Mt. Kinabalu was never in my “things-to-do” list but on 29th of July, 2007, when Eunice asked if I wanted to join the team going to Mt. Kinabalu in September, I was immediately gamed. We confirmed with Peter Lim that night itself.
I knew that training was a must to ensure that we enjoy this climb. And while the other team members had a 5-month head start of training, I, on the other hand, had none at all.
My very first training was climbing Gunung Angsi on August 11th, 2007. It was a good climb, which resulted in aches on every part of my body. Other trainings followed. We went to Gunung Datuk on August 25th, 2007 and climbed the Kepayang Hill many times.
The day before we left for Sabah, I got mum to cook dinner for the climbers. It was a good get-together with great food and warm fellowship.
D-day came. We were finally going to Kota Kinabalu. With very little sleep but a gung-ho spirit, we boarded the plane, of course, after a sumptuous breakfast at MacDonald’s in the LCCT. Eunice and I were the only ones from the team on this flight. The rest came in on a later flight. The flight was pleasant. I managed to have 40 winks to recover my loss of sleep from the previous night.
We met up with Pearl, Joy and Bee Hwa at the KK LCCT airport at 9.40am and from there, Chin Yih brought us to a restaurant where we practically stuffed ourselves. After that, we had to look for an additional 3 headlamps around the town area because KG misplaced some of them.
With time on our hands, we went to UMS, the newest university in Sabah. It was huge and we even got lost in there. An SMS from KG reminded us that we were not there to play tourist. We met up with the rest of the group at a restaurant in the city area.
We left the city area in two vans. It was a two-hour journey to the foothill of Mt. Kinabalu a.k.a. Kinabalu Park. The ride seemed long because it was so hot and stuffy in the van. At one point, we had to wind down the window to get some fresh air…. only to breathe in polluted air coming from the exhaust of the van in front of us.
We stopped by Nabalu for a short tea break. Some people bought wild durians and tarab, a Sabahan fruit which looked like nangka.
We finally arrived at our destination at 4.15pm. After registering ourselves at the Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, we went to Grace Hostel to check out the pretty basic rooms. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant about 500 meters away. Everyone was in good spirits.
That night, we had a short briefin
g followed by a praise session. At about 9pm, we went to bed. It was difficult as I was used to sleeping late, plus the fact that I was pretty excited about the climb the next day. Sleep came and went. It was warm at first and I had to change into my shorts under the blanket because Peter Lai was sleeping nearby. It got so cold later that I wished I had my long track suit on. Thank God a thick blanket was provided.
Because I couldn’t sleep, I sat cross-legged many times …. sometimes to will myself to sleep, sometimes to pray. At about 5.15am, I prayed for many things … and one of it was for good weather. The moment I uttered “Amen”, it started to pour heavily. I began to wonder about the effectiveness of my prayer, then thanked God that I wasn’t up at the summit of Mt. Kinabalu at that time.
By the time we woke up and got ready to walk down the 500m stretch for a big breakfast, the rain stopped. We were still kiasu enough to have our ponchos on because we didn’t want to get wet in the absence of an umbrella.
We went to Park HQ to get our bags weighed for the porters to carry. Yau Ming decided to carry his own bag (11kg) all the way to Laban Rata. ME? I only carried a 5kg backpack and got the porter to carry another 5kg. ... maybe more.
I knew that training was a must to ensure that we enjoy this climb. And while the other team members had a 5-month head start of training, I, on the other hand, had none at all.
My very first training was climbing Gunung Angsi on August 11th, 2007. It was a good climb, which resulted in aches on every part of my body. Other trainings followed. We went to Gunung Datuk on August 25th, 2007 and climbed the Kepayang Hill many times.
The day before we left for Sabah, I got mum to cook dinner for the climbers. It was a good get-together with great food and warm fellowship.
D-day came. We were finally going to Kota Kinabalu. With very little sleep but a gung-ho spirit, we boarded the plane, of course, after a sumptuous breakfast at MacDonald’s in the LCCT. Eunice and I were the only ones from the team on this flight. The rest came in on a later flight. The flight was pleasant. I managed to have 40 winks to recover my loss of sleep from the previous night.
We met up with Pearl, Joy and Bee Hwa at the KK LCCT airport at 9.40am and from there, Chin Yih brought us to a restaurant where we practically stuffed ourselves. After that, we had to look for an additional 3 headlamps around the town area because KG misplaced some of them.
With time on our hands, we went to UMS, the newest university in Sabah. It was huge and we even got lost in there. An SMS from KG reminded us that we were not there to play tourist. We met up with the rest of the group at a restaurant in the city area.
We left the city area in two vans. It was a two-hour journey to the foothill of Mt. Kinabalu a.k.a. Kinabalu Park. The ride seemed long because it was so hot and stuffy in the van. At one point, we had to wind down the window to get some fresh air…. only to breathe in polluted air coming from the exhaust of the van in front of us.
We stopped by Nabalu for a short tea break. Some people bought wild durians and tarab, a Sabahan fruit which looked like nangka.
We finally arrived at our destination at 4.15pm. After registering ourselves at the Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, we went to Grace Hostel to check out the pretty basic rooms. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant about 500 meters away. Everyone was in good spirits.
That night, we had a short briefin
g followed by a praise session. At about 9pm, we went to bed. It was difficult as I was used to sleeping late, plus the fact that I was pretty excited about the climb the next day. Sleep came and went. It was warm at first and I had to change into my shorts under the blanket because Peter Lai was sleeping nearby. It got so cold later that I wished I had my long track suit on. Thank God a thick blanket was provided.Because I couldn’t sleep, I sat cross-legged many times …. sometimes to will myself to sleep, sometimes to pray. At about 5.15am, I prayed for many things … and one of it was for good weather. The moment I uttered “Amen”, it started to pour heavily. I began to wonder about the effectiveness of my prayer, then thanked God that I wasn’t up at the summit of Mt. Kinabalu at that time.
By the time we woke up and got ready to walk down the 500m stretch for a big breakfast, the rain stopped. We were still kiasu enough to have our ponchos on because we didn’t want to get wet in the absence of an umbrella.
We went to Park HQ to get our bags weighed for the porters to carry. Yau Ming decided to carry his own bag (11kg) all the way to Laban Rata. ME? I only carried a 5kg backpack and got the porter to carry another 5kg. ... maybe more.We only started our climb at 10.30am.
At the Timpohon gate, Pearl realized that she left her handphone under the pillow, so both KG and she went back to Grace Hostel, which was about a 4-5km drive, to retrieve it. Well, not surprisingly, they couldn’t find it. They managed to catch up with my group just before the 3km mark. We had a short break there to “celebrate” the midway climb to Laban Rata.
The climb was enjoyable because of the cool air until we began to feel drops of rain beating down our heads and the sky began to get darker. By then, we had just gone past the 4km mark. It was a good thing we brought our ponchos along. That helped but the rain got heavier and strong gusts of wind slowed us down in our attempt to avoid being blown away.
By 5km, only KG, Eunice and I were together. The rest were no where to be seen. Most would’ve already reached Laban Rata. KG, wearing only shorts and t-shirt under the bright yellow poncho, was shivering with cold. Me? I was cold too; my hands were almost numb and my sandaled feet were getting cold with every step.
Laban Rata came into view and boy, was I relieved. Just before entering the resthouse, I noted that the temperature was 7.4ºC. Helen Lai came to me, took my stick, backpack and poncho off me. And then, a hot drink was placed in front of me. It was certainly a welcome sight.
We had a quick shower and came down to the restaurant for dinner. That was at 7.25pm. By that time, the buffet spread was almost empty and we had to order a la carte. Fried rice, which cost us RM14 a plate, seemed to be the best choice but it was too dry and all of us didn’t even finish half of it. We also ordered two big bowls of mushroom soup which we jokingly called the “Sharksfin soup”.
By 8.20pm, everyone was in their rooms, getting ready for bed. We had a short meeting in the guy’s room, though. Both Peter and KG gave instructions on the summit push.
9pm saw us in bed, trying hard to get a good night’s rest. Most of us tossed and turned before dozing off. I woke up many times.
1.30am came. Time to wake up. I could hear the wind howling and wondered if it was raining. My spirits dampened a little at the thought of not being able to climb that morning, yet at the same time, I wanted to crawl into bed and sleep till the sun rises.
I woke up anyway.
We were all sleepy-eyed but thinking of the summit push made us wide awake. Grudgingly, we dragged our feet to the bathroom to brush our teeth. Then we went downstairs for a hot drink. We were told that the gate might not be opened because of the rain…. but we weren’t sure. We didn’t want to go out into the cold, walk a couple hundred feet, only to be told that the gate was not opened. So, kiasu people like us decided to linger around the restaurant.
One of the last groups, we only started our climb at 3.30am. The temperature outside was at 6.2C. Brrr…. Cold! I had on 4 layers of clothings but by the time I reached the gate, I was almost pouring with sweat. So was May Hui. We stopped at the hut to shed some clothing. I had my poncho on because it was drizzling slightly.
It was stairs and more stairs.
Knowing I couldn’t climb fast, I asked John and May Hui to go ahead. Peter Lim, with his group still sleeping in the rest house due to various reasons, accompanied me. At first, I wasn’t aware of the guide, Primus, being with us. Later, I realized that one of the guides must always be with the last person….. and I was “that” person.
I started to perspire more and decided to remove my jacket, leaving me with only 2 layers of clothing. In doing so, I dropped my towel, right into a puddle of water. Peter Lim said that it was of no use and placed it aside, telling me that we could pick it up when we get back. Unknown to us, Primus decided to hide the towel so that no one would take it.
It was 10 steps up and a break for me. You can just imagine how long I took to climb. At one point, I could sense Peter’s patience wearing out. Primus kept saying that I had “semangat”.
At the rope section just before the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint, I was a little afraid because the terrain was steep and it was dark, except for the light from my headlamp. Primus advised me on where to place my feet.
After the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint, knowing that the air was going to get thinner, I told Primus that I would only take two steps at a time. He encouraged me to take at least 10. Peter asked me to “enjoy the stroll”. Indeed it was enjoyable. It was not steep and the terrain was great. By then, Primus and I were on joking terms. I would tell him that I want to go only 10 steps and he would “bargain” upwards, encouraging me to go 15 steps. And when I went 18 steps, he would praise me. That was really encouraging! Talking also helped take my mind off the actual climb itself.
We caught up with KG and Eunice at the 8KM mark. Eunice was surprised that I was able to catch up with them. I had Primus to thank for because sometimes he held my hand so that I could be steady and walked faster.
The climb was enjoyable because of the cool air until we began to feel drops of rain beating down our heads and the sky began to get darker. By then, we had just gone past the 4km mark. It was a good thing we brought our ponchos along. That helped but the rain got heavier and strong gusts of wind slowed us down in our attempt to avoid being blown away.
By 5km, only KG, Eunice and I were together. The rest were no where to be seen. Most would’ve already reached Laban Rata. KG, wearing only shorts and t-shirt under the bright yellow poncho, was shivering with cold. Me? I was cold too; my hands were almost numb and my sandaled feet were getting cold with every step.
Laban Rata came into view and boy, was I relieved. Just before entering the resthouse, I noted that the temperature was 7.4ºC. Helen Lai came to me, took my stick, backpack and poncho off me. And then, a hot drink was placed in front of me. It was certainly a welcome sight.
We had a quick shower and came down to the restaurant for dinner. That was at 7.25pm. By that time, the buffet spread was almost empty and we had to order a la carte. Fried rice, which cost us RM14 a plate, seemed to be the best choice but it was too dry and all of us didn’t even finish half of it. We also ordered two big bowls of mushroom soup which we jokingly called the “Sharksfin soup”.
By 8.20pm, everyone was in their rooms, getting ready for bed. We had a short meeting in the guy’s room, though. Both Peter and KG gave instructions on the summit push.
9pm saw us in bed, trying hard to get a good night’s rest. Most of us tossed and turned before dozing off. I woke up many times.
1.30am came. Time to wake up. I could hear the wind howling and wondered if it was raining. My spirits dampened a little at the thought of not being able to climb that morning, yet at the same time, I wanted to crawl into bed and sleep till the sun rises.
I woke up anyway.
We were all sleepy-eyed but thinking of the summit push made us wide awake. Grudgingly, we dragged our feet to the bathroom to brush our teeth. Then we went downstairs for a hot drink. We were told that the gate might not be opened because of the rain…. but we weren’t sure. We didn’t want to go out into the cold, walk a couple hundred feet, only to be told that the gate was not opened. So, kiasu people like us decided to linger around the restaurant.
One of the last groups, we only started our climb at 3.30am. The temperature outside was at 6.2C. Brrr…. Cold! I had on 4 layers of clothings but by the time I reached the gate, I was almost pouring with sweat. So was May Hui. We stopped at the hut to shed some clothing. I had my poncho on because it was drizzling slightly.
It was stairs and more stairs.
Knowing I couldn’t climb fast, I asked John and May Hui to go ahead. Peter Lim, with his group still sleeping in the rest house due to various reasons, accompanied me. At first, I wasn’t aware of the guide, Primus, being with us. Later, I realized that one of the guides must always be with the last person….. and I was “that” person.
I started to perspire more and decided to remove my jacket, leaving me with only 2 layers of clothing. In doing so, I dropped my towel, right into a puddle of water. Peter Lim said that it was of no use and placed it aside, telling me that we could pick it up when we get back. Unknown to us, Primus decided to hide the towel so that no one would take it.
It was 10 steps up and a break for me. You can just imagine how long I took to climb. At one point, I could sense Peter’s patience wearing out. Primus kept saying that I had “semangat”.
At the rope section just before the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint, I was a little afraid because the terrain was steep and it was dark, except for the light from my headlamp. Primus advised me on where to place my feet.
After the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint, knowing that the air was going to get thinner, I told Primus that I would only take two steps at a time. He encouraged me to take at least 10. Peter asked me to “enjoy the stroll”. Indeed it was enjoyable. It was not steep and the terrain was great. By then, Primus and I were on joking terms. I would tell him that I want to go only 10 steps and he would “bargain” upwards, encouraging me to go 15 steps. And when I went 18 steps, he would praise me. That was really encouraging! Talking also helped take my mind off the actual climb itself.
We caught up with KG and Eunice at the 8KM mark. Eunice was surprised that I was able to catch up with them. I had Primus to thank for because sometimes he held my hand so that I could be steady and walked faster.
The wind got stronger as we climbed higher. By then, my hands were almost numb with cold; and my feet, even with two pairs of socks on, were getting so cold. Primus kept advising me to move my fingers so that I don’t get frostbite. I had to put on my jacket again so that I could keep my hands in the pockets.
Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, Primus would shelter me from the wind, and sometimes he would even put one arm around me, which was really comforting. Other times, he would rub my gloved-hands ... though I think that didn’t help at all as I could not feel a thing.
Well, we reached the summit at 8.15am, far too late to watch the sun rise. But nevertheless, we were there!!!!! We made it!!! Yeh!!!
Primus, who seemed strong enough not to have gloves on, offered his leather gloves and without hesitation, I wore them. Much to my dismay, I couldn’t fit my hands in them
at first because they were too numb to move about. My feet were cold, too, but not freezing, and my cheeks, lips and chin seemed frozen. I can’t even speak properly. But my body was okay. Not cold there.After a cup of Milo (yes!! right there at the peak), thanks to KG’s thinking ahead, I felt much better.
Going down was a little scary. Thank God for Primus. I held on to his hand (tight!) while he led the way. There was once when I went in the direction of the rope but he wanted to go another way. I was torn between holding on to the rope and holding his hand. He asked me to trust him. And I did. It was so much easier to just follow him.
We saw Yau Ming on our way down and Primus had to leave me for a while to accompany him to the summit. The mist was becoming thicker by then. KG, Eunice and I held hands as we walked, partly because of the strong wind and partly because we were feeling cold. We walked through the mist and both KG and my glasses were so wet, we could hardly see ahead of us. We had to rely on Eunice to guide us.
Peter Lim was at the Sayat-Sayat checkpoint when we got there. He was waiting for Yau Ming to come down. We stopped at the checkpoint a long time because KG had some problems with his stomach and had to answer nature’s call urgently. Thank God there was a facility nearby.
We walked about 200 meters from the checkpoint when Primus and Yau Ming caught up with us. I once again had the privilege of a personal guide. It was a good thing, too, because we were at the rope section and this time, as the sky was bright, I could see how steep the slope was. But I was not afraid because Primus was there. Just knowing that he was around gave me a sense of assurance and peace.
After the rope section, we stopped once more for a second round of Milo.
I decided to go down first as I know that the rest would catch up with me pretty quickly. I was wrong. Holding on tight to Primus’ hand, it was easier to go down and I went quite fast without slipping. We had a good chat and we got to know each other better. By the time we reached the gate just before Laban Rata, I knew that he had been a porter before becoming a guide, and that he worked there for 11 years already. He summitted more than 1000 times. Can you believe that!!?!?!!??! He is 35 years old, married with a 4 year old child. Well, I can’t remember the rest ….
I knew that he liked my backpack - he helped carry it most of the time – and I decided that this would be a perfect thank you gift for him. He was happy when I gave it to him the next day.
That night, we had a singing session. Peter Lai and Peter Lim took turns to play the guitar and we sang some Christian songs. Three of our guides were there, too. There were some people who were curious and came near us.
By 8.30pm, we were upstairs, ready for bed. But we just couldn’t sleep. We talked a lot, even to the point of someone knocking on our door and asking us to be quiet.
The thought of a second summit did cross my mind many times. KG was willing to go for a second summit if anyone wanted to go. I decided not to because I was afraid I might not be able to wake up. Well, I DID wake up at 1.15am, not because I couldn’t sleep, but because it was sooooo hot. The heater made the whole room hot. It was getting so stuffy. I was sleeping on the upper bunk and as you know, hot air rises. And yes, I was hot alright.
So I woke up and went downstairs to cool off. I think the temperature outside was 7.2C or something. Once cooled, I tried to sleep again. I got hot fast and had to go out of the room again to cool off. At about 3am, I smelt something burning but it was not coming from our room. And a few minutes later, the heater was turned off. The room began to cool off and I could sleep like a baby.
The next morning, we woke up, fresh from the good sleep, brought our cereals, “power” bars, Milo, Nescafe and whatnots to the restaurant to have our breakfast.
Some of us started walking down at 8.30am but a few of us wanted to take photos at the rest house and we were delayed by an hour.
John, Edwin Ton and I trudged down, leaving the last group, KG, Eunice and Cassandra to more picture-taking session. I thought they would catch up with us quickly but to my surprise, we didn’t even see them throughout the 6km journey.
Later, when I asked Eunice if she talked to Primus, who was with them, she said, “no”. I think if I had gone with them, I would’ve talked more with Primus. And yes, in my eyes, he was such a nice person with a great personality.
Anyway, John and I talked a lot on the way down. Edwin talked some too. Time just passed by very quickly. We estimated that we would get to the Timpohon gate by 1pm but we only got there at 2pm. I think it was because of me. I needed to stop several times and I wanted to take my own sweet time coming down.
KG, Eunice and Cassandra were behind us by 50 minutes because Cass felt sick and Eunice’s knee problem was acting up. We were all worried. Time was also an issue. We needed to leave Kinabalu Park by 4pm, with KG and gang or without. Thank God they arrived at about 3.30pm.
We went straight to a seafood restaurant where we met up with Chin Yih, Adele and Alisa. Dinner was okay for me … I’m not exactly a fan of seafood. Peter Lai gave a short speech…. Well, actually, not exactly a speech…. He said that it has always been his dream to climb Mt. Kinabalu and more than 30 years later, his dream came true.
About 7 of the team members flew back to West Malaysia that night. Another 9 flew back the next night and four of us flew back on Saturday night.
Both Eunice and I had diarrhea on Friday and Saturday… not sure what we ate.
We met up with Chin Yih, Adele and Alisa and apart from being a good host, they brought us to a resort which is almost completed, on one of the hills in Sabah. It was really nice!
Overall, my trip to Sabah was really an adventurous one. I got to know people from Lumut and JB. Also got to know who Iceberg is ….. after all the many forwarding messages he sent for the past 2 months!!!
It was really a great climb, well-organised and I thank Peter Lim and KG for making the effort to coordinate this trip.
