If I tell you all that I am actually typing this post in my workplace, you can tell how good my job is. So relaxing but yet, boring. For your information, I’m currently working as a part-time technician for an audio and visual company.
So back to the point of this post, which I’ll resume the story of our Kinabalu trip. No doubt that water rafting is definitely one of the things I don’t mind of doing it again but climbing Mount Kinabalu is already enough for once in a lifetime.
And do you know how lucky we are to be able to reserve a place to stay in Laban Rata Resthouse like a week prior to our climbing schedule? Reservations of staying in Laban Rata are normally being placed 3 to 6 months prior to climbing. Take note that you cannot climb Mount Kinabalu if you don’t have a place to stay in Laban Rata.
Our climbing schedule was on the 6th of December and we walked from Borneo Backpackers to the bus terminal which is only a stone throw away. Unexpectedly, we were being approached by 2 different taxi drivers from different companies, each persuading us to take their cab. We decided to take the other one and the journey took us 1 and half hour to reach Kinabalu Park for the initial cost of RM60.
The journey was fascinating as more mist occurred on the foot of the mountain as it just got colder.
Once we reached there, guess what… the taxi driver decided to charge us RM80 for a 4 person rate instead of the RM20 per head he mentioned earlier. Enraged but felt it’s not the right time to have an argument with him during this holiday, I just handed him the money and pissed off. Now that’s what I called a taxi bully driver. But hey, I still have his number and maybe you can help me to teach him a lesson?
Anyway, we reached the Kinabalu Park at 9.15am and after getting the payment done, we opted last minute to do the world’s highest Ferrata, a new rock climbing sport that was just introduced last August. There are 3 routes to choose from: Walk the Torq, The Low’s Peak Circuit, and The Preamble. We decided to choose the Low’s Peak Circuit, which is the most expensive route among all and it cost us RM280 per person. Although it’s expensive, but doing the world’s highest Ferrata is considered very cheap if compared to the ones they offered overseas.
Also do take note that the cost for everything, including; climbing the Mount Kinabalu, accommodation in Laban Rata, Ferrata; will be increased from next year onwards. So the RM280 we paid each for the Ferrata is actually set as a promotion price to introduce this sport.
We were assigned to Downi, our mountain guide who has the experience of over 30 years. Just imagine on how many times did he climb up and down of Mount Kinabalu throughout his career… wow.
Downi’s on the left, while the other one is my cousin, Louis
Anyway, we started climbing at 10am and it just gets colder for every vertical of 100 meters. I had never seen such pure flora we encompassed throughout the climbing. Even some trees are the ones like you saw in Pan’s Labyrinth. It rained drizzly on the 2nd hour of the climbing but that didn’t deter us to reach Laban Rata in just 4 hours, at 2pm… now that’s what I called a fast climbing.
Jeremy and Louis
Speaking of climbing, we observed that most of the climbers were equipped with this sort of sissy hiking stick, some with the useless mechanical function (there are tons of them in lelong). We felt pathetic and sympathy for the climbers who are using them, why, cos’ it just made them slower in climbing for putting too much reliability on those sticks. Those are meant for old people and that’s acceptable but for those who are not considered old enough to use the hiking stick, I’m sorry, but they don’t deserve to get recognized for the effort of climbing the mountain themselves.
We stayed at room number 9 with the other 3 Indian occupants from London. Not knowing that we’re only allowed to turn on the heater at 8pm, it could be switched on in the afternoon as they forgot to set the heater timer for our room. Somehow, the heater’s useless as it was just too hot for the room itself. Because of that, I almost develop a fever because of the sudden change of temperature. Guess that my body has no problem to adapt quickly with the cold temperature after all.
That’s how cold it was before leaving Laban Rata
Just don’t bother to buy beer in Laban Rata. It costs RM20 per can.
We woke up at 2am to continue our journey towards the peak, starting at 3am. I had difficulty again to pick up the pace of climbing cos’ of the wake-up effect but after a while, it wasn’t a problem to me till way up the peak. A girl decided to give up after 15 minutes of climbing cos’ of the breathing difficulty she had due to thinner air of oxygen.
As expected, we encountered slow climbers along the way, most with their hiking sticks, slowing our pace of that we overtook them easily and climbed all the way towards the peak.
And we made it.
We reached the highest peak, Low’s Peak, at 5am with the sky still dark. It was freezing cold up there but that didn’t deter me from taking off my jacket till the layer of my dad’s antique Liverpool jersey from the late 70s. That is to show my dedication towards the team I’ve been supporting since childhood.
After spending around 20 minutes chilling on top of the highest peak in South East Asia, we climbed down towards the next checkpoint to experience the world’s highest Ferrata. The view of the sunrise was simply spectacular that indicates the beauty of mother nature.
The bad news is that I got a cut on my head while climbing down from the peak using the unstable rope that suddenly twisted to the left, and knocked the left side of my head towards the huge rock with sharp edges at the side of it. I’m fortunate that it’s just a very minor injury but the impact was huge that I thought I would bleed a lot. Oh well, at least the scar’s healing.
In the next post, I will write about our experience of climbing the world’s highest Ferrata on Mount Kinabalu.
So… see you all again and chao!
P.S. You can check out the rest of the pictures on my Facebook by clicking HERE.
This is the best photo of the sunrise I could find, which was taken by Louis
