Kota Kinabalu: Wrapping Up

Btw, here are some facts I got from the brochures. Kota Kinabalu (formerly called Jesselton) is the capital of Sabah state in Malaysia. The mountain we just climbed is called Mt. Kinabalu (not Mt. Kota Kinabalu). There are also still a lot of places to visit in Sabah. Most are showcases of their natural resources. Hopefully, I can go back and explore these other places :).

Expenses:

Airfare – Php 3,445.00 (booked last Nov. 2010 during an Air Asia seat sale)

Climb Permit – Php 15,350.72 (booked last January 2011)

Other expenses – Php 4,000 (estimated - inclusive of accommodations, food, airport fees, miscellaneous expenses)

Here was my Facebook status after the climb:

Was able to summit Mt. Kota Kinabalu (4,095.2A MASL, jump-off starts at 1,800 MASL) after 48 years whew! Pero haggardness to the highest level!!! I love you rocks and boulders, you were easier to navigate. I 'm sorry wooden stairs, I don't like you that much because you are a stress to my knees but thank you still for making the paths easier to walk on :).

I almost gave up at KM 4 when I learned that the staff house can also be used by climbers who can't go any further LOL. But thinking that this was supposed to be my birthday climb, I had to finish it, whether I like it or not. So next time you decide on something to do for your birthday, make sure it's something that won't make you very haggard and exhausted tee hee.

While pushing and puffing and having the hardest time of my life, I decided to stop climbing for a while hahaha. Quota na sa Kota.

Anyway, terima kasih (Thank you) Sabah for an awesome experience.

Terima Kasih Father God for another opportunity to travel and witness Your wonderful creation. I am forever grateful.

And now my friends, I leave you with the different trails you'll expect when climbing Mt. Kinabalu.

 

 Easier paths shaded with trees :)

 Gosh, the dreaded steps. Basag tuhod talaga. Wasn't able to take a picture of the wooden stairs going up the summit. Those were more dreadful to me ahihi.

The boulders which I love! Hihihi. See that rope? It's your lifeline so you should hold on to it if you want to hold on to dear life. One time I was not holding the rope on the way up, our guide insisted I hold on to it. Well, he wasn't holding so I just wanted to experience walking on those boulders without holding on to anything hihihi.

At this time of posting, will I be going back again? YES! :D (Adik?!) But the next time I do it, I'll make sure that my feet and lungs and mind and everything of me are up to it so that I won't take that long to climb hihihi.

Bye KK, Back in Your Arms PH

Day 4 (March 26) is getting ready for the trip back home. We woke up a little late and it was raining so we didn’t have time to go around the neighboring shops. Ed went out quickly to check out if he can buy some souvenirs. I just requested him to buy me one ref magnet. Good thing he was able to buy some goodies! :)

On the way to the airport, the taxi driver recommended a place where we can buy some yummy chocolates! Being a sweet tooth, I was in heaven :p. They have free tastes on the different flavors. They have unique chocolate flavors and one that stuck to mind was the curry flavored chocolate. Tastes weird though. After enjoying all the free tastes, we finally settled on what to buy. They had sales that time so we got some of the boxes cheaper.

And then, it was back in your arms PH at around 4 PM. Hmmmm……feels good to be home! :)

Check in! Check in! Check in!

Just landed! Don't know why my head was so bent hahaha.

Off We Go to the Mt. Kinabalu Summit!

At around 2:20 AM, we woke up and had to rush to supper and prepare our things so that we can leave for the summit by 3 AM. Our guide told us that normally, the summit can be reached in 3 hours. What?! Well, not in my case :p. After travelling for around 700 meters, we reached the part where we had to hold on to ropes for support while we walk on rocks. This goes all the way up until the summit. I must say it was scary but this was also actually the part I enjoyed most. After more than 4 hours, I was able to reach the summit. Since my friends already started going back, I just asked some random guy to take my picture…just 2 shots to be specific hehehe. After that, I descended right away. On the way back, it was a challenge to not slip so on some parts of the trail, I opted to walk backwards with the support of the rope. Easier especially on the knees :). We reached Laban Rata at around 10:40 AM already so we had to be very quick with breakfast and pack up as check out is supposed to be at 10:30 AM hehehe.

At around 11:45 AM, we stared our trek back to the Timpohon gate. We made it as quickly as we can – and we made it to the gate after 4.5 hours. We missed the lunch hour but our group mates were kind enough to pack some food for us. The van is already waiting at the gate whew! Our other group mates were way ahead of us and we later learned that they walked an additional 4-5 KMs to the registration area. Wow, they still had the energy after the climb!

We were back at Summer Lodge at around 6:30 PM. We decided to just have dinner first before checking in. Fri and Heloise followed a few minutes after they’ve settled in their new lodge. We had fun exchanging stories, and of course Facebook accounts, over cans of coke and ginger ale. We had to call it a night at around 10 PM because everyone’s beginning to feel sleepy already.

Up and awake and ready to leave the lodge at 3AM.

 On my way to the summit. I think I still need to trek half a kilometer. Love the reflection. Pic taken by Heloise when they met me on their way down.

Group pic-me going up, them going down. I was excited to be over and done with at this point :D

Summit!!!Summit!!!Summit!!! (KM 9) Reached it after 10 years! Exag. After 4 hours only. So yes, this is one of the two shots. Me at the peak on a cloudy morning. No sunrise :(.

Going back to the lodge from the summit. Reunited with my friends again.

 

Still going down. My most favorite part! We needed to rapel hihi. While others were dreading this part, I was actually excited to do all that rapelling tee hee. Dare devil stint lang. One wrong step and you're off rolling down the boulders ahihi.  

The gang on the night of the 25th having a round of drinks and wondering what we just subjected ourselves into tee hee! We don't look tired but we all had special smell from all the sweat hihi. When we said our goodbyes to Fri and Heloise, we did not hug because of ummm...the special smell hahaha.

Hello Mt. Kinabalu

*This post is picture heavy*

While waiting for the van to pick us up, we met a couple from London (Fri and Heloise) which we learned later on that they are also our group mates for the climb. We had to travel around 1.5- 2 hours to where we will be meeting with our guide. The place is already at 1,600 MASL. After they (agency via tour guide) settled our registration and permits, we proceeded to the Timpohon Gate where the jump-off is. This is already at 1,800 MASL, where the 6 KM journey to Laban Rata (accommodations in the mountains!) begins. According to information, Mt. Kinabalu has one of the easiest trails. I must agree because the trails are well established. There are rest areas with rest rooms for every kilometer. But no matter how established it was, I really had a hard time uggh! I was able to reach Laban Rata after 9 long hours. We started the trek at around 8:30 AM, I reached Laban at around 5:30 PM. My friends went ahead of me. Good thing the food is ready so I just took a quick dinner, took a bath and hit the bed at 7 PM for a much needed rest.

@ the registration area. bought a walking stick for RM8. I'm glad I did!

the gang @ the Timpohon gate jump-off.

@KM 1. The one at the rightmost is our guide. I was still keeping up with the rest at this point.  5 freakin' KMs to go!!!

@ KM 4. Had lunch. Eggs anyone? The staff house is also here. I wanted to quit and just stay at the staff house at this point :p

  

 @KM 5. 1KM to go!!!But it was the most challenging 1KM. It rained right after we passed this area. It took me more than an hour to finish the last KM.I got so hungry I had to really stop and eat. Good thing I still had something left from lunch hihi.

Finally @ Laban Rata Lodge-wet, exhausted, and hungry! Excuse the pic.

Off to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

We left Manila last March 23 bound for Diosdado Macapagal International Airport(DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga at around 9 AM via Philtranco. Their terminal is in Pasay but they have a pick up point in SM Megamall A, in front of Watsons. We arrived at DMIA at around 11:30 and found out that check in for our 4:10 PM flight won’t start until 1:30 PM so we just proceeded to the foodcourt area for lunch.

We had a smooth flight to Kota Kinabalu. After going through immigration, we went looking for a taxi but the personnel in the airport asked us to pay first at the ticket booth. We paid RM 30. The other taxis dropping off passengers don’t take passengers on their way out so I guess that’s a standard.

We booked a room at Summer Lodge located at Gaya St. We got a room that’s good for 3 pax at RM 75/night. Cheap! I learned from a friend that this is a backpacker’s area. After settling in our room, we were just supposed to take a rest before dinner but the next time we woke up, it was already in time for breakfast the following day and preparation before Summer Tours (where we booked our climb) picks us up at 6 AM.

the gang

give me RM please. Terima kasih :)

@ the van, on the way to Summer Lodge

Of Purples and Lilacs

Saw these cute notebooks when I was at National Bookstore two days ago and was not able to resist from buying not one, but three of them cute thingies, all with butterfly designs! It's made by King Jim and there are other designs to choose from. I was looking for a design that's related to travel but there's none. And in case you're wondering, yes, I was really planning to buy a small notebook and ballpens hence the visit to the store.

 I'm now using the purple one, together with other things purple/lilac :D. Terno-terno lang :p.

Now, the succeeding posts are uber late posts of stories from previous travels. Have fun reading!

How to add Excel Files to Blogger

Was looking for ways of posting my travel expenses in Excel format because 1) I want it to be in Tables and Cells format and 2) I was tired of copying and pasting everything from Excel to Blogger. Thanks to Google, I found this.

How to: Add Excel Files to Blogger

Hopefully, the user won't remove this link as it's really helpful! And moving forward, I'll be using this technique.

Garbage Everywhere

Garbage everywhere is in the news. One, the trashslide in my hometown, Baguio, which took some lives and others still missing :(. A neighbor in our barangay died because of falling rocks when he went out in the middle of Typhoon Mina to supposedly clean the drainage near their house so that our road won't become a river. I thought he died of sickness or something when I first saw condolence posts in FB but I was surprised when it was announced on TV that he was one of the casualties of the typhoon. Hay.

And then the tons of garbage along Manila Bay which were from the nearby provinces. It breaks my heart to listen to all this and at the same time frustrated because I feel that all of us are not doing something about it. We always blame others/the government when we're faced with such problems. The government has programs regarding waste management but we are not following it. Others may, but not everyone. I hope this will be an eye-opener for all of us. Let's start by doing the 3 Rs-Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

On the brighter side of things, I'm happy to see that some places are now having efforts to reduce the use of plastic. SM Supermarket do not use plastic bags every Wednesday so you have to bring your own shopping bag or you have to pay for plastic bag or have your items boxed. Mini Stop do not use plastic every Tuesdays and Thursdays. They have paper bags though. I heard some places at the South of the Metro have long enforced no plastic in all establishments. I hope that through these small steps, we would still be able to preserve Mother Earth.

Lezzzgggooo!!! We can do it!