KINABALU REVISITED 2011

It's been a while since my last update. But, it doesn't mean that the Underestimate didn't do any outdoor activity throughout the month of Jan - Feb 2011. We did quite a number of activities e.g. Broga & Tokwan, Angsi, etc. as preparation for our big project in March 2011 i.e. Mount Kinabalu expedition. For me, this is my second time to Mt Kinabalu (my 1st time was back in 2008). Since then, I always have a strong feeling that I will go there once again. This time, there were 9 of us i.e. Azmir, Dilla, Mayo, Cha, Nazir, Ongah, Tuty, Nadia and myself. Bob had to cancel last minute due to personal committment.

Mt. Kinabalu...our destination

We departed from Melaka at around 9 o'clock on the 1st March 2011 and spent the night at LCCT because our flight is at 6.50 am on 2nd March. However, Tuty's flight is 1 hour later and Nadia's is 2 hours later. So, we still got plenty of time to kill at the LCCT before our flight and the Underestimates spent it by playing taiti...hehe.

Activity at the airport before departure to KK

The first group reached KK at around 9.30am. I called TM Fleet to get the van that we had booked earlier and later on they came. The van can fit the whole of us just nice. After sending the Fleet staff back to his office, I went back to the airport and parked at the roundabout. Later on, we found out the van had been summoned due to wrong parking...hehe.

The first group arrival at KK Terminal 2 airport

This is our transportation for this trip..thanks to TM Fleet Sabah

The Underestimate at KK Airport

The summon

One hour later, Tuty arrived and we had our breakfast at KFC while waiting for Nadia to arrive.

Waiting for the VVIP to arrive

At about 12 noon, Nadia arrived and we headed straight to Kinabalu Park for registration for the next day's hiking.

At Kinabalu Park

For this trip we planned to follow Mesilau-Peak-Timpohon route. I also followed this route in my previous trip to Mt. Kinabalu and we really enjoyed the Mesilau trail view especially at KM5. So, for this time, we recommended that the Underestimate follow this route eventhough it is quite far compared to Timpohon-Peak-Timpohon route. During my first trip, there were 5 of us and only 4 managed to reach the peak...but that was because we didn't really do our training before hiking Kinabalu. But this time, I'm really confident on the stamina and fitness of the Underestimates since we had done quite intensive set of training including Gunung Datuk and Liang East-West prior to this trip. Maybe, due to personal old injuries, the Underestimates might be a little bit hampered during the hiking.

After registration at Kinabalu Park, we headed straight to TM Sri Intan, Kundasang to spend our night there. After check-in, we took a rest a little bit and at around 5.30pm we headed to Ranau for dinner and to buy some stuffs for our hiking the next day.

At Sri Intan Resort, Kundasang...I really love this place

The next day, 3rd March 2011, we woke up early to prepare for the hiking. Everyone was very excited. We went to Kinabalu Park first to get our guide and lunch pack.Breakfast for the first day is not included in the package by SSL. However, we took the lunch pack as our breakfast.

Ready for our mission...to conquer Mt. Kinabalu

At Kinabalu Park before hiking

The lunch pack provided...however it looks more like a breakfast...hehe

After we got our guide, we discussed with him our arrangement since we are going to climb up via Mesilau and and go down via Timpohon. But, we only have 1 van and the van will be parked at Mesilau since nobody will take the van to Timpohon. It will be a problem to us once we go down to Timpohon since our van is at Mesilau. However, the guide agreed to drive the van to Timpohon and parked the van there and he will go up via Timpohon and we'll meet him at the meeting point between Timpohon trail and Mesilau trail. We were very happy since the guide was ready to help us in this way without mentioning any payment for this kind of service...so we thought that it was FOC. So, another guide i.e. The Great Abdul, will accompany us during the hiking.

Sad to say that this Abdul was not functioning as a guide at all..everything in his mind is about dollar and cents. Later on he discussed with his friend to charge us for the service of taking the van from Mesilau to Timpohon. We had to pay RM80 for that service only...just imagine.

The guide doing some briefing before hiking to the Underestimates

The group photo

We started our hiking at around 9am. Everyone looked very fit. We really enjoyed the scenery along Mesilau trail especially at KM5...this is my favourite place.

Along the way at Mesilau trail

Resting place provided along the way

Waterfall

Kipuyut hanging bridge

View at KM5

Group photo at KM5

The group finally reached Laban Rata at around 5.30pm. So far, everyone was doing great with a little bit of complaints about altitude sickness.

At Laban Rata

We checked in at Laban Rata Resthouse and took our dinner. Unfortunately, there was water supply disruption at Laban Rata at that time, so, we could not really clean ourselves. However, we still managed to get some rest before waking up at 2am to take our supper and to start our hiking to the peak.

The journey to the peak was quite easy this time due to not so many people compared to during my first time. We did it slow and steady and finally everyone of us reached the Low's Peak.

Congratulations to all Underestimates!

However, it was a bit foggy at that time and we couldn't clearly see the Kundasang and Ranau area down there. We spent less than 1 hour at the peak due to very low temperature and started going down after that.

Underestimate at Low's Peak

South Peak as our background

On the way down to Laban Rata

After taking our breakfast and packing our stuffs..we started our journey down

Finally reached Timpohon Gate before taking our lunch at Kinabalu Park

Trip to Poring Hotspring the day after

..and to New Zealand Dairy Farm..hehe

At the Dairy Farm

So, it was a wonderful trip for me...very successful. Everyone's very happy. Deep in my heart, I'm telling myself that I'll be back here one day...Insya Allah.

Tinggi-tinggi Gunung Kinabalu...Tinggi lagi sayang sama Kamu...

Miss u Kinabalu! We'll see u again.