Mt. Kinabalu, July 27-29

Mt. Kinabalu

On Monday we flew from Miri to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the northern state of Boneo, Sarawak. The airports here are a breeze as it took us 15 minutes to check in, go through security and immigration. I've been very grateful to fly around Borneo as the bus rides can be horrendous. A 45 minute flight, as was the one from Miri to KK, can take 22 hours on a bus and the flight only cost $30 -- so it was well worth the airtime. We arrived in KK in the morning and checked in to our hostel, Sensi backpackers, which has been one of the nicest hostels yet. We met a bunch of people there and all went out for a food stall dinner and some drinks with the locals.

The next afternoon Kevin and I got on a bus at 2pm heading to Mt. Kinabalu for two nights. It's only 80km to Mt. Kinabalu, but the drive is a hell of an adventure through steep mountains and winding roads. We arrived at Mt. Kinabalu around 4pm to a deserted town (there's literally nothing except a guest house, two restaurants and the park headquarters). The first night we just hung around the hostel and had some great curry Laksa for dinner and enjoyed the cool, non-humid air (the base of the mountain is approximately 3,000 feet above sea level).

On Wednesday we woke up around 9:30 to hike a few of the trails around the base of the mountain. We took the shitty trail map and headed for the Linguwi trail, which was the parks longest trail and would take about 4-5 hours to hike. Along the way we came to numerous forks in the road that were unmarked and were not on the trail map (the map was essentially a hand drawn map with a few lines and some markings -- basically a photo copied back of the envelope sketch). We got lost a few times and at one point made a complete circle back to our original trail. We gave up on the Linguwi trail and headed for a view point trail that took us up another thousand feet with some nice views and through the thick clouds. Luckily it didn't rain and the weather was very comfortable. All in all we wound up hiking about 10km and at some points continuously re-tracing our steps. Nonetheless, the hike was beautiful as Mt. Kinabalu and its surroundings are  among the most important biological sites in the world, with over 4500 species of plant, 326 species of birds, and 100 mammalian species identified.

Once we got back to park headquarters I signed up for the Monday day hike summit of Mt. Kinabalu. There are two options of doing the hike, a two day one night trip where the first day you hike 5 hours then the next day you summit for sunrise; however this trip was all booked so I had no choice but to sign up for the day hike: 16km, 10,000 feet and 10 hour climb. In order to accomplish this there were a few stipulations I had to sign off on: 1) a guide is required, 2) I must reach the halfway point by 10am (by the way the climb starts at 7am), 3) I must be at the summit by 1pm, 4) I must be back at the park headquarters by 5pm, and 5) if at any point it rains the climb is off. I'm not sure my legs will function after this but I am mentally preparing for what is going to be one of the most arduous days of my life. To see more about Mt. Kinabalu and what I am trying to accomplish on Monday, click here: Mt. Kinabalu.

Kevin and I took the bus back to Kota Kinabalu on Thursday, where I will be until Sunday when I return to Mt. Kinabalu. Unfortuantely, on Saturday Kevin will be traveling to China for his newest adventures.

View from Hostel

Mt. Kinabalu Town

8.72km to the top -- what I will accomplish Monday