Wednesday, February 19, 2014

mount Kinabalu

so i booked a flight back to KK on the 12th when classes only start on the 17th
not knowing that many things were to fall into God's great plan at that moment,
right now in the present i look back and see His guidance and purpose

on the 12th i flew back, with a fully dismantled mountain bike in a TV box =D
what an interesting experience to bring an oversize luggage across the airport
and the best part was it fitted just nicely in a vios!

after dropping off the my stuff in the room and paying an extra Rm20 for coming back early
my aunt sent me to Crown Borneo to meet up with wei aun, awesome guy
really a good older dude that guided me and asked uncomfortable questions that i'm grateful for
bunked in his room for the night, next morning walked to a 'kampung air' instead of the sandy beach side
played with his GPS, i still cant get a hang of my own... i wonder why some are so fascinated by it, hopefully i'll see what they see in this device

anyways.. ate some awesome beef noodles near luyang area... hmmm i need to mark this points of great food... (maybe thats what the gps is for) ... with Josh Yeoh.. gosh.. he knows people in sabah who i know who know other friends i know... this world is way way too small

so anyways, tried to take a bus back to 1Borneo to walk back to my crib in UMS... so happen to stumble onto the right bus =P that went to Wawasan Terminal (something like Sentral) and the jalan jalan the city and went found the right bus back to 1B .. sigh.. so unused to taking public transport .. first world problem... when i was back in PJ, there was the Avanza, Iswara, Wira, Modenas Jaguh, Wave, Honda 65 Cup.... so many privet modes of transport to choose from... so dependent on a non-scheduled ride... so afraid/lazy to use the fixed routes of buses

anyways.. that night.. packed my stuff into a trusty 70L haversack and a Osprey sling bag... last minute to go mount kinabalu with senior Irene Yieun as a Research Assistant for her FYP... it was a 5 day trip, totally didn't prepare and pack accordingly.. i even thought of bringing a laptop! rediculous junk that i brought: too many shirts, a mosquito net.. (seriously??) and shoes... it is possible to do mount K in slippers

so much for "prius paratus larus"

met up with Apisai the cool rugby Fijian and slept over in his house at UCA... in Abbo's room =D

next morning at 5am, Mila, Nik, Api, Irene and I started our pilot test to mount K.. i bought 5 tickets for a 7am bus... but they got stuck in traffic jam.. but thank God the Tung Ma manager allowed us to change to 8am bus.. for free =D a real blessing

the budget was really really low, less than RM100.... cause she got a permit (1 year!!) and thus we go as researches and not tourist! the bus from Inanam cost RM15... the insurance is around RM37 i think and RM8 for transport up and down from HQ to the timpohon gate.. really cheap if you ask me

so first day.. we ran around getting forms and legal matters done to qualify our stay there... the hike up to layang-layang hut took... 6 hours =P .. for irene and i lah... apisai mange to reach in 3 hours... =P most people go all the way to Laban Rata on the first day..

just after we reached it started to pour.. thank you Lord for holding back the rain

we stayed at Layang2 for 2 nights... giving out questionnaires to hikers going up and down... a researches life is truly relaxing.. i would say 20% work and 80% free/chill time... 

on the third day we hiked up to Laban Rata the base camp before ppl summit... took us 4 hours... Api reached in.. 2? anyways, beautiful view on the way up...

when we reached Burlington hut (the one that scientist and researches stay in) it started to pour..

thank you Lord for holding the rain.. again

but the contion of the place was crap.. seriously.. i think they should provide better living quarters for this group of people.. there were two Ecologist staying with us there.. from the US.. university of Montana.. studying the birds there... heh heh.. and they had a air heater that runs on 110V .... plugged it into the socket .. and fried it... sigh.... stupid

"its wrong to touch other peoples things"

went for a walk from hut to hut in the rain, great fresh air
good thing the yellow fake columbia jacket was dual layered..
it was really fun walking around, without rules

at night
we sneaked in to sutera to makan their buffet dinner.. owh the lamb is so awesome... ate so much of it
talked to the US dudes about stuff, wow they are quite knowledgeable about our political situation

sigh its so sad that in malaysia we dont really care much for our forest, to gazette an area as a national park, it has to contribute economically.. or else chopping down the forest for timber would be so much more reasonable.. and politicians with money just wont bother about saving the nature for the future generations..

the US people said they come from a country who has chopped down their forest and seen the bad effects, thus they want to help us prevent the same future.... but because it is so hard to break the culture of selfishness

at 2am on the 17th.. the guide came in and told us it was still raining... so no summit-ing =( owh well guess 'luck' was not on our side.. will have to come back another time to try.. atleast it wasnt RM1500 bucks burned...

hiked back down on the fourth day and stayed another night... api and nik went back to kk.. we stayed at the Warden's Lodge.. best place! had a really good water heater and a room warmer...

on the fifth day we finished our work and Primus came to pick us up 
..zzzz... so tired.. i wanna go sleep now...

anyways here's a break down of what you'll need if you go kk...

when hiking:
cap
sunglasses
buff
t-shirt
pants
slippers

when sleeping
beanie
jacket
gloves
socks
sleeping bag

others:
toiletries: toothbrush/paste, shampoo, soap, towel
book, pen
water bottle
mesh tin, fork, spoon, chop stick
raincoat

mini day-pack

gadgets:
hand phone
Mifi- maxis broadband
charger
powerbank

yeah i only wore one long cotton pants the whole trip.. zzz.. thank God it dries even in the rain

and yeah dont forget: lots of snacks.. especially chocolate bars and nice stuff to munch on during rest stops.

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