Off to Borneo we go--the third largest island in the world divided into the countries of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. All of our time would be spent in the Malay states of Sabah and Sarawak. As we got off the airplane at our first stop, I felt a personal welcome with the "I Heart KK" tshirts hanging from every shop. With a little more thought (and humility) I turned the corner to find the Welcome to Kota Kinabalu sign which explained the tshirts a little more. Our time in KK was broken up into two portions--beach resort and mountain climbing.
 |
| Rasa Ria View from Room |
A team of employees greeted us with a mai tai mocktail and a cold wash cloth as we entered the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Beach Resort late Friday night. Paradise ensued for the next two days as my toughest decision came down to whether I should swim at the pool or in the sea :) I knew it was a place after my heart (and KTB's) as they delievered homemade chicken wings to your lounge chair beside the pool each hour. Let's just say--I found myself at the more pool much more often.
After a weekend of rest, relaxation, three books finished and some serious sunburn, we were picked up Monday morning for our journey to Mount Kinabalu, the largest mountain in SE Asia at 4,100 meters. We spent the afternoon exploring the unique biodiversity of Kinabalu National Park. With over 1500 varieties of orchards, 42 species of frogs and the world's largest stick insect, there was lots to see. Many of you would be so proud and shocked to know, I'm finally at the age of 26 overcoming my fear of anything in the insect family. After a good ol' fashioned camp lodge dinner buffet, we all crashed early in anticipation of climbing the big mountain the following morning.
 |
| Ready for the Climb :) |
 |
| Sam wiped out! |
The alarm buzzed the following morning way too early and I put on all my hiking gear as if I'd been doing it all my life. Caleb, my twin brother, had handpicked my hiking boots and they looked pretty damn good :) The six of us were joined by two guides, Petrus and Nail, who added this trek to their estimted total of 450 climbs of Mt. Kinabalu. After some morning stretches, we took off and the first kilometer seemed a breeze. The carb loading and healthy breakfast seemed to be doing their job. After km 1, our group faced some setbacks as Tess became quite sick. After several more sips of water and attempts to perservere, the decision was made that Tess and Tim would head back to the lodge. Down to four! With Megan and Hannah's speedy hiking skills, they were well ahead of us; so it would be 6 year old Sam and I as hiking partners for the remaining 5 1/2 kilometers to our camp. Not sure if it says something about my lack of hiking skills or the fact that Sam is the coolest and smartest 6 year old I have ever met, but we were the PERFECT partners. We posed for pictures at every half kilometer mark, played twenty questions until seemed to run out of people, sang our favorite Jackson 5 songs and became friends with people from all over the world sharing in this experience. The weather seemed to change within minutes as we made our way up--I would go from dripping sweat to muscle clenching cold in just a matter of seconds. We faced multiple terrains on our ascend as well--steep staircases to sheer rock to stone scrambling. Sam and I managed to power through with pink sugar cookies and mint chewing gum as snacks. The scenery on the way up was stunning--picturesque views, carniverous insect eating plants and hybrid squirrel rat creatures. The hours and the distance passed and we finally reached our lodge after our 6.5 km trek. We celebrated with the rest of our group with some rowdy games of Speed, hot water and stunning views of the journey we'd just made. This would be the end of the climb for Sam and Hannah but Megan and I had a 2:30 am departure time to finish off the rest of the legendary mountain. Between the anxiety about the rest of the climb, the pain in my knee or my first bunk bed in years--I didn't sleep at all. In fact none of us did. After our entire three weeks in Borneo this night remainds one of my favorite memories -the four of us sleeping in the lodge on the mountain as we stayed up playing word association games and giggling while laying in our double bunk beds. What a night :)
 |
| Mount Kinabalu |
Megan and I were already up for our 2:30 am departure. We quickly rolled out of bed and put on all of our gear- including our headlamps this time--and hit the trail. It was absolutely pitch black, making it possible to see stars I've never seen before. We were able to look down on villages and cities as most sane people were sleeping. The hardest part of the climb came when we got to a slick, sheer face of rock which could only be conquered with an attached climbing rope. So hard in fact that I took one step, my knee gave out and I face planted on the hard surface. During the painful fall I bet my lip in pain so hard that I would have a beautiful fat lip for a week to come :) Definitely worth it! Megan and I never reached the highest summit but made it up to a lower peak with incredible views. We finished the climb in two hours and were back down at camp to pick up Hannah and Sam for the real trek downhill. We made it down with Hannah's strict time goals for every 1/2 kilometer. We were greeted at the bottom by our cheering section- Tess, Tim and our guide Danson. After many celebratory pictures and a certificate, we hopped into the van and back to the Rasa Ria where I don't think I moved for the next 10 hours. I celebrated that night with a large tepanyaki dinner, a glass of red wine and a bottle of tylenol. Whew!
No comments:
Post a Comment