Chapter 9.8: KK Trip Day 3 (9/3/2009)

This day was the important day. It's the highlight of the trip and it pushed everybody to the limit, in terms of physically and mentally.

Whatever training or preparation we had done in the past will be reflected in the next few hours - now it just depends if we could make it.

All of us woke up at 1.30AM, quickly prepared and gathered outside the room.

2.35AM: Gunting Lagadan, 8ºC

2.47AM: After the mountain guide gave a briefing about the climb to the peak, with the 2.7KM route, all of us started climbing.

I saw a beautiful scene far away - the moonlight shined on the rocky mountain. But my heart felt nervous, despair as well as exciting - I don't know if I could make it, because I was so tired, the sprain on my left leg still hurts, and it'd be a pity if I can't make it.

4.40AM: I reached Sayat-sayat Checkpoint, got my water bottle refilled, sat for a short rest, had my energy gel.

It was still very dark around that area but I could see some rats running around.

I wonder what do they feed on.

5.30AM: I was having slight emotional breakdown.

I was walking alone, (note: it's not necessary to wait for your friends because you won't know if he/she could make it in the end, it's not being selfish at all, because after all, there is mountain guide who would take care of your friends)

I didn't know how long would this route end, I kept walking but I still see the same steep rocky road, I didn't know if my body could take it - I could walk for 30 seconds but would need another 1 minute to rest.

My left leg still hurts, that I'd need to rub it occasionally to keep me walking (at the same time, I felt lucky cos the hotpad that I brought did work)

I had my last pack of energy gel (I brought two). It tasted so yucky that I swear that I won't want to take it in the near future.

Around this time, I had my last of three "hallucination" - my mind started to think about Quantum Showcase (a direct sales TV advert that's quite common in Malaysia) I thought about those user who gave the "amazing" speech about their achievement: "I felt so great, I've lost 10KG in just one month, this is truly amazing, I'd like to thank this product for giving me the instant result, this is so unbelievable"

There's one time I also thought: why the hell is American so good in giving motivation speech? All kinds of direct selling, motivational speech come from USA, WHY?

Then, this hallucination gave me some motivation (in a weird way) - if they can make it (losing 10KG in such a short time), then I can climb up to the peak too.

Weird.

5.58AM: I saw Low's peak.

I was like given two or even three extra caffeine shots, I walked faster. I almost cried because of the mixture feeling: I didn't know that I could make it, the journey had almost come to an end, all the preparation was worth it, and, f***, I didn't know if I could still see the sunrise. LOL!

6.37AM: 9 of us who made it - Trevor, Siew Kee, Gary, Kuan Yew, Samantha, Sarah, Emily, Pui Ying, Fuihan

Gary gave a motivational conclusion


Kuan Yew & Sarah - the fastest man and fastest woman climber in our group



While me - the slowest climber in the group, LOL!


But I wasn't alone after all, Francesco was with me... we're the last two of the 9+1!!!

Group photo with the valley behind


Group photo with St John's peak as the background

South peak & St. John's peak


If you think the South peak is some kind of small hill near your house, think twice: the black dots in the enlarged section of photo were humans!

Yes, human looks so small and so vulnerable when we face the mother nature.

7.03AM: Samantha & Fuihan felt so tired that they need to lie down. Meanwhile, Sarah was taking another energy bar. If not mistaken, she told me that in this trip she had about 8 energy bar, am I right, Sarah?

7.08AM: We decided to descend to Laban Rata


While I walked slow and took my time to take some photo


South peak - the signature of the Mt Kinabalu


This photo clearly shows that I need to work a lot on self-portrait.

Camwhore course anyone?

Breathtaking valley view, I can still feel my goosebumps even when I see this photo now.

Sayat-Sayat checkpoint - where you register that you are going to the peak and returning from the peak.

This is the last point where you could get your water refilled.

I'm pleased with this photo - it's the best self-portrait I had in this trip!

9.05AM: I arrived at Gunting Lagadan. I'm truly exhausted. (Photo with Emily)

11.03AM: After having our breakfast and packed, we decided to walk down to Timpohon Gate.

Group photo with the forced-front-smiling-but-tired-behind faces.

11.40AM: I have the "Oh shit, not again" feeling, because we need to walk down this time!

From articles I had read, I knew there will be a lot of stairs for Timpohon Gate route.

1.19PM: Emily and I saw a gross and long worm.


2.48PM: Emily and I been walking in pair since 2 hours ago. Reason being we both are like rheumatic disease patients - we have hard time walking down the stairs! We had to move slowly and patiently.

We do feel for the pain of the rheumatic patients.

Yes, God bless these stairs. For that moment I thought of:
1) Asking my mum to install a lift for my house, so that I won't need to climb the stairs when I reach home
2) Ban myself from going to shopping complex for 1 week cos seeing the escalator will make me equally angry (because they look like stairs)

3.55PM: Carson Falls, we know that we are near to the end of our journey

4.01PM: Emily and I finally reached to the end of the journey. Before that, there were another 100-200 metres of stairs.

Just for that moment, I felt "pissed" and "humiliated" with the tagline printed at the gate "Terima Kasih Sudi Datang Lagi" which literally means "Thank you Please Come Again"

So the fastest person to climb up to the peak spent merely 2 hours 33 minutes, while us, spent averagely 12 hours. What a big difference

Journey to the Peak had come to an end, starring Fuihan as Sun Wukong, Kuan Yew as Zhu Bajie, Betty as Tang Sanzang & Sarah as Sha Wujing

We went back to Kinabalu city centre, stayed a night in Shangri-La hotel, and had a dinner at SheungTin (HoiLei) restaurant... muahahhaa

But well, I thought the price was reasonable given that it's city centre and it's a tourist spot.