Conquering Mt. Kinabalu
Uploaded by sparkle on Sep 27, 2001
The pale pearly light of pre-dawn was spreading across the sky above Mount Kinabalu on the northeast of East Malaysia. The early morning silence was shattered by the bustle of campers getting ready.
I drew a sharp intake of air. As I peered outside my tent, the forest around the camping ground came to life. Birds started chirping and a morning breeze blew past, sending shivers down my spine. There were three other groups hiking together with us on this climb. Waking my friends up, I headed to prepare breakfast for everyone. As our group had trekked together a few times before, we were in tune with one another and cooperated well. This was very crucial in any climbs.
The slopes were quite steep at the beginning and therefore the not-so-well-trained people got tired out really fast. The “kiasu” people who brought almost everything were also having problems now. It is not an easy task to carry a 28kg load while having to balance yourself making sure you do not slip.
Having the most experience in trekking, our group was ahead of the rest. Wet from an earlier drizzle, the slopes were quite slippery and failure to get a firm foothold could result in a nasty fall. There were some ropes secured at vital parts of the journey to help people pull themselves upwards.
Just as we were getting the hang of it, there came another problem – altitude problem. Some felt breathless, others nauseous but as for me, I felt sleepy. It was really hard keeping my eyes open especially when the glaring sun rays beat against us. It was as good as blinding me, making it worst. From my experience, I had already expected this thus the coffee I brewed earlier in the morning came in handy. Though hard and tired, we pressed on. Singing, joking and encouraging each other along the way, this helped to lighten the spirits of everyone.
After much effort, we finally arrived at the second stopover called “Pata Labun”. That was where we rested for the night before we setting off in the morning again. The air there was dry and cold. From there, one can get a picturesque view – a waterfall cascading down, the plots and plots of vegetation arranged in such an interesting way. This was certainly something you could never find in Singapore. Dinner served was simple but delicious and I guess everyone was...