When we decided to climb the mountain, we were not actually prepared for the task. There was no proper exercise nor was there any training of whatsover. Actually, there was no time to do all that. We though, well, as long as there are people as old as 80 years tht are able to climb, i don't see any possible reason why we couldn't do it...and we are definitely much younger!!!!. Boy, how wrong could we be!!!
The mountains are sacred to the local, that is the Dusun people. Each year chickens are sacrificed as the peak of the mountain to appease the so-called spirit of the mountain.Actually, there are many stories that we heard related to various incident involving arrogant climbers who refused to abide to the unwritten laws of the mountain. One was a story about a young american girl who came to climb the mountain. She boastfully told everyone that she had climbed Kilimanjaro and reached the peak of Everest and as for Kinabalu, it would be just 'a walk in the park'. She refused to listen to any advice from the local guide known as Malim Gunung.She would go any where she liked and always on her own. Suddenly she was found missing in the middle of nowhere by her guide who immediately reported the incident to the authority. She was actually missing for five days.... On the second day, a search party was immediately formed to find her and a reward of RM10,000 was announced by her family to whoever manage to find her alive. All the Malim Gunung took part in the search but unfortunately, she was only found five days later, dead next to a ravine which was not far from the main trail. Some Malim Gunung admitted tht they had passed tht same track but found nothing !!!Locals believed that she was covered by the spirits of the mountain as not to be seen by anyone, as a lesson to anyone who disrespect the spirit of the mountain!!!!
So, do i believe in tht story? Actually i didn't know what to think at that time. I know the existance of the jinn as mentioned alongside Man in some of the verses in the Quran. So i guess it has to be true, more or less, Jinns are known to be everywhere and possibly on a mountain such as this. . And of course, it taught me and the boys a lesson to be very careful when climbing the mountain..
No boasting, please...Not to be over excited ( How could we? We were climbing the most famous mountain in South East Asia) and always listen to the Malim Gunung, your trusted guide.
Mount Kinabalu is located at Kundasang. Kundasang alone has the reputation of having the most impressive view i have ever seen. Kundasang is actually located at the mountainous region of Crocker range with Mount Kinabalu being the highest. Today, Mont Kinabalu is within Kinabalu Park; a well protected area as one of the World Heritage Site.
Well, after paying for the registration, the insurance and the service of one Malim Gunung, we started our journey going up the mountain using the track from Timpohan gate. Our tourist guide drove us there. We took along a supply of bread, a few bottles of 100 plus and two canned of sardine. Not to mention two light weight Z1P sony video cameras (which were not so light as we reach the top later. ) I bought myself a walking stick for RM5 which i didn't really realised how useful the stick would be until later as i went along my journey to the top.
There were four of us and we separated ourselves into two groups; Farez and me; Zul, my other cameraman will go with the audioman, Wan. I knew i won't be as fast as Zul and Wan. Farez wanted to be with me so he could look after me if anything were to happen to his dad. oh how nice of him...As expected, I was the slowest among all with Farez holding one of the video camera. I was not being slow on purpose but i planned to stop and shoot whatever i found interesting along the way; like a number of some pitcher plants which are known to be the species that are only found in Borneo, or some funny looking plants tht i have never seen before or just a cute mountain squirrel begging for food from climbers resting at one of the stations. . Being a cameraman, Zul would shoot all the beautiful shots of sceneries and people coming up and down the mountains.
There were a number of Malaysians, mostly young enthusiastic teenagers, coming up and down in a group; and many foreigners, young and old. They were just too fast for me. As we were going up, there were a few coming down and had experienced the peak already which i assumed have so much story to tell once they reached down.
Another extrordinary people i met was our Malim Gunung. Couldn't remember the name of our Malim Gunung though but i still remembered that he was always smiling and waited patiently everytime i stopped to rest or took some shots at some trees or whatever i found interesting to shoot. He could have been bored of me for being too slow. He was supposed to be behind us all the time to watch us going up but somehow, he would disappeared from our view and suddenly we found him sitting on a big rock smoking a cigarette while waiting for us to come up!!! Boy, was he fast!
We took a rest at one of the station point and took some food and drank our 100 plus to regain our strength. The weather was changing fast. It was getting colder and even the trees were diferent as we assended further up. I was slowly getting tired and my feet was killing me. My movement was getting slower and here i realized how i regret for NOT preparing myself coming up here.Our guide adviced us to walk up in a zig zag manner in order to save energy...I did what he said and i found out tht to be true. I was making more progress by doing so.But of course, it would look funny to walk like tht in a normal circumstances!
The worst part was the rain started to pour heavily and we had no shelter anywhere so we had to continue climbing! We were getting so wet and I shivered my way up in exhausion as the path was getting steeper and more difficult. Only now, i realised i made the right decision to buy the walking stick.
Unlike other climbers we were not here for the purpose of climbing alone but had to stop to record our journey on film!! By the time we reached Laban Rata which is 3,272.7 metres above sea level it was already dark. Man, i was really exhausted and couldn'tr walk anymore. We really need our rest before we continue our journey to the top.By this time, the air was thinning and we began to have difficulty breathing.
Next to Laban Rata is Gunting Lagadan, a small wooden hut with the basic neccesity in the form of food, cooking utensils and a comfortable place to rest and relax. The water was so cold that touching it after going to the toilet was the most dreadful thing to do!!
The next time we were to continue was at 4 am and the journey would be the toughest..We need to be there by 5.30am to get the sunrise shots which was to be the finest moment of them all and that was the highlight of climbing the mountain. The path is now more steeper, slippery and rocky.And the rain would make the journey a struggle.Oh did i mention tht it would be at 4 am? ..and literally you are walking in the dark.!
However by this time, I was having problem walking and it was so painful just to move my legs...Zul suggested that he and Wan went to the top without me so they could get a sunrise shots on time. With my condition, I would only slow them down. Meantime there were a lot of shots needed to be taken at Laban Rata and interviews to be conducted. I dreaded to have to let them go without me as i really wanted to go up the peak of the mountain and witness the wonderful sunrise rays, rarely seen elsewhere.
By the time they started to move forward, Farez and i were resting and later started to shoot some shots of climbers eating and resting at the restaurant. As Zul and Wan were shooting the sunrise, we managed to shoot some colorful species of flowers and plants that we couldn't get anywhere else around Laban Rata.
Later we interviewed an Argentinian climber who made a few comments about his trip and even a chat with one of the Malim Gunung who provided us with his version of the legend of Mount Kinabalu.
An hour later, Zul and Wan came back with nice shots of the sunrise which we viewed together at the restaurant. I felt envious tht i couldn't be there with them to shoot this glorious sceneries of the sunrise but at the same time i was also glad becos going to the peak means that I couldn't spent time for other things which were relatively important to be recorded. It had to be a team effort in order to get everything done in a very very short time.
I asked Zul how would he describe the feeling to be 'on top of the world' and viewing the magnificent wonder of Allah's creation of the sun rises slowly from the west. Being a man of a few words, it took a while for him to answer me. He said,"It was just to difficult to describe. You have to be there to experience it yourself". Well, not the answer i was hoping to hear, but at least i know it must be so great to not be able to find the right words to describe it.
Anyway, the food at the restaurant were outrageously expensive. A nasi goreng plus a drink cost me RM25 for each person. It was not even as good as we would expect it to be. However, there was a pay-phone booth at the entrance of the restaurant and how i wish i could use it to call somebody to tell them " hi...we've made it here!!!".
We reached down the station safely and spent a day resting at our rooms at the resort. We woke up the next day with muscle pain all over our body!!! Even moving a few steps was a painful struggle. We were laughing at each other when we saw how funny we were walking at tht time...in fact it took us a few days before we would fully recovered and walked like normal people again.
However, climbing Mt Kinabalu was an adventure of a lifetime. Maybe i'll go again to complete my unfullfilled mission of witnessing the glorious ray of sunrise on top o the mountain. After all,. i've seen older men at the age of 70 climbing and even over took me the last time i climbed the mountain. But of course this time around, i will be more prepared.
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