Sunrise on South East Asia's highest point
Where we watch the most spectacular sunrise over Borneo after countless steps.
This is a travel journal of our adventures in South East Asia. Trust a bunch of Newfoundlanders to find trouble no matter where they go! You can read the entries as we climb Mt. Kinabalu and explore some parts of Thailand. A month after we left, this entire region was devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. We were very lucky to have witnessed life and adventure before that and our hearts go out to everyone in this journal who might have been affected. A gallery of photos from this trip is available on my photos site.
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5pm November 23, 2004. 13,272.7m ASL. Laban Rata Guesthouse.
This morning was a morning from hell. Mike has sworn bodily vengeance against the province of Sabah, Malaysia. We have discovered a serious shortage of cash in Sabah. Maybe we should have brought a color printer to make our own. Or perhaps Malaysia is starting to switch to a barter economy.
Sutera, which arranges the lodging, has a working Visa machine.
We need 500 RM or 150 USD, which is all we have.
Sutera is 50 ft from the Sabah Park Office, which has no Visa machine.
Sutera cannot take Visa for Sabah Park. (“Different companies, sir. We cannot.”)
Sutera cannot give us a cash advance, as the park cannot collect enough cash for us. Their own cash transfer hasn’t arrived yet.
We want to climb other peaks and now need special permission from another office… but we cannot call them.
We drive 10 minutes to the Kundasan ATM—out of order. (What is up with this place?)
Mike “loses” his wallet. (Only a panic for 30 minutes—we did find it again.)
I believe, all in all, it is surprising to me that Mike not only held it together but that his shaking and wild-eyed glares did not translate into murder. Well done Mike!
So new plans. We will spend one day on the mountain and only do Lowe's Peak and then go straight to Poring.
We have a guide—the most non-communicative guide ever. We have also collected a British lady by the name of Megan Laurie who will share the required guide.
Let's go!
So here we now sit at Laban Rata after the most humid and sweaty trek. Chris looks like he's lost half his body weight to sweat.
It's time to steep.
For me, it's as if I am going back in time to when I was just 15. But it is steep. I do remember the places we stopped and the places we took reading with our biology teacher Doc Rutherford. I also remember the places I fell then. This time at least I'm standing.
1:45am November 24, 2004 Laban Rata Guesthouse
The intrepid crew readies for the final hike to the summit.
We have somehow managed to "sleep" through pitched battles between rats (or other small animals) in the ceiling of Laban Rata.
Andrew has no food with him. He has had no sleep. I assure him he will be useful as fodder for the wolves.
Mike is feeling better. I assure him that we can use Andrew as fodder.
Chris is still a bastard.
We have no food. I refuse to share my cache.
9am November 24, 2004 Laban Rata Guesthouse
Woo-hoo! We’ve made it down.
Turns out Andrew wasn’t fodder.
Chris was.
We have successfully completed half of a Royal Anarcho-Geographic Society of Newfoundland (RAGSN) High Altitude Rescue—without the aid of Drs. McKim.
Chris is now taped up and ready to go. Too bad—I would have loved to do some primitive sutures.
The climb was awesome. Megan (the British lass we met who needed a group to climb with), Mike, and I reached the summit around 5 a.m., just before the sunrise at 5:45 a.m.
I took the extended way down and ended up carrying Chris' backpack too. Chris has hurt his knees.
Now, on to Poring Hot Springs—well, first we have to descend with our resident gimp, and then we go to Poring.
P.S. Today is Megan’s 23rd birthday!
