Kota Kinabalu

We were up at 8am and after a light breakfast, we went to Wisma Sabah to catch our tour bus
to Kinabalu National Park. It was about 2 hours bus ride to Kinabalu National Park. We
registered and was informed to wait for 45mins for our guard. So we decided to climb the
moutain first while waiting for our guard to catch up with us. We caught the bus up to the
starting point,Timpohan Gate and departed at 12.30pm.

We noticed a board that announced that the winner of the 2006 race up and down the Mt.
Kinabalu, had accomplished the feet in a staggering 2 hours and 50 minutes. This feet was
really impressive when we finally descended, almost crippled, some 20 hours later!

We made good progress on the very first 2 kilometres which was a third of our first days
distance and achieved it in around an hour. Our guard Willy had finally catched up when we
was about to reach 2km. Willy had bought us 2 walking sticks to help us on trekking.

Willy was 40+ years old man, speakless. Cher chatted with him in Malay. He kept walking
behind us. At every rest stop, he pulled out a cigerate and smokes. I was wondering why we
should pay for RM70 to a guy who just follow us to the summit. Hah..But I never know that
without Willy, I should not be able to go down the moutain.

As the steps became steeper and our muscles began to tire, the pace dropped drastically and
breaks became longer. We greeted and were greeted by climbers who passed by us. I
noticed those climbers going down, their legs trembling with each move. I dare not to think of
how we should go down tomorrow.

Much different from my previous experience on climbing Mt. Taishan. Mt. Kinabalue, the whole
trail consisted of scaling rocks, wooden-stairs and tree roots. Each steps were placed quite
apart and steep, so we need more energy than just regular stairs climbing.

Around 5.30pm we eventually made it to Laban Rata, situated over 3100 metres above sea
level. We admired the breathtaking views and marvelled at how far we had walked...I felt so
motivated and a surge of energy and that made me belief that I can conquer every
moutain....no matter how top it was. Yeah.......

At Laban Rata, there was a canteen. Rather than paying RM33++ per person for a buffet, we
ate fried rice (RM15) and noodles (RM15) and a pot of Sabah tea (RM6) a pot of Milo
(RM6.50) to warm us up.

We went to bed around 7.30pm, but I kept waking up as I could hear many people walking
around outside. The storm broke at 11pm. The room was getting stifflingly hot. I couldn't
manage to sleep. At 2am, it was time to wake up to make 2.7km push for the sunrise at the
summit.