Mount KK Trip - April 2005

8 April 2005

I’ve got my things packed. It was a headache packing them! I was complaining how mah-fan it was having to pack two bags with different sets of clothes. Sigh! Anyway, glad that it’s done. I dunno what to look forward to, but I do hope that we’ll all make it to the top.

I’m going with not much expectation, dunno what we’ll be doing except that lots of hiking up the mountain. Gosh! I hope I’m fit enough! Anyways, my eyes are tired. Got to sleep! Slept at 3 am the night before and got up at 7.20am. By God’s grace and strength I was able to carry through this day.

9 April 2005–2.27am

We’ve finally arrived…. It’s a beautiful place, resort-ty looking, cottage feel. I love it! Thank God we arrived safely! Our flight was delayed for almost an hour. AirAsia had some safety check which therefore affected the time. The flight was bad for me, but everybody else seems okay. I felt like barfing at one point. It was a bumpy ride.

We finally reached the airport at 9pm plus, ate dinner in the town. It was a cheap one for me, RM 5.50, tai-chau shared with 8 people. Didn’t wanna join mom, wanna be independent in terms of food.

Anyway, later on we took a bus ride up to this resort. It was a long and winding road. Two hours journey. Yet again I felt uncomfortable and at one point felt like barfing too! I think I prolly have too much gas in me. It’s getting really late 2.34am…. I need to wake up at 6 am! I hope mom doesn’t snore tonight.

A brand new day ahead! the hiking starts! I pray for good weather and good health among all climbers. Thank You Lord!

8.20pm

I’m in a room sharing with seven other people. Sleeping in the upper bunk. Mom’s below me. It has been a long and tiring day!

We left Pine Resort after breakfast 8-9 plus. Reached the KK park to get our porter and tags. I salute the porters. They are superhuman. Some gal are only 16! Tiny and petite carrying loads of 14 kg. That’s the weight some church guys carry for OA trip. I felt so embarrassed or pity them? But hey, I think it’s their way they find a living. Once again, I salute the porters.

Mom and the aunties found their bags too heavy to be carried by themselves. They hired a porter. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

Yeah, anyway we left the park entrance at about 9 plus and began our real hiking at 10. it was okay in the beginning. We walked on nice hiking trails till I met the first flight of stairs. Horror!!! It was so steep!!! I think prolly 60 – 70 degrees. Gosh! Anyway made it through. And guess what? Throughout the journey, it’s all flights of steps. Some with wooden plank, some just plain rock.

I’ve never climbed so much of steps before! Each time we reached a stop, I’ll rejoice as it means we’re one step closer to our destination. There are 7 stops altogether.

The scenery varies. At some point it looks like scene out of fairy tales, other times rainforest, sometimes it looks like China too! it’s really beautiful! I love the scenery up here except for the climb. Stairs after stairs after stairs, Phew!

I’m so gald I’m on my bed right now. looking back, I would have never thought I’d be able to make it. I mean where in the world would I climb so much?! God is good! Thank God I managed to persevere. Hallelujah!

It’s Sunday service tomorrow. Gonna miss

church! well, I pray God will strengthen all the climber, provide each and everyone of us good night rest that we wake up feeling refreshed. =)

10 April 2005

I’ve made it! I couldn’t believe it that I made it to the top. It was tough, tiring, every step was grueling. Every step I took I thought I was gonna have altitude sickness. Really thank God for the strength and healthy body he gave me.

We woke up at 4am this morning. Slept quite well till the last hour. The heater in the room was way too warm. I was sweating in the upper bunk! So hot till I have to take off the extra layer of clothe.

Anyway, the alarm rang at 4 am. I had a good rest. Wore a long john sleeve, one woolen turtleneck, one windbreaker jacket, two pairs of bottoms for the hike. We started our hiking at 5.30am. it was still a little dark, had to use our torchlight. The air outside was cold. I had my hood on all the time, to protect my face from the sun and the cold wind.

Climbing up was grueling. There was countless number of staircases. Stairs made out of wood, rocks. They were a killer! I suffered through it…. each time I see a new rows of steps dawning, I moan and wonder why I choose to climb. I would rather stayed back at Pine Resort. Uncle Ong really had good stamina. He said he would go slow, but still he was way far ahead of us. I admire his strength for his age.

Anyway back to the steps, I had a tough time. really thank God for Jay. She’s got a pace like mine, slow; slow and steady. After the whole flight of stairs, we finally reached the rope parts.

I heard it form the porters that we’d need our hand muscle to pull us up the rope. We caught a glimpse of the ropes afar off. It was daunting! But I must say, it was the easiest part of the whole climb! I love it!!!

The rocks were quite steep, not for those who are afraid of height. Uncle Ong was nice enough to show us where to step. It was awesome. That was the easiest in the whole climb! Soon enough we reached Sayat-Sayat. I was cheering each time we stop and rest at a place closer to the summit. Praise God!

The landscape here is different. The trees are like dead branches, whitish, some looked like bonsias. I love the shrubs. Some with cute little white flowers. It has that ancient look.

The pics that was displayed during Acts church’s announcement was really how it looked like. I couldn’t believe we have that type of scenery in Malaysia.

Anyway, we registered again in Sayat-Sayat. Another 1 km up till we reach the summit. The air was thin. Every ten meters or 20 steps I had to stop and catch my breathe. Thank God for the guide, he helped me carried my bag. I pray that God would bless him and his family. Apparently this is his hundredth time going up that mountain.

We could see people form afar off coming down. It looks near but yet still so far. Each step taken was a determination, looking back, I still couldn’t believe that I made it. I was at the summit of Mount

Kinabalu! After all these years of dreaming, wishing, I finally made it. Yay! Praise God!

I’m so proud of my mom, I mean I never thought she’d be so sporting, so full of stamina and yeah she made it too!

I congratulated Uncle Ong for making his 50^th climb! He’s the man! Reaching the summit, we hanged out there for about an hour, munching and enjoying the victory. Enjoying the view too….it was great!

Coming down was much easier, but the knees hurt though. Gonna pinjam my mom’s knee guard tomorrow. At some point, we walked through the mist but I would call it the clouds. It was so cool, I mean from the foothill we’d say that they are clouds. Yay! I’m so glad that we’ve made it.

The reality of climbing Mount

K and reaching the summit still hasn’t sink in yet. I mean, it’s gonna take me a while to realize that. Wow, I’ve made it!

11pm

After briefing we had a few rounds of mafia game. It was good. At first I was quite blur, but got a hang of it. It’s quite analytical and need a good observation skill. It’s fun being the mafia going around killing people. Haha! But in the end the mafia lost one round. Finally saw the pattern; they are all very united in their votes.

Anyway later we went out to look at the stars. It was freezing cold but well worth it. I haven’t seen so many stars after so long, it was a clear cloudless night. The stars were like Chirstmas lights on huge giant tree. I saw the Milky Way, the Orion belt. Wow! I wish KL has that kind of night sky. Sigh!

Uhncle Ong led us in a few songs, it was a good time of fellowship and bonding. Well worth it. Thank You Lord!

11 April 2005

My muscles are aching, I’m tired, lack of sleep, I miss my bed! I miss the comfort of home! Last night it was so freezing cold in the dorm! I had thick layers of clothes yet still feeling cold ended up not sleeping at all throughout the night. Gosh, just now eating dinner I felt like dozing off adee….

Anyway, the hike down was definitely much easier. I put on the trusty knee guards. Hehe…. Some of the girls look were using walking sticks, looked like an ah-mah struggling. I was in the last batch to go down. Uncle Ong is really great! He kept playing the guitar, makes the hike down livelier. And he’s really fats! Even though I went much earlier than him a few times, he still overtook us. Lots of people who were climbing up, stopped to take pictures of him.

Oh yeah, I found out the child porter is only 10 years old! The porter and the guides are great people. Once again, I truly admire them. I see them carrying loads of things on their back and wow, they never complained. Yeah, I’ve never heard a single complaint, only smiles on their faces. I didn’t get to give the porter who helped carried my bag halfway up the mountain. I wrote a little not of appreciation and wanted to give him some money. But I waited and waited till the bus had to leave, he’s still not back yet ‘coz they were waiting for the slow ones. Anyway, I prayed that God would bless each and everyone of the porters and guides graciously and abundantly.

We had lunch back at Pine Resort, at in the outer deck. Admire the view of the hilly country side. I imagined also what would it be like hiking up those tiny hills. Would it be tougher than KK? How nice if we could juts fly up to the summit.

Right now I’m at Poring, in the dormitory. Some people were disappointed by the condition of the tubs. They had high expectations based on what Uncle Ong said. I myself was looking forward to soak in the tub. Sigh! I mean I knew how it would look like but I didn’t expect the water pressure to be so low. Aargh! And my tub was leaking! No wonder I was waiting wan waiting for it to fill up, I was only wasting my time as almost half of it is gone. I did managed to dip sitting in the tub.

Dinner we had Maggie mee! The only restaurant there has bad service so we gave up waiting. My mom being a generous host too us to drink coconut water and later adjourned to her room for instant noodles. The six gals went. Oooo…. Her room is so much nicer, had sofa, pretty bed. The dorm room was okay, but the toilet is bad. Some showers didn’t even have locks! Thank God we’re only there for a night.

12 April 2005

I’m at Gayana

Island now. It’s a beautiful place. Lovely, the best place to stay in the past few days. Comparable to Pine Resort. We left Poring in the morning. Wanted to go for canopy walk but didn’t make it ‘coz we’d have to climb 500 metres and 20 mintutes hike. Min’s leg was aching from the KK climb, so we turned back.

Breakfast was at the row of shops in front of the Poring Resort. Service was slow but it was a new experience. Eating in a small little town “restaurant” that place you can even find a internet café! Heheh….

Anyway we later adjourned to Salut Prawn farm for lunch. Ate loads of prawns and crab and shell stuffs. it was good! Kinda sick of seafood now!

We took a ferry to the island. It’s lovely! It has chalets on stilts, something like Avillion. It has a paradise feel. Uncle Ong was right when he said we’ll see thousand of fishes swimming. There really were!! Even when I step out of the chalet right now, I’ll see fishes in the sea! It’s really amazing. Too bad some people don’t know the importance of keeping the environment clean. I see quite a lot or plastic rubbish floating about. Sigh!

Anyway, I tried snorkeling today! It’s my first time, and wow it’s a wonderful experience. We took a speed boat about 500 metre away form this resort to the marine park. I was kinda nervious when we were in the speedboat ‘coz the water looked kinda dark and I don’t like dark water!!

I was quite relieved when we reached the jetty. It’s shallow. We put on our gears and I buddied with min. it was great. it wasn’t as hard as I thought it’s be. When I saw the corals beneath the water and the fishes, I just marveled. There were just so many fishes! I was kinda excited at first, just kept on paddling, busy looking at everything. But if you stay still and just observe, you’d see things like clams opening and closing, spot on fishes, corals and plants.

Oh! And I saw the sea urchins! Each time I see them I panicked. Gosh! I hope I don’t have nightmares of them. It’s those black pointy animals, which looks really intimidating especially when it stares back at you with those eyes and mouth. Seriously each time I see them I panicked and I’d swim as far away as possible!

The underwater is totally an amazing place. After dinner we had a feast with our eyes by the display of a school of fishes. They were swimming around like dancing ballet, synchronizing to silent music. It’s very relaxing juts to watch them swim. And it’s really true! You’ll see fishes everywhere! Just outside the lobby you’d see thousands of fishes, big, small, colourful. It’s wow!

The feeling is indescribable, the things that I saw underwater I hope I’d never forget what it looked like.

13 April 2005

I’ll be leaving the island soon, I’ve got one hour to go till the ferry arrives. Diving was cancelled; I guess the rest of their energy was drained out. I did go for a swim in the open pool. It’s lovely….. it looked kinda scary at first from the top but the tip if just to relax and don’t panic. It’s such a nice feeling swimming with the fishes. Thank God there was a goggle for me to borrow. The water tasted so salty. Yeah, how often do I get to swim in the open sea? Never! The water was warm too!

This trip truly had been enjoyable. Even if the muscle aches and my mouth still taste salty, I would say it’s worth it. It’s all in the package. Without the pain and the senses, this trip wouldn’t have meant anything. Without the toughness and shortness of breathe each step to the top of the mountain and tightness of leg muscles, tiredness of shoulder, we wouldn’t have know how hard it is to reach the summit and enjoy the moment of knowing that you have passed the endurance test. Would say every pain counts, without it, this trip wouldn’t have meant much, it would be so easy to say that I did it without anybody’s help but it’s not true. I was humbled and relied on God’s strength most of the time and friends’ slow pace and of course ever grateful to the guides who helped me up the summit. May God bless them!

The icy cold shower at the lodge too was a new experience. Knowing that I could do that, I’m a little more confident and sure that I can go for Terlimau OA mission. The hike down with tired legs and kept on relying on God’s strength helps. Every step was a step forward to the finish line. Every step was a step of endurance.

The feeling and sensation of seeing thousands of fishes up-close was awesome. Never had I imagined I would get to do it in this trip. Seeing the scary pointy clack sea urchins face to face made me panicked but still it adds on to the experience. Seeing the huge crab hiding in they holes feeding on the corals makes me just stop and look and observe the things around. Seeing the many fishes remind me of the many wonderful opportunities and things that life has got to offer. Seeing the corals…. Well, honestly they didn’t look that pretty, looked like brain and it wasn’t really colourful ‘coz it was already 5pm evening.

Well, once again this trip had been great. I’m blessed, yeah thanks to my mo for paying and the organizer for organizing such trip. I’m gonna miss the things that I saw and experience