Mt K 的点点滴滴

2 Oct 2006

Finally the long awaited trip! After so many hiccups along the way, I'm finally going to climb a real mountain in my life (i.e. besides Bkt Timah Hill)! YEAH!!! After grabbing a mere 5 mins rest, I gotta rushed off to office to grab a file which I thought I left there but is still MIA now.. sob.. anyway another 100 m dash to uncle cabby who kindly brought me to Bugis to meet S & D without booking charges. 3 of us then embarked on our journey to Senai Airport & finally KK!

As usual, I fell asleep on the plane. Flight was not too comfortable, strangely the seats cant be adjusted (which we later found out that it's cos we are sitting next to the emergency exit, what a wrong move! DIAO!) Was greeted by a nice rainbow at KK domestic airport & later by smiley J who had been there for a few days already due to the climbathon. Walked around KK, led by J, the obvious guide who can find his way around so easily while I just followed blindly... It's strange how some pple just have such a good sense of directions... hmm...

Proceeded to Rose Cabin, our lodging at the foot of Mt Kinabalu for the night. It's a nice place with a balcony where we can see Mt Kinabalu! Wow! But it's too hazy & visibility was poor. While everyone was settling down, I went to play with the rabbits, happily "teasing" them with my keys when I got scratched *ouch* Retribution! Finally, J was done with his report so all 4 of us went on to explore the vegetable fields behind, got a feel of walking on uneven grounds & saw the beautiful sunset which i failed to capture on my camera =( Had a go at the swing near the eating area, it was really fun! After having tough chicken meat & crunchy leafies for dinner, we decided to have a game of cards in our room. Played bridge & bluff which i failed terribly. My biggest mistake in card games & mahjong: 我总是只顾自己的牌，不管别人怎么出牌，就好像活在自己的世界里。其实，知己知彼、百战百胜的道理，我是知道的，不过没有实践罢了。 So obviously I was made to shuffle the cards like dunno how many times... And J was like very amused, obviously gloating over my "misfortune"! =( Bathing was very "exciting" as temperature dropped drastically at night. Hairdryer was on to bring us a little bit more warmth. S & I decided to fill the bucket with warm water instead of going directly under the shower after hearing poor D's shivering bath story. haha... =D

1st day at KK with no major mishap...

3 Oct 2006

Our mt climbing experience was abt to start! All 4 of us had no prior exp in mt climbing & here we are challenging 1 of the highest mts in SEA, wow! Had buffet breakfast & went on to settle the administrative stuff like getting mt guide, paying for mt permit etc... I decided to get our guide Hali to carry my bag for me after all though the other 3 went ahead with their loads. Haiz... abit useless but I guessed I shldnt CQ if I really wanna survive till the end!

Halfway thru, I realised I had underestimated the mt... It's not just steps! Paths were rocky & some parts were quite steep, manageable on the whole but there are areas where i really dreaded taking a step forward & needed helping hands. *Oh dear, am I going down these paths? Cant imagine! Courage! Courage! I need more courage! Jiayou! I need to overcome my phobia! * 爬山很需要勇气，来面对一切风雨，陡峭山路我要征服你，我想一定可以...不要畏惧！

Saw squirrels at our resting pts, ahhh.... so cute!!! Hali was showing us orchids, giant ferns/fronds & pitcher plants along the way. He even helped me took a close up shot of pitcher plants up a steep slope!!!

As we got higher, the winds grew stronger & the air became thinner, D & I were panting hard for breath. D nearly wanna gave up but decided to press on. Finally we saw Laban Rata Resthouse where we were supposed to stay for the night! It was super windy up there & there were times when I felt as if I wld get blown away any moment! I just clinged on to the pole for my dear life, cos any step I take just seemed too dangerous, it was scary!

Grabbed my lunch/dinner there, a plate of tasteless kampung fried rice & mushroom soup. Costly! But considering that the porters act carried them up the mt made the prices justifiable. It was so cold & the heater is only on from 8pm to 8am. What bad news! The tap water was interesting, 1 side with icy cold water while the other runs boiling hot water, faint, cant they mix the water? Only S decided to shower while the 3 of us battled the cold. D was in KO mode, hugging my warm water bottle. It was another game of bridge & card shuffling for 3 of us besides KO D. Halfway thru, altitude sickness creeped in which I brushed aside as symptoms due to the cold. All of us retired to bed ard 7pm but I was tossing & turning in bed. It was cold & the headache wun go away... sob... =( Rubbed some medicated oil but not much use. Halfway thru the night, D was up looking for panadol. 我们同是天涯沦落人！I quickly supplied 1 tablet & my medicated oil. 10+pm: Still shivering, I decided to get up & wear my thermal wear which I initially stubbornly wanna wait till tom. Much better with my scarf & thermal socks on. 开始胡思乱想... Can I really get to the summit? It was raining heavily... am in a not-so-good state. Took out hp & read 管理员sms: "halo dear, how r u there? dun give up ya.. come on, juz a few more steps, u can make it! jiayou!" sobsob... started praying hard that headache will go away tom, rain will stop, everything will be fine but what if... I dun wanna 七孔流血 up the mt. Also dun wanna press on but cant make it halfway & be a burden.. what shld I do? 思绪复杂... With all these thoughts, I slowly dozed off...

4 Oct 2006

2am: It was still raining heavily! Headache was still there but a little better... S & J were discussing if we shld continue the climb despite the weather. Debate revolves around "safety 1st, try at later time, stay for another day & see what happens". We decided to approach Hali for advice who told us that it is best to abort the plans. J was quite determined to climb at a later time if weather permits, S stood by the "Safety 1st" policy while I preferred to stay for another day & see what happens. Our discussion led nowhere because later, rangers issued a warning that nobody is to go up the summit due to bad weather conditions. So disappointing... no beautiful sunrise! We were forced to descend.

7am: Feeling much better, luckily! After breakfast & some photo-taking, we began our route down the mt. Sweat! Strong winds again... I started clinging on to my beloved pole! 上山容易，下山难，我充分体会到这点！Courage, I need more courage! Grounds were wet & we descended slowly. D was surprisingly fast. Apparently, the thought that more oxygen is waiting for him down the mt motivated him to descend faster! haha... During 1 of the breaks, Hali suddenly came up to me & said it might start raining in 1 hr time. That stressed me abit. I thought he was hinting that I was too slow. After the break, I hurried behind D. Not long after, I was forced to give up. D was too fast, J & S were not behind me, for a moment I thought I was lost & panicked! :'( Luckily they were not far behind & we were reunited =) Hali was right, it really started raining & we proceeded with extra caution & less speed. Bumped into a poisonous frog & 2 snakes on our way down. J was screaming "a snake is swimming down" & I was screaming "AHHHH"as I ran down the mt with maximum speed!! Last 1 km, I was completely exhausted & had to rely on singing aloud to perk myself up! Every step is so tiring... HELP! Suddenly I saw a flight of stairs in front of me & nearly fainted! But that's act the last flight of stairs b4 we completed our journey! YEAH!! We have reached the foot of the mt, completely drenched & exhausted! What an accomplishment!

On our way back to KK, we were told by the driver Lawrence that there had been a landslide yest due to the rain. Were stucked in a traffic jam for sometime before we finally arrived at Step-In Lodge where we decided to stay for the coming 2 nights. Had dinner nearby & went to centrepoint to change currency, finally I had money!! Gotta borrow $ from S for the past 2 days! Shopped around centrept with aching feet, siaming stairs as far as poss... S went to bed quite early that day. Short of 1 bridge kaki, we can only play poker & building pyramids. After trying for more than half an hr, I finally succeeded in building a 3 storeys high pyramid! Err... I know I'm a failure but at least I did not give up ya? =P

5 Oct 2006

Finally it's not raining...

Today is a day of relaxation @ the beach after 2 days of strenuous mt climbing. Manukan Isld was on our list but we later went to Sapi Isld. Both are a part of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, a park off the coast of Borneo (made up of 5 islds). While waiting for the grp to form so we can take a boat to the desired isld, I took some photos & found out that Jesselton was the initial name for KK during British Colony.

Boat ride was comfortable & waves were beautiful. It's not too long before we reached Sapi Isld. The guys went to swim/play with water while we gals stayed on the beach. I was looking out for seashells & pine cones while S built a sandbear. An iguana came along & "entertained" us a bit. We also played a while of beach volleyball (later named "Ohana" =) before we got tired & thought of food. Lunch was yummy & we started chatting abt wk!!? I just kept quiet while the other 3 talked abt people whom I dunno (most of the time) & realised I indeed dun have long "antennas" - requirements of a journalist. hmm...

离开的时候发生一段小插曲。I was stopped by a man & was told to hand over my seashells & coral (which J showed me & I 占为己有=P) cos I'm not supposed to bring them out of the isld. So paiseh... I really dinno that... but the man later returned them to me, advising me to put them in my bag. I guessed he's just being nice so I happily took them back to Spore!

Since this is the last night we are spending at KK (Time flies!!!), we decided to explore more places despite our aching legs! Went to Pasar Pilipin to shop for souvenirs for frens & colleagues. Got a bit of trouble finding out the prices since the shopowners usually spoke malay! Luckily D is quite fluent so I relied on him to ask for prices. Suddenly, something caught the eye of 3 of them! Frog-shaped pouches hanging at the shops... Conversation followed: "Are they real frog-skin?" "I think so, u see, all the eyes are of different sizes!" "The sizes of the bags are different too!!" *OMG! YUCKS!!!!! *I immediately kept a safe distance from the gruesome froggie pouches & the 3 of them! *So gross! eeekkkks...* But the 3 of them (even S!!!) were simply too fascinated & started taking photos! *FAINT* Fine... just stay away from me... Finally done with frog photos, we continued to look for a tee for my buddy. Suddenly, J exclaimed that I'm actually in contact with... guess wat? YESH! The froggie pouches! AHHHHHH........ I nearly freaked out & started jumping ard! Cant really remember my rxn but I guessed I was quite loud when I screamed! O dear! 形象俱毁!!! 吓死我了！我想我应该有一阵子不敢吃田鸡吧！太可怕了！After this, I was extra careful when I shuttled between the stalls. Finally got what we wanted, so we klkk a bit & took photos ard before settling for dinner at a restaurant near the sea. Act thought of having 海鲜大餐@ Portview Seafood Restaurant where there were a variety of interesting sea creatures on display, but running out of $$, we decided to settle for a more budget dinner. Unfortunately, the food we ordered turned out to be quite spicy, so my taste bud gotta undergo some intensive training... After dinner, we stopped at Portview Seafood Restaurant for a cultural performance. Later, we went on to the fish & spice market. Something happened there that really touched my heart. J was holding Ohana (our beachball =) when suddenly 2 little gals came up & smiled brightly at us. I'm puzzled... Along the way, more kids started looking & smiling at us. Suddenly I realised what they were fascinated at: OHANA! I can't describe how I feel but I knew if one of them came up to me & ask for the ball, I wld have given it away at once! *sorry...ohana!* For the 1st time in my life, I realised that a simple beachball, 1 that I got free in Hawaii, can bring so much joy to the kids in Sabah! It's amazing! In Singapore, our kids only care abt computer games, how much memory space or ram the pc has so that gaming can be more exciting. It's really different!

突然觉得，快乐可以很简单。知足常乐！忘不了第一个小女孩的微笑，她让我觉得自己真的很幸福！

6 Oct 2006

Finally we are going back to Spore. Had a quick breakfast before rushing off to airport to catch our flight. Sometime during 1 of the cab journeys, I remembered D telling us abt his reporting experiences on his friend who had passed away, how he had to interview the parents etc. I tried putting myself in his shoes. Can I manage?

今天还在跟你聊天的朋友，明天突然不在了，这已经是个残酷的事实。身为新闻工作者的我们，还必须去采访报道，甚至去访问家属，那会是怎样的心情？别忘了，还必须客观报道，不能夹杂自己的情感。我做得到吗？

或许可以吧！因为这是工作。不过，长久下去，会不会把自己训练得刀枪不入、对于死亡越来越麻木？会不会变得越来越无情？或者，其实我已经越来越无情了。蛮佩服D的！采访过印尼大海啸、台湾921大地震等天灾人祸，还能全身而退...换做是现阶段采访命案还在求神拜佛不要看见尸体的我，应该需要事后辅导吧，我想。

Ok enuff of stray thoughts... After a final lunch @ Swensens @ JB Citysquare, our KK trip had finally ended =( It's life back to normal... Time to gain momentum @ work! Genki Genki! *('')*

~~~ Some thoughts abt Sabah: 沙巴州，位于东马，一个相对纯朴、简单的地方（同新加坡比较）。若不是为了MT K，我从未想过到访这里。当然，偶尔远离城市的喧嚣，到这里小住几天是不错的。不过，我还是习惯生活在大城市里。至少，年轻的时候，我宁愿到大城市工作和生活。退休后则另当别论。~~~

Adapted from http://doraemin.blogs.friendster.com/doraemin_blog/