One week after returning from the northern tip of Borneo that is Sabah, I write these memoirs, of the trip to reach its peak...At 10am on the morning of my birthday, Ah Gong, the taxi-driver we hired to take us to Kinabalu Park HQ, was already waiting patiently on the sidewalk downstairs from the Hotel Holiday. Toothy grin, cigarette, and all strapping 1.89 metres of him.
We piled into his 6-seater Toyota MPV, taking with us only the stuff we needed for the climb and leaving about half of our luggage with the Front Desk. The thought of spending the last night, when we returned, at the Hyatt, still played in my mind. But when Lawrence, Holiday's Concierge-cum-Receptionist-cum-Bellhop-cum-Housekeeper bade us a warm
good luck with the ascend and I'm sure you guys will come back alive, we felt we had to return to his shithole and prove a point.
Kinabalu Park HQ is located about 90km from KK town and at an elevation of 1560m. A journey that would normally take about 1.5hrs by car and perhaps 2.5hrs if you plant yourself on one of the shuttle buses that leaves from the main terminal every 2 hours. The Park HQ is a mandatory visit for all climbers because it is where you get your permits and guide arrangements done and also where accomodations are available to spend the night if one does not want to climb immediately on the day of arrival.
Along the way, Ah Gong stopped at a little village for us to take a pee-break and also for us to buy some 'I Conquered Kinabalu' T-shirts (rather prematurely) and perhaps a hiking staff or two. We got some sturdy, evenly-cut branches, an old Kadazan lady was selling for 2 Ringgit each, as our walking aids. And as it turned out, it was to be one of the more intelligent buys of the trip.
We also noticed, along the way up, the many 'Katholic' Churches at every town and almost at every turn. I mean you didn't actually get to see a majestic steeple or a bell tower but at least there were countless signages pointing towards a Church of Saint Gregory, or a Saint Augustine, or a Saint Ignatius or a Saint Peter, or a Saint...errr..Dorcas? Ah Gong said the indigeneous Dusun ethnic group that populated these parts were mostly converted Catholics, thanks in large part, to the
Angmo Missionaries from a long time ago. It was rather bizarre actually and we really felt we were going up some Holy Mountain.
Fifteen minutes before reaching the entrance of the Park, we were already plotting how we could circumvent paying the 100 Ringgit Climbing Permit fee Sabah Parks charges for non-Malaysians. And since I was the only person capable of some decent
Pasar Malay, I became the obvious choice to converse with the Rangers, telling them that Michelle and me were from Kuala Lumpur and the other 3
Orang Cheenas were from Penang.
And it worked. We succeeded in paying the Malaysian rate of 30 Ringgit each. Yippity-do-dah-day! I would also have you know that the Entrance Fee to the park itself costs 15 Ringgit each for non-Malaysians. We paid 3.
We chose to spend a relaxing day at the Park HQ before the climb the next day. And taking into consideration the exertions of white-water rafting the day before, the decision was a good one. I mean there are some climbers who arrive early at the Park HQ and start their assault on the mountain straightaway. These are mainly the crazy
angmos who either want to save on 1 night's accomodation or can't wait to get their pasty hairy feet on the Gunung
pronto.
Grace Hostel, our home away from home for the night, was a surprise. Much cleaner and better equipped than a so-called 'hotel' named Holiday. The only drawback, for the girls that is, was bunking in with us guys inside a 3 double-decker bed dormitory room and being subjected to the loud cacophony of snores from a V8, V10 and V12 'engine' respectively. Yes they felt like smothering us guys in the middle of the night.
The Park HQ takes up a small percentage of the 754 Square Kilometres that is Kinabalu National Park. And is really just a collection of Hostels, Chalets and Cabins spread across an area of about 15 football fields run and monopolised by one private company, Sutera Sanctuary Lodges. There are some trails into the surrounding mountain forest that the more intrepid can explore, a Botanical Garden and a Park Visitors' Centre those inclined to facts and figures can spend some time in. But other than these, the HQ is a quiet and welcomed tranquil respite, when the day-trippers not attempting the mountain, have returned home.
We chose to do one of the easier trails looping around the Park as a warm-up just in time for dinner at one of only two restaurants on the property.
It started raining heavily after
makan. And thinking the downpour would stop in time for our climb the next day, we dozed off into a warm and peaceful slumber after a lovely hot shower in Grace's impeccable communal toilets.
As it turned out, it rained the whole night. And when we awoke to the pitter-patter of raindrops the next morning, we knew the road ahead would be tough...and wet.
Labels: Travel