I remember my old jalan-jalan kaki once suggested that we should go for a climb up to the summit of Mount Kinabalu. It was years back and I was pretty excited about going for training. However it was all for a much disappointment when my kaki informed that we had missed the registration for that particular group climb.
Luckily for me, I get to at least step foot all the way until ...ehem ehem...a pathetic 2nd station of the summit trail. Hahaha.That's a mere 2KM from the starting point at the Power Station. You can't expect to simply pop up at the entrance counter, pay up RM 5 to climb all the way to the summit. No no, that's not possible. Climbing up Mount Kinabalu needs a 6 months boooking prior to climbing and pay up some amount of roughly RM500. *I'm not so sure about the fees.
So there I was finally made it to no less than 2KM, which was at 2nd Station, panting hard, face pale with my new found friend cum local guide constantly asking if I'm doing okay or not. Thanks man for dragging us all the way up here to experience 'short = approx. 3 hours' trekking up Mount Kinabalu with flip-flops, no sweater, a bottle of 500ml of mineral water to share with 3 persons, a tub of Pringles that feeds a few hungry wild squirrels, Angela (the day trippers lady from KL on a working trip from Maxis whom I just met at the 2nd station) and us three adventour seekers. I was knackered to the max the moment we reached 2nd station and I gave up going any further and settled to wait alone at the station while the other 2 excitedly trekked up to the next 500m to snap that 2KM Signboard. Thank god, I waited instead of hiking up because it took them more than 30 minutes to go up and down that 500m. Damn!
Obviously, I wasn't really waiting alone out there in the deep jungle of Mount Kinabalu. There were initially 2 people waiting there, Angela and a Sabahan Chinese guy. Both of them were waiting for 2 of their friends to come down from Station 4 and they are on a day trip like us too. But I reckon, they managed to climb up until probably Station 6. After sometime, a big group stop by and obviously all are KL-ians and a bunch of Mat Sallehs. Hehe. The only locals are the guides and the porter kids. At one point, I was really shivering and with no sweater on, I had no choice but to make short walks and jump around a little bit. I also had to wait there alone for a little while only to be accompanied by the cold and the squirrels. The Chinese guy and Angela were kind enough to ask if it's okay that I wait at the station alone and yeah I said I'll be fine after calling my own phone to locate my friends.There's another silly story about calling my own phone but I was so so close to having zero mobile contact with my friends at that time. How scary is that right? Hehe.
All in all, that was really superb. I'm proud to be up there although a mere 2KM up. It's a tough trail I mind you. Some trail can be pretty steep. But it's kinda cool that we only went with flip-flops but can be foolishly risky too! Unless you are going with a local who knows things around, I think you should be in good hands!
Will I climb Mount Kinabalu for real next time? That's for sure. On that note, I should start my training because I'm so out of shape now. Super pathetic!Hehe.
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