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Hiking Mount Kinabalu's Low Peak (Via Timpohon Gate) & Map included


Trail difficulty rating: Medium - Hard
Time to from Entrance Gate to Laban Rata (hotel): Approx 6 hours
Time from Laban Rata to Low Peak (Summit): Approx 3 hours
Time from Low Peak to Laban Rata: Approx 2 and half hours
Time from Laban Rata back to Entrance Gate: Approx 4 hours
Recommendation: Please, at least have decent stamina if you plan to hike Mount Kinabalu. It'll really make your hike a more memorable one. I know of people who trains at Batu Caves, carrying weighted bags as a simulation or you could find for a nearby forest to hike (for most KL dwellers it would be Apek Hill, Cheras or Bukit Gasing, PJ or Ayer Hitam, Puchong and etc). A good place as a 'tryout', I would say be Gunung Nuang.

Altitude sickness might be a big thing for some of you. Personally for me, it wasn't too bad as I realised I only needed to breathe harder at certain altitude. I also had altitude pills 2 nights prior to the hike and during the hike (Thanks Ashley for being our pill provider!). If you're afraid of cold, DO BRING thick clothings (base layer, thermal wear, gloves and etc.). I would've enjoyed it way better if I had a proper pair of gloves (I thought I'd stinge on gloves so I wore my cycling full-fingered gloves. Nope, didn't shield me from the cold) and socks (I wore thick socks made of polyester and it didn't protect me from the cold at the summit aka low peak)

 There were no leeches inside (but some blogs said there were but we didn't encounter any at all). I know some blogs mentioned that we needed to bring a lot of food up but... well, I baked 2 batches of pumpkin muffin (24 small-medium pieces) and didn't exactly ate any at all.. (well, I had 3 but that was because I was hungry when I was waiting at the KK's airport, not during the hike). The others also brought their fair share of food but we had way much more than needed because we're all fully fed from the hotel's food and all.. Maybe if you're a really big eater than you'd need to bring so much of food. Or maybe if you didn't book from the hotel or hike up and down of Mount Kinabalu in a day then, you'd definitely need to bring a lot of food.

 I've also scanned the maps I've obtained from the park for your own reference, which can be found below this post.

Peak! :) Calvin (bottom Left)
Ashley, Christine, Me, Benjamin aka Ben (Left to Right)

This time, we are visiting Kota Kinabalu! :) All thanks to both Christine Peh and Shimri Lim, we managed to pre-book our guided tour and accommodation earlier (during December 2014 and we had to pay a deposit to secure our booking for 2 rooms at the base, Kinabalu Park and 1 room at Laban Rata) which includes our pass and insurance at Mount Kinabalu, accommodation and meals. Here's the meal provided for us at Kinabalu Park:


dd/mm/yyMeal 1Meal 2Meal 3
6/3/15
-nil-
-nil- 
 Note: Standard Check-in time at 2:00 p.m
Buffet Dinner @ Balsam Restaurant: Served at 6:00 p.m - 9:00 pm
7/3/15
Buffet breakfast @ Balsam Restaurant: Served at 6.30 a.m - 11:00 a.m
Packed lunch @ Balsam Restaurant: Collect during breakfast
 
Note: They gave us 3 halves of a cheese sandwich, an apple and a 500 ml bottled water. This is for during our hike up.
Buffet Dinner @ Laban Rata Restaurant:
Served at 6:00 p.m - 9:00 pm
8/3/15
‘Supper’ @ Laban Rata Restaurant (before summit): Served at 2:00 a.m.
Note: More like food before the hike up to the low peak (summit).
Buffet Breakfast @ Laban Rata Restaurant (after summit): 
Served at 7:00 a.m - 10:00 a.m
Lunch @ Balsam Restaurant: 
 Served at 12:00 pm - 4:30 pm 
 Note: if you reach after 4pm, will only provide you packed fried rice
Adapted from Christine's summary for us! :) Thank you! :3

Let me provide you with our brief travel itinerary before I continue with our adventure.


dd/mm/yyDetails
5/3/15
10:00 a.m. arrive at KK town and stay 1 night at Masada Backpackers
6/3/15
12:00 p.m. checkout Masada Backpackers and take a taxi to Kinabalu Park.
7/3/15
8:30 a.m. start hike at Timpohon gate until Laban Rata
8/3/15
2:30 a.m. start hike to summit, come down, have a short break then, descend back to Kinabalu Park and back to Masada Backpackers at town
9/3/15
6:30 a.m. rise and shine, pack up and leave KK back to KUL


Christine (left) & Me (Right) at the airport

I love milk! :) Love their local milk at Sabah! (Daily Dairy)

We met at the airport and boarded the morning plane so we'll arrive at KK together. Then, we took a taxi to Masada Backpackers (dorm-style hotel) [Waze / Google],  chilled in the room, went for some quick-shopping for necessities, unpacked and head out for dinner at Welcome Seafood Restaurant. [Waze / Google] (This place is recommended by my Sabahan friend as it's where locals have their seafood with reasonable price and taste. I'd say it's pretty good for the price we paid.) Then its lights out! :) Just a quick note on the hotel, no complains and it's pretty good. Nice, cozy and clean. They even provide a 'mini-buffet-breakfast' (toast, jam, milk, cereal, banana, coffee, tea, milo, biscuits; some of the things i remembered on the table)

The building opposite where we waited for our taxi



Telling us some stuff about where we're about to stay

On our 2nd day, we walked out of our hotel to their 'taxi-waiting-place' to Kinabalu Park. It wasn't exactly like a proper place you'd have in KL (with taxi-stand), its just like a 'meet-up' point where all the taxis are. You can either take the Kinabalu Park's bus shuttle or either you book a whole taxi. The bus shuttle is a few ringgit cheaper per person and for either transportation you choose, you'll probably spend about RM 12 - RM 18 per person. It took us about 2 hours from where we were to the park. The place was really really cozy and nice and it wasn't long before I fell in love with that place. We were ushered to our hostel, which was Rock hostel and there we were briefed on where the places is and etc. The briefing about tomorrow's hike will be at 6 p.m, before our dinner. After loading our bags, we then loitered around, had dinner at Balsam Restaurant and then we dozed off to sleep.

Our mighty strong but small porter!

They weigh your bags before the trip for the porter service :) 

Christine giving the tag to Ashley. 
Next to Ashley is our guide, Freddie Akau

Today's the day we hike to Laban Rata! This is Day 3 of our trip. We had breakfast at Balsam, then went to register, got a porter for all (we had 2 bags of about 10 kg each, packed for the porter to carry. Items we put in the 'porter-bags' were things we do not need during the hike like our food, clothes to change, etc.) of us and were greeted by our quiet but friendly guide. He introduced himself as Freddie. We decided to take the park's shuttle van to the starting point (which was about 1 - 2 km away from the Reception). I think it costs each of us RM 8 one way. When we were on our way to the starting point, our guide quickly briefed us, again on the hike and what we'll be expecting. These are the 2 pointers I thought would be useful for my readers that our guide mentioned:
  • * 3 - 4 hours for fitter/faster groups & 5 - 6 hours for moderate speed group. 
  • * Best to arrive Laban Rata by 3 p.m and when coming down back to Kinabalu park, try to be back before 4:00 p.m. so to not miss 'Lunch Buffet' at Balsam.
  • * Toilets and rest huts are available at almost every km of the hike 
  • * If you're injured and not able to come down, per person would be RM 3k :p
Beginning of the hike 

View from Laban Rata's Hotel

So, we started hiking at about 8:30 a.m. and then we arrived the hotel at 2:15 p.m, which gives us a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes of hike (rest included). And, our porter arrived way earlier than us...! He's so tiny but have mighty strong legs! It's just so amusing to see porters and carriers carrying heavy and big things up when we're on the way hiking. We had lunch at Laban Rata's hotel and then our guide came to our table and told us a few more things for the next day's hike to the summit. Here're the more important ones I've also noted:
  • * Hike to the peak starts between 2:00 am - 2:30 am. No later.
  • * Headlamp is highly recommended.
  • * It is recommended to leave your hiking poles when you hike up and bring sufficient water (I personally needed 1 bottle of 500 ml throughout the trip to the summit and back to Laban Rata).
  • * Going up the first part wouldn't be as cold but during the last 2 km it would be really cold. So, bring proper gloves (as aforementioned above), beanie and other necessities you'd need to shield you from the cold (especially if you're afraid of the cold). 
  • * Here's a list of what I brought/wore when I hiked up there, that might be useful for you:                        
  •    - headlamp and a spare battery
  •    - base layer/thermal wear, 1 outer-wear and one jacket
  •    - shorts (inside) and 1 long base-layer pants.
  •    - 1 bottle of water, 500 ml
  •    - camera ( to take pictures of course! :P)
  •    - Powerbar
  •    - full-fingered cycling gloves (which, clearly didn't help me shield from the cold at all. It was as if I soaked both my hands in ice,cold water. For me, my feet and hands gets cold very quickly.)
  •    -Thick polyester sock (Didn't help me when i was on top. My feet was crazy cold)
  •    - Sports glasses (Thankfully for these glasses because my eyes were dry from the wind blowing! But the rest of my buddies were not affected, though)
  •    -My faithful Columbia shoes :) 
I hurt my back quite badly a week before the hike so 
I wore this throughout the hike :) Thankfully I pulled through!

I decided to go to shower because today's the 3rd day I decided not to wash my hair and it seems that I can't really take the itch on my hair! I had to bath in cold water because their hot water at Laban Rata is limited. It's mentioned that only when there's sun there will be hot water. The reason why I didn't dare to wash my hair because I assumed that, in the cold weather, my hair would not have sufficient time to dry; not to mention we needed to sleep early. Well, thankfully with about 2 and a half hours, my hair is dry enough so that I'll be able to get to bed.


As Christine quoted: "stair stair stairs...!"



We slept at about 7 p.m. and during the night's sleep, Christine and Calvin was really sick from the altitude. :( Even with the pills, it didn't quite help them. Calvin was vomiting when I was fast asleep and Christine was having diarrhoea. While both of them had their little (unfortunate) date with the toilet, they also heard other hikers share similar fate with them in the toilet. They heard few others vomiting. Both of them didn't quite exactly had a good's night rest but they still manage to get up for our hike up to the summit. 

Pitch black! :)


This is the 'cliff/edge of the mountain' I mentioned. 
The picture doesn't do justice because it's scarier than it looks. 

We woke up at 12:30 a.m. , had our 'supper' at 2:00 a.m. and then started our hike at 2:40 a.m. The hike up was dark and we all depended on our headlamps to get up there. As for poor Christine, she vomited along the way up but thankfully felt better after that. The hike up was pretty steep as we needed to ascend a flight of stairs and rocks. After about 1 km, we arrived the part where it gets a little bit tricky. It's actually also quite dangerous and you'll need to hold on to the ropes as you walk along the cliff/edge of the mountain. But not to worry, listen to the guide and you'll be good. We're also super proud of Ben because he manage to get all the way up and overcome his fear for heights! With some little 'voice-guidance' and 'sight-detour' (Christine made him look at my back and shoes), he made it up. The cut - off time to reach Sayat-Sayat hut is at 5:30 a.m. If you arrive there after the cut-off time, you are not able to continue up. All of us made it pass Sayat-Sayat on time, although we didn't get to arrive to the summit to catch sunrise. 

See the crowd at the summit? Everyone wants a picture.
I mean, who doesn't? So, snap and leave so that the place can be less clogged up. 

I'm freezing!!!! That's why I'm squinting :( 

It was freezing cold when we arrived up there and the guide told us that the temperature up there was about -1°C. No wonder I was freezing my hands and foot off when I was up there! Then again, my hands and feet gets cold first so, it might be a different story for you. We quickly snap a group photo and ascend down. While going down, Calvin was suffering from his tummy ache and so, thankfully for our guide, he stayed with him behind while we hurried down as we were trying to checkout from Laban Rata's hotel before the cut-off time. The check-out time for Laban Rata hotel is at 10:30 a.m. I believe they're doing this so they have sufficient time to clear the rooms for the next batch of hikers to come in since spaces are quite limited. They impose a fine of RM 100 per hour for not checking out on time.

A picture with our guide (next to Benjamin's left)!


They offer personal guide, too and they usually hold your
hands and tell you where to step and not. Even if you didn't hire one,
certain sections (when they see you're struggling) they'll hold and pull you 
through as it's obvious safety is their priority.

Private Masseur for Ben :p 

Thankfully, we arrive the hotel quite early, at about 9:15 a.m, in time for breakfast and to quickly pack our items out. We relaxed for a little before our final push-off back to the entrance! We started at  11:00 a.m. and came out at 3:15 p.m. I needed a lot of small breaks in between because my quads were burning! It's as if I had leg day!!!!!  We had to 'leave' Calvin and Ashley behind with our guide (thank goodness for the guide!) because we were trying to get back to Balsam for late-lunch and also to try and get a taxi for us to go back to Kota Kinabalu town. There weren't much left when we arrived and since both our buddies can't get back in time for the buffet, we tried to get some food for them.

...and we're back!


Christine got a taxi for us but it costs a lot because its already after 5 p.m. We were told that busses are hard to get after 5 p.m. (and also because it's a Sunday) as the time schedule is not fixed and if you're unlucky, you might need to wait for an hour or 2 before the bus comes. Also, not to mention you had to walk out of the park and cross to the opposite side of the road to the bus station to get the bus. Taking the bus would cost you about RM 2x (I can't re-call the exact figure).We're all also pretty pooped out to walk so, looking at all the circumstances, we spent RM 200 per taxi to get us back to town.

The 'ikan bakar' (means grilled fish in malay) we didn't have :( 
Picture taken on the first day we arrived KK.

Noodles we had for breakfast on the second day we arrived KK..!

We reached town at about 8 p.m. feeling crazy exhausted and Christine ordered some pizzas for us but she herself couldn't even eat any because she still feels sick and can't eat. So anyway, I slept pretty early, at about 10 -ish pm while the rest were outside the common area mingling with Calvin's Sabahan friend (she decided to drop by, impromptu, because she bumped into calvin while he was out with Ben). 

my surprise gift! So nice of them! :3
So they say I'm "Shy but naughty." :p

So, the following day, we woke up, packed and it's time to head home back to our respective home. Just when I thought our trip was over, Calvin, Ashley and Ben got me a surprise little gift! *cheesy grins* Thank you! Ben got the idea when he was looking around at the airport's gift shop and he said he'd get a monkey shirt for me and Ash spotted one, which all of the agreed whole-heartedly that I'm true to the shirt's statement. What you'd say?

Looking forward to another adventure,


Disclaimer: There are many many blogs out that might recommend different from what I wrote here so, just take mine as another piece of advice...! what you ultimately decide to pack and prepare is entirely up to you! :) But you can drop me a message/comment if you'd need help and I'll try to help whenever I can. And no, I'm in no way affiliated to any of the hotel or restaurant that I have mentioned above. 
This is the map from Timpohon/Mesilau to the peak

Description of the trails you'll find around the park

Map of the park you'll find around the park
Read More

Freezing Cold Yong Belar III

Part I: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/03/freezing-cold-yong-belar.html
Part II: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/04/freezing-cold-yong-belar-ii.html

Droplets on the grasses after the downpour

So, well, looks like I'm suppose to be fast asleep soundly huh? Nope, unfortunately not. When it started raining again, slowly, water start seeping into our tents. Then, everything started getting messy. First, it started dripping on Ashley's side, then, slowly, I could feel that my back's getting wet. (oh no...!!) Then, Bryan realised that the water seeped in because the tarp was touching the surface of the tent. When we were setting up the tent earlier, we rushed through it and did everything in a hurry because it was so cold that we just wanted everything to be done quickly and we didn't do too much adjustments thereafter and.... so we suffered this consequence. Thankfully, the water wasn't seeping in fast but it was more like of a lil slow trickle.

  • Another lesson learned: Whenever possible, when setting up the tent, do make some time to check if the tent is properly set up or else, it'll go in vain. 
Another droplet after the rain. 
Ashley's getting the macro bug from me, too! 


Hooray! The peak! :) 

Bryan tried to make things better by using a cloth to soak the water. I tried to sleep but for the whole night but I could hardly sleep. I was 'in and out' throughout the night until dawn starts to break and then before you know it, you hear people calling, speaking in Malay : " Hey! let's get up and get ready to hike the peak! C'mon!" It was still raining and still freezing cold. We usually wouldn't say no but this time,  mother nature has gotten the better of us. We hesitated although they asked many times and me, I nearly gave in but my butt wouldn't budge. (an excuse, really.)

*scribble scribble* Hey! look over here! *snaps*


*cheesy grins*


This should be the "first false peak" but unfortunately was burned down. 
Wisps of smoke from the ground and the smell of burnt trees 
were still floating around the atmosphere. 

So, instead, we made tortilla-wrapped-with-ham-and-veggies (Ashley brought already washed mixed salad leaves so we don't need to wash them anymore) for breakfast. And waited for the group to descend so we could hike down. There were some snacks and 2 more wraps plus 1 more ham and so, we decided to save them for the hike down later. While waiting for the group, I decided to make use of the time I had by pulling my notebook with a pen down so I could jot down what to write for this Yong Belar post. (Well hooray! I made use of the notebook I brought!)


Well, I allow you to laugh to your heart's content. 
(Thanks, Ashley.)


*thumpity-thump-thump* *spidge-spodge* 
*woahhhh! boom* that's how I fell over here but the scene wasn't captured


This scene somehow, reminds me of Micheal Jackson's "Earth's Song"
Well, we're nearing there, soon. Very soon. 
It's actually saddening and depressing at some point that you
can't do too much as long as you have no authority. 


Oh, someone's peeking at me after I've 'showered the ground'.

When everyone was down, we quickly packed so that we could get down in time ready for the truck to pick us up from where we started hiking. We were worried that the hike back will take long so this time, all of us walked really quickly and took really short rest. Plus, the route back wasn't entirely  descending. There were ups and down, some pretty steep, all along the way out. And finally, we're out! We're pretty relieved we were out because all of us felt really tired and drained but (secretly) deep down, all of us knew that we'll be having another adventure like this again!

Till another adventure,



(P.s: Oh look how dirty your shoes can get. A lil' wash and she'll be spanking clean!) 
Read More

Freezing Cold Yong Belar II

Part I: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/03/freezing-cold-yong-belar.html 
Part III: http://alifeasamortal.blogspot.com/2014/04/freezing-cold-yong-belar-iii.html
Titanium goodies courtesy of ashley and the 'bunsen burner'.
(sorry for the blurry photos! my hands were freezing! :x) 

After fumbling for our gears and shivering in the cold for about 25 minutes, we were finally done setting up the tent, tarp and had our mini outdoor stove out, ready to boil water to make a hot mug of ginger tea. While we make ginger tea, Bryan was so nice to fetch more water for us from the water point. It's about 500m away but the way down is full of ruts and potholes. And plus, it's so cold that, if possible, we actually don't even want to budge away from our place.

Lil one we found at night ;)

Well, we also needed to shower, badly because both me and Ashley felt smelly, so, we reluctantly got up after having hot ginger tea, packed our clothes and towel, then went down to clean ourselves.
We just took our towels, wet it and wipe our bodies with the damp towel. We only soap from knee below as there were dried up dirt and mud from the hike earlier. The water was freezing cold. It's like as if you're bathing in ice water. I said : "Ey Ashley, just try to think as if we're taking an ice bath," then chuckled gleefully. The water point wasn't very deep. It's probably about 1 and a half feet deep and it's actually quite clean. Also, it's not a river, but just a little stream and its width is around 2 fully grown human standing side by side.

Ashley at our camp. :)

We still felt uncomfortable as we didn't really bath but we don't think we could stand splashing ourselves with freezing water. Bryan came down shortly after we've finished 'bathing' and changing into our fresh clothes. We waited for Bryan and of course looked away while he clean himself and when he's done, we went back up.

My 'partner-in-crime' whenever I go for any trail adventure.

While in the tent, I told myself several things I should (and you can learn from my lesson, too :) ) learn from this hiking trip.

  • First, never ever ever be lazy to pack things I had in mind before the trip. I actually wanted to pack my jumpers in the bag but because I'm so used to wearing shorts, I told myself it wasn't needed. I also wanted to bring my wind breaker (I thought that already having one fleece jacket was enough but the rain proved me otherwise) along but I told myself it may make my bag bulkier. 
  • Second, bring more food especially when you're hiking in the cold. This sounds like an obvious statement, now but, I never thought about bringing more food and I actually brought less this time. I always have extra food from my hiking trip and well, some of them looked nasty and squished. (oops!) oh and yes! do very much bring hot drinks if you know you're hiking up in the cold!! 
  • Third, Expect the unexpected. None of us expected a heavy downpour. Well, even if there was, we thought it would go away quickly. And so, that's also the result of me not bringing my windbreaker (aka hiking raincoat?) and my long pants. (smart move.) 
  • Fourth, Ashley brought tortillas instead of the usual bread everyone brings.Next time, we'll try to bring more ready-to-eat foods like cooked ham (no porky ham of course. You know, the 'invisible rule' in the forest!), cooked sausages (Ashley got us single-serving wrapped sausages from Jusco) and the usual canned food. 
Pretty flowers we found. Unsure of the name, though.

Tiny roots I found hanging on a branch.
(The photo would look better without the lens blurring up :()


Then came one of the hikers from the other group. He came shivering, wearing his poncho and offered us his boiling water, asking if we needed any but we politely decline but felt thankful that he was really thoughtful. It was so cold that we couldn't really cook but still, we managed to make more hot water for milo and instant noodles. We shared them amongst ourselves and well, if it weren't for the rain, we would have tried to socialize with the other hikers like we usually do.

Shhsss.......*snooze* *snore*

But anyway, we stayed in the tent and snuggle inside and then after awhile, we realise the rain has stopped! Still even when the rain has stopped, it's still freezing cold. I was cold until the point where, I could touch the cup of the boiling water and not feel anything. Really, I was that cold. My touch senses only came back after a few seconds. Bryan went down to fetch another batch of water. He said that these were going to be our drinking water for tomorrow's hike down and then, he threw in a tiny tablet. It's about half cm in diameter and it's suppose to get rid of the microorganism in our water. Since we had nothing much, we decided to go to bed early. We're suppose to hike to the peak tomorrow - Yong Belar!

Till Part III,


(p.s: sorry for the irrelevant photos following the paragraph. I couldn't take much photo, especially when our surroundings are getting darker and plus, I was really freezing in the cold weather..!) 
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