Mount Kinabalu Summit Attack Day 1(10.12.2019) Part 1 of 2

Hi all, welcome back again to this blog!! i don't update regularly cause i dont have the time to manage it. so i'll just update some BIG life events so one day i can come back and flash back all the good times.

Now,the MAIN POINT! Mount Kinabalu Summit Hike(2D1N).

we planned this hike a year ago(2018) when suddenly we got the hype for conquering the mountain. and luckily we have enough 10 person while planning so we can split the group evenly for the mountain guide(5 adults per mountain guide). if im not mistaken, we planned this on December 2018 and manage to book only slot on December 2019. (best time to hike by Kinabalu Park official website is May to September) i'll have my gear list, food, hydration, hike time and my bag weight at the end of second post. do stay tuned!

Day 1(10.12.2019)(hopefully i can finish with only 2 parts)

We departed from Labuan to Menumbok via ferry on 6am, 2 cars 8 persons. we decided not to have breakfast in Labuan and have it in Menumbok. 

After a quick breakfast and we departed to Kota Kinabalu. it was a smooth journey cause most of the cars following the same ferry had departed while we have our breakfast at Menumbok. arrived Kota Kinabalu before 11am.

After arriving in KK, we meet up with my girlfriend and her sister in Imago for our lunch cause we booked our tour van at 3pm to Kundasang so we have some time for lunch and stock up last minute supplies for our hike.

If you have sharp eyes you will spot Mr Bean.

We departed from Imago around 2.30pm ish to a church to leave our cars there and follow the tour van uncle to Kundasang. is safer and also we informed the pastor there we will leave 2 cars here for a few days.

Judging from the bags, how many person for this trip?(if i havent told you is 10)

an average of 3 bag per person.one for staying one night in Kundasang, 2 is for hiking. so after we packed the van with our stuff and off we go to Kundasang. in the morning while in ferry, one of our team member saw a fb post regarding landslide cause the road to Kundasang close. luckily we check with Uncle and we wont pass that road. Thank God. 

We stopped at a market on our way up to stock Banana because imago grocer doesnt sell!! and of course for pee stop. hahaha. we will be staying at Dvilla for the night. and next day breakfast included. by the time we arrived is like 17 degree celsius. after checking in, we went to Cottage hotel for steamboat dinner. Steamboat dinner in a cold weather? why not?(this is not our first choice tho.hahaha) and there is a huge Bataras in front of this hotel.

Le mountain hiking team

Day 2(10.11.2019) Day 1 for Mount Kinabalu Hike.

My initial plan is to wear long pants and short sleeve T for the hike but my friends keep saying short pants la, we all(male) short pants. cause i cant deal well with cold. so i end up trying with short pants. guess what? is not as cold as i imagined. 

Breakfast included by Dvilla

Group photo before we depart to Kinabalu Park.

we actually registered and signed our “ life and death " form a day before. Kinabalu parks requires you to let them know your physical conditions. so we met up with our mountain guide, 2 of them which i forgot their names(im very bad at remembering names). our package doesnt include packed lunch. so we end up rushing down the junction restaurant and "tapau" our lunch for the team.

Picture time while we wait for our tapau to be prepared.

Le me and my beautiful gf

sisters

"Tapau"

 tapau done. head back up to regroup with our mountain guide and wait for shuttle to pick us up from registration to first check point(Timpohon Gate)

Taken with iphone 5. such beautiful weather and handsome taking selfie bottom right

Thank you ABDS Auto Services for sponsoring portion of the Team T

Is going to be hard, but hard doesnt mean impossible!

In shuttle on the way to gate 

This is what you see is almost all youtube video regarding Mount Kinabalu hike.

This is one of our Mountain Guide for 2d1n

Yeap. 1st check point.

A waterfall welcoming hikers.(before 1km mark,if not mistaken)

This view also you will see in most youtube videos on mount kinabalu

For the first 1-3km we still manage to stick in groups(3 person or 4 person per group) so no one will be hiking alone for this day 1 hike.most of the trail are as picture  below. similar to what our Puncur Hitam trail(Labuan)

Rocky, muddy, stairs , steps. KM 4 is where we will meet our lunch. we manage to regroup there as is advised to rest longer there for us to get used to the altitude.

This is not KM4. we forgot to take group photo there. by the way our pack lunch is fried rice and sandwich. 8 of us with friend rice felt like we are eating uncooked rice mixed with salt. thats it. hahahaha. hard and salty. maybe the chef know we will loose alot of salt so he fried with extra salt. for those having sandwich say taste ok ok only. 

also worth to mention is every KM there is a pondok(hut) for hikers to rest. and there will be some squirrels roaming around for food. they are "trained" to recognise sound of plastic wrappers. once you unpack your food or open up a bar of snickers, they will come climbing up your legs and try to steal your food.hahaha.

After KM4 we split up again into small groups. im covering last with my bro as his leg muscle starting to feel pain. luckily non of us cramp during the day 1 hike to Panar Laban.

We are the last group(in our group of 10) to arrive. we started to hike around 9.20am. took us a solid 8 Hours 33 minutes to reach Panar Laban. the first team within our group to arrive is around 4pm. for the last 1 KM to Panar Laban, started to rain. so we put on our raincoat. 

before we split off during our rest at KM4, we agreed whoever first arrived at restaurant help us reserve food as some of our previous friends hike said when they arrived, there is no food left. so luckily our first team arrive "early" and reserved some food for us those are late.(ps: first to arrive within our group is a girl. orang KUAT!) the dinner served are very nutritious and delicious(and i forgot to snap a picture). there are beef, lamb, spaghetti , vege and soup. and fruits. almost forgot the fruits.

 The two picture above is when the sky suddenly clear from rain and the sunset is visible(still have clouds) everyone in the restaurant quickly rush out to take a picture as we did to! just look at everyone's face. that face of achievement! hahaha

Sunset.

After we had our dinner and chill, we head back to our dorm to sleep. if my math is right, our dorm can actually fit 16 person but guess what? we manage to get the whole room for our team only! there are suppose to be another group sleeping with us but not sure what happen during the arrangement. we plan to take a quick shower but when we open the tap just to wash our hands, instantly change our minds. end up non of us shower or even brush our teeth. freezing water. not just cold. we sleep around 8 or 9 i also forgot. all i know is that the pillow and blanket are also cold. even you change position to sleep, you have to place your head back to the same spot as previous because the rest of the pillow area is SUPER COLD!!!. 

Lights off. rest, sleep and ready for Day 2 of Mount Kinabalu Hike, which we need to wake up around 2am for breakfast.


BONUS
THIS GUY. keep persuade me to wear short pants for day 1 hike. after changing and meet him outside the room he wrap himself like a chinese dumpling(complete with scarf,arm and leg warmer). but technically he fulfilled his requirement, short pants. hahahhaha