses and even your mind and control your words and actions, but eventually even the worst times shall pass.

I've kicked my 3-year habit of daily coffee consumption which I've always wanted to stop but I haven't the strong enough motivation to do so. The fear of further irritating my stomach during the trip made me stop. The lack of caffeine intake for half a day always causes me a massive headache, especially over the weekends. So say hi to the headache-free, grumpy-free me without caffeine!

BYOM. Bring your own medicine. Enough said.