I learned a lot from this trip.

Not only the trip itself, but from the planning until the end.

Planning
Planning was started back in May 2008, with the help of Kong Yen & Agatha for the air ticket booking.

Then until Oct 2008, when the booking for the hostel was opened, initially me and Weihan thought of booking the Mt Kinabalu hostel, and would form a DIY trip

Because of the room availability, end up Weihan & Agatha were forced to split from our group (else we'd have a group of 18)

However, Weihan and I soon found out that it's a good idea to find an agent to take care of the group's itinerary.

We spent some time during a dinner, and we found the agent - Borneo Eco Tour.


Preparation
Physically, I started some weekend brisk walk in FRIM since... late April 08?

Personally, and definitely, I thought it wasn't enough.

The so called training only became more frequent in the last two months.

A month before the trip was when my cash reserve went -ve.

Spent almost RM600 for the trip's final payment
Spent RM300+ for a new rucksack (end up didn't really use, wtf)

And other misc stuff

Communication
This was the hardest part.

For about half of the group members were people that I didn't know or not so close.

So, I relied on email.

I emailed + talked a lot with the agent to finalise the itinerary - actually not much to finalise, just that we were discussing about which route to take, its pros and cons, and the hostel selection + the cost.

By the way, Gmail is a good email system - it's easy to organise

Then, spreading the information to the group members was sort of a headache - if there are info update, means more emails to send?

The situation was avoided by using Google Documents. I created an online spreadsheet, my updates will be auto-republished and people can view it online anytime (what's more, you can export it, print it at ease)

Lastly, I used the SMS services, part of my PennyTel account service, to send sms to all the people.

It was easier and it's free (because I paid for monthly subscription of the call + SMS)


Outcome + Conclusion
This one is the matter most - if it's planned and if it still failed, means the organiser has got problem

I can sort of make some conclusion:

1) Outsourcing is good, I let the agent take charge from end to end, and the group didn't really have to worry much about transportation etc
2) With help from Sarah (the secretary & active group photographer & motivator) & Kuan Yew (helped a lot in group purchase and info sharing) the trip was run even better than I thought
3) A "trip closure"gathering was held at Chun Hung's house. Really appreciate his offer for the space and, his mum's cooking was really GREAT. The dinner was really good.
4) Thanks to Kong Yen for his map to Chun Hung's house. It was clear and concise :)
5) Following tools really helped me a lot:

Gmail - help you to organise email, in the way you want as well
Google Documents - you can share your document with your friends, update & republish whenever you want, and you can even let others to collaborate
Picasa - Organise the photo at ease, tune the photo at ease
Adobe Lightroom - Organise the photo at ease, tune the photo at ease (with better result)
Facebook - photo sharing, viewing, comment

I'm glad that this project had come to an end, and most importantly, I thought it ended quite well ;)

This day was a rather uneventful day. I guess all the people were tired and would just look forward to go home.

I learned that Sarah, Siew Kee and Siew went for foot massage the night before. It was cheap and good.

Some of us woke up early to have early breakfast with Sarah & Fuihan, as they were catching the early flight back to Johore Bahru.


7AM: The buffet breakfast.... getting lil' bored with these already.


8.25AM: Emotional moment, before Sarah & Fuihan's departure (to Singapore??!)


Emily's postcard, signed by the group members.


The reason why it was photographed was because - I told Emily to post it, so that she could get a Kota Kinabalu post office stamp on it. She was afraid of the Pos Malaysia quality of delivery ;)

I hope it had arrived safely. :-)


1.30PM: We were having snacks while waiting for the flight. I saw someone familiar but I couldn't tell who the person was, as he/she was covered with hairs.


Out of sympathy, I decided to donate RM1 note. The person didn't respond to me.


1.57PM: The plane arrived but not available for boarding. Now everybody can late ?


That's not the case, because it's "Now Everyone Can Cry" because we had to climb up the ****ing stairs to the plane, with our tired legs!


Some aerial shots


Islands


I wonder what island is this?


It was raining in the Klang Valley - perhaps that explained why it was cloudy in that region.



5.15PM: I saw another plane from the plane window.


Joking, I saw the plane on the way back, in a taxi.

This, marks the end of the KK Trip.

It was a memorable one for sure, and some say they were ready to go for the same mount climbing - using via ferrata!

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.

We stayed a night at Mesilau Park's Bishop's Head hostel. Cold weather was what we had encountered.

And the midnight symphony orchestra was what most people will face in the room with guys.

This day was the day when we will start our journey to the Mt KK.

7AM: Before taking breakfast, some random shot first :-)


With just-woke-up-faces for all


Chef preparing omelette @ egg station


While all of us were hungry and quickly grabbed the buffet breakfast


7.17AM: After having the breakfast, just take a photo of surroundings


Empty plates - everybody was really hungry in cold weather


Trevor VS Alex - you shot me, I shot you


7.42AM: We thought that there would be not enough porter for us. So we transferred total of 9 bags back to Kinabalu Park HQ.

The thermometer outside the Mesilau Park restaurant showed that it's 14ºC


And turned out to be, there were 16 porters waiting for us. Since we had packed and didn't need that many of porters, we let them rearrange their manpower.

While waiting for the porter to settle our baggage, we had our group photo taken as well as having some fun to make the time pass faster...


The banana girls, who have their own responsibilities, respectively - eat, carry & pluck


Is that Mount KK from far?


The ladies: Siew Kee, Siew, Pui Ying, Betty, Samantha, Sarah, Chiow Hun, Emily, Catherine


The gentlemen: Chun Hung, Alex, Gary, Benn, Fuihan, Kuan Yew, Trevor

We started our journey after purchasing the walking sticks.


9.00AM: A view of Kundasang valley (correct me if i'm wrong?)


But it was quite foggy it seems...


10:08AM: After having a short rest at the hut, the mountain guide told us to standby our raincoat. Everybody was busy taking out - just in case



10:16AM: A waterfall on our way


Where I dropped one of my gloves


Self-portraying with Sarah

There were some of the Francesco photos, which will be blogged by him, separately. (Who cares, I wonder?)


10.42AM: 3.5KM, I started to feel exhausted, and the rain started to fall


But the route is still O.K, even with ups and downs. Come to think about it, I felt lucky that we chose this route compared with Timpohon Gate's - which has a lot of (big & tall) stairs andit'll make our legs even sore


11.20AM: The rain stopped for a while, and it made the forest even foggier.


That, I think, it made this photo generally looks like black & white


11.45AM: I was tired and hungry. My brain started to think nonsense.

In this route to the peak, I had three "hallucination" (actually it's not that serious, just my brain was thinking nonsense)

This is the first one: When I looked at the ferns, I thought like, the guy who founded Fernleaf's milk powder must have been here before, and found the inspiration to make this leaf as the brand of the milk poweer.

Oh, whatever.



11:59AM: We stopped for our lunch. Our packed lunch - 2 spring rolls, 4 sandwiches, 1 egg, 1 fried chicken drumstick, 1 apple, 1 bottle of mineral water & 1 can of 100 Plus.


12.03PM: A random shot of the group having lunch. Benn was feeding Kuan Yew... how sweet... LOL



12.35PM: KM5 I still felt exhausted even after my lunch


But the valley view is like giving me a shot of strong caffeine, I felt so refreshed with the grand view and for that period of time, I felt it's worth the tiredness.


I can't tell much with the photos - you have just gotta be there to experience it on your own


1.06PM: I walked in pair with Betty. Both of us motivated each other to finish this never ending road. We camwhore a bit.


But realising that we're not supposed to smile that much with our real exhausting condition, we took the photo with "real" condition.


And from this point onwards, the plants started to have unfamiliar species, probably due to the cold weather.


Around this time I had my second "hallucination" - my sweat slipped into my mouth and I was like "yummy, this 100 plus is sooooo yummy"

-_-


The foggy forest made me to feel that as if I'm in the fairy land or something



2.20PM: Betty walked up to a steep and a slippery trek. Phew-wit! I remember that we motivated each other with this statement "We'd rather be slow, but able to make it to the peak tomorrow!"


While I took a rest and took some photo. So far, I had slipped once, and my legs almost cramped for twice.


2.52PM: I almost stepped on this frog.

Because of the slip I had earlier, I sprained a little bit of my left leg. I had to stop and rub the leg in order to keep walking

And not long after that, I left Betty and walked alone, because she had the handsome-cum-caring-cum-charming-cum-helpful mountain guide to help her from that point.


3.38PM: The trees had strange growing pattern and look,


Which I think it's not a problem to make the scenery as the cover for horror story?


3.43PM: LABAN RATA!!! I had finally reached the half mountain, where I can finally take a rest before tomorrow's climb to the peak.


4.00PM: While waiting for the rest to arrive, I took some photo at the balcony of the hut


I know it'll be even tougher tomorrow.

And bad news for that time being was that - I had to walked/climbed for another 5 - 10 minutes to get to our hostel at Gunting Lagadan


5.15PM: Our buffet dinner - I ate chicken ham burger, mutton, egg, fried noodles and soup



I tried to act cool but actually I felt very very exhausted and sleepy.