[Kinabalu Park, Malaysian Borneo] Eish, the hostel was a bit of a disaster last night. We froze with the beach-towel blankets and didn’t get much sleep. After a hot shower and big breakfast we headed out to Kinabalu park. A brisk 2km+ walk got us to the gate where, after the peace and quiet of the past 12 hours, we were confronted by hoards of hikers from Auzzie school girls to locals of all ages. The weather was looking great – blue skies and the mountain peeped out from behind the clouds for a few minutes. We registered quickly and got cool personalized ID tags to identify our bodies if required, arranged a guide (mandatory) and grabbed a ride to Timpohon gate where the trail starts at 1866m.

After signing in we paused at the race results board inside the gate. There is an annual race from the gate to the summit and back. Last years winning time was 2:40:41 – it was going to take us two days! We set of with our ‘guide’ following. To be honest we barely saw him. Seems guides on Kinabalu are hit or miss. Ours was a miss. We did well at the beginning covering the first km in 20 minutes, the second in 30 minutes and the third (half way) in 35 minutes. The trail is excellent. A well built track with an insane number of stairs (cut into the rock, set in concrete or constructed with wood) winds it’s way up past civilized shelters and toilets at every km. There were a lot of people heading up for the day and we were near the front of the hoard as we negotiated the increasingly steep section up to the Layang-Layang shelter (2072m).

At Layang (just short of 4km) we stopped for our packed lunch which was provided as part of the fee. It was brilliant and well thought out – just what we needed and the cheeky squirrels around the shelter obviously agree. Up to the shelter the views had been mostly of dense rain forest. We had kept our heads down and plodded on up through the moss covered trees. Beyond Layang the path turned to a hard sand and large rocks and the trees shrank to shrubs and grasses somewhat reminiscent of the berg. The trail became incredibly steep with endless huge steps.

We were both feeling exhausted and watching the porters carrying huge loads of supplies past us wasn’t helping. The last 500m was crazy. It is so frustrating since you know that 500m on flat ground will take at the very most 7 minutes to walk but up here it takes 30! V is amazing (aka stubborn) in these situations. She starts counting steps. Usually 150 but down to 50 between rests when the going gets tough. She sticks to it with grim determination and will stop at 150 steps even if there is shade or a rest bench at 155 steps – got to love her for that.

After 4.5 hours (precisely the estimated average time for the hike) we hobbled into Laban Rata rest house (3273m) and checked in to our dorm room. We were one of the first groups to arrive. Quite chuffed at our performance – not too bad for us. Before having a chance to cool down we decided to hit the showers. We knew that there was a problem at LR and that there was no hot water or heating. It was insanely cold as the screams from the shower stalls indicated. The rest of the afternoon was spent taking photos, waiting for dinner and hanging around in the dining area. The rain started up but seemed to come in waves as hikers arrived at the door saturated to varying degrees.

Trying to stay awake we chatted to a pleasant Auzzie chap until at long last dinner was ready (around 17h00). It was excellent. Simple, good comfort food. We ate our fill and polished off mugs of tea before heading to bed around 19h00. Tomorrow we make our push for the summit – hey, it’s hard core for us 🙂

[Pictures: Stairs and more stairs. Laban Rata, the promised land]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi