Climb Mount Kinabalu And Raise Funds For SHELTER - Home For Children

This is a very special post and I am hoping we can all get the words out and reach out to as many people as possible. Recently, Gary the PR guy of SHELTER - Home For Children(Malaysia) , contacted me if I would like to help them out again to promote on their Climb of Hope Charity drive. Apparently I had somewhat mentioned about the SHELTER's charity climb two years ago in this blog which I've totally forgotten about and of course I am more than willing to give them a bit of a promotion once again.

 

For this year 2012, the SHELTER is targeting to raise about MYR 100,000 to improve the standard of education amongst the children in the shelter home. Anyone from the public is welcomed to participate for this Mount Kinabalu climb by filling up the registration form here.

 



Basically, you will be joining the Mt. Kinabalu climbing package organized by SHELTER and the fees (inclusive of  climbing fees, accommodation, flight tickets, land transfers, meals for all days) are MYR 2010 (for Malaysians) and MYR2300 (for Non-Malaysians). It is a 4 days 3 nights trip on 25 - 28 April 2012 ( Via Timpohon trail).

In addition, participants need to help seek donation from either companies, organizations or various individuals for a minimal amount of MYR  2000 each or more in hope to raise up to RM100, 000  fund for this campaign.

If you have been looking or thinking of doing something really amazing this year, this could probably be your chance to make "that something amazing" happening for yourself and for others too which in this case it is for the kids.

The climb is open for a maximum of 30 participants and closing date for registration will be by the 29th of March 2012. For further info, you can contact :

Edwin Jalleh : +60 0122574305
Brian Cheong : +60 0123510575

[caption id="attachment_2745" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunrise at Low's Peak, Mt. Kinabalu - a dome looking clouds *picture by Azleena"][/caption]

I had climbed Mount Kinabalu back in 2010 which you can read more about my experience at Low's Peak, Mount Kinabalu here. The experience was simply amazing and one of the best things I had ever done in my life. I would say Mount Kinabalu is a mountain for everyone. The track is relatively easy to climb. All you really need is a bit of stamina to get you going and of course the strong drive in your mind to keep pushing it further. It is all about the motivation and a good mindset. Also, as we all know, Mount Kinabalu is located in Kota Kinabalu , Sabah and if you are a Malaysians, I would strongly recommend you to visit Sabah. Believe me, you will fall for the nature beauty of Sabah and also for the beautiful people as well. Then again, if you are up for an experience of a life time and making a change is something you are looking to do this year, do sign up and participate for this campaign for the children.

 

Photo Travel : Kuching, Sarawak | East Malaysia, Borneo

For today's Photo Travel it is about Kuching, Sarawak. Sarawak is the biggest state in Malaysia and it is located in Borneo which is a huge island on its own. To find out more about Kuching which is the capital city of the state of  Sarawak check out this Sarawak wiki link.

Let's get down to the pictures and I hope you will enjoy them.

[caption id="attachment_2553" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Postcards of the ethnic people of Sarawak: The Iban"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2554" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The Charles Brooke Memorial, Kuching"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2555" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Charles Brooke Memorial - The Iban Warrior"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2556" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Chinatown, Kuching"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2557" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The Old Court House, Kuching"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2558" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The General Post Office, Kuching Town"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2559" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Indian Mosque Lane, Kuching"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2560" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Masjid Bandar Kuching - The Indian Mosque in India Street, Kuching crammed amongst the shop lots"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2562" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The super old skool spice shop along India Street in Kuching"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2563" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Three prominent buildings/landmark in Kuching"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2564" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Boat cruise along the river at the Kuching Waterfront"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2565" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Bot Tambang at the river Kuching"][/caption]

 

7 Random Interesting, Quick Facts About Kuching, Sarawak

I'll make this a short intro or more like a no intro at all. So here goes the 7 Random Interesting, Quick Facts About Kuching, Sarawak that you may want to know and probably agree at how interesting they really are. Let's get on with it ...

• I overheard a remark made by a fellow Brit on our shared van to Kuching town which was “Kuching is WAY greener and cleaner than Penang Island”. That I totally have to agree hands down.

[caption id="attachment_2327" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A postcard picture of a cool dude of the ethnic people of Sarawak talking on the phone . This is yet another random interesting facts about Kuching, Sarawak. Mind you, Kuching is pretty urban and modern though, you don't get to see much of people dressing up like this in Kuching town. :)"][/caption]

• Kuching town center is pretty much 'walkable' provided that you walk around with good shoes, sunblock, sunglasses, hat/cap/umbrella because Kuching's heat is like “sweat dripping by the buckets kinda heat” and drinking up water throughout your 'walkabout around Kuching town' is a definite must!


• Main Bazaar Street is packed with shops after shops of Kuching's antiques and handicrafts. If you are into Arts and Galleries, it is a must to drop by “Artrageously Ramsayong Art Gallery” located at this Street. You must take a look at the intricate weavings of the bemban mats weaved by the local ethic people and appreciate the amount of effort being put behind the making of those intricately delicate and yes, outrageously beautiful mats.

[caption id="attachment_2328" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bemban Mat with Aeroplane design"][/caption]

• Kuching Waterfront which has an awesome view of the Sarawak River is pretty interesting by night time and there will be a lot of food stalls opened in the evening too. Do watch out for a man dressed in traditional Iban attire (nothing much really, just a tiny little 'underpant' with a long piece of beautifully weaved cloth covering the front), with lotsa interesting tatoos too, playing a Sape ( something like a guitar) and it's totally live music. You can drop him some tips and enjoy listening to him play some excellent tunes with his Sape. Oh, he got things amped up a little bit because he'd plugged his Sape with an amplifier. So if you hear some sort of traditional music playing around the waterfront, go hunt for its source and you may find him there.

[caption id="attachment_2329" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Iban guy playing Sape at Kuching Waterfront * excuse the picture quality of my low pixel camera phone :)"][/caption]

• I've never seen this anywhere but only in Kuching where they actually sweep up the street along the waterfront using a huge, fallen tree leaf and at first I thought it was a joke, but no really, the cleaners who cleans up the fallen leaves use one of those huge tree leaf to sweep up the street. How more eco-friendly can you get than that? Way to go Kuching!


• Sarawakians are so nice, warm, chatty and friendly where you can literally smile and walk up to a person and have a nice conversation over things. Trust me they will be more than happy to talk to you and help you if you ask for any especially when they find out that you are out of town-ers.


• The people are so friendly they kept on asking if I was from Kuching which was really odd and there came to a point where a friendly old lady literally came up to me and striked up 'interesting yet partly interrogative questions about my A-C ...haha' . Also, the lady cleaner at the Kuching Waterfront was really nice she was part sweeper, part Kuching tour guide at least to me and really you will be very happy and all smiley when you are in Kuching or anywhere around Sarawak. The local people are really that nice! :)

Suffice to say that I'm really glad I've finally stepped foot at Kuching. Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia and of course, I'll go back down to Sarawak to explore more of the rainforests and the national parks. Hopefully, the next time around I'm down in Sarawak, I can learn up more Sarawakian slangs which I did learnt a few from the friendly 'old lady' and probably blend well with the locals again. It couldn't get any better when complete strangers simply open up to you during your travel. It makes traveling simply worthwhile.

Rainforest World Music Festival 2011, Kuching Kicking Off Fri, July 8 2011

Oh yeah, the most anticipated Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF 2011) in Borneo - Kuching is kicking off tomorrow - Fri, July 8 2011.  I'll be flying down to Kuching tomorrow morning and I'm getting very excited! :)

It is going to be both my first time heading down to Kuching and joining the Rainforest World Music Festival. Double the excitements there ! I am expecting  to have a jolly good time throughout the three days event and hopefully I get to meet a lot of awesome, interesting people along the way too.

Another major thing to look forward to at the festival is the fact that  I'll be camping for three nights  in a row!  Man, you don't get to camp often, so I figured, why not be a true music festival go-ers and do it the best way which is to camp. I'm pretty sure fellow campers are really fun people to be around with. :)

For the love of music, discovering new cultures and traditions from the Sarawakians, stepping foot for the first time on another beautiful land of Borneo - Sarawak and for a good weather no matter what the weather forecast has predicted and yes, for a safe flight, good times and meeting interesting, unique and equally beautiful people, let's the party started tomorrow!

It's still not too late for you to come and join the rest of us at this Rainforest World Music Festival 2011. I will only get my festival tickets at the door so come on down to Kuching and join us from tomorrow until this weekend. The more the merrier, ya'll! If you are coming along, see you there!

 

 

 

Photo Essay: Seafood Heaven at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Are you looking for some yummy delicious seafood heaven? If your up for some awesome gastronomic seafood experience, you have to fly down to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah  a.k.a Borneo to enjoy absolutely the best in variety, the freshest and probably the cheapest if not, really reasonable seafood galore of your life. Your trip down to Sabah isn't complete, if you don't go ahead and enjoy those delicious seafood.

Enjoy the pictures below to catch a glimpse of the seafood frenzy that I went gorging down during two of my past trips to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Eating a good variety of seafood at Gayang Seafood Restaurant, Tuaran which is about 30 minutes drive outside of Kota Kinabalu.

[caption id="attachment_2040" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Baby Lobster - Gayang Seafood Restaurant at Tuaran, Sabah"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2041" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Scallop - Gayang Seafood Restaurant at Tuaran,Sabah"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2042" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fresh oysters top with wasabi - Gayang Seafood Restaurant"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2043" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mangrove Crab - Gayang Seafood Restaurant"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2044" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Seafood madness for two person! Haha. The two of us ate all those yummy seafood with some rice and a plate of veg. Obviously, we don't bother much with the veg when you can have awesome seafood! Yum!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2045" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fresh lokan ready to grill at roadside stall somewhere along Tuaran, Sabah"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2046" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lokan Panggang - top with some sweet seasonings of garlic, chillie,ginger ( I think). Lokan tastes really rubbery if you overcook them like this one. Ouch!"][/caption]

Seafood dining at Filipino Market or Pasar Filipin right smack at the city center of Kota Kinabalu. This place is hot, jam packed with people, super cheap seafood and you will leave with a full stomach and charcoal smelled clothes. Haha.

[caption id="attachment_2048" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The Filipino Market , Kota Kinabalu is an outdoor night market and yes, there sell super huge fish and seafood fresh from sea."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2049" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Rows of long table to dine at the Filipino Market Seafood Stalls"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2050" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="BBQ Seafood at the Filipino Market. Ranging from huge prawns, fish to squids"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2051" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The bbq fish varieties"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2052" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Last but not least, the fresh seaweed ... what? The style of eating here : eat BBQ seafood with rice, sambal belacan and uber salty seaweed. You might want to bite one small tiny 'ball' first. You may not like it as much. Haha."][/caption]

So there you go. More than enough reason for you to visit Sabah or narrowed down to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah not just for the beautiful beaches and islands at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, the majestic Mount Kinabalu at Kundasang but also for the delicious arrays of fresh, cheap seafood heaven at Kota Kinabalu itself. On that note, probably I should just go to KK one of these days just to eat and by that I mean to eat really good seafood! :)

Missed a weekend Kuching trip but I am glad I missed it!

Yeah I have sum up what I am going to say in this post all in the title. Haha. So the story is, my dear FF (you can check out her blog on the link, although not much is going on there for now) won a pair of free air ticket to Kuching by a fairly new airline operator to Sabah and Sarawak. For some unknown reason our reply for the tickets redemption was not entertained not until it was 2 days before the day we were so suppose to fly which at that time I have already decided to not go because of the weather (raining and some parts of Kuching were flooded earlier last week and a plane skidded at the Kuching airport runaway) - all happening last week, so it wasn't exactly a good idea to rush and make it there all because of some free tickets.

And...to add on to things, I was feeling a bit under the weather on the weekend and I would have one of the worst days throughout the trip if we would actually have made it to Kuching on the weekend. So all in all, things happened for a reason and I'm just glad I hadn't gone on the trip.

However, I'm feeling a bit bad for FF because she was really anticipating to make her first trip of the year to somewhere in Borneo. Sorry partner, but I think we'll have a much better trip soon when the weather is perfect and with no rush ( for tickets and taking leave from work). Whatever it is, I'm still looking forward for some trip to Kuching and let's see if it's going to work out soon. As for now, I'm not going to plan on anything but I'm just going to go with the flow and focus on today and now.

Where Would You Prefer to Travel In Malaysia?

If you are a Malaysian traveler or more like a Malaysian who likes to travel, one of the most common goal for us is to travel to all 14 states in Malaysia. Personally, I have 2  more states ( Terengganu and Sarawak) to complete my personal  'cuti-cuti' Malaysia travel. I spent most of my growing up and adult years roaming mostly in the Peninsular Malaysia. It didn't occur to me to check out on East Malaysia or Borneo or simply put it as Sarawak and Sabah not until two years ago that I made my first trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. So the question now is, after having traveled to almost all states in Malaysia, where would I prefer to travel in Malaysia?

The answer to that will be Sabah and Sarawak! Yes, if given a choice to travel and discover more things in Malaysia, I would prefer to explore more of  Sabah and Sarawak or the Malaysian part of Borneo. I am going to list down the reasons why you and I should travel more to Sabah and Sarawak:

- When I was about 12, I had this teacher by the name of Dr.Mayala of an African descent who asked me where I was from and I told him I am from Malaysia. Dr. Mayala replied," Oh, that's Borneo right!" and I was like, "No, I don't live in Borneo".  At 12 years old my Geography was not that good, not that it is any better now and if only back then I could explain to him that a part of Borneo which is Sabah and Sarawak is a part of Malaysia which is the East Malaysia and I am from West Malaysia. Just in case you are a bit confused myself included, Borneo consists of three different countries which are Sabah-Sarawak of Malaysia, Brunei and Kalimantan of Indonesia and it is the third  largest island in the world.

So, the I'm trying to get here is non-Malaysian usually associate Malaysia to Borneo and unfortunately, the bigger part of Malaysians (people from the Peninsular Malaysia) have little knowledge of the other part of us Malaysians - the Sabahan and the Sarawakians. Imagine yourself going abroad and meeting fellow travelers who are non-Malaysians and most of them should have traveled down to Sabah/Sarawak and you will be utterly clueless of what they are trying to share with you because you are a Malaysian that have never been to Sabah and Sarawak. Ouch, that will be absolutely pathetic, really. Haha.

- I have to admit that my knowledge about Sabahan and Sarawakian are really limited even after having traveled to Sabah twice by now. There are something about people from Borneo that are uniquely different from us Peninsular Malaysians and the only way for you to discover more about them is to visit them in their home ground of course.

I have to say that people in Borneo are more welcoming, very friendly, helpful, down to earth and polite. Yes, I have to highlight polite! Haha! I think they sound polite because of their close to "Bahasa Baku' accent. If you are looking for something of a change from the typical Malay, Chinese and Indian people that we have in the Peninsular, you really should make sometime to discover the other larger part of Malaysians - the ethnic people of Sabah and Sarawak on their way of life and believe me, you will love them. :)

- Sabah and Sarawak are really huge. Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah the second largest state in Malaysia. You don't ever dream to discover Sabah or Sarawak from just a week's travel over there. I believe you will need months to discover both Sabah and Sarawak in one shot. So there is more than enough reason to travel more to the East of Malaysia.

- Both Sabah and Sarawak is a haven for an outdoor adventurer. I love the outdoors and with these two states you get to explore the beautiful sea, the ancient old rain forests, the unique animals only found in Borneo like the Orang Utans, Proboscis Monkeys, Borneo Pygmy Elephants to name a few, the majestic mountains and caves and jungles waiting for you to discover and explore.

From the people to the places - this part of Borneo is something worth traveling to in Malaysia and it will always be the preferred travel place of my choice in Malaysia. If you are a Malaysian, do make a point to travel there will you. We have cheap airfare now thanks to AirAsia so there is just no excuse to not get out, travel and explore more of our lovely country, Malaysia. So where do you prefer to travel in Malaysia? By any chance, will it be Sabah and Sarawak?

2011 Travel List : Where should I go?

2011 is coming up in a about a day or so, depending on where your coordinate is on the map. Hehe. I still don't have much thought on my 2011 travel list. Actually come to think of it, there are a lot of places that I have pre-planned to go but it all boils down to timing and money. Hmm...

Nevertheless, I do hope I can make my annual visit to Borneo possible again for the third time in a row(starting from 2009) with my awesome travel buddy FF. Oh FF should have a website of her own dot com coming up this new year and I'm pretty excited to see what she'll have in store at her blog soon.

Oh well, I have the whole year of next year to think about places I should be visiting and traveling so yeah, I'm not going to come up with a travel list just yet. On the other hand, do you have a bucket list of travel places that you have in mind for next year, 2011? If so, where are going?

Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon 2010

The Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon for this year 2010 begins today, 23th October 2010 kicking off in less than 7 hours from now for both Women Open and Men Veteran category. The Men Open will begin the next day on the 24th October 2010 at 7 am. Mount Kinabalu Climbathon is considered as the toughest mountain race in the world where competitors clocked on average of 3 hours on a 21 km race up and down the mountain.

It sounds unbelievable when compared to normal hikers who usually take about 3 to 5 hours only to reach from Timpohan Gate to Laban Rata rest point. That is yet another 2 hours or so from Laban Rata to Low's Peak. If you still can't believe that people actually do run in 3 hours in this climbathon, you really have to check out the video below and see these men run and bounce up the mountain in a breeze. And man, there really have super strong knees to hop down the mountain that quickly.

Video of Mius bin Balinting from Malaysia hopping down the mountain. He finishes third in the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon 2009.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdAajlwWN8M&feature=related

Mount Kinabalu Expedition: Final Episode - The Climbathon descent

You would have thought that my previous post , the Mount Kinabalu Expedition: Final Episode - Low's Peak would have been the last post for my Mt. Kinabalu 2D1N expedition would you? You got it wrong! Haha. I can assure you that this post will be the final episode for my Mount Kinabalu Expedition series.I call this post as the Mount Kinabalu Climbathon descent because that's what happened during the first few minutes of my descent from Low's Peak toward Sayat- Sayat.

Mount Kinabalu Expedition - Final Episode : Low's Peak

Right after our long 5 hours hike from Timpohan to Laban Rata we finished up what was left from our packed brunch at Laban Rata's restaurant and later on we checked in into our dorms at Gunting Lagadan Hut which is another 5 minutes hike up the mountain.

[caption id="attachment_915" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Gunting Lagadan Hut, Mount Kinabalu"][/caption]

Story fast forward...

I had yet another sleepless night at Gunting Lagadan Hut. I was too tired or probably high in anxiety to even sleep. Finally, I think I settled for a mere 2 hours sleep and got all geared up with my 4 layers of clothes, gloves, beanie, buff, my trusty Adidas Response Trail shoes, headlamp and the bag pack packing one small bottle of mineral water, camera, extra headlamp, first aid kit and chocolates. The 2 am, way too early breakfast consists of tuna spread on 2 pieces of bread, a couple of sip of someone's milo I think and another couple of spoons of someone's Maggie cup and cold, plain water. Haha. With all these so called 'energy' I was about to set for the summit of Mount Kinabalu together with little sleep starting from one night before. Greaaaat!

Mount Kinabalu Expedition Day 2 -Timpohan To Laban Rata

[caption id="attachment_885" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pondok Timpohan Starting Point"][/caption]

Armed with food and water in our back pack alongside the ever so useful RM 3 wooden stick, we made our way down hill from the Timpohan gate or Pondok Timpohan starting point. Bungin the guide told us that the hike will take approximately 6 hours and by all means we should arrive at Laban Rata the latest by 5 pm because dinner will be served from 5pm – 7pm only. The last thing you want to do is to miss a buffet dinner after burning thousands of calories on hours of an uphill battle.

Hence the hours of ascent began and everyone started well with a steady slow and easy hike. All of us started to hike at our own time and right after reaching the 1KM rest station in less than 30 minutes, I decided to catch on with 5 others who were already leading ahead from the rest of the 13 of us. So there I was, climbing the wooden stairs alongside Azleena, Marlina, Zue and occasionally Fazilah and Azril whom at all times were on the lead.

Climbing and making it from Station 1(1KM) to Station 2 (2KM) brings back memories of myself hiking the exact same trail last year under a condition where I was wearing only flip-flops, no water and close to zero stamina, panting like crazy just after reaching the 1KM mark. It is glad to mention that I was in good shape and great stamina this time around because I did undergone some series of trainings for this expedition and hiking through Station 1 to Station 2 proved to be quick, easy and was simply a breeze. I also had put on my breathing technique into gear right from the start of the hike and that helps a great deal because I was never caught panting hard throughout the whole ascent. The ascent hike feels almost like a natural walk where I don't really need to exert myself for each climb.

The most daunting times during the first few kilometers of the Summit trail would most probably be the long stretch of continuous wooden staircases. Initially a couple of us started to name the stairs as “The Staircase to Hell” but I thought it was best to put on a much positive nickname and so the stairs got called as “The Staircase to Heaven” instead. The higher we go, that is much closer to heaven we shall be. Hehe.

No doubt the hike got tougher as we climb higher up on the mountain. At most times, the 6 of us will rest for about 5-10 minutes at each station and I was constantly checking that we didn't rest for too long at each stop so that we won't lose our pacing momentum after each rests. Since I only brought along a small bottle of roughly 750ml of water, I made my first refill from the untreated water tank right at Station 3. At this station, all 6 of us stopped for a little while to munch up a bit and if I'm not mistaken, I was pretty darn hungry by then. The untreated water is perfectly fine to drink and it was one of the best, cooling fresh water I've ever tasted. Do bear in mind that some tanks do have some sediments in the water and adding a sachet of flavoured ORS helps to drink up these kind of untreated water.

[caption id="attachment_890" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Over the clouds at Mt. Kinabalu"][/caption]

For the long hours of hike I didn't bother to listen to my mp3 because I didn't want to disturb my chi with my crazy, head spinning dance and trance music. Haha. The only sound I tune to was the sound of the surrounding and if you teach yourself to learn to the sound of the flora and fauna, you will receive peace and a great calming effect which is the key to keeping focus especially when your game is to make it to the top, keep on walking no matter what and never stop until you get there. A lot of prayers and a positive mindset helps a great deal too during this long, tiring ascent. As I chant my little prayers, I felt that every steps was surge with great energy and ease and without a doubt it was the best motivational boost that kept me going rapidly towards the top.

[caption id="attachment_891" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="At this point, I felt like crawling all the way up. Thanks to the porter guys, they told me I was only 5-10 minutes away from Laban Rata. My legs started cramping by now and I kept going of course."][/caption]

It was out of my mind to think that I could ever made it to Laban Rata in just about 4 hours but what do you know, I did just that! All in all, I managed to clock a total time of roughly 4 hours and 43 min from Timpohan to Laban Rata which was just under 5 hours and totally out of my expectation. Fazilah and Azril both made it to Laban Rata around 15 minutes or so ahead of me, while Marlina got there a couple of minutes just before me and soon followed up with Azleena and Zue trailing behind minutes after I arrived. The rest of the gang made it too in fairly good time in under 6 hours which was a really good time for first timers on the Mt.Kinabalu expedition. It proves to show that all of us were in pretty good shape and stamina and man, it felt really great to actually arrive and step foot at Laban Rata.

[caption id="attachment_892" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="We made it to Laban Rata Yo!"][/caption]

Mount Kinabalu Expedition Day 2 - RestHouse to Timpohan Gate

Day 2 of the Mount Kinabalu expedition kicks off early for everyone and by 6 ish am all 13 of us gathered around at the parking lot of our rest house for a short briefing from Mr.Boss.

[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mr.Boss morning briefing before we begin our hike at Timpohan trail[/caption]

*photo by Azrul

Soon after that along with a little prep talk by Boss, we begin our little 'warm-up' before we hit the jungle trail. Since we came in a big group, Boss told us that we had to walk roughly around 100 m towards Kinabalu Park from the rest house and we should meet up with him at the entrance while he went to arrange other things for our expedition. And so we went for our supposedly short warm-up.

If you must know, the hiccups didn't get better overnight. It chose to continue on through the early part of the 2nd day of the expedition too. Our 100 m warm-up walk ended up becoming a close to 2 km warm-up walk mainly due to miss communication and a slight misunderstanding from the team leader. Thank God the weather was great and chilly so no one went totally berserk because we had just walked 2 km away to basically nowhere when all the while the Kinabalu Park was just 5 minutes away from the rest house. Funny thing was despite having confirmation from a fellow local about the direction of the park, we continued following the leading pack and that shows a pretty good team spirit between everyone. We shall stay together regardless of anything and if we had to be lead by the blind and so be it! LOL!

The warm-up walk was refreshing and we had a great time walking  along the street, dodging dog poop and huge trailers along the way while capturing snapshots with signboards which we could never have done if we didn't miss the park. In a way, things happen for a reason and it wasn't a bad hiccup after all.

[caption id="attachment_868" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Uncle Gampat (our guide/porter) tying the sack[/caption]

Upon reaching the entrance gate of the park, we each received our badges to be worn at all time during the hike because it is important for easy identification to our guides. We also got our loads (the one for the porters/guides to carry) weighed and most of us packed our clothes, jackets, gloves, food etc in a plastic bag because it's light weight, won't cost much for the porter fee and will be easy for the porter to simply gather the plastic bags into a huge sack for him to carry. The total combine weight that I shared with FF was 7.5kg and at RM4/kg , our shared load cost us RM60 for a return trip. The bag will be weighed once and won't be weighed again from Laban Rata, so most of us ended up stuffing more load into the porter bags during the return trip and I guess the poor porter uncles had to carry just a little bit more load during the descent hike. Hehe.

Later on, we grabbed our brunch pack from the Sutera Sanctuary Lodges Restaurant and munched on our breakfast during the short 5 km bus trip from the main gate towards the Timpohan trail entrance.

[caption id="attachment_865" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Brunch set provided for hikers[/caption]

* photo by Azleena

More briefing coming up from our guide, Bungin just before we set foot from the starting point at Timpohan Trail. For this expedition, we had 3 guides ( Bungin, Gampat and Downy) following all 13 of us and they work also as our porters. The guides function as the sweeper and at most time they will be at the back of the group walking along who ever is at the back of the team. In other words, through out the hike, the greater part of us including myself hiked on our own all the way to the top. I think it was pretty safe to hike alone because there will always be other people hiking along the way be it porters or other hikers plus guides from other teams.

After a short doa (prayer) by Bullert, we set off heading for Laban Rata and the long hike begins.

Mount Kinabalu Expedition Day 1

[caption id="attachment_856" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mt.Kinabalu from afar"][/caption]

The wait was finally over on 13th May 2010 for our most anticipated big hike which is non other than Mount Kinabalu. The team had been planning for this expedition since late 2009 after a couple of us who visited Sabah for the first time last year went totally head over heels with the mesmerizing beauty of Sabah and of course the majestic mountain itself - Mount Kinabalu. The whole journey and preparation towards the Mount Kinabalu expedition was no easy feat and I have to give a lot of credit to our team planner, Zue for putting up with all 12 of us through those endless emails since last year for all the bookings,payments, travel ideas and etc. Also not forgetting Mr.Boss for arranging all mountain bookings for everyone cum becoming our local tour guide around Kota Kinabalu.

Since I only know a handful of people out of these 13 people in the team, it was great to know that we all ended up blending very well with one another throughout the trip. I suppose all sports or outdoor adventure people are the coolest and friendliest bunch you can ever be with and we gel almost instantly well with each other the moment we greet and meet. After a brief greeting and exciting chats later with the newly met team members (Aida,Lily,Huna and Azrul and my old time friend - Bullert) at the boarding gate, we met with the first hiccup of the expedition which was a 2 hour flight delay. All I could think of at that time was by hook or by crook, we have to be in KK the latest at midnight because our hike from the Timpohan trail will resume at around 8 am the next day and I was not going to blow this big expedition out just because we couldn't fly out from KL to KK in time for the hike. Thankfully after a quick gobble of lunch since we all got kicked out of the plane to 'comfortably wait' at the boarding gate again, the plane started revving and up we went to the sky towards Kota Kinabalu.

The plane trip was sucky because I got a wailing toddler sitting  just behind me and if that was not enough the little kid went kicking at the back of my seat too. The last 15 minutes of the flight was so horrible and I was like come on, get me out of here quick! The toddler for some unknown reason went on a wailing fit for a good 15 minutes or more right until touch down but regardless of that I'm thankful to be seated next to an adorable old Chinese couple who were really pleasant during the trip.

After gathering our bags and a couple of quick photo sessions later, we met up with another half of the team who came from Penang the night before. Zue got really excited seeing me after what had been years and we had loads of XOXO's moments going on and after that followed by more XOXO's moments with Azleena too. A brief hello from a couple of others ensued before we hopped into the van for dinner and towards Kundasang to rest for the night.

The trip from Kota Kinabalu towards Kundasang is a long, winding 2 hours trip and I really enjoyed the trip because our driver, Nik is a pretty competent driver and by that I mean fast, local driver. However one of us surely did not enjoy the road trip as much as I did because apparently we had to stop Nik twice during the drive to give way for Aida to puke by the roadside. Hehe. I was told by her that she always get nauseous during long, winding drives and I really feel sorry for her to puke all her dinner out during the short trip. Ouch!

[caption id="attachment_855" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mountain RestHouse at Kundasang"][/caption]

This is the place we overnight on our first night at Kundasang, Sabah - Mountain RestHouse. The price is RM 15/night. The rooms have no heater but because it is a tiny room with two double decker bed enough for four people, we managed to get the heat from everybody collected inside the tiny room and that works very well as the heater for the night. Plus they also provide nice thick blankets so it was warm enough for the night. The restrooms and showers have no heater too but that didn't determined me to not bathe for the night. I thought after a nice cold bath later I should be able to have a good night sleep but I was wrong. I dozed off finally around 12 ish pm and woke up around 2ish am thanks to the rats running and bumping the ceiling noisily above me. I ended up tossing around bed, listening to two couple  who just arrived at the room behind me around 3 ish am chatting and finally decided to wake up at 4 am just before my alarm went off.

Oh another major point I need to mention here is the crazy packing and unpacking of stuffs during the night just before bed. Initially I had decided to bring my bigger bag to carry all the way to Laban Rata but it ended up being ridiculously heavy and I finally transferred everything that I wanted to carry into the small bag pack leaving the  bigger pack to be kept with Mr.Boss and another vacuum plastic bag filled with clothes to be used at Laban Rata and for the summit hike set aside for the porter to carry. Packing can be really sucky and the tips here is to always minimize your load as much as you can and always repack again after you have done with the packing just to lower down on your loads. Haha.

Since I woke early and the earliest amongst everyone, I got to check out the sunrise at 5 ish am around the rest house and it was getting pretty chilly in the morning. Next up we had a quick briefing with Mr.Boss until our next hiccup for the 2nd day begins.

The most anticipated month has come!

Yes, the most anticipated month of the year has finally arrived. It is another 8 more days left for us to do some last minute 'muscle acclimatization' and finally just DO IT! I'm talking about the big hike of course.

I've been doing preparations for this Mt. Kinabalu hike since a couple of months back although in the initial phase, it was a mere pathetic twice a month little hill hiking and later on proceeding into some long distance walking on the golf course with probably once a week of jogging. Yes, I've picked up golfing and ditch the game altogether during this whole duration. Not until exactly 29 days ago, I've begun to literally put up a chart, hang it up beside the mirror and chart out on daily basis on what workout I've done on a day. I was ambitious like any typical goal setter will be because I wrote a little remark by the side of the chart that was written " TO RUN 5 KM IN 45 MIN OR 30 MIN/DAY - NON STOP BY 17/4/2010. Yes there are all in caps so that it stands out and would eventually stuck into the brain that it is highly important to achieve this goal regardless.

Of course I could never keep up with the 2 weeks duration to run 5K non-stop I've ambitiously given myself and up until now, my best record was to jog/run non-stop for 15 minute for a distance of 1.2K. Despite not being able to run non-stop in 45 minute for a 5K, I've managed to finish up a 5K in a record of 40 minute by doing a combination of jog/run/fast walk/jog and a good 200m final sprint towards the end. Come to think of it, I've actually reached my goal of running 5K in 45 minute don't I? Next time around it is going to be a 10K in an hour. Oh yeah!

Besides the running and jogging, of course there is the hill hiking. My last proper hill hike was last week. I didn't clock my best time during the uphill battle and I was struggling to breathe until later on I went home and read up on proper breathing techniques for running because it sure helps a lot to keep you going farther uphill or running for a longer duration. Other practices are going uphill on a 100m stretch and repeating the process five times or more. It gets easier on each hike as you begin to master the deep breath and slow exhale technique. However the best workout so far was doing almost a 1K beach run and later on swimming in the sea. The run was fun although people were of course watching because I was the only one running on the beach. On the other hand, I was having shorts of breath during my short breaststrokes laps probably because it is very tiring indeed and I really think those triathletes are really very strong people.

It is about a week's left before we will fly to Kota Kinabalu and I still need to get some stuffs ready. I've been missing some jogging because it is more of a 'do more hill running or walking' week. I hope all will go well next week and I have to admit that we are all getting excited on this and we are having the 'summit fever' alright.

Not so quick update on Mt.Kinabalu latest happenings

Ever since I was totally hooked on Mt.Kinabalu via ferrata activity conducted by non other than the Mountain Torq company, I was quick to follow them on Facebook just like any typical ardent fan will follow their ultimate favorite band which in my case I fan DJ Tiesto and The Prodigy on my Facebook. Gosh, I just love them. Sorry, just cannot help myself from getting off track from the topic. =)

Anyhow, since I am following Mountain Torq or the Via Ferrata Asia group in Facebook, I have the privileges of getting updates on anything regarding Mt. Kinabalu. Of late I have been getting news about water shortage at the mountain due to the dry weather. Without rain for close to four weeks since late February it resulted to low water reserve on the mountain * this was update I received on March 9. Due to that facilities on the mountain are forced to go on the water conservation mode by limiting water usage strictly only for cooking and drinking. No showers allowed for guest's accommodation. As on March 21, the group updated that rain finally showered the mountain however it was not heavy enough to fill up the water reserve.

Other updates...

I just found out there will be a charity climb on the mountain conducted by Shelter Home for Children, KL. The charity climb will be held from 18-21 April 2010. I am not sure if you can still participate in the charity climb with them since if I read correctly, the registration date was closed on the 26 February. However, if you are interested to donate towards their drive to raise RM100,000 for their Shelter Home you can still do so by contacting them directly here. What is interesting about this climb is that a one legged young man is going to attempt the climb towards the summit and if you happen to be climbing Mt.Kinabalu on the same date as them, do give your support for these climbers. Too bad I am only climbing in May.

I just hope the weather will get better and the mountain will see more rain in days to come. On that note, I should be training more since April is coming pretty soon. Yikes! My stamina is still not up to standard and April is going to be a do  or die training regime. Until more updates, happy training to my fellow comrades and safe climbing for all climbers.

Must do at Mt. Kinabalu - Via Ferrata

Another must-do attraction up Mount Kinabalu wil be none other than the Via Ferrata experience right from the summit of the highest mountain in Borneo. I first came across the Via Ferrata experience from another local outdoor adventure blogger but I didn't give so much notice about it. I was thinking, oh well, it was just another person climbing up Mt. Kinabalu.

A couple of months later, I stumbled upon the Mountain Torq's website while Googling on "how to prepare for Mt. Kinabalu climb" since I will be stepping foot yet again over at Mt. Kinabalu pretty soon. After checking out the Mountain Torq's official website and watched through their video, I was so amazed and excited about it that I really wanted to do the Via Ferrata too!

First up, what in the world is this Via Ferrata?

A via ferrata (Italian for "iron road". Plural vie ferrate. In German, Klettersteig) is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities. Walkers and climbers can follow via ferratas without needing to use their own ropes and belays, and without the risks associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing - Wikipedia

Still clueless about it reading the definition despite above? Oh wait, you didn't bother to read the little Wiki definition I pasted above right? *wink

Alright then, this is a via ferrata.

* a print screen of the Google Images search for "via ferrata mt.kinabalu"

[caption id="attachment_714" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Via Ferrata at Mt.Kinabalu, Sabah"][/caption]

So as clearly seen here, via ferrata is where you climb a rocky mountain that has been fixed with special equipments which allow anyone without rock climbing experience to safely maneuver the mountain. Also, via ferrata by all means is not the same as rock climbing.

What is it doing at Mt. Kinabalu?
For all that I know, it's the World's Highest Via Ferrata and it's right here in Borneo, South East Asia. So what more are you asking? It's the highest in the world so you better land your feet at this via ferrata.

How to get to the starting point of this Via Ferrata?

I don't know if you already have an idea on how to get to this via ferrata. Obviously, if you are used to mountaineering, you would have instantly know the answer to this question. But being silly me, not dumb ( that's an understatement, haha), I just have no idea about where and how to start this via ferrata at Mt. Kinabalu. After much reading, I finally figured that you first have to climb the mountain up until the summit and the ferrata experience starts if you choose to descent down the mountain via the ferrata route. So it goes to show that, if you want to experience the highest via ferrata in the world, like it or not, you have to climb the highest mountain in Borneo- Mt. Kinabalu first. That makes a lot of sense right?

Furthermore, pre-booking is obviously necessary if you choose to follow this ferrata route and most certainly a bigger budget for your all together, unforgettable Mt.Kinabalu experience. As for this coming May which is the month I'm going to climb this mountain, we will not try out on this via ferrata. Hence, there will be more reason to come back to Sabah again soon just for the sake of the via ferrata experience.

If you happen to have done this particular via ferrata, do drop down some comments over at this post. Probably you can share some experience and stories about it with us. =)