What a brilliant excuse to eat as much chocolate and raisins as I like, I thought, as I boarded the plane from Malaysia’s capital to the steamy rainforests of Sabah in the island of Borneo. My emergency ration pack was indeed a symbol of fine planning and consisted of 3 snickers bars, 3 boxes of raisins and an assortment of waterproof and elastic bandaids. What could go wrong in a forest with meat eating flowers (Rafflesia), monkeys with the strength of 3 men (orangutan) and flash floods? I certainly hoped that illegal logging had wiped out 2 of the 3, which only left the flash floods, so I could use my waterproof band aids to lash myself to a tree.
In high spirits, I stepped off the plane and into the van to met up with the singaporeans who true to their nature had shopped and kitted themselves up with gear including aerodynamic sunglasses, a titanium walking stick and an assortment of dried apricots, muesli bars and about 1/2 a year’s worth of zip lock bags. All singaporean men undergo compulsory army training, which I am informed, includes basic army manouevers and a carefully co-ordinated contingent of land and air buffet and catering services that ensures that a hot meal is able to be served on time whether by chopper or mpv, anywhere and anyplace in the jungle. But because we were in malaysia, for lunch we were each handed a styrofoam box with half an egg sandwich and fried chicken to carry with us.
Our guide, the tough chain smoking and nescafe swilling Jo was a former famer who spoke little, smiled even less and charged the market rate of RM10 (GBP2) per kg to carry up and down the mountain. Jo was also an enthusiastic and humble guide who followed up the rear, sometimes lagging back for a chat but then reappearing effortlessly (with his 20kg load)later. We were told by another former guide that they once carried a 200 pound man (about 95kg) up and down the mountain. He now does white water rafting after his knees were wrecked. We also spotted a former national body building champion, resplendant in his lycra costume and many locals carrying food parcels bigger than themselves. All food and gas for cooking is carried up by the locals.
It made my backpack of 8kg (+2kg for water, 19% of my body weight) pathetic by comparison even though I had packed the bare essentials. For me, bare essentials include a digital slr with only 1 lens, no flash, no spare battery, no charger and a backup digital camera :p With an estimated 22 hours of climbing over the next 30 hours I was going to feel every kg.
We had decided on the Mesilau track, the alternative route to the usual way up the mountain – more steps, more scenic, our trip planner was told. After 1 hour of going uphill, we started going downhill for almost an hour into a beautiful valley, which was rather demoralizing even if the bamboo forests and mist were gorgeous. We finally started going uphill again and along the way we were overtaken by the Japanese Retirees, all 10 women and 2 men of them. Deceptively and demurely clad in cotton hats and polo shirts, these japanese mums and dads were all business with compression tights underneath and swept by us at a brisk pace barely breaking a sweat. Go Oba-san power!
Reaching the halfway point of laban rata 9 hours later, we gratefully tucked into the buffet dinner and attended a briefing for the via ferrata (iron road). 2-3 hours rest, we woke up again at 130am for the 2am ascend to the summit for the sunrise. Stairs became ropes against sometimes vertical granite faces, all in the darkness of night and under the light of torches and the moon. At 5am the first rays of light peeked over the mountain, illuminating the ant-like climbers below.
Silence, clouds and very fresh air. No noise, no birds, no insects, no signs of life except for rock, water, grass and 200 other climbers scattered over the mountain.
Time to go back down on the via ferrata way (highest in the world at 3,800m) abseiling along granite faces to get to the bottom. In reality, you spend half the time attaching and re-attaching safety equipment and the rest waiting or hanging on the side of the mountain, but oh the views 
If I thought I was broken before, there was still the climb down. Rain and mist covered the track, making every rock and step muddy and slippery. Half way down we remembered that the van would leave at 6pm. So the walk down became a run down the mountain. In total it took us 4 hours downhill and 2 hours drive back to Kota Kinabalu. A hot shower never felt so good and we had a seafood dinner including lobster, tiger prawns and crab. A bag full of sweaty clothes and a head full of memories, I crab-walked my way on the plane back to Peninsular Malaysia.
At home, a message titled ” Lombok leisure stroll” dropped in my inbox.
“Wake up early morning to start the trek at 03:00 AM for the hard three hours climb to the summit (3,726 m) on volcanic screen. Once there, enjoy proud feelings of satisfaction and the amazing sunrise views across the Wallace Line to Bali, Mt. Agung and Sumbawa.”
Perhaps I can ” enjoy proud feelings of satisfaction” via cable car to the summit and with a papaya daiquiri in one hand?
x,
Shi
ps: Mt K stats
Mesilau (altitude start) 2,000m
Low’s Peak 4,095m
Timpohon (end) 1,866m
Total trail = +8.5km
Mesilau + 1.5km
Total 8.5km + 10km = 18.5km, vertical height of 2,095m up, 2,249m down
9 hours mesilau- laban rata (1st leg)
4 hours laban rata – summit (low’s peak) (2nd leg)
2 hours summit – park ranger hut (3rd leg)
2 hours via ferrata
4 hours laban rata- timpohon (final leg)
21 hours total climbing from 1st may (sat) 9am – 2nd may (sun) 4:30pm (29:30h)
21 / 30 = 70% of time climbing