10 years and counting
Kota Kinabalu 20th to 23rd Jan was probably the most physically demanding vacation I've ever taken. I'm usually all for the relaxing beach holidays and exciting city escapades but this was the first time that I went for such a trip. But boy, I think it turned out to be one of the best holidays I've ever taken.
Credits have to be given to the people (mainly JY and WL. The rest of us just had to have the 'sui bian' attitude) who planned the whole trip and contacted the various parties to book tickets, accommodation and transport; and Facebook, where 99% of the communication went on before the trip. Till date, I am still marveled by the power of social media. Usually for short getaways, packing time takes no more than 30 mins tops, and I have to thank my weekly packing for the new week in hall over uni yr 1 and 2 to thank for that. However, packing time for this trip took significantly longer. Here's why -
Will it be cold up there? It ain't exactly a very high mountain. A windbreaker should do fine, right? (Wrong, it freaking was very high and very cold up there!)
Will my sport shoes last? They have not been worn for a pretty long time. (they almost didn't)
Can I climb in shorts? Trackpants are fugly and I have no basketball shorts or other shorts of decent length. Will it be too cold? (Again, yes!)
How are we reaching the different pitstops?
Makeup - to bring or not to bring? But my pimple is huge!
And various other questions I find myself asking for the first time.
So anyway, on the 20th, after a few hours of sleep due to me pulling a night shift the previous day, we're off to KK. The first day was pretty uneventful. We landed, checked into the lodge, ate dinner, did a bit of exploration and turned in early. I must say, KK is a really small town. The owner of the lodge, with whom we had a ride from the airport, said that KK is no bigger than Chinatown. I doubted him at first. But after that little exploration, he is actually pretty accurate, well if we don't count the suburb area.
The 2nd day started bright and early for us. After a quick breakfast and some last minute packing, we're off on a two hour ride to the HQ of the Mount Kinabalu park. I'm always kinda excited when there's a long car ride, much more excited that when there's a plane ride. I don't know why, must be because of the chance to watch the scenery along the road whiz by. We started the climb at around 10-11am. From there, it was a 7hours grueling upward trek to the Labah Rata, which was the mid-point resting lodge for the night. It was not easy, I tell you. The first 2km was probably all fine and dandy, but then we reach paths with higher steps and uneven stones and that's when things start to get tough. The last km was the hardest, we all probably took twice or thrice the number of breaks that we usually took. 5pm was when we finally reached Labah Rata, all cold, tired and hungry.
It's a nice picture but the smiles are fake. We were shag TTM!
The 2nd half of the climb started at freaking 2am in the morning! This time, the ascend was surprisingly easier because the bags were lighter and we had all our outerwear on our body. We just gotta keep climbing and not stop. I gotta thank the guy up there for the good weather on the way up. It was nice and cooling on the 1st day and there was a full moon and clear skies while we were climbing at night so everything was pretty well-lit. BUT! There was a my-life-flash-past-me moment while holding onto the rope and climbing the steep rocks up. I swear, I will forever remember that moment and that might actually be sometime to brag about in the future! Haha! Other than that, it was a slow and steady climb to the summit to catch the well-deserved sunrise. It's pretty awesome that all 6 of us made it to the top in six happy pieces. :)
The spot of the my-life-flash-past-me moment
Worth it!!
I was kinda looking forward to descending because I wasn't a fan of fighting against gravity. But man, going down is just as hard as going up! It was raining so everything was made ten times more slippery against my sole-less shoes. And of course, the old injury had to make it's presence felt on the knee as it took the impact while going down steep steps. Each km seems longer and each steep step seems higher that what we remembered on the way up. Strange huh. But anyway, we were finally back in the city for a well-deserved break. It never felt so good to walk on flat concrete land after hours and hours of trekking.
If there's a group that I would make this trip with, it will no doubt be with SJ ppl. No other travel companions can I be more comfortable with sharing the same room and getting along well for the next four days. No other can I be more assured that they will be well-prepared for the trip. Everything was packed all compact and tight and almost everything was in huge ziplocks - some habits do not change. We even had our own well-equipped first-aid kit with deep heat, which came in very handy, and our tested-and-proven methods to fight the cramps and muscle aches. No other can I trust so much should there be a need to place my life in their hands. Ok, that's a gross exaggeration, but that's what causalities have to have when the first-aiders are doing their stuff, right?! No other can I believe to be able to endure through the whole climb without a whimper or thought of giving up. Just suck it up and reach the end! I guess it's the times in those crazy camps, trainings, hazing and PT sessions that developed that mentality in us, of which came back strong in me when I went for the climb, especially with this bunch of ppl. What a way to mark the 10th year of knowing them all. To think that a decade ago, on the same month, we were puny, young, innocent and had no idea that the friendship we will be having will last through the years!
Kia Boon asked me if I will climb another mountain like this again. Well, I'm leaning towards the 'no' answer, but you never know. I mean, it was fun and exciting, but it was really tough and dangerous! I kept browsing through the pictures and comments posted on FB over the next few days after the trip and remembering the various significant moments on the trip (the shoe, the cold, the stripping, the WL's-life-changing-decision, the sunrise, the aches... ...). They are still fresh in my head right now. Maybe, or rather, it is of high possibility, that they just might have faded only a little 10 years later. :)
