The Descend

Conquering Lows Peak does not mean it is the end just yet. Reaching Laban Rata is not the end yet as well. There is yet another 6km to go towards Timpohon Gate, the entrance and the exit of the hike. However, we are certainly full of spirit and excited to move on at approximately 10.30am.

The porter with the heavy luggage. They are small yet strong.

Just like the hike up, we are divided into groups again, going at our own comfortable pace. At first, there were 5 people in my group, and then we started to loose Kak Ilah & Azleena. Slowly, Omin move forward and we lost sight of her too. I tried to look if there is any glance of Omin at each Station, but I can’t find her. Reading Omin’s blog, now I know that she did run at some point, so, no wonder I can’t seem to catch up with her. :P So, it was Marlina & I, all the way down. We actually try to savor the moment too, especially before reaching the 4km mark. I remember telling Marlina “Stop and take a deep breath. We never know when we can breathe such fresh air again.” ;’( It is really a bittersweet moment. So sad to leave the place, but so happy that we finally will be going down to enjoy the rest of the holiday.

One of the reason that both of us go down slowly is because we both hurt our feet. My right toe has been hurting since a few months ago. I think, it started from the Europe trip. And the series of hike I’ve been doing for Mt Kinabalu does not let it heal. To make matter worst, in desperate act to reduce the pain, I cut the toenail a tad too deep and it got infection a few days later. Sum everything up, I literally kill my toenail. ;( Anyway, as we continue the walk down, i started to feel the muscle pain at both calves. Since we are racing against time (need to reach down at least before 4.30, as that will be the last call for lunch/dinner), we did not pamper ourselves by stopping so much. At one point, after the 1km mark, I think I started to hallucinate as I thought I saw the Timpohon Gate, but instead we keep walking into stairs and stairs and stairs! Feel like crying!!! However, fret not. The world is fair. At around 2pm, we reached the Timpohon Gate. Ho Yeah!!!

3 of the teammates with our good porter cum guide leading them.

Group photo


Group photo with guides

The food that motivates us to reach on time

The proof that we did it!

After that, we head back to Kota Kinabalu and check in to our hotel, The Imperial Boutique. Oh, before that, we made a stop at Bos’s house to pick up our bags. Thanks Bos!

We also had a mini group dinner before hitting the sack!