Mount KK : [Part III] Laban Rata Go Go Go!!

Many mountains in the world have been explored and mapped out. Mostly for geographical, commercial, or purely time-wasting purposes.

This is the commercially available map of the mountain trail up to Mount Everest.

This is the commercially available ski map of the mountain trail at Anzère, Swiss Alps.

And this, my friends, is the commercially available map of the mountain trail up our beloved Mount Kinabalu.

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See, we love the environment so much that we print our maps black & white. No Color. On paper that has been reused TEN times, that’s why it looks like ‘HAM CHOY’ HAHA.

No lah, the paper was originally white and clean, just that we got caught in the rain and I forgot to protect the map

But really, even if you bust the map, you won’t get lost on the way up Mount KK. There are 2 trails that one can use. 1 starts from Mersilau and the other starts from Timpohon. They both meet at a fork before Laban Rata, and from there it goes straight up to the summit. And there’s only 1 path to walk throughout the journey.

It takes a lot of imagination and genius to actually lose your way up the trail haha.

So here continues Day 2 !! *bersemangat gila*. Other episodes: Part I & Part II

Some of the things I appreciated were the 1/2 km milestones that indicated my progress on the way up the trail. It was just what I needed to think LESS about the long, long 8km that lay in front of me. Nice lor these Sabahans

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As you can guess, the km’s felt like they were getting further and further apart, as the steps seemed to get steeper and steeper…

Quite instantly, me and my bottle of 100 Plus became the best of friends. Nothing quenches your thirst as orgasmically as 100 Plus (damn I can’t believe I just used ‘orgasmically’ in my sentence lol)

As I mentioned, Mr Mersilau-Trail (from the right) will meet Mr Timpohon-Trail (from the left) before the two paths merge to go up to Laban Rata, at a small clearing known as ‘the fork’.

And at the clearing, our normally strong and tireless porter was spotted hiding away from us under a tree. Gotcha!

OK, so they’re human too. HAHA.

It’s very important to stay hydrated and rest every 20-30 minutes. Go at a steady pace, instead of sprinting ahead of everyone and burning up faster than everyone else. If you wana be Kiasu, you must be fit. No Fit = No Kiasu. And if necessary, pop an energy bar or energy gel for a quick recharge.

For me, I use Clorets chewing gum. *no need la energy bar laaaa*

Somewhere along, we encountered a crazy porter rushing down past us. And I mean REALLY rushing.

What the hell man. These people’s knees made of STEEL or what???

Intentionally underexposed shot. What do you think nice ah nice ah LOL.

When it’s foggy and looks like rain, you can either express yourself to the sky…

…Camho…

Or….you can just stare blankly into the camera like Arhnue lol.

The one thing about carrying a DSLR around while climbing is that it has to be kept in a secure, padded compartment in my bag, and when it is time to take a shot of something or someone, I must:

(1)  Stop walking / climbing
(2)  Unhook front safety latch.
(3)  Unhook one shoulder strap
(4)  Pull backpack to the front.
(5)  Reach my hand over my monster bag and pull open the zip. Then pull the camera compartment further out. Note : Must be careful here or you may end up with the catastrophic dumping of your lenses / flash onto the ground wah cry.

By the time the camera comes out, your subject would have reached the top of the mountain already.

OK lah, I exaggerated a bit there. But truth is, DSLR is quite a pain to carry up the mountain, although the shots are worth it. I suppose that is the way pros do it, so I must learn that! or die trying! cheh wah dramatic.

But at least I put everything into one bag, instead of carrying a separate camera bag like some other DSLR photographer.

Guess what. Eventually his camera bag became porter luggage hahahahaa. Okay, he was carrying Rach’s backpack as well. That surely deserves some credit.

I also guess that he finally realized that his 5D is probably safer with the porter than with him xD

May I also add that on the night before, his camera was already..slightly damaged, by ahem…me. Cos I tried to put my EFS lens into his EF camera lens hole. @.@  what! short of one ‘S’ got so big difference meh??

Anyway, I damaged it. Slightly. One of the mirrors cracked and fell out, that’s all. Desmond’s viewfinder changed from a nice big frame to a 5-sen-sized hole. But still can see a bit lah. Hey his shots still turned out ok Haha. Sorry Desmond.

Everything was forgotten when I caught a glimpse of the bare-rocky mountainside about 1.5 km from our destination.

It’s truly quite a sight to admire momentarily, when for the past 5 hours, I saw nothing but trees and valleys and squirrels. Some mean-looking mountain babeh!

It was at this point when the moment we were hoping to avoid came…it started raining!

Ey, when raining quite scary la. With this device in my bag which cannot kena a single drop of water one. A rain cover + poncho is a must when rain comes in.

Sadly, I’m not very good at putting on ponchos. When you’re tired and really very hungry, all you wana do is get that damn piece of plastic over your head and body. I ended up punching big holes all over the poncho instead. It was simply no protection at all.

Even Pian Porter had to use an umbrella *chik chak*

Yes, despite the rain + hunger, the Shutterbug in me prevailed. Jai-Ho! Cam-Ho! But while shooting must wrap camera in Plastik Beg or habis.

I’m beginning to think that I should have shot in RAW mode, so i could recover the underexposed foreground…is that what you would do? Does it work that way?

The final kilometer before we reach Laban Rata, and before sunset!

And finally, an extremely welcome sight…..

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LABAN RATA GUESTHOUSE!

As you can see, Mount KK is quite popular until there was hardly any tables left. Kit Loong, our hero, however, reached first and was able to get a table just in time for us xD

And the best plate of Chap Fan I had for years (it seemed at the moment) I had for dinner.

Eat until. damn. Puas.

And the timing was just nice. Ngam ngam sunset…! Cam-Ho alert! Jai-Ho!

It takes a real good photographer to capture the full range of colors while correctly exposing the contrasting parts of the pic wei. I need more practice…I need more KK trips!

My 3 favorite shots =)

Did I mention that the room which I tried to get in the main Laban Rata resthouse wasn’t available? That meant I had to bunk in alone at another resthouse, 15 mins away. It’s quite a thrill, hiking up at night…

Can you imagine the excitement while jostling amongst other climbers at 3am the next morning to the summit? It’s incredibly surreal. @.@

Check back soon for the next part =)

If you liked this post, do check out Part I & Part II ok…!

Cheers!
-EVo-

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