Alright everyone…here it is!

Day one of Sabah trip 09 aka Exploring KK aka Climbing Mount Kinabalu aka the weekend I discovered how fit is Kit Loong!

It’s been a long time since the trip last week and every single time I try to get near the stack of photos to start filter them I get REPELLED from them. Cause it’s one of the few times where I see ‘Total files = 2300+ pictures’.

Very scary.

But as days went by, I yearned to climb bukit again. The allure of conquering the mountain was just too great. Which is why I found the courage again, to get near the pics to start the grueling task of filtering them. So that I can share them with you! =)

*celebrates*

Another thing that caused the delay was my trying to find the best way to present these pics to you. After going through many different interfaces I finally finally decided on this thing called Smooth Gallery, which is:

(1)  not flash based.
(2)  can popup into a Lightbox (this I haven’t done yet)
(3)  can have a carousel (which I haven’t done yet)

Simply put, just click

to activate it. Then on the pic, click the arrow to view next pic. Go on, you won’t be disappointed.

So here’s the story, once you’re done with the pics.

KK was a trip where I surprised myself by deciding to go somewhere last year when Desmond emailed me.

This is Desmond. Organizer, 2-times experienced climber, director of Yoshinoya, diver, travels every 2 weeks.

…eating Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak during our flight.

It was interesting, for a group of old school friends from Sri KL, to sudden decid to reunite on a short holiday. Eventually there were 5 of us…Desmond,

His darling Rachel..

Sorry I caught you at a wrong time Rach! LOL.

Arhnue..

and…our favorite Kit Loong.

No people, he is not retarded, I’m quite sure of that. It’s just Kit Loong ahahahhaahaha.

He’s gona kill me for posting this lolx.

So, guess what. The 4-day break turned out to be great wei. Probably one of the best breaks I’ve taken from the daily grind for this year.

The flight on the first day was 6.50am. Breakfast at Oldtown LCCT with Psychkin! She didn’t go with us, so sad =(

But she did drive me to LCCT and back before the sun rose…that’s enough to get any bf smiling =)

I was very surprised though, when I saw the others carrying only 1 big backpack each, instead of 1backpack + luggage bag. I might add that I broke out slightly in cold sweat when I thought of the travel route we were taking.

We were supposed to go from Mersilau (base) to Laban Rata (Midpoint), then Summit, the Laban Rata again. If we were going back to Mersilau again then it was ok to leave my bag at Mersilau camp and collect it on the way down.

But we were going to Timpohon after midpoint on the way down. That means I needed to carry my 10kg trolley bag up to midpoint. What the hell! I panicked (almost) but hey the journey continues lor. Got porter ma wuahahaha.

It’s boarding time!

The duty-free shop stocked up with so freeeaking much of these Gardenia loaves I have no idea why. Maybe people are so fed up of Airasia’s plane food that they prefer to tapau pau into the plane.

I’m also quite proud of the fact that our names were announced just before boarding. Cos we were the last ones to board lol. Kena lari lah.

And the moment I was waiting for….2 1/2 hours of wonderful nap time!

(some dude next to me)

Landing at KK was somewhat exciting…there was a lot of sea all around the plane. Blue, green all over..the colour of HOLIDAY

KK Airport and our guide!

This is one ad you don’t see around KL. Maggi Kari Letup – Pedas Habis Bah!

In case you didn’t know, ‘bah’ is a Sabah slang which is used in place of our ‘mah’ or ‘lah’ or ‘ya’. It’s like a ‘combo suffix’ where you can say ‘Let’s go for lunch Bah’. Or ‘Don’t be lame Bah’. Or ‘Don’t like that Bah’. Quite convenient bah.

And yes, they have quite decent malls too.

When you wana go grocery shopping, where do you go to?

There’s Giant here too. Don’t play play. Only thing is that Giant’s not so giant here, and that it’s built into a row of shophouses lol. But they don’t sell Snickers or Cereal bars here. That is a big Fail man.

The drive from Airport to Kinabalu Park was about 2 hours. Good time for another nice nap.

I swear it’s not my lens that made Kit’s belly look like that. I think it’s natural.

We stopped by Pekan Nabalu for lunch where I had very Hainanese-tasting nasi ayam at a Malay coffeeshop.

It was very raw..tasted like it was cooked no more than 5 minutes. Steakhouses would call this ‘very very very rare’ haha.

During past visits to KK, Desmond Rachel and Arhnue unfortunately met with bad weather : rain most of the time up the mountain.

And this time, it seems like it was no different…

Shit man like ‘Twister’ feeling lor, some more going uphill like that.

This is when I started to be a bit fearful of the hike ahead of me.

That is not Mount KK. That is Anak Kinabalu.

This is Mount KK. See the Peak above the clouds?

Scary shit!

Don’t blame me lor…my first time Bah.

Here we are at Kinabalu Park entrance!

I found out that the whole place was well-developed enough to ensure an enjoyable trip for KK hikers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the facilities around the base camp area were well-maintained and nicely designed.

Really no complaints on the condition of the camp. So far.

Check-in counter. I was immensely relieved when I found that I could leave my trolley bag at the base camp and bring only my backpack to Mersilau camp.

The thing is, I had to take out whatever stuff I needed from that 13kg bag and put it into a plastic bag to be hand carried separately (which could be passed to a porter, or course). Amazingly, my plastic bag was only 4 kg. What happened to the remainder?? My maths fail me..!

On the way to Mersilau base, I sat up with JOY. I saw…

Can press $$  !! (Which was actually what delayed me at LCCT. Couldn’t find a damn ATM lah.)

But it was in vain. Apparently the ATM at this branch is for show only. It doesn’t work You gota do better than this Alliance bank!

Mesilau base camp!!

The rain was relentless. Everything around us was wet like a duck

Haha wetduck *internal joke*

But it was the rain that made the weather like it was. Cool, windy, highland type weather. Like that only feel like you’re on a mountain right.

The system at Kinabalu Park is as such: Check in at the base camp (leave heavy luggage there, as I did), check in again at Mesilau, where they’ll hand you keys to your humble chalet.

Nice eh?? Nice eh??

One chalet has 8-9 rooms, where one room houses 6 peeps.

My gosh. See the pic also I feel like going back there again. It’s that nice. And so cool, even though we weren’t at midpoint. 15 degrees C after the rain!

Our check-in was quite early : 3-4pm. And dinner was scheduled at 7pm. So we decided to get very hardworking and do what we did best.

I dunno why somehow all the sleeping pics have Kit in it. Blame my itchy trigger-finger!

OK la. To be fair..all 5 of us slept..and the most enjoyable guilt-free 2 hour nap I had for a very very long time it was. No calls, no technology etc. Except for abit of Twittering (15 posts a day). A bit only

Re-packing is essential when you’re climbing up Mount KK.

You basically need to separate your items into:

(1)  Stuff to use on the way up the climb (towel, 100 plus, camera, first aid, lunch box) into your backpack.

(2)  Stuff to use only when you’re up at midpoint (sleeping clothes, toiletry) into a plastic bag to be given to the porter.

I’m super glad I left my trolley bag at base camp, cause my plastic bag weighed only 3-4 kg.

I told Desmond 10000 times to pack all his stuff into one bag like mine (dslr + everything else) so he won’t get stuck in the wall cracks like i did before, but he won’t listen. Wana be hero and carry two bags up the mountain summore!

So the million-dollar question : did Desmond make it up there with two bags? aahahahaa we’ll find out later!

Dinner was a surprisingly luxurious affair, if you consider that it was up in the mountains.

My Nasi Goreng with Local Special Sauce! Not bad. I was told to enjoy it as the ‘Last Meal’. Bugger Desmond.

Rach’s nice-looking club sandwich.

Again, not bad eh the deco?

A ‘Last Meal’ wouldn’t be complete without some alkie so I had a can of..

..Stella Artois. Tasted pretty OK, a bit fresher than Heineken / Carlsberg. Drunk at 15 deg C outside.

It’s OK to knock yourself out and not be able to climb mountain the next day, cause there are porters who will carry you up to Laban Rata. Yes, carry you up the 8km trail bloody hell.

And it costs a hefty RM300 / km. So choose wisely if you decide to get wasted the night before climbing.

Sorry Rach, another shot of you eating xD…somehow you’re always eating something!

Whereas Arhnue’s going on and on about some underwater monster that she encountered during her diving trips.

And Kit…..well this time he’s not sleeping again, but just being his usual self…

This guy hasn’t changed since school man (save for his belly), and that’s a good thing.

In fact, nobody changed much. Characters grow, people get mature, but personalities? Just like in the old days man. 10 years ago.

Arhnue and her cost-saving-travel-light techniques while on the go.

This is where we go to sleep….at 10pm people! the earliest I ever slept in years! LOL.

I walked out on my own to get a few night shots…

….Until it got too creepy for me so I decided to go back and hit the sack.

I was pretty damn excited for the next day, not knowing what to expect. What to do, first time bah.

But I tell you, I never loved 100 PLUS as much as I did up on mountainside man. What a lifesaver

More updates will be coming very shortly!

Cheers!
-EVo-