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Hello everyone, when we left off I was a couple of days away from climbing Mt. Kinabalu and I am proud to say that I successfully did. The day before me and Greg went to the mountain, the four of us spent some time exploring a place called the central market in Kota Kinabalu. We started out in the food area and we walked past stall after stall of an assortment of meats, fruits, and other produce. I didn't buy anything but Stephen picked up some hot sauce that smells delicious. The smell of all of the food assaulted me from all sides and was mostly delicious except for the occasional rotting meat smell coming off of some of the older or more exotic cuts or internal organs. We then moved toward a section of the market that focused on clothing and shoes where I stumbled across a pair of cleats whose brand was Total 60 (for those who do not know, there is a brand called Total 90 so these shoes were clearly a cheap knockoff). I didn't buy them but I did get a picture. We then made our way into a mall that was connected to the market where I managed to pick up some cheap gold-rimmed aviators to replace my recently lost sunglasses. We then made our way back to the street and wound up in a more touristy souvenir area of the market where I picked up a decorated wooden mask for fairly cheap which I haven't decided what to do with yet. I guess it will be a surprise. For the rest of the day we relaxed until making our way toward Shenanigan's later that night to try to catch Jazzfest and the first match of the World Cup there. Unfortunately it turned to be a really nice bar which we felt we were grossly to casually dressed to enter. Instead we went to a sports bar across the street and settled in for the match. We were tired after this and knew we had to catch either a bus to the mountain early in the morning or the ferries to Brunei, so we made our way back to the hostel and crashed.
The next morning we rose early, like I already said, and Greg and I made our way to the bus station. We managed to easily find a small bus heading in that direction and hopped on. Before going to our destination the driver detoured into a poor looking part of town to yell at a house after which two people came and got on. This was a little weird. The rest of the ride went without incident. Once we got to headquarters about 1000 meters above sea level we paid for our permits and guide, but were informed that there were a lot of people on the mountain that day so we would have to start without our guide, who we were told would catch up to us at some point throughout the day. This seemed a little ridiculous but we didn't really have a choice so we set out down the road in the direction we thought led to the beginning of the trail to the summit. At the time we weren't sure if we were going in the right direction, but it turned out to be the right way. Though we went the right way, we added 4.5 km of uphill hiking to our trip that day before finally arriving at the entrance gate to the trail. Needless to say we were a little pissed that we hadn't gotten a ride. The hike from the entrance gate to the lodging where we slept that night took us 5 grueling hours. We climbed around 2400 meters that day. At the time we couldn't really see the scenery because after 10:00 in the morning fog always rolls onto the mountain and obscures your view of everything but the path in front of you. As we ascended the vegetation changed composition many times. Where at the bottom it still felt like being in a tropical forest with large trees, vines, and ferns all around, the upper reaches felt more like being in a fantasy novel with shorter more knobby and gnarled trees all of one species surrounding us at one point. Very surreal. Our guide did catch up to us about 4 hours into the hike, and he turned out to be 14 year old kid. This surprised us, but we had to respect the guy because apparently he had hiked all the way down from the summit earlier that day and then been informed he had to come catch us so he had then booked it back up to find us. With jelly for legs, we finally arrived at our lodgings and immediately fell upon the delicious buffet waiting there. We had that meal with a Belgian couple and a German couple whose company we enjoyed. After that I hopped in bed and just read for a few hours while resting my legs. Eventually I went to sleep after having some difficulties due to the thinness of the air which made it difficult to not gasp for breath every time I got close to sleep, and awoke at 2:00 am for our final ascent to the top. We left this early so that we could see the sun rise from the peak and also because the fog roll in just before noon daily, which would obscure our view from the top. Just prior to leaving I caught the first few minutes of the U.S. versus England match and had to watch us get scored on. Not a good way to begin. We departed in darkness and started the climb with a little help from Stephen's borrowed head lamp. We quickly hit the tree line and saw nothing but scrub brush and rock for the rest of the climb. It progressively got colder and I was very thankful I had decided to buy a pair of gloves at the mountain hotel to warm and protect my freezing hands from the abrasive rock. I climbed with no awareness of what was going on around me, while solely focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. We followed a thick rope during this part of the climb which at times we had to use to brace ourselves against the rock so that we could scale the steeper parts. Eventually the horizon began to orange and we finally laid eyes on the peak. At this point I hadn't quite made it to the top yet, but as I looked around I could only see a great expanse of rock which led to some of the other peaks or fell away into an amazing view of the forested hills and mountains all around us. I could also see many of the surrounding cities because of the light they were giving off. That moment will stay with me for some time because I have never seen anything so majestic or just straight up epic. We finally made it to Low's Peak (the highest one), and I took a picture with the sign which declared that I was in fact 14,101 feet above sea level. At this point it was ridiculously cold and I could barely feel my hands enough to take Greg's picture with his camera. I felt a great deal of pride in myself when I turned to Greg while still on the summit and declared, "We did it," and fist bumped. Cool feeling. Soon after we began our descent which we completed after stopping at the hotel for our second breakfast and a quick nap.
By the time we reached the bottom our legs were involuntarily wiggling all over the place and barely worked at all. Overall it had taken us 8 hours to reach the summit, and another 4 or 5 to get back down. That's a lot of hiking. We got together with two other Americans and chartered a taxi back to Kota Kinabalu. I was in a stupor brought on by extreme exertion and lack of sleep so I slipped in and out of consciousness throughout the ride. I spent the rest of the day laying down and reading before heading to a Chinese restaurant for dinner where I got a delicious hotpot of assorted deliciousness. After that the World Cup dominated my next few hours. The next day Stephen and Jenny were not back yet, so Greg and I walked stiff-leggedly down to the docks where we chartered a boat to take us to one of the islands right off the coast of Kota to spend a relaxing day on the beach. It started off relaxing, but certainly didn't end that way. We got in about an hour in the water and reading on the shore, while watching a huge front of clouds moving towards us. As the rain began to fall we scrambled for shelter and had to pay an outrageous price for a drink in order to secure a roof for the coming downpour. We still had a couple of hours before the time we had booked to leave, so we settled in and watched the rain get progressively stronger. For a while it was pretty ridiculous and our view of the ocean was obscured by the heavy rainfall and mist. Finally, the rain lessened in intensity so we threw on our ponchos and went down to the dock where a boat came and got us and got us back to shore. We had talked to 2 American girls while we were at Uncle Tan's who had described how they had taken their boat ride back from the islands in the heavy part of a storm. Apparently the engine died while they were in the middle of the bay and the driver had to get in the water and fix it in the midst of huge swells. Luckily our experience was a little better. When we got back to the hostel Jenny and Stephen were back so we quickly caught each other up what had happened since we split. That night we ate at a delicious Japanese restaurant where I ate Tempura Udon and sautéed eggplant which was delicious. Stephen and Jenny got to see just how unbelievably sore we were, when we tried to climb down the two stairs leading up to the restaurant and both almost wiped out.The rest the night was of course devoted to World Cup action.
We are flying into Singapore today, and then Yogyakarta in Indonesia a few days after that so I will be sure to update once we get to Indonesia.See you guys next time.
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