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6:45 am flight out of KK, and on to the small island of Labuan. The flight took 30 minutes, in a Fokker 50 aircraft.

What a Fokker!

Whoops, that’s not right. Haha.

Anyhow, it was a good experience travelling in a propeller powered plane. JonTse’s dad picked me up from the airport, and off we went! Had breakfast, and the first place we visited was the industrial area of Labuan called Pulau Enoe. That’s pronunced as EEE-NOO, if you’d like to know. It used to be an island all by itself, but was later absorbed by Labuan through the reclaimation of land. Now, it’s packed with factories and processing industries. Oil and gas, iron ore, wheat and feed, among others. It was also the first time I saw a shipyard [and the first time I've every used that word too!]. It used to be called Sabah Shipyard Sdn. Bhd. [S.S.S.B], but it’s now known as Labuan ShipYard Sdn. Bhd. I like the older name. No particular reason. :p

There was a museum in town, so we paid it a visit. Well, the thing about paying it a visit, we didn’t need to “PAY” to visit it. There was no entrance fee to go in, unlike our Muzium Negara or some other muziums that I’ve been too [not many, I assure you]. Just leave your name, and state your country/place of origin and feast your eyes! Lotsa interesting stuff, but for me, it was more of being acquainted with the history of Labuan. I’m not gonna elaborate here, cause you’d be sleeping before then end of the entry.

Then I was too tired to walk, as I was still recovering from the Mount Kinabalu trip and also the 2 hour sleep I had the night before so we went home, and I grabbed a nap. Lunch followed and we went to the only shopping complex in Labuan, called the Finalcial Complex. Labuan is also known as IFOC, standing for International Financial Off-shore Center. Like the Swiss Bank we always hear about in movies where villians would have their money swindled and white-washed. Don’t know if it’s the case here in Labuan, but we’ll never know, won’t we?

This time, my legs really gave way and I had to go home and lie down. So got home, took a 2 and a half hour nap and got up for dinner. It’s funny how it seems like I slept most of the first day, but I think by Labuan terms, and how slow it is .. it’s all right. Hahaha. Justifying the amount of hours I slept that day lah. :p The town is so small and sleepy! The term far is defined as driving across island.

Raymond and Emily, his girlfriend brought me out for a seafood dinner at the famous place above the market. The food was good and it wasn’t unreasonable! The world is so small that I had to meet Emily in this side of Malaysia even though she’s from Bentong. Small world. Raymond’s JonTse’s childhood friend, known as the extra brother among them two, Jon and Oliver. He’s already working with his dad, handling a pest control business. If you’re in Labuan, and you have a problem with pest control .. let me know! I’ll give you his details. GAH. Hehehe.

I came home after a filling dinner and slept for a good 10 hours! My legs were slightly rested, and with the help of some deep heating rub, I was able to face another day of sightseeing! Little did I know that it was more of a day where I’d get to know even more about Jon’s dad. He’s an interesting character, really.

First thing in the morning, my technical knowledge was summoned by Raymond, Jon and Oliver’s childhood friend. I was to help him set up his router and modem for his Streamyx connection. I tried, and failed miserably. Well, maybe not too miserably. I did get his modem to connect though. Hmm…

For lunch, we had Indian food. It was odd, because we were talking about evolution and the ambiguity of science in an indian shop. Not the most thought provoking setting for intellectual talk, aye? Anyhow, we shared lotsa viewpoints and opinions about a lot of stuff. I can’t even begin to elaborate. Know why? Cause I’ve already forgotten most of it. *chuckles

First, we went and visited the historic part of Labuan. There was this place called the Surrender Point, where the Japanese surrendered. Hmmm. Yeah. The Japanese surrendered.

Can read kah? Lazy to make the larger image la.

Yup. The surrender.

But then, the Japanese didn’t really like the idea of surrender so they built another monument and put it in a place they called Peace Park.

Here’s the peace monument thing. If you asked me, I think it’s a waste of money and space. That rock in the middle .. USELESS! It’s SO hot there you could prolly crack an egg on it and leave it to cook under the sun for 15 minutes. Sunny side up! Or .. serve coffee on it at night. It’ll keep your coffee warm. GAH. Them Japanese. GAh.

Does this look peaceful to you? I suppose it was built just to justify the “park” part.

Then, we were just going round the island when my eye caught this interesting sight. Here’s a contrast of life and death. More in the literal point of view. On one side, there’s a thriving tree, and there the fallen one on it’s right. Just my philosophical side coming out.

Satellites! The island’s main means of communication, I think. Jon’s dad and I wondered why there were 2 of them, because one would already do the job. The conclusion we came up with was that .. maybe when one needed to be serviced, the other would be used in place. Or if one broke down, the other served as a backup.

Then we arrived at this place to see this monument called The Chimney. Funnily, they called it such only because it resembled one. It’s purpose was not of a chimney, nor a ventilation hole or something for the underground mines. Here’s a couple of shots.

The Chimney.

Peekaboo!

I like this shot. Wanted to have a competition and ask if you can guess where/what this is. Nah. Too lazy le.

*I’m seriously getting a bit lazy to write. Sorry. It’ll be pictures from now on. And some captions, of course.

We then went to the Bird Park. I can’t remember the name of the bird park.

This was the Memorial Park. Built in memory of the soldiers who served to liberate the people of Borneo of the Japanese Occupation.

Here’s one of the ______. Don’t know what it’s called. GAH!

There was this nice cross right in the middle of the park. All the _____ was faced this direction.

Hey! You’re late! We’re already dead.

This was a shot of one of the corners of the park. I found it quite interesting. Click to view the original picture.

I’ll finish up later!

I continued contemplating. 1200am. I was sweating from the heater. And then came the most ironic fact. At 11000 feet, I took off my shirt and lay in bed HALF NAKED. The IRONY! Was too tired to get down from the top bunk to turn the heater off, so I whispered, “Is anyone awake?” Someone whispered back, “Yeah.” I asked to turn the heater off and he got out of bed, turned it down. I think. It was still hot, and the red light from the power switch was still beaming.

My disarrayed mind was keeping me awake, though I was not thinking intensely. I try and calm my mind and clear my head but there was not a single 5 minute period of silence in the dorm that I needed to knock off. Grunts, movement, and … flatulence. Gah.

Semi-conscious, I lay motionless for the next hour or so before the Filipinos started getting all excited about starting their journey. It was ONLY 1 AM! I cover my eyes with my polo tee to block out the room light they turned on. What’s worse than hearing voices that keep you up early in the morning? Well, hearing voices of a language you DO NOT understand. Prolly whispering, but that’s probably relative to where you’re from.

By this point, I still have not made my decision. A decision that would either make me, or break me. Or both. Allow me to explain: Go up there and be broken by the mountain, arrive at the top, and be made. Or .. be broken and live with the disappointment, and be a letdown. I look at my watch and it tells me that it’s time to get up and face the mountain. I reluctantly sat up on my bed and put polo tee on. Gosh it stinks. I actually packed a t-shirt, but while the light was on, I peeked at what was happening and I saw some people in ski masks. I didn’t have one, so I decided to make myself one. Remember those days when we used to pretend to be ninjas? How we’d use a t-shirt and tie the sleeves behind our heads to leave our eyes exposed through the collar? Ah. Ingenius, ain’t I? Well, I was in an all black attire, except for my ORANGE ninja head .. which was an iCell t-shirt for the Youth Zone.

I went out to the toilet, which was just to the right of my dorm room door and I turned on the tap. The water, as expected was freezing cold, and I managed to wash my face with facial wash I brought in a small tube. Then I felt as though I needed to attend to a business transaction there and then but when I looked at the “bank roll”, they couldn’t provide the necessary “papers” for the transaction. So I looked outside the stalls to see if they had any dispensers, but all I found was a sign that read…

Please throw your rubbish and sanitary pads into this dustbin. Thank you.

Sanitary pads? Whoops. Good thing everyone was downstairs having their breakie. Now, I’ve truly lost my own confidence in the “business deal”. Suck it all in. Literally.

Did you notice that I didn’t mention anything about a shower, toilet trip, or oral hygiene? Well, I didn’t shower after the 8 and a half hour trek, I didn’t change into fresh clothes, and I didn’t brush my teeth the night before? The only time I went to the toilet was then I found the men’s toilet after I left my dorm room. It was on the left side.

Oh, one more unglorifying fact since I’m airing my laundry in public here: I didn’t change underwear too! For the whole trip!

Got changed, ate a piece of the sandwich left over from the day before and drank my favourite breakfast power drink. Milo. Can’t live without it. Chowed down an almond Snickers bar too, for the energy. Went down to meet the guys and they were all in full force. Minus the last guy to make it up to Laban Rata. He was still in lala land dreaming about the descent later in the morning. I’ve got all my bags packed, and finally … my mind made up. Well, sorta. I was still entertaining the idea of the possibility of turning back if I ever felt like I couldn’t make it in the journey. But I was gonna check it out first. At least I could tell people that I tried and found it too difficult. What to do … ai bin mah.

On we went! Again! After an 8 and a half hours trek ending just 6 hours ago and with no sleep, I marched out at 3am, in the 8 degrees centigrade weather to face another 3 hour hike to the summit. Sanity out the window. My drive this time was that I’ve made it this far, might as well go all the way. Having gone through an 8 and a half hour journey, and making it .. gave me the confidence of being able to go up another 3 hours to the ultimate goal of this trip: Conquering Mount Kinabalu.

“Yeah!“, I grunt to psyche myself. I took my left glove off to help strap my torchlight to my right hand but 5 steps ahead I slipped and almost twisted my ankle.

“Close call.” I thought to myself. I gave up trying to find a way to strap the torch to my right hand securely, so I just slipped my right hand into the landyard and held it.

“Hey, where’s my glove?” I remember clipping it like an aunty would with her purse under her .. underarm when I took it off earlier. Less than a minute ago. Must have dropped it when I slipped earlier. Search party. Good thing it wasn’t for a dead body. Mine to be exact. “Way to go, Dave. Good start!” I sneered at myself.

Less than 30 minutes into the summit trail, someone’s already given up. I was surprised. Is it that daunting? I was panting, but it was just due to the thin air. My legs were tired, but I think I had enough strength in them chopsticks. First hour is usually the toughest. Turn back? Not yet.

A series of stairs followed, and then came the rope section. We were to use ropes to first scale a 75 degree slope, and then subsequently follow a narrow crack while holding on to horizontal rope railing. When I got to this point, I was excited as it was the first time I’ve ever done anything like this. From this point onwards, I decided not to chicken out anymore, and face whatever that was to come at me ahead in the climb. I like hanging on a rope over a dangerous cliff. What a kid. *chuckles

The ropes section over the cliffs were really interesting. It was my favourite part of the whole climb, really.

We then had to scale a very long 65 degree slope which was not hard, but it was long. It was slightly wet, but my Adidas running shoes provided enough grip for me to scale without using the rope. Then came a rocky stretch which had tiny streams running through them. There was a hut in the middle of this rocky stretch, which served as a checkpoint to log all climbers. I displayed my tag and went on through the rest of the rocky stretch.

At this point, the sky was still dark. Then came the hardest part of the whole entire climb. It was also the hardest moment of the entire climb. By this time, the temperature had already dropped further, and the icy cold wind was blowing. This is the second 65 degree slope we had to scale, again not necessary to use the rope if you can manage. My legs were tired, I couldn’t grab my last banana to prevent the lactic acid from building up in my muscles. I was hungry too. When I said that this moment was the hardest in the entire climb, it was because I had so many times given in to fatigue and the temperature. Over the span of an hour, I broke down mentally twice. I almost came to tears, just thinking about giving up. The guide tells me that I shouldn’t push myself if I didn’t have the strength in my legs to go up, and also to bring myself back down again after that. It was that mental struggle of limits. How far would you push yourself?

I pushed. Till I was able to see the summit. There were little figures that were moving on the summit. Little figures meant there’s still along way to go. By this time the sun had already on the horizon. Prolly close to 6am. Didn’t bother with my watch. Too cold. Another 300 meters to go. Now, it doesn’t sound very much .. but when you’re climbing a mountain .. it is a lot.

And I kept on pushing. Arrived at the foot of the summit. This was physically the hardest moment of the entire climb. The temperature was VERY VERY COLD. I’ve never been in such cold weather before so I was not used to it. By this time, I was way past giving up, cause again .. you can physically see the top. Just the matter of getting there that was so difficult. There were moments where I had to hide behind rocks so that I was not in the way of the billowing cold wind. Just because of the wind.

I huffed.
I puffed.
I slipped.
I panted.
I complained.
I stopped.
I started.
I shouted.
I cursed.
I grunted.
I moaned.

And I made it.

Arriving on the top of the summit, it gave me a short sense of achievement. Short? How can the sense of achievement be short? Well, let’s just say I wasn’t waiting for the fact to dawn upon me. It was too cold to bear. I was there for less than 10 minutes. Even my camera stopped working after I shot the a nearby summit. I got someone to take a picture of me with his camera and I immediately made my way down.

[to be continued. Finale. Tune in Saturday night.]

Here are some pictures. Didn’t shoot many. Too cold.

This was about late 5 am.

The ninja thing didn’t work as well as the ski mask. It was freezing.

First picture I shot from my camera when I reached the top. It froze after that.

Slightly lower than the summit, another peak.

Me ninja. With red cap, and orange mask. And sunglasses. Too cold. Eyes cannot take it.

The view from a little lower than the summit.

Can finally smile and be proud!

David[hmm]

PS : Gosh, I stayed up will 3:40 am this morning to finish this entry.

Ai bin : Direct translation means want face. Desire pride.

This entry is the first installment to my Mount Kinabalu experience spanning 2 days, 12th and 13th of June, 2006.

EDIT : In view of the length of the entry, photos have been added!

I waited at the agreed pick-up point, All Saints’ Cathedral Kindergarten at 7:30am. The pick-up time was supposed to be 7:45am, but this boy excited about climbing the highest mountain in South East Asia mah. Cannot blame, ya? The van only arrived 25 minutes later, with apologies due to traffic and lack of punctuality of the other people going up the mountain.

I took my seat in the back of the van and was briefly acquainted to everyone in the group. There were 6 men in the van, excluding the driver and the tour agency lady. Then a fact dawned upon me almost IMMEDIATELY.

I’m NOT going up to Mount Kinabalu with some cute Japanese chick. Instead, I’m going up to Mount Kinabalu with 6 middle-aged men.

Wishful thinking, aye? Japanese chicks wouldn’t be climbing Mount Kinabalu. DUH.

Kinabalu Park Office

Roadmap

Anyhow, we made our 2 hour journey in the van to the Kinabalu Park, which is near Kundasang. Or maybe in Kundasang. I can’t remember. Whoops! Anyhow, we did go into Kundasang town after registering at the Reception of the Kinabalu Park. Bought a bunch of bananas there and headed to Mersilau, where we were to take the longer route up. I was asked by the travel agency guide earlier if I wanted to go on the Timpohon route, or Mersilau. It didn’t really occured to me that I should be worried because I was going up with 6 middle-aged men of whom some of them wouldn’t be able to suck in their tummies if they wanted to. It would prove to be something that I would really regret not looking into later.

Starting point of the Mersilau trail

All smiles, aye? Tunggu kau ..

The Mersilau route is 2 kilometers longer than the 4 kilometer Timpohon route up to Laban Rata. The estimated time to complete the route is an hour per kilometer, so Timpohon is 4 hours and Mersilau, 6. We started at 11:30am, which was really late considering the fact that I was picked up at 8:10am earlier. Not forgetting to mention, two of our group member was ripped off for fancy specialized trekking sticks, while I paid RM3 for a tongkat. Lightweight, entirely biodegradable if left unintentionally in the forest. Of course, it ain’t adjustable, doesn’t have a rubberized grip nor a strap to keep it strapped to my wrist. Oh, and it doesn’t have an RM85 price tag on it.

So, on we went! Gruelling eight and a half hours of intense climbing! Of course, that was my own time. Ironically, some of these uncles who are double my age walked faster than I did. Now, there’s a reason why it was that way, okay? They had training! They booked 6 months ahead, and at least 2 months of intensive training. I had none. Well, they took a little less that 8 hours too ler, so I wasn’t felt behind too far. Did I mention that it was gruelling? I think brutal suits it more. Madness too.

Somewhere, over the clouds .. Way up high. Like .. really really high.

Clouds setting in. It means only one thing. RAIN.

If you do the math, we started at 11:30am. 8 and a half hours added to that would mean that I arrived at 8pm. Now, in Sabah the sun sets at 6-ish. Imagine this with me. It’s raining, and your hat is soaked with rain water, and it’s all dark around you. You’ve been hiking in the jungle for seven and a half hours, your legs are wobbly. You’re walking alone, because the guide is helping the other two guys who are left behind, and you don’t know where or when is the next destination. The only sound you hear is the sound of the wind blowing cold air into your ears, the ruffling of your windbreaker, and your own panting. The only sight you can see is as far as your torchlight can shine. Every single step you take feels like you’ve had 1 kg weights strapped to your ankles. And you still don’t know when the end is coming.

By this time, I was desensitized and demoralized. Words the guide spoke earlier plays vividly in my mind. He said that the trip up tomorrow will be tougher than this, even though it’s only 3 hours. I have lost all confidence in myself. In the earlier stages of this section, whenever I was tired I would always say things like, “Come on Dave. You can do it“, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me!“, “Oh Lord! I can’t get through this without You. Give me strength Lord!” but by this moment, I had no more encouragement to give myself, but just that silent surrender to fatigue. My physical body was breaking down.

I see from afar, some lights that might indicate that I was arriving. It seemed like a long way, but at least it’s something to drive me forward, something that I can look forward to. Sometimes, it’s so important to be able to see what’s ahead of you and drive towards it. In this case, if was something physical that I could picture in my mind .. a building with chairs. Chairs. Beds. Warm water, warm air. That was what I was looking forward to.

Finally, I arrive at a small building. Some guy waiting to brush his teeth tells me that it’s not the building that I am looking for. With my hopes so high, I found it a little unbelievable. Asked him how long more do I have to endure, and he estimates another 5 more minutes. I could do that. After all, I’ve been hiking for over 8 HOURS! I pound my body for another 5 more minutes. And I arrive. No DOA tags on me, thankfully.

Laban Rata Rest House. It’s just a 2 storey building with dorm style rooms and a restaurant. I suppose it’s the “midway” point of the climb, though it’s not exactly midway in altitude. I get in and the middle-aged men invite me to join them for dinner, but I modestly/paiseh-ly decline as the food are PRICED as of a “5 star hotel”. Fried rice, noodles are RM11.50, spaghetti bolognaise is at RM13. They said not to worry about the price, so I ordered a plate of fried rice. Well, I didn’t know if I should call it 5 star quality food, or 0 star quality food, cause both could be equally bad. Tasteless. But beggars can’t be complainers now, right? The chinese tea was extremely good though. Nothing like it in cold weather. Prolly the best moment of the day. Chinese tea. It wasn’t even the sleep which was NOT TO follow, as you would read about shortly.

I was placed in another room with 9 other foreign people. I was slot in with the “middle-aged” group but not in their accommodation, and was to sleep in the dorm without heater, but I insisted earlier when I arrived that I should be placed in the same building with the group cause I was under the same package. They other 6 guys had a room to themselves, so I ended up with 9 Filipinos who left the heater on which burned my face if I didn’t cover it with the blanket sheet, and kept me awake MOST OF THE NIGHT. By the time I got to bed, it was 10pm. Didn’t change, didn’t brush my teeth, didn’t remove my clothes.

Didn’t get any sleep at all. Now I am feeling the aftereffects of that gruelling 8 and a half hours of trekking. My mind had processed the torture of that and was playing it all back now. The sub-conscious mind. Very powerful. Earlier over dinner, I told the guys that I would only decide in the morning if I was to go up to the summit or not. Then I thought of all the people I would disappoint had I just stopped here and not even attempt. It was a night long battle between flesh and spirit, strength and mind. My parents who are providing the funds for my holiday here, my friends of which I have unabashedly claimed that I would climb Mount Kinabalu and had the confidence that I would be able to make it, my children in the future of which I would tell them of my adventure here.

How could I disappoint them?

[to be continued. Stay tuned, tomorrow!]

Here are some pictures.

Some waterfalls we passed on the Mersilau trail.

Just one tiny stretch of the trail. Keyword : TINY.

This was highest point on the Mersilau trail. I guess it’s quite scenic. More stuff to see.

A route marker.

Some flora that we passed. Don’t you think this picture above is a bit lewd? Haha. Just my imagination.

It was bad.

It got worse.

It was really bad.

And it got really really bad. My tongue was limp till it permanently stuck out of my mouth.

Kidding on the tongue part. :p

David[hmm]

DOA - Dead On Arrival
PAISEH-LY - The first decline that Asians normally do. If insisted upon, would accept.