Wild woman of Borneo

It's been a while since I last posted, I know I'm slack. What can I say other than when you're traveling the desire to sit down at a computer and type up a bunch of random thoughts really doesn't hold my appeal. Especially when you can be on the beach or by the pool. But it is my duty to keep you informed of my escapades (or lack there of) while on the road to nowhere.

My most recent wanderings have seen me in the wilds of Borneo. Ok, that's a lie, Borneo isn't so much wild anymore as dirty, a bit 3rd world in places and full of insects. Like most places on this small blue planet it too has been tamed.

I started my journey in Kota Kinabalu, or KK as it is known to locals, the capital of Sabah. It's an interesting mix of the new and modern and some peculiar architectural quirks that make sense if you're a local. To the casual observer or the western eye brought up on council estates and housing developments many of the buildings look like the ghettos of London or many American cities. Venture into them though and you find a thriving community hidden in shade from the interminable heat of the sun.

It was here that I joined a tour group, my only one for this trip and more than likely going to be the last ever for me. The group was relatively small, nine people in total with an average age somewhere around 30. Our guide was an affable Malay called Hairy, who by the end of the trip I was thoroughly sick of.

We only had a short time in KK before heading for the highlands and the climb up Mt Kinabalu, the highest peak between PNG and the Himalaya. Before we attempted the climb we stayed in a mountain village, Kiau, with the local people. Part of the custom for guests is to share the homemade rice wine, a pungent mixture of yeast, rice and water. It's pretty horrible to drink and gives a stinking hangover, not that many of the locals had a hangover the next day. They were all still drunk having partied it up throughout the night. Some of them were to be our guides on the mountain and we sincerely hoped they sobered up before they came to take us up the mountain.

Mt Kinabalu, at 4,095.2m is small in the scheme of things, but tell that to the 69 people who attempted the climb to the summit the same day we did. 15 people dropped out, our group all made it but not without some feeling the effects of altitude. I was lucky for once my asthma didn't come out to play and I made it to the top, first from our group. Coming down though was another matter and my knees gave out about half way down and I had to limp down the mountain determined to make it to the bottom before night.

The climb takes two days for most people, though the record for climbing up and down is about 2hr 45 minutes. None of us could have done that! On the first day it took us six hours to get to Laban Rata where we spent the night. The last hour of which was in driving rain and particularly miserable. With little in our packs to save on weight we had few dry clothes to change into and the showers were cold. By 6pm most of us were flagging and with a 1am wake up call we headed to bed early.

At 1am the place was alive as all the climbers prepared to make the last 2.7km assent in darkness. The aim is to be at the summit just before dawn to witness the light as it spreads over the valleys below. The ascent is slow and difficult, ropes mark the way and you're happy you can't see what's below as you climb ever higher into the thinning air. If you manage to take a moment and turn around you can see the lights strung out along the valleys like fairy lights on a tree, but you have to push on, one foot in front of the other.

At the top it was crowded and as soon as I stopped I became very cold. The clouds were already coming in and threatening rain for the day so at 6am as the sun rose behind me I started my decent. It was to take me a total of about eight hours to make it to the bottom with only a break for breakfast at Laban Rata and another couple of short breaks on the way down.

I was glad to be heading for the hot springs at Poring to rest my weary bones.

Post Script:
When I can get the time I'll upload some photos but right now I've no access so you'll just have to wait.