Day 5 - Tip of Borneo

In Kota Kinabalu, we stayed at Imperial Boutec Hotel which is situated inside Warisan Square and just a walking distance to Filipino Market. Since we are going to book for 5 rooms, I emailed the Sales Marketing Officer and requested for a complimentary breakfast. (The breakfast cost RM15). This is my first time bargaining the hotel package and it turn out a success. :P Yeay! Another way of getting cheaper price is by booking through this link which was discovered by Omin.

After that, we split into 2 groups. Azleena, Fazilah, Akmar, Marlina, Azril and me plan to go to Kudat while Omin, Fina, Bullert and Azrul heads for an adventure around the city and a visit to Monsopiad Cultural Village. The attraction that lure us to Kudat is non other than the Tip of Borneo. At first, i was a bit skeptical if the rest of the group will find this place BOORRRIINGG as there is nothing there expect wonderful spectacular view. However, i forget that we have 2 dedicated and passionate photographers in the group and it turns out everybody got turned on by this beautiful place. ;)

If one wanted an escape from civilization or honeymoon perhaps, then you can opt for this chalet.
So that you can wake up to this beautiful scenery.



Hik Hik.

Weeeee

Serenity

Peace

The tip

The view

The happy group photo

The classic group photo

The cover album group photo

Kudat is really a must visit if you like places with beautiful scenery and especially if you like photography. It is 3hrs drive from Kota Kinabalu. If you charter a van with a driver like us, it is RM400 return trip. But, if you are the adventurous type, you can rent a car for as cheap as RM100 and drive to Kudat instead.

Bye bye Kudat... it has been a nice experience.

Gunung Kinabalu Budget & Details

Our Itineraries

Things to Bring

Summary on Expense

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Contact for Mt Kinabalu Hike Package

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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!

Day 4 - Fight till the End

The day before, our guide had asked us to come down to Laban Rata and meet them for breakfast/supper at 2am. That night, having gone up and down the route a few times for check in and dinner, we decided not to waste energy and time by going down again in the morning. So, we are left to figure out how to relay the message to our guide as we had forgotten to take their phone numbers! There were another group which consists of uncles and aunties who were kind enough to suggest that we try to call their guide and check if he knew our guide. However, their guide was already asleep as he is not answering the phone. Hence, Kak Ilah and Azril volunteered to go down again that night to ensure our guide gets our plan. Terima Kasih! ;)

So, the next day, we woke up around 1am and starts to get ready. Those who are ready gathered at the lobby and started to exchange food. Omin brought Tuna & Sandwich, Akmar brought Maggi, Marlina brought her 2 in 1 Goats Milk and I brought biscuits and of course, energy bar. But I guess I spent too long time munching my breakfast that I did not realize it was already 2.30am until Kak Ilah mentioned that “our guide is here”. Argh!! Frantically I dashed to my room and get my gears ready. Luckily, none of my stuff was missing/misplaced and we managed to gather on time. At around 10mins later, we started the 2nd part of the hike.

At first, it was all wooden stairs. Then, it turns into rocky stairs. At this part, I still felt OK. I even stopped a few times to wait for Azleena. Then, we reached the famous “Rope”. At the end of the stairs, you will see a rope hanging down from a rocky wall. You then need to pull yourself up and from then on, the rope will be your good friend.


Thats when my brother get his "Altitude Sickness" again. He gets dizzy and slows down. I stayed back to ensure he move on. Thus, Azleena and Aida went ahead. In hiking Mt Kinabalu, the rule of the game is "Never Wait or Never Chase" for other people but "Move at Your Own Pace". Thus, when one of our tour guide came to my brother's rescue, i moved on. Alone. At first, there was Lily. But as we continued on, i started to slow down. Slowly, i lost sight of Lily. It was only me, the sky, the stars and the wind. I took 10 steps, stopped, looked up at the beautiful sky filled with stars and then move on. This is really theurapatic. The sky was magnificently lit up with stars. As we did not manage to get it into pictures, here is an illustration of how it felt. :P



Although i have that theurapatic moment, i still need to fight with myself. ;( I keep asking the guide "Is it still far?". His standard answer is "Not far...15mins..See that light... Just right there". But when i look up at the light he is pointing, it seem a gazillion years away. "Are you serious? That's like the end of the world. When will i ever reach there?!" the unspoken words shouting in my mind. At one point, i started to think that "Nah...it is OK if you don't reach the top..this is already consider the top" . I ended up walking slower but i still did not stop. The word of wisdom from my friends keep ringing in my head "Just walk at your own pace...Don't stop" Sometimes , it felt surreal that i am walking on top of this mountain by myself, being blown by the wind now and then, loosing my balance. Where did i get this courage? To tell the truth, i am quite a coward. Darkness scares me. As i get myself lost in thoughts, someone familiar greeted me. It's my brother who finally managed to caught up. Lucky i did not wait for him or else i will end up slow him down. ;) So, both of us walk slowly and then, miraculously, we bumped into our friends, Azleena, Aida, Azrul, Bullert and Lily who had just finished their Subuh prayer. They have found a perfect spot just minutes below Lows Peak. We performed our prayer too and after that, it is history. Just a few steps, and we reach Lows Peak. :)

The team has this last minute plan of bringing a banner which did not materialize.

Thanks to the Putrajaya geng for bringing this flag.

Bro & me

Flag in action again!

The descend.

It used to seem forever to get there, but now we are leaving. ;(

Donkeys Peak

Thanks Azleena for this National Geographic shot. :P

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...........

Alhamdulillah for this pair of eyes.

Checking out at Sayat Sayat

The picture makes it look more scary. But it is really not that bad. ;)

Back to the rocky stairs.

Wooden stairs.

Pack our bags and back to Laban Rata for breakfast!!!

We did it!!

The BIG Day (3)

"This is it! It’s do or die! No turning back!" the thoughts that crossed my mind that morning. :P

I am not sure about others, but I sure sleep well. Especially since it rained that night but the thick blanket able to keep me warm. I managed to wake up around 5am and get ready. By 6am, Kak Ilah and I went downstairs to see Boss. Apparently, Boss had chosen to sleep in the car rather than sneak in into the boy’s room. Knowing that Boss has arrived late the night before, we gathered everybody at the compound first, then only proceed to wake him up.

Iklan

This lodging was not included in our package. Boss managed to get it for us at a student rate which is RM15 per person per night. So, we gathered and listened to the the last leg of briefing and some motivational words from Boss.

"you guys can do it! I've guided a 60++years old man and even a 3years old boy"
"OK..after this...u guys walk around a bit for some warm up... i'll take ur bags in my car and wait up at the registration place"

(Translated :P )

Apparently we do not really listen to what Boss was saying. I am not sure what goes in everybody mind, but we did not double confirm with him the exact location to meet him up again. Although some of us was quite sure it is the Kinabalu Park, but the head of the pack(name kept secret), went straight up. 500m....1km...1.5km... and we are still not there yet! We started to question whether we are on the right track. I wanted to call Boss, but my handphone is in the bag. My bag is with Boss in his car! Finally, the head of the pack managed to clarify with some locals and we made a turn back to Kinabalu Park. Thanks to everybody for being so sporting and able to laugh about it. So, this might really be our "warm up" which help us to complete our mission. ;)

Yeay! Here it is!

We are coming for you!

Breakfast given
Photo Session

Excited!

Get another briefing from the guide.
"U ols don't play2 ok...This is serious!"



1st stop - Pondok Kandis

Among the tips being given to us is not to take a lot of rest in between the stations. The longer you stop, the more you waste time and energy. So, we obliged and the first bunch of us(Fazilah, Azleena, Omin, Marlina, Azril and me) just stop for a breather and continued on.



At the early part of the climb, we keep stopping now and then to take photos. At first, it was a fun thing to do.

Then, I started to feel grateful every time the girls stop for photos. This means, I will not be left behind as I can take that time to catch up.

However, after the 5th station, Layang Layang, the trail gets really uphill and tougher. Thus, everytime the rest stop for photos, I will just stay behind to take a rest and even if they call me up for a group photo, my tagline is “Taking photo is not my priority now”. Yes. Drama Queen add Bimbo equals to me. :P

As you approach Villosa, you can see that the forest and environment is completely different. This time, instead of stopping to recover our strength, we also stopped to enjoy the view. Especially once we reach this stage, where we are clearly above the cloud.

Well, actually, at the end of the hike towards Laban Rata, I was pretty much by myself. I really cannot keep up with the rest of the girls. Thus, i keep stopping at each few steps to look around and savor the moments instead. At one point, a guide with 2 of his foreign hikers passed by me. The guide then looks at me and said “It’s really nearby. Just a few minutes. Keep walking” . Not just that, everytime he saw me stopping, he will stop also and wave at me to come forward. Thanks to him who gets very persistent in ensuring I reached Laban Rata, I really did reached it around 1pm!!!!

As it is still early for Dinner which start at 5pm, we laze around at the balcony for some sunbathing moment. :P We also used this time to update our family that we have safely arrived.


From our place, we could see one by one of our group members starting to emerge. Bullert, Abg Azrul and Lily came up and took quite some time for photoshoot session before heading up to Laban Rata.

Then, as most of us arrived, we went inside and fill ourselves with the food we bring such as chocolates and cookies. Hot and plain water are also provided.

Once everybody reached Laban Rata, we went ahead for check in and continued on to our dorm, Gunting Lagadan.

Came back down at 5pm for dinner!!!!

The beauty about climbing Mt Kinabalu is, you do not have to worry on food and accomodations. Just ensure you reach Laban Rata on time. ;)

Next up --> To the top - the famous Lows Peak!

Note:- All photos are credited to Azleena Kassim and Marlina Abd Aziz. I did not take my own photos due to:-

1. I don't own a camera

2. I am too nervous to take photos with my handphone camera

:P I am such a lame blogger like this. Will take note to snap my own photo next time. Thanks a lot girls!