Mount Kinabalu, Padas
River
and SCUBA Diving in 9 days
A
Travelogue by
Roselle
de la
Fuente
Posted
on
April 10, 2007
 I
can't begin to thank mount-kinabalu-borneo.com
for all the information H and I got while we're still planning our
spring vacation. Every
query, (although
I'm sure some of it were quite silly)
was answered and
cleared out. Ruhaizad
and Aiden had
extended invaluable assistance in the planning and preparation ( activities,
lodging and even cost estimates)
for
this trip. They helped
us
put together our itinerary and budget plan, which then eased the
initial jitters for our journey. With
barely
a month left to go,
Aiden went out of his way to help us get reservations in Laban Rata (believe
me, it was so difficult to get one! ).
Let me
share you some
details on how we were able to make our 9-day trip very enjoyable.
March
7- H and I
arrived at Kota Kinabalu at around 6pm.
We chartered a
taxi to bring us to Centerpoint
and from there, find a hotel for the night. We
checked in at Hotel Mandarin (which
is okay but a bit pricey
for its type ). We had
dinner at the
night food center, which has many restaurants and offers free live band
music.
March
8-
we went to Sutera Sanctuary Lodges (SSL) office to catch the 7:15am
shuttle trip to Kinabalu Park HQ (
1,564m above sea level). The
2-hour trip had a stop-over in Kundasang Market, which has a view deck
showing a very enticing view of Mount Kinabalu.
The personnel in
Kinabalu Park HQ were really
courteous and nice. We
expressed
our desire to go up to Mount Kinabalu via Mesilau Trail and go down
through Timpohon Trail.
The
staff said that it was a tough route to do since it's longer and more
erratic but they also said that the views in Mesilau are more diverse
and worth seeing. Thinking
that we
would go slowly anyway, we were firm to keep on as planned.
After
the initial
registration, we proceeded to Kinabalu Pine Resort to check our things
in. We reserved
for the deluxe cottage packaged with dinner and breakfast for two.
Believe me,
it was worth every
penny as not only that
the cottage is clean, big and has a nice view of the mountain but the
food were delicious and servings were big.
After lunch, we
went to Poring. We enjoyed
trailing the Canopy Walkway, Kipungit Waterfall
and the Bat Cave. After
which, we
relaxed in the individualized, outdoor hot spring tubs ( its
temperature ranges from 40 to 70 degrees Celsius,
depending on the season, according to the signage, so watch out!).
 March
9-
we went to Kinabalu Park HQ to settle all the climbing fees and fetch
our mountain guide (Francis
Suita)
and then proceeded to Mesilau Trail. We
realized that they were not joking! It
was a tough route indeed… it is 2 km. longer than Timpohon
and has
uphill and downhill trails, but the views are magnificent and the flora
and fauna are more diverse. We
saw
local species of squirrels
just looking around for food which were not bothered at all by climbers.
We took our
time to take lots of pictures, refill our
water bottles from the piped spring water (they
are potable
and cold), rest in the shelters
and enjoy the long climb to
Laban Rata (3,273m).
We were
awed by the
whole
park and were
grateful to see that the park officials have made the trail manageable
by putting wooden slabs as hand and foot rails as much as possible.
Hundreds of
species of orchids,
rhododendrons, pitcher
plants, birds, insects, animals and others, the names of which I don't
know, were all around us.
Indeed, it was a
tough but magnificent climb
to LR! We
reached LR a few minutes
before the sunset. We checked
in at
Gunting Lagadan (3,323m)
after our early dinner and
retired early to prepare for our climb to the summit.
March
10- we woke up
at 2am. It
was chaotic at GL. Everyone
was preparing for the
climb. At
2:30am, we started our climb together with several others who, like us,
were too eager to catch the sunrise at 4,095.2m above sea level!
 There
were more than a
couple of hundreds of climbers that day who have finished the trek with
relative ease. It
is only I and
some few souls who had encountered problems while reaching the top.
Having been
with 70-something year
old Japanese couple
finishing the summit climb with us that day, inspired me and countless
others, to try harder to reach Low's Peak (
4,095.2m).
The
stubborn in me,
knowing there were finishers who were more than twice my age, couldn't
just give up. We
are
grateful to the Kinabalu Park officials for giving Francis to us as our
mountain guide. He
was very encouraging and not even once he has shown impatience and
mockery even during those times when I have been most difficult.
We made
acquaintances with the
other climbers there also and all of them said words of encouragement
to me.
H was
able to reach
the
summit just in time for the sunrise! (well,
without me at
first, then he went down and meet me at 4,085m where I was, and climbed
the top again with me ). I
reached
Low's Peak
at around 8am, 2 hours later than everyone else. But
mind you, though it was the most difficult, climbing to Low's Peak was
the most fruitful climb I have ever done so far.
You know
what is best
about reaching the Low's Peak late? We
had the summit all for ourselves! H,
Francis
and I stayed there to be awed by the grandiose of the
surroundings. Even
with my weak body, we were able to take lots of nice pictures, did some
meditations, and joked around about how many hours it would take us
descending this time. It is sad
that most climbers,
after taking a couple of
pictures of the sunrise and without enjoying being in the summit much,
would immediately start their descent.
For us, we have
seen how the peaks look and
feels like that whole morning. We
have experienced what is it like having been with nature, in a place
where everything else is larger than life!
 I
particularly loved the
rock climbing part. Since it is
a
rocky mountain top (granite, in
particular ), a stretch
of the trail are almost vertical climbs. However,
it
is not that complicated since there are ropes
and poles installed that guide the climbers.
It's a good thing
we had an extra night of
reservation at GL. We were not
in a
hurry to go down and had the luxury of time to hang around a bit and
replenish our energies.
March
11- after our
breakfast, we started our descent at 9am.
This time, we
would be traversing Timpohon
trail. It
was a steep
descent but is relatively easy. Timpohon
trail is the more popular route for climbers since it is shorter and
less complicated than Mesilau Trail. We
reached
the Timpohon gate at
around noon time. There
at the gate
were billboards showing the Trail route and the list of the fastest
finishers of last year's climbathon ( an annual
climbing event held in August of every year).
I wonder
how these people were able to do their complete
ascents and descents in less than 3 hours! We
chartered a taxi to Kinabalu
Park HQ.
And oh
boy, I
couldn't
begin to describe how I felt when I saw my name in Certificate of
Recognition (or was it
completion?) handed to us by
the park officials! My name in
the record book of this
UNESCO World Heritage Site? Cool. (It
felt the same as when I received my law school diploma ).
We rode the
shuttle to
KK and checked in at Hotel Capital. It
was a bit pricey for backpackers like us but after a difficult 2 days,
we decided that we deserve to treat ourselves magnanimously.
March
12- we spent
the whole day strolling around the city, checking out the malls and
going around travel agencies to find which activities we're going to do
next. We met Ian
Edwards at Borneo
Action Dive shop and booked our Padas whitewater rafting and fun dive
packages with them.
 March 13-
we were
picked up at our hotel before 8am to head to the
train station at Beaufort. From
there,
the train would be
heading to Tenom where Padas Whitewater Starting Point is.
The train
was old and populated and the ride was bumpy but
it was a nice experience for us. The
locals,
albeit noisy, were
very friendly.
When we
reached our
destination, we
were instructed to change to our swimming attire and leave our things
since it would surely get wet during the rafting (
we left our camera so we don't have pictures here).
There was a
short briefing that made the activity seemed
difficult but exciting. Our boatmen
were nice and funny.
Padas
River at this
time
was in Level III and IV, but becomes Level IV and V during the rainy
season. Level
III and IV means
that rafters should have some skills in paddling and swimming
as the rapids are a bit strong. Padas
River
has 5 major rapids (Headhunter,
Scooby Doo, Cobra, Lambada, and Curve Rapids).
It was a
fun and
exhilarating ride! It was a
great
adrenaline rush for us. I am not a
good swimmer ( although we
were provided with standard life vests)
but everyone
else in the raft was experienced so my objective was not to
consistently paddle but to try so hard not to fall out.
Everyone in
the boat except me
body rafted, was too chicken to do it seeing how strong the rapids were.
I couldn't
do anything else but to brace myself for the
next strong current, or the next wave.
After that,
we were
complimented with a sumptuous barbecue buffet before we headed back to
KK.
March
14- we went to
meet our dive master, Ian Edwards, to dive with
in Sapi Island.
Ian is a great
diver and is easy to be with. His
funny
character helped our dives enjoyable. There
were
lots of species of fish and marine life we've
seen there. But, as
usual, "Nemo" is the star
of our dive. Seeing
the clown fish
excited us. We
had 2 dives that
day.
 March 15-
we booked our Manukan Island trip with Tanjung Aru Tours.
A shuttle
van drove us to the Shangri-La Marina where we
took the ferry (speedboat) to the island. We
had a
relaxed time swimming and
sunbathing. The
sea was calm and
the white sand beach was picture-perfect that day.
Tourists, esp.
kids, were having fun because
schools of fish abound even near the jetty. We
left the island at 3pm.
The nice
thing about
this
island is that it is just 15 minutes away from KK.
Residents
are lucky because going to Tunku Abdul Rahman
Park to escape the hustle and bustle of the city is not so difficult
and expensive.
March
16- did our
last minute souvenir shopping. Our
flight
was delayed so we stayed at the airport longer
than necessary.
Looking
back, our
Sabah
trip was one of the nicest H and I had. In
a short time, we were able to do so many challenging things and relax
at the same time. We
purposely didn't crowd our
itinerary with activities that would require us to travel much.
We wanted
to enjoy the eastern side of Sabah first without
stressing ourselves. We wanted
this holiday to be a
real holiday. We
knew the whole
island offers so much more than we were willing to do.
We knew that we
have yet to discover so many
beautiful things about the island and its culture.
But we
leave it at that for now, for our next trip to
Sabah.
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