The Travel Affairs: January 2014

Edit: All posts and itineraries have been shifted to http://thetravelaffairs.wordpress.com :)

I am relieved I am back alive. After climbing 4095m high, 17.6km route in 16h, my both knees are busted, calves and thighs are burning in hell. No, I'm not kidding nor exaggerating.

The route up to Mount Kinabalu hasn't been an easy one and I have to honestly say, you MUST be pretty fit to actually make it up there to the peak and of course have extremely good mental strength. Most people gave up along the way when they were so close to the peak, because it was really mentally draining throughout the midnight climb.

To be honest, I did not research much about Mount Kinabalu before I booked the trip, I just knew that it's the highest mountain in South East Asia, which is 4 times higher than the last mountain I scaled in South Africa (Table mountain). I did not prepare myself for the shit I had to go through, I mean I knew it was going to be tough, but NOT THIS TOUGH - to the extent it was almost all vertical climb at the summit.

The start was not too bad considering I have been gymming on a daily basis prior to the hike itself (it was a 6km hike up from the base camp headquarters area to Laban Rata guesthouse), but partly also because we cheated and hired a porter to carry our huge bags up for us. The first 6km was still relatively steep compared to other mountains I thought, endless and endless of stairs and rocks to climb, plus we had to hike in the pouring rain during the last 1km. Thank goodness I actually trained a little for this hike, if not my legs would have cramped up before I reached the guesthouse (Usually my legs cramp up beyond 5km when I run/walk), which was what happened to our guy friend who was with us. Maybe it was also because I hydrated myself with isotonic drinks and lots of water during the first 5km climb and ate lots of fruits along the way. I was pretty hyped up and so excited during the first 6km of hike, we completed it in 6.5hours which wasn't too bad cause we spent quite some time waiting for our guy friend who very unfortunately cramped up at the 4km mark. Another thing that helped was playing music with our iTouch/iPhones during the climb, it helped us so much and even the other climbers around us. I brought 3 portable chargers there haha so I could drain my battery with music. The only thing that made me a little slower than I thought I would be was the change in altitudes along the way, towards the 5km mark I started to get mild headaches from the higher altitude and had to stop more often to take deep breaths.

When we reached Laban Rata guesthouse it was around 3plus (started at 9am) and we were already so physically drained. The guesthouse kinda sucked so bad, we had 2 bunk beds for the 4 of us and they were arranged in a L shape, with minimal waking space, if fact I would say almost no walking space after we put our bags on the floor. And there were lots of bugs and moths which scared the shit outta me and toilets that only had cold water.. None of us showered because it was already freezing cold on top, the water would make everything worse and there were no heaters in the room. We were made to sleep at 8pm as we needed to wake up at 1.30am to start our hike up to the summit to be able to catch the sunrise in time. I swear it was impossible to sleep, all of us could not fall asleep at such high altitudes and coldness.

Before we could catch any rest, it was 2am and we had our buffet breakfast at the guesthouse then started off our hike to the summit at 2.50am in the dark, with only headlights on. This last 2.8km of the hike was the most mentally taxing thing I have ever done in my life. It does not only require physical fitness but the courage to get through it. My guy friend did not come along with us girls for the summit climb because his legs could not take it anymore. Initially it was all really steep stairs, then it got to the part when we can to scale up by pulling ourselves up with a rope. I am not even kidding how terribly tiring it was, so many times I wanted to give up but I was so fortunate to be with my 2 other girl friends who constantly motivated one another. The scariest part was hiking in the dark and you have no idea how near the edge of the mountain you are at, how the moment you let go of the ropes you would lose your life. As much of an adrenaline junkie I actually am, this really scared the shit outta me and for the first time in my life, I was actually scared of dying. At one point, I slipped off the edge of the mountain by losing my balance on the wet rocks and my right shoe came out halfway (it almost dropped off the mountain) but I grabbed the rope so tightly and thank God our guide came to my rescue and put my left leg back on the rocks. Literally hanging on for my dear life on a rope. I prayed and prayed and prayed so much through the entire night climb, I was so so so afraid of dying right there and then. I'm really not kidding about how dangerous it was, but the good thing was everything was in the dark so you don't really know what you're getting yourself into. After the most torturous vertical climb, we had to walk upwards on an inclined slope for what feels like eternity. We were really all zombies walking one step at a time, all drained and almost dead, wished I took a photo of that moment where it was total darkness except for the headlights. The highlight of the torturous climb was looking up at the sky and seeing the entire galaxy, I caught a shooting star too for the first time in my life. Then it came another dangerous route where we had to scale up rocks to reach the summit. Most people gave up at the 8.3km mark and felt satisfied just seeing the sunrise from there but we girls are too crazy and our guide kept motivating us to reach the summit at the 8.8km mark where we could take a photo with the sign. It wasn't too crowded at the top because a lot of people gave up mid way as it was really too dangerous to descend thereafter. So we reached the top after 3.5hours at about 6.10am, just in time for the sunrise which was so breathtaking. We actually made it right to the top at a good timing to be honest, although it was so tiring, I actually felt so proud that we were up there faster than a lot of people and most did not even make it up there. Seriously, this is by far the most physically challenging activity in my life. (The only regret I have is not taking enough pictures and not making myself glam enough at the summit where my friends did hahaha, I was so tired by then and I was the only one out of them who brought a DSLR so I had to constantly take nice photos for us) after photo (minimal) spamming, we had to descend the mountain quickly to get back in time.

The route back was scary because we could see everything, meaning knowing how dangerous it really was. We had to abseil down those steep vertical paths and by then our knees and ankles were already busted. It took us only about 2hours to get down though, because we forced ourselves to get through.

Then when we got back to Leban Rata guesthouse, we had another buffet breakfast before we needed to make our way down to the base camp to catch our transport at 5pm back to the city area. The descending was so painful because our knees and ankles were giving way so badly, wore knee and ankle guards and my friends even taped their ankles. To add on, it was raining non stop down, so we were all drenched and cold. It took us 5 hours to get down and at that point I honestly gave up on my knees already and just went crazy fast down because all I wanted was to just hurry get over and done with this.

So it's day 2 after my hike and my thighs and calves are still so terribly sore. I can walk and stuff but it takes great effort seriously.

All I can say after everything is, if anyone is ever thinking of taking this trip down to Kinabalu, be prepared for the hell ahead and you definitely have to train if you want to reach the peak. Mental strength was the most important, which was exactly why I wanted to go on this trip - to increase my endurance level. And no matter what happens, never, never ever let go of the rope. Also, if you're not prepared to lose your life yet, don't go. There are many cases of people dying on the mountain, which I only learnt about when we were up there on it. Definitely not for the faint hearted. I'm just glad to be with good company on this trip, wouldn't have done it without the 3 of them. :)

And most importantly, I thank God for saving me when I almost lost it all.

This was supposed to be my "finale" pose at the summit but by the time I got up there, my legs were so jelly I couldn't even lift a leg up in the air sadly.

Look at how crazy fit these guys are to carry up mattresses, gas, food supplies, and even a water tank (see below)

I honestly have no idea how this guy actually made it up to the top with the huge ass water tank he was carrying!!??!

This is proof of how steep it was nearing the top and it was almost pitch dark (stole this photo from my friend as well because it was impossible to take my DSLR out in the dark while climbing). Actually this wasn't even the steepest path.