Monday 12 May 2008

Mount Kinabalu

The jungle visit was very isolating and though interesting, not all that pleasant or fun (even dare I say a bit of a rip-off?) so we decided to get out and do something more physically challenging. So after catching another bus in to the mountains (on which some poor sod started vomitting as we ascended the mountains) and after two gruelling days Ric and I have just returned from climbing Mount Kinabalu. Our legs are like jelly. It was like walking up and down 6km of stairs! We went up to the 6 km cut-off point in just three hours! Most people take between 4 and 6.

Unfortunately, although we wanted to go straight up, the park authorities wouldn't let us climb the last 2km to the summit or at 3am this morning, which is when people usually go to catch the sunset, as the weather was terrible. It howled all night as we tried to sleep in our fibre glass, unheated hut. It was absolutely freezing! I spent most of the night shivering in my sleeping bag, in my bunk bed, while a Spanish couple canoodled on the other side of the room and Ric slept like a baby with his earplugs firmly in and eye-mask strapped on. I longed for a hot bath, dry socks, a duvet and some chocolate. Talk about a going from one extreme to another! Goodness knows how the staff who live up there, and only come down twice a month, cope! Life up in the mountain is stripped to the barest form. It's all about survival and waiting for the weather to be favourable. And the guides who climbers are obliged to hire are so fit! Ours didn't even break in to a sweat.

I have to say, what with the cold and the onset of a cold, I was more than a teensie bit relieved we didn't do that last leg especially since we had to walk down the whole thing again anyway.
Took some okay pics but all we could really see was cloud most of the way up and down. What a shame.

I'm a bit miffed that have a cold. Not nice in this heat. Both of us are peeling. We're back in Kota Kinabalu now where it's as baking as usual and trying to decide where to go next. Bangkok we think and then Cambodia and Laos.

We're only a month in to the trip and we've packed it in but worry that things could get tiring and samey and we could tire of each other if we're not careful. We've seen a lot of cities and don't care too much for temples and try as we may, it's not that easy to hook up with people unless you stick around in one place for a while. Most of the 'travellers' we've met are on a tight budget, are terribly smug and know-it-all or are simply off to do different things. Maybe Thailand will be different in that respect. The Lonely Planet makes everything sound a bit the same too so we need some inspiration!

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