We were pleased the day that we left mingin' Sandakan and headed up to Kota kinabalu, the capital of Sabah and back into civilization again. I had been training to climb Mt Kinabalu (biggest mountain in SE Asia) before we came and was intent on doing it. When we had been diving we heard from some guys that had done it, that you needed gloves, a hat and a good coat. Where the hell are we gonna get them in Borneo when its 30 degrees most days?? But we got them and the next day i set off @6:30 and started climbing about 10. There were 2 german guys we had been diving with, i met at the bottom Harry and milo and ended up climbing a good bit up and to the overnight resthouse with Milo. It was a good 6.7 km hike up to the resthouse at (11,000 ft) 3226m.
Got a good scran that night and met up with Ben & Joey a really sound aussie couple and a french couple, played some cards and had a good haver with them before trying to get an early night for the 2:30 am start the next day!! Finally got sleeping at 11:30 so at 2:30am I wasnt for gettin up, but the mountain air and freezin cold soon woke me up!!
We had a 2.7km hike/ climb most of it with guide ropes in the dark , just your headtorch and the moonlight to guide you to the summit, awesome fun. Ended up climbing way too fast and got to the summit an hour before sunrise so as pretty chilly even with my 5 layers and hat and gloves on. Well worth it for the amazing sunrise and finally seeing all the different peaks and the whole area in daylight from 4095.2m up!!.
Headed back down to the resthouse for a big breakfast buffet where i met up with the aussies and french guys, then did the whole 6.7km with the aussies, really good fun having a haver with them on the way down. Pretty hard going on the knees, probably after doing to the whole descent and up to the peak in the one day. Finally got the bottom but didnt have time for a proper warm down at the bottom before the bus was about to take off.
So for the past few days I've been walking up and down any steps around town like a pensioner!Legs been burning , but better now.
Gonna meet up with Ben & Joey in Melbourne when we get there on our travels for a beer and hopefully get sorted with a short term job @ Sony ericcson with Ben, fingers crossed.
Since the climb we have done a few of the cool wee islands off KK, Manukan has amazing beaches so we got some well earned sunning and Sapi today we did a good bit of snorkelling where we seen loads of cool fish just off the beach and i got bitten to bits by a few of them.Had a day at the Water park in the rain, well if your're gonna get wet anyway, tiny wee place but really good fun.
Heading back to Singapore for a few days as of tomorrow then off to Bali and Lombok for 3 weeks, we thought we were in need of a holiday.....he he he. Canna wait.
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