am back! and yes, i did it! reached the peak of mt. kinabalu - the highest peak in south east asia. and man....it was tough! each metre was pure torture, especially the last 700 metres. by then the terrain was all rocks!

our journey started at timpohon gate, followed by 6km of uphill trekking to laban rata, which is where the hostel is located. the track uphill was very good, there were proper steps, some even had railings! there were also rest huts every 1.5km or so, complete with flushing toilets. altogether, a very 'civilised' route indeed!

but no matter how 'civilised' things were, there's still that uphill climb.... basically it's like doing the stepper for 6 straight hours....and the level of difficulty gets higher... and it's getting a wee bit harder to catch your breath as the air gets thinner!

upon arrival at laban rata i.e. almost 5 1/2 hours later...had a restorative hot shower and slept like a baby for about an hour. 5pm was dinner time and by 7pm most of us hit the sack, coz the climb to the summit commences at 2:30am!!

it was very cold and almost pitch black at that time of the night/morning, but we were really fortunate that the weather was on our side. it wasn't raining at all on the way to laban rata, and the weather conditions were perfect for an attempt to the summit. very clear night, with the moon almost full.

it was an eerie experience almost, a long ant-like procession to the summit. everyone had their headlights/torchlights on to light the way. the track was getting steeper and soon there were no more tracks, just slabs of granite. from then on it was ropes all the way!

i was pretty lucky to have a colleague with me about 1/3 of the way, and together we made the climb. i really couldn't have made it without his presence, we sorta encouraged each other along. i mean for God's sakes i had with me the company flag, the rest would KILL me if i failed to reach the summit for that all important flag-flying photo!

it was tough, probably the toughest thing i had ever done. from doing about 50 steps before taking a breather, it got to about 10 steps. because it was so dark, we could barely see what's next. all we could see were the headlights of people who were ahead of us. in a way, that worked to our advantage, coz we couldn't really judge the distance in the dark so everything felt 'nearer' than it really was...now, had it been light....

finally we reached the peak. it was a dizzying experience. we were no longer tired, it's as though our energies were restored from some mysterious source! and the view! pretty amazing! as the sun rose higher, we saw our route up.... sheesh....and we saw all the way down...

all the way down, i felt amazed that i made it that far, that i actually passed through the route that i'm now taking on the way down. that i held on to those ropes for dear life, so afraid of what's out there in the dark. as i go down those rocky steps, i'm privately pleased that, yeah, i climbed those very steps just the day before.

the journey downhill was hard on the legs; my calves and quads felt like they were on fire! it's like a particularly horrific leg workout times 10!! and i'm still in pain today, almost 3 days after the descent!

will i do this again?

no way!

really?

hmm.....lemme think about it, who knows once the pain is gone???