from afar we saw a few people standing & waving their hands above their heads & shouting & singing to us. couldn't make out their faces - for a moment they were thought to be Yangchen, Angeline, Kaimin & Ivan who were far ahead of us & probably resting at e intersection by now. but e colours of their clothing were different.
rounding e final bend along Mesilau trail, Swee Cheng & I came to a construction site where trees had been felled, vegetation cleared, e soil dug up, & pieces of wire mesh were lying among bags of cement stacked to e right of e trail. a not exactly pretty sight & not one we expected to stumble across within a national park. & there were e guys who had been waving & singing to us, a bunch of locals who were building a restaurant (so that future climbers need not carry packed lunches?) right smack at e point where e main summit trail & e Mesilau trail intersect.
Yangchen was perched on some rock, with a spray of white orchid flowers sprouting strategically above his head. together we waited for Teck Chia & Japili to catch up before continuing up e summit trail towards Gunting Lagadan hut. e intersection is just after e 4km mark of e main trail from Timpohon, & at e end of e 5.75km Mesilau trail - we had less than 2km more to go for today, but it was already 4.30pm & we were supposed to have reached Laban Rata by NOW =P
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| construction of a new restaurant at e intersection of e summit trail & Mesilau trail (AK) |
e workers had spotted us coming up along e Mesilau trail & were waving & singing to us (AK) |
Ivan & Kaimin get new names at e intersection point; there was some super corny joke about Timpohon Gate being e Sabahan brother of Bill Gates (IV) |
for most of e Mesilau trail & from e intersection upwards, e terrain comprises of ultramafic (high iron & magnesium content) serpentine rock, which has been weathered into yellowish-brown soil (due to oxidation of ferrous components?) that might make some climbers regret wearing nice new white shoes =P only plants that have adapted accordingly can survive in this type of soil that is high in iron, silica & metals toxic to most plants & lacking in phosphates. guess such edaphic (& also altitude/climatic) factors serve as a form of selection pressure that has given rise to e relatively high number of endemic species that Kinabalu is famous for, in particular pitcher plants & orchids. for more on this refer to http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/1012.pdf.
by this point we were tired enough to start wondering if we could actually make it to e summit e next morning, especially when we climbed past e sign indicating e 4.5km mark after having completed at least 6km - distances along e main summit trail are calculated from Timpohon Gate. as usual e rest raced ahead, as usual Swee Cheng & I continued at our tortoise pace to photograph stuff, & as usual Japili stayed at e back with Teck Chia.
not long after, we finally saw e peaks of e Kinabalu massif for e first time as strong winds pushed e cloud cover west to expose e features of e southern flank i.e. Donkey's Ears, Cauldron Gap & Tunku Abdul Rahman Peak. we were looking forward to e next landmark, Pondok Villosa, & coming to a bend in e trail a green garbage bin was spotted, raising false hopes that e pondok was just ahead. FAT HOPE. a few more mentos (mentos were used to motivate one another) & Pondok Villosa was finally reached. this is probably e pondok with e best scenery along this route, e main summit trail's version of Pondok Lompoyou. e patch of bare rock in front of e pondok is a good place to sit in e sun & do a bit of birdwatching, & necklace orchids grow even by e path leading to e toilet =P
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| e Nepenthes villosa pitcher that reminded us of a big fat round Fuji apple (SC) |
first views of e summit plateau as we joined e summit trail (HY) | |
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| top, middle & bottom: Swee Cheng & his super power zoom lens (SC) | ||
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| more from Swee Cheng's camera (SC) |
looking back from Pondok Villosa (HY) |
Ivan, Kaimin & Angeline race ahead; Swee Cheng & I continue to take our own sweet time taking photos while waiting for Yangchen, Teck Chia & Japili to catch up (SC) |
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| top & bottom: before e clouds move in & e sun starts to set (HY) | ||
e clouds moved in & e trail got boring again. & when I get bored I'll feel *yawwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn* - so after every so many many boring steps I'd look for a nice big fat rock & sit down for a break & a sip of water, forcing myself to get up & going on e next stretch of many many boring steps once I saw Swee Cheng coming up along e trail.
this cycle was repeated many many boring times until Swee Cheng managed to catch up with me & asked me why on earth did I keep running away from him - each time he'd caught sight of me sitting down just ahead of him on e trail he'd wanted to join me for a break, but before he knew it I'd have picked up my pack & disappeared further uphill. very demoralising, according to him =P
so we continued e same cycle together, just that this time round we hunted for either two rocks to sit on or a single big fat one that could seat both of us, & e signal to move off was when Yangchen or Teck Chia came into view below us. more importantly, Swee Cheng could now eat green apple-flavoured Mentos (he was carrying e pink, orange & yellow mixed fruit version), & I could now eat some-flavour-other-than-green-apple Mentos, as now we could EXCHANGE flavours =P when things like this can perk you up, it shows how boring e main summit trail is compared to e Mesilau trail that we had left behind.
warned that e restaurant in Laban Rata would close at 7pm, Ivan, Angeline & Kaimin had long vanished somewhere ahead of e rest of us. but it would be a waste to hurry by e rhododendrons, to not cast more than a passing glance at e big fat billowing clouds & to ignore e golden sky as e sun started to creep behind e southwestern flank of e Kinabalu massif, so Swee Cheng & I dawdled on with e photography. anyway Japili & Teck Chia were still somewhere behind, although they caught up with us at one point - long enough for us to suan Japili (yet again) about answering 'girlfriend' calls from his handphone =P earlier along e Mesilau trail, Ivan had interrogated him & squeezed out e fact that he was 33 years old & still a bachelor, & from then on we winked at him each time his phone rang =P
a light drizzle had started by e time we reached Waras hut, e place we were supposed to stay at for e night before some mysterious forces of Sutera Sanctuary Lodges switched us to Gunting Lagadan hut on e day we checked in at Mesilau. from here, e path to Laban Rata & Burlington hut & parts of e way to Gunting Lagadan & Panar Laban huts are lit by neon yellow lighting that look just like street lamps & seem incongruously out of place against e backdrop of e dark mountain & pink evening sky. was glad to be back in civilisation as my water supply was running low after having given half of it to Teck Chia.
close to 6.30pm, almost dark, & we were finally at Laban Rata. quite a few guides were hanging around outside e entrance to Laban Rata, & they were a little surprised to see e both of us reach at such a late hour & with no guide in sight. one of them walked along with us & exhausted his entire vocabulary of Mandarin trying to sing 'shi4 shang4 zhi2 you3 ma1 ma1 hao3' - decided to give him e benefit of doubt & not assume that he was trying to sing that to Swee Cheng =P
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| starting to think of carebears (HY) | growing dark at but e orchids can't hide from us (SC) |
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| Kinabalu 'mountain tortoise': Ivan had raced so far ahead & taken this picture while e sun was still bright (IV) |
rhododendrons; left might be Rhododendron rugosum (HY) | |
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| more clouds as e sun starts to set (HY) | reaching Laban Rata at 6.30pm, 10 hours after setting off from Mesilau; if e restaurant in Laban Rata didn't close by 7pm, Swee Cheng & I would probably have dragged even longer to take more photos =P (HY) |
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from e cool peaceful quiet dusk outside....into e hot noisy stuffy interior of e ground floor of Laban Rata - so thankful that we were going to escape to Gunting Lagadan hut that night =) Ivan, Kaimin & Angeline were already feeling e effects of e altitude when we found them at a table at e far end of e restaurant, looking somewhat stoned. not long after, Teck Chia finally appeared & joined e rest of us & sat down. & promptly *KA-BISH* his knee against e table leg....
e downside of reaching Laban Rata so late was that all 1.5L bottles of mineral water had been sold out. only 500ml bottles were left - at RM4 each. Yangchen & I went to rent sleeping bags from e Laban Rata reception (RM5 rental + RM5 deposit) & they turned out to be bright PURPLE. had a hunch that facilities at Gunting Lagadan hut might not be as 'complete' some may have expected, so suggested to e rest that they wash up in Laban Rata before climbing further. true enough, we were to discover that only e male toilet in Gunting Lagadan had sinks - e female toilet had 2 holes in e ground where sinks were supposed to be, & e only tap was slightly below e height of my knee. not an easy task for tall people to wash their faces & brush their teeth & not hit their head on e floor =P
Japili had disappeared by e time we were done with dinner. we were told that e way to Gunting Lagadan was lit, but most of e path was pitch dark & slippery, with leaky water pipes running over smooth bare rock. at e bottom of Gunting Lagadan hut was e first of e white ropes that lead all e way up to e summit. surprised to see e ropes here - we had expected them to be found only at a much higher altitude - but Gunting Lagadan hut is perched on a patch of bare rock slope not unlike e terrain on e summit plateau.
split ourselves between rooms 12 & 13. each room has 2 double decker beds with 4 bunks, a door, a window & not much else, & is as spacious as....well, a submarine? Yangchen & I took e upper bunks in room 12 & hauled our backpacks up to our bunks so that others would have space to stand on e floor with both feet & still be able to open e door.
preferred e natural ceiling of a neverending expanse of star-studded sky to e white painted wooden one within e hut, so I went outside to sit on e rocks & enjoy e view & fresh air. Swee Cheng appeared with his camera (like does he ever appear without it?) & found a good spot on e rock slope where he could lie down & steady his camera to take 30-second time lapse photos of e nightsky without tumbling 50 metres down in e darkness to Laban Rata.
e half moon sat high above e peaks of e Kinabalu massif & e sky seemed far too small to fit all e stars in. amazing trying to imagine e scale of everything - stars that are light years apart but seem to our eyes separated from one another by just millimetres....reminded me of e magical nightsky above Mono Lake in e Californian desert, except that e Milky Way couldn't be seen here.
back inside e hut, it was discovered that e sleeping bags could not be zipped up as e sliders (e part of a zip that moves up & down to open or close e zip) were missing. some decided not to use them, while e rest of us used them as blankets instead. spending e night in an unheated hut meant that we would be acclimatised to e cold by e next morning, unlike e poor souls at Laban Rata =P
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| inside Gunting Lagadan hut (HY) |
outside Gunting Lagadan hut; reached here at 8.30pm & appreciating e pitch black darkness, moon, stars & wind was far more important than sleeping early (HY, taken by SC) |
Swee Cheng photographing e amazing night sky outside Gunting Lagadan (HY) |
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| Swee Cheng's masterpiece: e sky that was too small to squeeze all e stars in (SC) | ||
