But Subhanallah...cantik sgt!
The key point here is to just follow the foot steps of the people in front of you. If they are safe, so do you. :P Else, you might land your feet in a pool of mud and need to slowly wiggle it out. Thus, it is better not to bring a brand new shoe, else it will break your heart to thousand pieces to see how it turned out at the end of the hike. According to Em Kay, the mud have a low acidic PH which can result in the shoe sole peeling off slowly. It happened to M. :P I guess it's true as for me who does not wear any glove, it take days to really wash off the mud from my hand. Tips again, do bring a pair of glove. ;)
Photos taken from Kak Ilah. The front pack with CC, our volunteered guide.
Around 1hr or so, we reached anak irau, the false peak. It's just a small area for a rest. From here, we need to descend again. The route is like a W shape where u decent down, ascend, descent again, and ascend and so on so forth, i lost count. On the hike back, this trend could actually be demotivating as well. :P
At the last ascend when you are about to reach the top, that's one of the most magical spot of all. It's like surreal such a place ever exist, especially in Malaysia. :)
There is also this part which those who had climb Gunung Kinabalu able to relate.
And finally, we reached the top!
To sum it up, i would say Irau is quite a challenging hike. ;( Somehow, i find it harder than G.Kinabalu. Hmm..let's just see...GK is mostly stairs, it have toilets all the way at every stop, you bump into many people along the way, you will never get lost. While Irau require you to plan your every step, which root to hold on, which branch to grab, and mind you, the most important thing is NO TOILET, not even at the camp site. It's mother nature & you. Go figure. 
Whatever it is, i am glad to say...i've climb Gunung Irau. :)We made it!
Hiking is going to take a short break, at least for a while. :P
