Day 6- Borneo Adventures

This was taken at the fish market. These kids, as it looks, were beggars. They were picking up the remnants of the fishes & stray ice from the floor, putting everything into the blue plate and black bag. Really sad isn't it?

Boy bathing on deck!

Sorting fishes..

The father was diving and salvaging sea urchins from the sea bed. Boy was looking after the boat and sorting things out.

err... some advertisement to enhance the boobs?

The walls at the room were so thin till I could people talking on the phone. hahaa.... banging doors as well! zzz....anyway, it was a good night's rest, except for a couple of times, I had this "falling sensation" that jolt me up from my sleep! Let's attribute it to vertigo. hahaha... I don't know how else to explain it...

Can I complain a bit about my legs? I totally feel like chopping them off whenever I get up/down the steps!!! It's so so so so so so so PAINFUL!!!! basket....even at night when I'm sleeping, then pain will wake me up whenever I bend my legs... ARRRRGGGHHH!!! idiot..

Initially, the plan was to go island hopping. But no thanks to our legs & lazy bodies, we decided to just relax and walk around the city...Breakfast was at Gaya Street. Beef noodle. Hot & Yummy. We walked along the waterfront and chanced upon a fish market, arts market, fresh market and a boulevard of restaurants.

Not much to do in KK city. We just walked and hang around till our flight was due for departure...Sabah is exciting for the rural couture, I guess... Would love to return, NOT TO CLIMB MT KINABALU THOUGH! There's a few other things to do, like orang utans "huntings" in Kinabatagan River & diving in Sidapan... hahaha... it's like chiangmai... one zillion and one things to do, but no time!!!! THough first, I have to learn how to dive... I think diving can bring me even further and deeper in my travels. I even heard before that on the Brunei platform, you could dive due to the lax legislation in the country... haha..

hmm.... I guess, that's all the trips I am doing for 2009. FYI, I really need to start job hunting now... Get a job, get a stable life, get married, have kids... hahaha.... okay lah, anyone who knows me, these are not the things I want to do... =P at least not for now.

Hopefully, I will be able to squeeze in one more trip before I really start a job.

Till then, With lotsa love, hugs & kisses,

Sophia

Day 5- Borneo Adventures

Supper at 2am...

The group of Japanese obasans & ajisans... they were mighty fit leh! SLow and steady all the up the summit..

8km Mark... I really wanted to give up by then. I asked Rusi, if she would give me a summit cert if I stop here, she said she's not sure.... sianz... no choice, I didn't come so far, do so much to get a cert less than the summit....zzz...

the ferrata.

so nice...

the vertical drop...

the obasans... my inspirations...

Because I was the last climb up at the summit, there weren't anybody left.... ho ho ho!!! I think this is one of a kind picture that most of friends don't have....

even better, nobody in our background!! haahaha....

Halfway up the summit, we realised we didn't have enough water!!! Luckily, this nice Indian couple gave me their 100plus!!! hahahahahah.....

Learning to walk like Rusi... Like all climbing creed," Learn to trust your shoes!"

buring sun...

2.8km... from the summit.... Our accomodations...

Altitude sickness comes in all form.... hits young, old, ugly, pretty or the unlucky ones.. According to my reads, there are serveral symptoms that indicates the inability of the body to adjust to high altitude; fatigue, headaches, dizziness, insomnia, shortness of breath during exertion, nausea, decreased appetite and social withdrawal. Initially, I failed to realise that I had altitude sickness as I didn't have a headache. But I exhibited the last 5 of the symptoms instead. hahahaha.... so lousy...

And so, I groggily pulled myself out of bed at 1.30am for the summit climb. Made my way down to Laban Rata for supper. I totally hate this feeling of breathlessness whenever I walk.I never felt so old, so tired before. But still, I pushed myself on for the climb.

We were one of the last groups to leave Laban Rata. In the first 500m, we started to see people falling out due to exhaustion/ altitude sickness. It really hit some people quite badly till they had to turn back. And so, still panting & panting, I slowly ascended up the mountain. Overtook David & Peck on our way. Met the 3 Singaporean girls & a Singaporean couple. 1.1km up the mountain, we reached our final hut & check point; Sayak Sayak Pondok. I was so damn breathless by then. Every step took a trememdous amount of effort and my body kept telling me to give up. BUT NOPE! No way.... We continued our quest. The terrain had changed to via ferrata. Initially, I was a quite scared of falling, so I was actually bending down, holding on to the ropes while ascending. It made me totally totally tired. Tip: While ascending via ferrata in Mt K, trust your shoes & follow your guide. The easiest way is usually not via the ropes.

I lost Leon shortly after. His last words to me was," You take your time and go ahead first. I will take some pictures and catch up with you later." WAH LAU.... then he totally overtook me and reach the summit more than an hour before I did. I was ready to give up when I reached the 8.0km marker. Then I asked my guide if I would be given the summit cert since I passed Sayak Sayak already.She said she wasn't sure since it was an unusual request. That pushed me a further few hundred metres. Then I tried to follow the "slow & steady" footsteps of an obasan. I nearly fall off and fell asleep whilst following her. =P 8.5km marker. I started seeing the 1st of the summit climbers. One of them was some British whom I spoke to the day before. I knew him because he saw me changing out my clothes twice and asked me how come I kept changing. hahaha... anyway, he asked if I was alright and I told him that I wasn't feeling too good due to the lack of shops on Mt Kinabalu. hahahaha..... AAAARRR.... can talk rubbish means I am alright lah... just really really breathless... seriously, I never felt this breathless all my life... a couple more hundred metres and a few more people telling me that Leon is up there waiting for me. I met an indian couple that I spoke to the day before. They were awfully nice to offer me their 100PLUS, given that I was so pale and without water! wahahhaahahhaah.... Aiya, no thanks to my faulty waterbag, Leon and I didn't bring up enough water to the summit... =P the 100plus was a great boast up the summit. I told myself that I am not going to open it until I reached up there. haha... oh. and along the way, I kept recalling the conversation I had with Leon the night before. We were saying that, "our objective is to climb the summit, doesn't matter how long we took. It also doesn't matter how long we take to descend the mountain. Must bare in the mind the objective." And I always tell myself that I am only going to do this once and I had better do it well (meaning to finish the summit). I think all these psychological preparation really helped me, despite the overwhelming breathelessness...

So there I was reporting to the summit at 745am. It took me a 4.5hrs to reach up there. And at least 2.5hrs were spent resting and panting. hahaha.... It was so amazing how everything looks from the top. The majestic mountain range, the different peaks around the Low's peaks and since I was the last climber, Leon, Rusi and I were the ones up there... hahaha....It certainly feels very good!

Trip down was easy peasy. hahaha... it's a stroll in the park untill after Laban Rata. Wah... can totally feel the tremour that I was subject my knees to....took us 5 hrs to descend from Laban Rata... Towards the last 500m. We met a few climbers that we managed to catch up with. WAH... they have double-locked knees liao! hahahaa.... okay lah.. I shouldn't be laughing at them since i knew how much pain that is... =P

We managed to share a van outside the park's hq with 4 other ladies back to KK. Checked into Kinabalu's Backpacker'S Lodge this time. Stepin Lodge was too hot lah... After a good shower and some packing, we met up with David and Peck for dinner. It was pretty exotic seafood. We had baby curry shark, sambal "kangkong-looking-but-not-kangkong" veggie, fried mee, shellfish and a hybrid "preying-mantis-and lobster" for dinner. That preying mantis thing has the head of a preying mantis, body of a lobster and tail of a prawn. It's white in colour and I heard some rather aggressive tales about it. It taste like lobster though....

Day 4- Borneo Adventures

One of the many plastic bags... squeezing air out!

Our guide, Rusi... she's probably at least a head shorter than me.. but super duper fit! 17 year old, part-time guide. 3 years experience. Ambition: Malay Teacher

Starting Point- Pondok Timpohon

Arrggghhh... the steps!!

The porters who overtook us effortlessly...

Ou guide-cum-porter with 11kg of load!

The signs that I share a love-hate relationship with... It shows how much have I done and how much more I have to do... argh!

wah lau... till now, only 3.5km... where's my lunch break!

Finally! At Layang- Layang Hut!

Nearing Laban Rata... A couple of koreans chao-kenging....

It's bloody cold up here! Till I had to change into dry clothes... then subsequently, I had to change out to my wet clothes to trek up the accomodations... one of the ang moh climbers accused me of parading a fashion show!! hahahahahaha.....

David & Peck. Singaporeans whom we met & overtook along the way...

Gunung Lagaden Accomodations. Non-heated with the ODAC smell.. hahaha...

Ahhh.... the morning of the ascend. *yawnz* it was a lousy night's sleep. Noisy dorm mates... haii...

We continued packing in the crispy cold morning outisde our dorm. I realised that only Singaporeans use plastic bags to compartment-ised their bags. Leon at his best has at least 10 plastic bags in his bag... Which means he will make a hell load of noise whenever he packs. hahaha.... think I must start looking for noise-less, waterproof solutions next time I pack my bag.. hahah

Checking in at the park HQ was a breeze, unlike what others have previously told me. Probably it was easy because we started the climb relatively late. At 9.30am. haha.... And so, while waiting for Leon to get out of the toilet, a girl who's roughly as tall as Frans, tapped on my shoulders and introduced herself as my guide!!! WAH LAU... she barely looked 14... child labour!!! Anyway, upon further introductions, I found out that she's 17 and has been doing this for around 3 years.

And so we boarded the bus to head to Timpohoon gate to start our trek. Was a little disappointed with the scenery. All misty.. *sianz* and so we trekked up. There were distance marker every 500m or so and a hut every 800m or so....Things were still good up to Layang Layang Hut.... but I started to get very very breathless after the 4.5km Mark which is around 10000ft of elevation. Every couple of steps, I started to get extremely breathless and I did not know that it was a sign of altitude sickness. It certainly did not help that the terrain has changed to mostly ferrata-type rocks. I really needed to concentrate as well. Heart was beating very fast as well... tsk tsk...

We finally reached Laban Rata after another 1.5km of trek. It was like the light at the end of the tunnel. I was so cold, hungry and totally miserable... zzz...

Our hut was another 150m of walk. So we chose to hang around Laban Rata till dinner. Within the hour, David and Peck finally made it up to Laban Rata. wOW! And David's first instinct was to splurge on a can of beer, RM$20!!!!! These 2 guys are the many people who past and said hi to on the mountain.. however, they were the only Singaporeans we saw on our way up... They are relatively atypical though. Through the small talks with them, we found out that they are very well-travelled, adventurous and spontaneous. Especially, David. David is a old man, mind you... however, how many old man can say that they want to climb Mt K the week before, made arrangements and just come and climb. Not many youngsters could do it, much less old man like him. They were so adventurous till they are past the stage of caring about the consequences. And I really think that's how life should be.... If you want to do it, then just do it...don't think too much about what the naysayers say, don't dwell about the what-nots, don't doubt yourself, just believe....

They brought up a couple of interesting places that I would want to visit.... My next destination is probably going to be another southeast asian country.... shall keep you in the loop when I have worked out my finances.. ahahahaah

And so after dinner, we headed up to Gunung Lagaden for a night's rest. THe moment I open the door, this overwhelming smell totally engulfed me!!! all the climbers have left their wet and dirty clothes on the chairs in the main living room. Room wise, it was a cozy 4 bedded dormitory. We showered and was all ready for bed at 7+. Totally couldn't sleep at all... Leon had a headache, I had freezing toes that refused to toes and my heart beat was still racing at 120km/h!!! right at about 8+, Our "Yeti" roommates finally reported to the dormitory. They were incredibly noisy and inconsiderate leh... and poor Leon even had to give up his blanket the "Yeti-ese" as she wasn't feeling very well.

Day 3- Borneo Adventures

The exterior of D'Villa...

View of the Kinabalu Range from the Park's HQ

Map of the park.

We attempted the Liwagu trail, which turned into a the bukit birang trail, then it turned into bukit tapi trail.... *lost*

Waiting for a bus to Kundasang Town

It's hard to believe how come I woke up without any any muscle aches this morning. hahaha...

We didn't do too much today. Packed our stuff, bid sanyonara to Stepin Lodge and headed down to the taxi terminal to get a cab out of town to Kinabalu National Park. At RM$20 per pax. It was quite a steal. Just a little cramp in the cab...

We checked into D'Villa, which was a total disappointment. The only plus point about the place is that it is 500m away from the park HQ. The dormitory was dark, old and cold. The mattress was 2 inches thick which looks like it hasn't seen any sun in a decade. Think it's quite moldy as well. And it was incredible how they wanted to charge us RM$30 for breakfast when our dorm is also RM$30 for a night. *FAINTZ* some people just don't know how to do business. zzz.... There was nothing around the villa except for the trees and some pretty flowers. We walked up 500m to this restaurant and had a meal at the restuarant. The food is not super duper yummy but I love the alfresco dining concept on the highlands.

After lunch, we headed to the kinabalu park to do some free trails. hahaha.. NEARLY GOT LOST! I think the map wasn't drawn properly. It's not my fault.... =PpPp

We made our way to Kundasang town for dinner. It's somewhat a more backward version of Cameron highlands. Dinner was a bowl of MSG-loaded mee soto + bbq chicken wings with some feathers still on them... ahahah...hard to believe now that I actually just gobbled down everything...

The adventure started when the town got pitch dark by 7pm. No street lamps to brighten up the roads or anything. Freaking scary. It felt that there's someone waiting to mug us at every other corner. The news of the day was that we got stranded in Kundasang for awhile because no cabs or buses plies the street after 5pm!!!!! BASKET!!! The town centre was filled with xiao hun huns somemore... thankfully, we met with a really nice girl who helped us call a friend to drive us back to D'villa.....phew... what a night before our big climb...zzz...

I got an even bigger shock when I opened the door the dorm and saw that it was filled with indian guys... not that I am racist. But 9 guys + 1 girl in a dormitory is freaking awkward lah.... spent the rest of the night packing... I have only got one thing to say about it...

I HATE PACKING!

Day 2- Borneo Adventures

The interior of the train. My 1st time riding such old 19th century train...

Exterior of the train. It is coal driven...

Closer look.

After a hot night of sleep, we allowed ourselves to be transported to Tenom Town for some thrills and spills. Some background... this town is a famous town for producing coffee, robusta beans to be precise. Ain't really to our taste 'cos the coffee was very, very thin.

Disclaimer: We didn't take any rafting pictures today 'cos we were too busy having fun and getting drown... =P

Anyway, from Tenom, we took this old, cranky coal train to Pangie Town to do our WHITE WATER RAFTING!!! woo-hooo!!!!! we chose to do the Pandas river because it promises a lot more excitement. Grade III-IV rapids! We had 6 people on our boat + 2 guides. A gay couple from Europe and a pair of sisters from Indonesia. The gay couple was so FUNNY! The "female" was exceedingly gu niang to the point of being entertaining. hahahaha....

Had a 20 minutes safety briefing which was really easy considering that both of us were offshore personnels. hahaha... =PpPp the rule to stay calm, listen to instructions, no matter what happens apply to every situation. ahahhaa....

The adrenaline rush excursion was over 20km long. There were a few mickey mouse rapids for warm-ups and 7 major rapids. Due to the dry season, the rapids weren't really difficult to navigate through. Only 2 major ones caught out the whole raft and capsized us! hahaahhaa... the "cobra" and the "big mama". ahhahaahha...On calm waters, the scenery was so so overwhelming. The majestic forest of Borneo was a view to die for. It made me want to pick up kayaking again so that I can travel down the rivers in other countries to experience such tranquility again. Err.. actually, I am considering to return to Sabah to visit the Kinabatangan River. It's a 3D-2N homestay to see orang utans and the proboscis monkey. I think they also allow their guest to kayak down the river/ swamps.

Our ending point was in Halogilat and we took a speed boat (1 hr) to Beaufort town for our transport home. Along the way, it rained. It was terribly cold but the forest against the backdrop of sunset + rain + rainbow was something that I was glad happened. It was really really beautiful.... This trip down the padas river was incredible. It's too exciting and yet so calming at the same time...

Day 1- Borneo Adventures

Reception Area of Stepin Lodge Slyvester's Fairlady....1112

The mosque that floated on land...

I am so excited to blog about this trip can! It's not really a full tour of Borneo lah! Although it's just a typical Mt K trip, it was an awesome trip!!!! Totally not what I had expected to turn out and it was really great fun to have Leon as trip partner! hahaha.. When we were at the airport for our flight home, I was totally hoping that the flight would get cancelled or something. hahaha.. I totally can't get enough of Sabah! One zillion and one things to do!

We got on and off the plane with not much incidences, except that we had to hold our pee from flight till after immigration. Wah SEH! No joke leh... I nearly wanted to die hold my pee and I still had to chit chat with the immigration lady so that she doesn't try to hold me for too long at the counter. hahahaha... =P

Slyvester picked us up at the airport, with his silver NISSAN FAIRLADY! My 2nd friend with a Fairlady! ahahahah.... But sadly, it was a 2-seater, so poor Leon and I had to take a cab instead. He was incredibly nice to come and meet us at the airport, since he live 2 hours away from Kota Kinabalu city. We checked into our hostel, Stepin Lodge, and proceeded to a chinese restaurant for lunch with him. Slyvester is totally doing so well! JS would just die hearing all these from me! hahahaha.... Slyvester is a materials coordinator on the rig. Er... not even management level. Just a storeman you can say... but oil riggers being oil riggers, he's so well paid till he can buy a Nissan Fairlady, a new 3 storey house in KK, 100k renovations in progress, setting up a restaurant etc etc. He had to be the richest friend (by personal wealth, not family business) I have in our age group. ahahaha.... er. It was still good catching up with him over lunch and hopefully will see him again. He had to leave soon after lunch because he was upgrading his Fairlady wheels from 18" to 19". "-_- Life still goes on....

We hang out at Warisan Square and Centrepoint, while waiting for a shuttle bus to 1Borneo. hahaha... According to Slyvester, it was the newest, biggest and the most atas place to shop in KK. On the way there, I remembered reading somewhere that there was a floating mosque along the road. *faintz* at first I thought it was a mosque that was built out in the sea. NO!!!! IT WAS A MOSQUE BUILT ON LAND WITH WATER SURROUNDING IT INSTEAD. zzzzz.... so sillly.....

1Borneo was quite disappointing. It was huge, but our Suntec and Vivo City is big as well. The shops were regular brands you could find in SG. We walked for a bit and bought tickets to a movie instead. While waiting for the movie to start, we went to this outdoor called "Tech City". It stocks cheap Northface Gortex jackets and pants leh... really very very dubious. I could get a Northface Jacket at 499RM. Must be kidding right? One such jacket in SG is at least SG300 liao.

Anyway, we caught "The Proposal". Ryan Reynolds was so good looking can!!! I thought he had a striking resemblelance to Guy McNab. So cute!!!!!Hot bod somemore!!! Sandra Bullock looks way too old for him liao. It's friday-night-after-work kinda show lah.... think anyone would enjoy it. hahaha...

Made our way back to the lodge. We have got dorms with no aircon. WAH LAU... it was a wrong choice I made. The place was really clean and it was 4 pax to a room. But the room was too hot and stuffy to sleep leh. And it was really quite expensive per pax (err.. compared to my rich friend, RM$28 and RM$25 do make a difference to my life). We had difficulty sleeping that night, all thanks to the stuffy room.. zzz.. and our dorm-mates wasn't really very helpful by insisting to close both the curtains and WINDOWS!!!

Day 0- KK, Mt K, KKK

Title is a little crap, that KKK is a lame title that Leon put up on email. zzz... u can go guess what it stands for. ahhahaha...

I love blogging about day 0 of any trip. It's because this day is always filled with so much anticipation, excitement and preparation for a trip. This is especially really appropriate to blog with so many issues going through my head my head now. I am sure to forget something or I might just wake up in the middle of the night to put something in my bag. You know there was once, I even had a nightmare that I went for trip without my toiletries in my bag!!!! *faintz*

Anyway, this is an unexpectedly long trip. 6 days, from 19 Aug to 24 Aug. Mostly because it's much cheaper to fly on these dates. Or at least, the savings from the air tickets can be translated into $$ for hostel stays and transportation. We will be meeting Slyvester, one of my first friend from DD2, at the airport. I hope he drives out his Fairlady to fetch us! ahahhahaa....

Tentative Itinery 19 Aug- Sightseeing KK city 20 Aug- Whitewater rafting on Padas River 21 Aug- Head out to Kundasang town. Maybe do a trail around the valleys. 22 Aug- Ascend Mt. Kinabalu 23 Aug- Summit climb & descend Mt. Kinabalu 24 Aug- Haven't really planned for lah... but will return home at night.

That's the plan. Might deviate. But who knows... hahaha...