Borneo - Sunrise from 4095 meter high

Last October, my friend, Cecilia (HK) asked me if I was keen to climb Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo. I must admit that initially I was very hesitant but after a few days of mesmerizing I agreed to take on the challenge with her and said yes to the invitation! A friend of hers from Kuala Lumpur, Ann organized the program for 8 Malaysian people and us for the weekend of Easter.

As the flight tickets were cheap from Johor Bahru (MY), we made our way across the Singapore-Malaysia border and got on a plane from Senai Airport. After a 2.5-hour-trip we found ourselves in Kota Kinabalu, the place where I had been already 4 times before! However, this was the first time I came to conquer the most interesting and biggest attraction, Mount Kinabalu!

We slept a few hours in a cozy little place called City Park Lodge (Jalan Pantai) and then at 6am we were already on our toes to start our 1.5-2-hour-long bus ride to Kinabalu Park. As the trail is in a national park, the authorities limit the access for the visitors, thereby for the months of April-June you often have to book your place half a year or so before! We got registered at the entrance (the track has some dangerous parts so they have to keep count of the tourists) and then we were ready to roll!

On the first day we were to reach the little hut called Laban Rata (the only heated lodge up there), 6 km away from the base point.

From the 1,850 meter high starting point you need to go up all the way to 3,200 meter where the air is not quite "normal" anymore, rather very scarce and you need to encounter some differences/ challenges with the altitude change.

We made this distance with Ceci in just 3.5 hours (very happy about it ;-)) and then we rested up there at the base camp. You can’t do much and as people need to be up by 2am, most are already asleep by 6-7pm.

We took off at 2.30am to conquer the top of the mountain in the deep dark of the nearly full moon night. It was 3km away, including a 900 meter altitude change. Ceci and I did quite well with climbing the steep dark cliffs and made our way up to the summit by 5.30am.

It was freaking cold up there, despite being in the tropics, the temperature went down to 0 C! The trip was absolutely worth it: the view of the sunrise, just above the clouds, with its 1,000 colours were stunning!

As up there, the sun soon warms up the plain grey rocks we decided to set off for the 9 km-long-downhill ride the soonest!

I must say that all the tips of friends who had done this trip before were more than reasonable: it counted a lot what cloths and climbing shoes you wore and whether you had a walking stick to support your body while coming, especially, down from the hill! The climb was a challenge for both the body and mind!

While you are taking one step at a time, very carefully, you have a lot of time to think, wonder at the beautiful scenery of the mountain and all together just enjoy the peace and magic of the beautiful nature!

Once we made it back all the way to town, we did not have much energy left but for a dinner and massage and then to go to alpha-beta in our little lodge.

The next day, Ceci and I met up with two of my KK friends, Praba from Sutera hotel and Aaron from an event management company. We did not wish for any moving around so we ended up having another short massage, watching a brainless movie in the cinema, having a relaxing dinner and than after the chilled out Saturday head back to the airport, Johor Bahru and then to Singapore!

This trip is a perfect proof of what you can do with determination: what seemed to me absolutely impossible, became possible and it was a great feeling to look back at the adventure of conquering that huge summit up there, in Mount Kinabalu :-)!

For more photos, check this out!