Last Updated 23 May 2011
All photos are copyrighted, some of them belongs to my friends.
It all started as a thought back in August 2010. Thats when this blog was first created.
I was thinking, since AA fly from Singapore to KK direct. Also ML's brother and JC just came back from the Kinabalu Park claiming that the lodge was quite beautiful, I was thinking, why not conquer the summit and use it as a training for Nepal? Shared the ideas with a few colleagues and my senior and the team began to take shape. I was lucky that I got in contact with Christina Lam, the helpful manager that really tried her best in making all arrangement way beyond expectation.
We practice our hiking on Bukit Timah hill weekly while I do near-daily 25-floor-staircase climbing routine, WF on gym and EK literally have Bukit Timah as his backyard. ML and my senior couldnt make it in the end, the 7 of us continue. The blog below is dedicated to my fellow teammates, without their encouragement and company, the hike will definitely not be as fun as it had been.
20 Apr 2011 Wed
Drizzled. Rain. Afternoon. Singapore.
Will the same weather greet me in KK? This is what keep lingering in my mind. Haven't even packed anything even tho the flight is at 535pm. Quickly rush back home to pack the things in one by one according to the packing list. Dont think I will have enough time to take the mrt to the airport, took a cab and just squeeze through the jamp at ECP, reached Terminal 1 at 435pm. Ee Kai texted me and said he saw R but never saw WF. Called WF, told me he already went into the transit area. We checked in and went into the Departure Hall together. Pretty happy that we managed to get a copy of Zaobao from 7-11. The moment we passby the bookshop, we met Richard and his daughter. We walked to the gate together and the plane only arrive at 520pm. It is not until 630pm before it departed.
The couple sat next to me introduced themselves. They are Matt Koerber and Amanda Koerber. They are both going for the 12th Sabah Advnture Challenge. They are going to tough it out for the next 3 days. I later saw them push out their huge bike box so huge out of KKIA's Arrival Hall. These are real hardcore adventure lovers.
By the time everyone was out at the Arrival Hall, it is already 9pm. Weather was good and dry though, very unlike the wet Singapore we left behind. Took the airport taxi and in 15 mins, we were in front of King Park Hotel. Dropped our luggage in the room and straight away we all head towards Shuangtian Seafood Restaurant for dinner! Hungry!
There were so many types of different sea creatures swimming in the aquarium. We made our picks and viola, all are cooked to near perfection. I like the salted-egg crabs. Burp!
Once the stomach was full, it was time to head back for zzzzzzzzz.
21 Apr 2011 Thu
KK sunrise was damn early, at around 6am the sky was already like our 8am. Bright and all. Kids here do not need alarm clock to wake up haha. We woke up and went for breakkie.
I took the time to go and approach the taxi drivers for long haul journey, just outside the hotel. The toyota 8 seater looked pretty spacious i thought.
So I asked him whether he can fetch us to Kinabalu Park and Poring Hotspring and back. We discussed for about 10 minutes and reached agreement. Brought R to see the condition of the car and he was quite happy too. Richard sat at the front as vehicle commander, me, J and J sat in the middle row while WF, EK and SH were at the last row. Set off at 930am and we passed by the legend of KK - The state mosque. Soon we were already on Kota Kinabalu - Ranau highway and gaining height along the way.
Weather was sunny and all. We stopped by half way at Tanparuli for gear and tit-bits.
I got my Adidas Kampong, Ee Kai got his headlamp and the rest got their food and water. We reached Kinabalu Park office at 12 noon for registration.
The restaurant opposite Kinabalu Park couldn't serve us as all their tables were reserved so we went to Ranau for lunch instead.
In Ranau, we managed to order the authentic Malaysia black sauce hokkien mee, not the whitish hokkien mee we see in Singapore. The lard was so good!
After lunch, we drove on to the Poring Hot Springs. Road constructions went to furiously along some sections to cater for influx of tourists. On the way, there, a chicken crossed the road and caused our otherwise super steady driver jam break to avoid this chicken. Wf was shouting, there is a chicken crossing the road!!
Bought the entrance tix and off we went to bathe ourselves. There is a supercool swimming pool outside, and many tubs of hot & cold waters around. Suitable for you to experience cold + hot experience, particularly useful for after-climb relaxation.
The water tubs in Poring Hot spring was rather leaky, not many were in workable condition. EK complained there is no authentic sulphur smell =( so R and WF were saying there could be someone boiling the water in the boiler room or something. So many tubs but not a single one in the right temperature. There was one chinese guy soaking in supposedly the best pool in my mind, gave up his tub and offerred it to me. But the tub was too cold. The tub that his friend was vacating, was too hot. How to mix the water?? WF has an ingenious idea: He emptied my water bottle and start pouring cold water into the hot water tub using my water bottle. Too slow tho. The hot tub was still too hot. I went over to the office to borrow a scoop. Now I can transfer the water at a much faster rate and the hot pool become so comfortable. Maybe the water temperature is a tat too cold for WF's liking, we went over to R's tub and bathed R instead haha. After the hot soak, I went over to the cold pool and have a cold turkey treatment instead. Then came back to the hot tub for final soak. I must say the alternate temperature treatment did much relaxing to the body. The 1.5 hour ride tiredness was washed away!
After wash up, we walked to the water fall to take some pictures. The waterfall was not that far from the hotspring. Silly me, went to the wrong path haha.
On the return way, the stupid chicken again came out of nowhere and again caused our driver to jam break to avoid hitting it. This chicken must be practising his road crossing, at our expense tho. Stopped en-route at Kundasang to buy some fruits for tonight and tomorrow.
We returned to Kinabalu Park for some admin matters. Checked with the park office and our names are all there on the climbing list tomorrow. The lady asked me to come tomorrow early morning to meet my guide. It was then I realise I still haven't found out R's daughter's name. Best part is: I am not the only one, wink!
The Mountain Torq office was just next door and R & J & WF are keen on the Via Ferrata thingy. RM550 thereabout for the adventure. We took the brochure, and was thinking whether we should do it
Collected the keys for the lodges from Sutera office. It started to drizzle. We were given three Nepenthes lodges and off we head towards our lodges.
EK couldnt open our lodge while the rest already moved in swiftly. The driver helped us with the key and when the door was opened,
G A S P
O H M Y G O D
S O G O R G E O U S
I was expecting it to be nice. I was. I was just not ready when it is sooooo nice. See the pics and you wonder whether you are really in Malaysia.
It has two bed rooms at level 2.
It has a living room downstairs.
It has a kitchen downstairs.
it also has a fire place downstairs.
Astro available.
Is this real?????
This is like a far cry from the hotel we stayed in KK, so luxurious! This is going to be the highlight for many days to come. We quickly explore the whole place like kids and started playing hide and seek inside the lodge, or should i say house. It is so huge!!!
Once we settled down, we went down to the Liwagu suite to take a look at the restaurant. Another amazing place.
After some long waiting time, the arranged transport finally came to pick us up, driver was in very apologetic look. R's daughter went to the loo at that time, so R and J shouted her name (listen carefully everyone!!!) and we still couldn't make out her name. It was then that I realised we all dunno her name haha! WF found out later that the lady name is J and it is basically R and his wife name semi-combined. So much for the KYC process.
The kind driver helped me to correct the voucher mistake so that all of us could have our buffet at the Balsam Restaurant.
The buffet spread was marvelous. We even had satay and chicken wings! Everybody ate to their heart content.
Once we are back to the lodge, EK and I, with chips and drinks in our hand, fire place lighted up at one corner, started to gossip gossip, typical to all our trips heehee. I shall leave our conversation topics secret for the time being haha.
We slept early at 10pm knowing that we have a full day tomorrow. Will I be able to tahan tomorrow?? Will I??
22 Apr 2011 Good Friday
Good Friday!!!! Sunny Friday!!!! Never mind that it is actually my unlucky day but who cares!?? The sun is out, cloudless, the peaks are totally visible from the lodge, everything is excellent. I made a phone call to get the van and viola, it appeared very quickly. We asked the kind driver to help us take a group shot and off we went to park office for registration.
The Sabah Park Office is totally swarmed with people: You have guides, group coordinators, climbers etc etc etc, the whole place is abuzz! I squeezed my way through and got hold of the lady to pass me my climbing tags and also get me aquinted with the guides. She told me my guide will be Suning. I was wondering where was my guide and out of nowhere he sprung out. A very stout looking guide. We shook hands and to my surprise, he was also our potter! Wow! He actually double up as both guide and potter, how cool is that?! He explained to us that normally the guide also double up as potter, just that during school holidays, the kids will come and offer help to carry bags for the climbers. Since now is not the skool hol season, he will cover both.
We brought all our barang-barang to the weighing scale, and viola, it reached 12kg. We also handed him our packed-lunches and that added on a few kilos. Once we handed him everything, we went down to Balsam for a good brekkie. By the time we are ready for group shot, the cloud has come and cover the peaks. Haiz....I should have seized the moment!
After the brekkie at Balsam, I went to get my two walking sticks. Bade the two non-climbers goodbye and hop onto a small van. The van drove for a good 15 minutes on winding road, up the hill, till we reached the starting point - Timpohon gate.
WF looked eagerly for more driven route but that was it - everybody has to get down and start walking. J checked her watch and it was 853am. That was the time we atarted at Timpohon Gate. Suning asked us to go ahead and he will catch up with us later. So we started the journey. It was downhill at first - alluring but like R put it, all uphill after that haha. 10 minutes in the trail and we were treated to a majestic roaring waterfall.
We continue to trudge on and later found that the jacket made me felt warm, so I took it off and handed to Suning. Little did I know Suning's capability, but I soon find out. He is an amazing guide.
There were huts every 1 km or so and therefore we can rest along the way. We normally hydrated ourselves and ate some snacks at the hut. At one of the hut, the four young climbers actually asked me how long more to reach Laban Rata. I told them what Lian Hau told me - take the 4.5m Layang Layang Hut as the mid point, have lunch there and brace yourself for the last two km as it felt the longest. Two of them were in army uniforms so it is not that hard to guess where they were from. We chatted a little before we parted ways. Little did I know our friendship will extend beyond that hut, but thats another story for another day =)
So we trudged on and soon, we reached the 4.5km mark at Layang Layang. There were some squirrels around that area as they know thats the popular lunch point, so they will be able to find food. I took a video of these cute creatures. R even managed to find a pitcher plant at the 4km mark. Damn, I missed it. R is very observant.
Those climbers who came down, the lucky lot, had a magnificent view at the summit this morning. If we can see them from the foothill, they must have had a good time up there. They told us the view was fabulous. I asked them whether there was hot water and heater, the answer was a flat no. Their advice was that, the moment you reach Laban Rata guest house, rush into the shower while ur body is warm due to the walk, and quickly take a shower with the 1 degree C water. Sounds cool eh?!
The next two km proved to be challenging as the path is rockier, more like scrambles. The moment we passed 5.5km mark, it started to drizzled.
I have to put on my poncho. And I found out that my jacket was not really water-proofed. I started to feel hungry. I continue to hike till I reach an overhanging rock, which I took shelter and devoured my chocolates, two bars at one go. When R passed me, he moved on and shouted that the hut is just 10m away. Foolish me, should have continued. So we rested awhile at the hut, adjusted our poncho a lil and moved on. We again made the same mistake of stopping at Waras Hut later, only to find that the Laban Rata Guest House is just another 500m up. Damn! It is all in the mind.
We finally stepped into Laban Rata Guest House, semi-soaked at 150pm.
The torrents roared down from summit not far from where we were. Suning was quite impressed with our speeds.
We ordered hot milos and cheered! Milos never tasted better.
Started to devour our packed lunches that Suning brought up for us. I noticed there were some jackets to be rented out at RM20/piece, and since mine is not water proofed and already half-soaked, I rented one. EK also rented one for summit tomorrow. We checked out the t-shirts sold there, a bit expensive tho. Two of the four gentlemen (the two in army uniforms) made it up faster and they recognised me, so we congratulated each other for making it to Laban Rata. It was now then I realised that their guide was so young. When I asked for his age, I nearly fainted, only 15!! Our guide Suning definitely looked more lao jiao.
We checked into room 3 which has 6 bunks to our own. Put down our stuffs and I wanted to take a shower. Dangerous move but I really needed it. So i thickened my skin and asked the new friend made for shower gel. He took the trouble to rummage his bag and pass me his shower gel. I asked them which room he is staying in so that I can return the shower gel to him later. and they told me they are actually staying at Gunting Lagatan. So they will sit here to wait for the other two friends who have yet to arrive, so that they can then have dinner which starts at 430pm before they make their way up to Gunting Lagatan 500m uphill.
The shower was definitely an unforgetable experience. If yesterday's water was 1 degree, then today's must be 0 degree or even sub zero. I was jumping around in the cubicle. Really had no idea how I finished the bath. Came out totally refreshed.
By the time I went down again, the other two already reached Laban Rata. I returned the shower gel to him and thanked him. They were lazing around at the cafeteria while I went outside for some fresh air and was hoping that the drizzle will stop so that we could do summit tomorrow. No luck tho. Drizzle came and go. The four of them already sleeping in the bunks. I was chatting away with the young guides. They kept asking me to join the Climbathon. I laughed. They really have high hopes on a weakling like me.
The drizzle finally stopped for awhile and the of us took photos of the summit. We also ventured out to walk the surrounding.
J and R were no longer keen to do the Via Ferrata thingy that they were talking about, knowing that the briefing was carried out in Pendant Hut, 500m up from where we were.
Suning told me some stories while I was standing outside the guest house, while I was waiting for views. He told me last time, the US Navy came and do the round the mountain thingy from Low's Peak. Lost their ways. In the end, only few survives, and they came out from two different villages, on different parts of the foothill. Also he told me, park rangers always make annual offerings consist of 7 items to the spirits in the mountain. There was one year, the park decided to do away with this ritual, many strange things happened. Call it superstitious or what, guides and walkes saw spirits in white clothes wandering. They quickly reinstated the ritual the following years.
The young guides/potters were standing outside, some 13-17 years old, puffing away. I chatted with them. They pointed to the newspaper clippings on climbathon and asked me to join. They really looked me up too much.
I kept joking with them, as they are humorous and funny bunch. Then there was this disgusting lady, who came and beg for cigarette from the youngsters and started to puff away. She is literally robbing the poor!! Smoke, 1st wrong, ask cigarette from poor young guides/potters, second wrong!! She has got to be either Singaporean/Malaysian, and I am pretty disgusted looking at her puffing away. I later saw her again in AA flight returning Singapore. Totally disgusting lady.
The sky opened up, and I took some pics of the summits as seen from Laban Rata. Then it started drizzle again. Suning said lets pray hard for tomorrow summit climb.
Time for dinner. Woke all of them up. The canteen is full to the brim, cant even find a table. We managed to get a table near the counter. The dinner buffet which had started at 430pm, already nearing the end and most food trays have been swept clean. We ate whatever thats left. Suning told us to meet at 130am tomorrow for supper, and bring the necessities for the summit walk tomorrow. WF took the chance to ask, how did all the kitchen cooks and helpers got up to the mountain as he noticed that the cook is quite big size. By helicopter? Suning laughed and said, they have to walk up just like everybody else. Every few weeks/months, they will have leaves/offs where they will go down, before coming up again. Sound like commuting to work for them is the hardest part of the whole job.
We asked Suning, was helicopter available for rescue at all times? He said no, only if the landing condition is good. Otherwise the rescue team will have to take the road and bring the injured person down. There was a Singapore school boy that tripped and fell when he ran down the mountain and as a result, the helicopter rescue and medical fee came up to a whopping RM38k!
Suddenly there was a commotion outside. The sunset with the blue clouds created such a beautiful display, people started to go out and take pictures. We were excited by the treat too. Snap snap time.
After some picture moments, went to sleep.
Lights off follow at 8pm. Tossing on the upper bunk is no fun at all. Headache inevitably came. The incessant platter of the rain add to my worry that we might not be able to go up summit at all. WF is playing iphone games on his bunk. At one point i just sat on the floor with head on WF's bed. The drizzling outside is really worriying. What if we couldnt go up?? After some tossing, managed to get into light sleeps with many wield dreams. Before I know it, lights on and the commotion began. The long awaited - G A S P - Summit climb.
23 Apr 2011 Good Saturday
130am. Rain subsided. R on the lights. I grudgingly got out of my bed. Totally not ready. Head throbbed like mad. Went to wash room to wash up and many people already making way down to the cafeteria. I finally asked WF for panadol. Popped two pills and the pain gradually subsided.
Took a group photo. Checked my items and went down. Had breakfast. The fried beehoon is good. I tell myself so long as I still have appetite to eat, the altitude sickness couldnt be as bad as what I had back in Shangrila.
After the supper (nth meal) we made a small prayer on my insistence =D and we set off at 230pm.
Already a long trail of headlights lighted up the whole trail. Steps after steps after steps. We couldnt make out other things except the trail and the person in front you. I later learnt that there were 185 climbers that day. God knows if the wooden staircase can support the weight of so many people but thats beside the point.
We finally came to the most scary point, the rope section. Nothing below to rest your feet, this small section requires u to hold the rope tight, with sole on the 80 degree rock surface and move forward. At the point of going up, since you cant see anything, you can still do it. Wait till u are on the way down.
Lucky this rope section is not that long and the subsequent rope section is easier. The granite surface is also less steep now. Holding the rope is quite a tricky thing. It will only hold u it is taut, but when other people pick it up and it started to swing, you might lose balance due to the swing. Sometimes u r on the left of the rope, but you have to cross over to the right. Sometimes u have to wait for the people in front to move, while waiting in a rather precarious position.
Finally reached the Sayat Sayat Check Point at 410am and show the park ranger my climbing tag and he registered that I have reached there. Many questions popped up my mind:
1. How early this park ranger must start to climb in order to reach here to register the climbers?
2. What if he is on urgent leave/mc? Who takes over?
3. What if it rains? Does he still station here?
We rested awhile at Sayat Sayat, which is the last check point and last resting point. We continue to trudge on. Already can see a beeline of head torch lighting up the trail to the summit, faintly. The walk now become walk cum rest. Walk a few steps and I will end up sitting down on the granite surface. It become a walk cum sit along the way.
The final ascent to the summit was the hardest as it is all rumbles.
The sun has already rose by then. Lucky thing is no wind so wasnt really dreadfully cold.
The sun already rose so we were too slow to catch it - it is ok tho cos the view from the summit is simply magnificent. Low's Peak it is called.
The South Peak which graces the Malaysia RM1 note, is more distinct.
Then we have St John's Peak. The park rangers do repelling from the peak from time to time. Cool eh?
All so nice and cosy under the warm morning sun.
We took group shot at the legendary summit marker. My headlamp battery cover fell dunno where but it is also this time that the headlamp wasnt required anymore.
We went down the summit and tried different creative shots with Suning's suggestion. The rain water pool provided excellent reflection opportuntiy for photography. I must say Suning is very into photography and willing to try out new things. Kundasang town and the Kinabalu park is visible from where we stood.
It is finally descend time. We started the journey.
Even tried the stream mountain water near Sayat Sayat Hut, tasted sweet.
The Mountain Torq people were there waiting for people who do Via Ferrata but we passed saying thanks but no thanks.
We hurried down till the most difficult rope section. Yes, the dreaded rope section. Which I managed to do on the way up cos I couldnt see what was below. Now it is entirely different. Suning came to my rescue.
I couldnt have done it without Suning's help. He really held the rope and be my safety net while i grudgingly inching down. The whole line was hogged up because of me. Felt bad.
Finally back to Laban Rata and had brekkie. Returned the jacket, tidies up everything, packed up, check out and go down. It is time to bid Laban Rata farewell. I exchanged contact with new friend that i made, XQ.
Just before the 7.5km mark, saw a guide guiding a pair of angmo up the trail. I was so amazed by their speed. Spoke to their guide and realised that these 2 were doing the going-up-and-come-down same day adventure. Gasp. Hike 4000m up and come down same day?!!! Really didnt sound like my kind of walk altogether. I wish them luck and trudge on.
Before passing the 7.5km mark, it started to rain. There were two youngsters that were going up, trying to reach Laban Rata in 3 hours. Kudos to them. They were the second pair I met when coming down. I pitied their SLR as it is already wet due to the rain. I asked them to cover the SLR cos only one of them has poncho.
The walking now become super difficult. On one hand, the rocks and steps are slippery. On the other, the adidas kampoing which give good grip, doesnt provide cushion so the toes were crying out every step. I ended up as the last one. R on the other hand, ran down the slopes during the dry interval. Kudos to him. Amazing balance. I was so afraid that i might trip, i was careful every step.
Whwne we reach the last hut, the rain started pouring for the second time. Pretty heavy. By now, WF has thrown away his poncho. The torrents turned the trail into river. Instead of walking on the trail, we were like wading in streams. This time, I was quite happy I am in Adidas kampong cos water can go in and go out at wish, without me heart paining abt boots being soaked. We were hesitating whether to continue. R suggested we should and off he went. I reluctantly follow. By the time we nearing Timpohon gate, the waterfall water flowed down with great force. When I finally reached the gate, XQ, who reached Timpohon much earlier than me, was quick to snap an unglam photo of me in the drenchest state. He told me the moment he reached Timpohon, the second rain came. So lucky.
Sat at Timpohon forawhile just to realise that we have to walk another 10 minutes to the bus point. A cab came and picked us up to the park office. I requested for a wash room for us to wash up before we squeezed into the taxi again. The Sutera people told us we can wash up at one of the hostels. Asked the taxi driver to fetch us there and there we started to bathe away the misery. Finally came out fresh. Never mind only one cubicle has hot water. Never mind only 10 minutes. I was happy. Passed the knee guard, adidas kampong (if I wore boots, the whole boots would have been soaking wet now) and soaked wet socks to Suning as my parting gift.
Booked the King Park Hotel, thank god they have rooms for us, at cheaper rate somemore heehee. Collected the luggage from the Sutera Office. Another round of squeezing and packing. We were good to go dinner. The restaurant opposite seemed like a sensible choice since the two ladies were starving due to no lunch (for some reason, the restaurant again didnt serve them, citing reservations made by other guests, the same cold treatment we got on the first day of arrival.)
We went over and ordered our ala-carte meals.
Just when we were half way thru the meals, we saw Suning! He was trying to order from the same restaurant. We quickly invite him over. Another round of Q and A with Suning. We asked him about eerie stories. he told us there was a guide who got lured to the donkey's ears by what he thought was his friend, turn out to be his own illusion. When that guide confronted his friend, his friend claimed that he did not ask him to go to the donkey's ears at all. So who could he be mistaken?
We also asked him about the angmo couple that went up on a single day hike. He told us, he used to do that once but ended up chasing the hiker cos the hiker was a mountainer himself. From then on, he refuse to take these one-day hikers. The guide who took this couple was his brother. (He got 10 siblings by the way.) The couple managed to reach only Sayat Sayat as the rain came.
I commented that the rope section was quite dangerous. Suning said that some years back, there was a guide that didnt hold on to the rope, even though he/she asked the hiker to hold on to the rope. In the end, the guide fell and stopped by a tree. Her mental health was affected and couldnt continue anymore as guide.
He also said that normally one shouldnt shout out names in the mountain as it might attract rain. After we left this morning, there was this lady that shouted for his friend's name and shortly after the rain came.
There were occasions where guides and hikers were having illusion and led astrayed from the original trail. There were incidents where some girls in Laban Rata went hysteria.
R took the opportunity to ask Suning: Why were they piles of little stones on the summit? Suning explained that some guides made stone piles as markers for how many trips they made it up so far. R tried to ask some of the younger guides earlier when he was at the summit but they couldn't aanswer him =)
Suning told us that there are two NGOs from Singapore that are pretty active in his village. One of them teach the kids English and other skills. J mentioned that she also has some friends back in Singapore that are active in community work and probably she can intro them to him.
We bid each other farewell. Suning's brother was actually at the outside of the restaurant all these while. Suning will be taking his brother's car back to home. Our driver left the restaurant at 6pm and sped all the way to KK. The sunset outside was fabulous now that the rain has stopped. The orange glow was mesmerising. The peaks of Mount Kinabalu were totally visible. The waterfall was more substantial compared to the day when we came, thanks to the rain.
Now that everyone has gotten closer to each other, the return journey was a barrel of laughter. So many tales, so many conversations, topic drifted from how miserable we were in the rain to the decision to match the clock time in Sabah and hence the peninsular + Singapore clock was fastened by 1/2 hour bla bla bla. Guess everybody was in a good mood now.
By 730pm, we passed the familiar mosque and viola, reached King Park Hotel. WF was asking me whether we were keen to go out for a meal after wash-up but i was too tired to even step out of my comfort bed. The massage parlour next to the hotel looked kinda sleezy, else will definitely go for some foot massage.
So in the end...as expected, washed up and straight away went to bed. ZZZZZ.
24 Apr 2011 Sunday
Slept from 8 t 6pm and woke up naturally, thanks to the sunlight. Nothing beats waking up to the seaview. Another good good day.
Went down for brekkie and all are ready to go to the Gaya Market. It was not far from our hotel. While we were waiting for each other at the lobby, suddenly there is s loud explosion from the shell petrol station not too far away. Most hotel guests came out and find out why. It came from the shell petrol truck. Think the tyre burst or something. Scared the hell out of us though.
We walked for 10 minutes from the hotel and reached the entrance.
It was at this point that someone tapped my shoulder, it was Siah! He and his wife came to KK for free and easy holiday as well. What a small world! Considering that WK just came 2 weeks ago and not long after I went, another friend of mine walk up mount KK in May.
Busy buying souvenirs and all. I bought a ba-zhang from the seller. Tried their aloe-vera drink, good for cooling at this weather.
Tried the laksa at a very popular coffee shop. Not as good as the Penang laksa i must say, and the price of RM6 is more expensive than in KL!
WF got himself a very cool conquered-Mount KK t-shirt. Dont have my size tho, envy envy! Here are the two gentlemen who were too eager to change into their new outfit...
Finally it was time to go to KK airport. We set off at 130pm. At the immigration counter, I asked the officer was it actually possible to enter using MyKad, and he said yes. That could have saved me a page of passport, damn!
The plane took off punctually and it was quite a full flight. I itchy buttock when to took a front seat instead of my originals. Turned out that the small girl's birthday was on the very same day and AA celebarted her birthday on board. We sang her a birthday song and I doubled up as a photographer. Surprise on air indeed.
After Trip Notes
A toe that become blue black after the descend. It was quite a few days become the soreness in my thighs went away. Climbing stairs in the office turned out to be a celebrated chore for many days.
Some sunset pictures that R took on the very evening we left. So fabulous.
XQ added me on fb and we found out that we actually have common friends. Another small world kinda thing. If we didnt meet in the hut, if I didnt borrow shower gel from him, if he didn't ask for my contact, if we didnt chat on the phone, if he didnt guess that I was from DHS etc etc. Small world indeed.
