returned e favour by taking photos for e lady who helped us take e preceding picture, then got down to our favourite spot at e base of Low's Peak to wait for e crowds to get lost. by now it was about 7.15am & nice & sunny, & even better - everyone else seemed to be clearing out & hurrying down to Laban Rata =)

at e base of Low's Peak after coming down to escape e crowds, take more photos & nap while waiting for Yangchen, Teck Chia & Japili (SC)

sat down facing St John's Peak to review e photos on our cameras, eat, & wait for e other 3 guys to come up. just minutes later they appeared & joined us for a rest. Japili sat next to a fellow guide on a long slab of rock above e col between St John's Peak & Low's Peak. thought that it was a nice photo spot, so we took turns to take photos of one another sitting there. Yangchen was ravenous & would not stop eating, thus his 'hand in mouth' pose below.

Ivan & e tip of South Peak (SC)	Swee Cheng & Japili (SC, taken by HY)	Yangchen eating breakfast next to Japili (TC)	in front of e monkey's head, which is what e guides call St John's Peak (HY, taken by SC)

Ivan's camera battery was flat, & Swee Cheng's camera (just e camera alone excluding all e add-ons & accesories) cost more than 3 times e price of mine & was far more than 10 times heavier - he carried it in a separate backpack throughout this entire trip. so my camera was passed to Yangchen for him to take yet another photo of himself in his 'Sir Edmund Hillary' pose on yet another summit, & he continued e last bit of his climb up to Low's Peak with Teck Chia & Japili.

e rest of us settled down to take a nap on e rocks in e warm sunshine (just e thing that any self-respecting cat would do =P) while waiting for them. found e 2 guys totally KO-ed when I woke up after a while. walked over to e sacrifice pool & spent some time at e edge of e summit plateau overlooking Low's Gully (alamak where is my camera when I need it....), had a drink of water & ate cookies & cream chocolate, & when I got back to e base of Low's Peak they were still asleep. waited & waited....it was almost an hour before Teck Chia, Yangchen & Japili appeared again.

Yangchen conquers yet another mountain & crushes it underfoot, although Victoria Peak behind is taller (HY, taken by TC)	Teck Chia made it!! (HY, taken by YC)
Swee Cheng being woken from his nap when Yangchen, Teck Chia & Japili finally came down from Low's Peak (TC)

as we turned to start on our way down after 8.30am, we spotted 3 ladies & a guide on their way up! so Yangchen & Teck Chia were not e last after all, although they both got to enjoy peace & quiet on e empty summit that they had all to themselves.

on e way down: looking back at Low's Peak (HY)

on e way down: summit panorama (SC)

St John's Peak again (SC)

detoured northeast towards Low's Gully again, this time with Ivan - he had missed it in his rush to get up to Low's Peak before sunrise. Low's Gully was carved out by a big fat glacier, & has a fault line & e Panataran (or Penataran?) river running along it. dry season so any waterfalls spilling down e sheer walls of e gully probably wouldn't be easy to spot without binoculars? couldn't see right to e bottom of e ravine. not sure if it is possible to do so from near e base of Ugly Sister Peak, & until now am still wondering why I didn't walk over to try & take a look - shouldn't have rushed down so fast!

preceding pictures: e closest I can get to Low's Gully without making e guides panic (HY)

one by one e guys started to run off in desperate search for a loo. Yangchen bounded down e slopes & vanished almost instantly - according to him it took him 15 minutes to reach Laban Rata. Swee Cheng was next, although he still stopped to take some photos. walked along with Ivan until we came close enough to e big fat boulders near South Peak for us to be able to spot climbers lying down there to rest in e shade, & for him to realise that it was a totally unsuitable spot for a pee break, so he followed suit & ran down towards Sayat-Sayat hut =P

ventured off trail along some cairns in e direction of e base of Donkey's Ears to photograph it, leaving Teck Chia behind with Japili & half of my water supply as they were running on empty. Donkey's Ears is e weirdest looking remnant of a hanging valley (yet another glacial landform *grin*) that I've ever seen. heading down towards Sayat-Sayat hut, e beautiful green Kundasang valley came into view below e sparse cloud cover.

preceding pictures: can't stop taking photos of e evidence of glacial erosion - crescenteric gouges & smooth granite slopes once abraded by ice & now undergoing exfoliation (HY)

looking back (SC)

looking back again as Low's Peak disappears (SC)	looking forward (SC)
e way down (HY)	trail marker (HY)
looking east: somewhere beneath is Sayat-Sayat hut (SC, HY)
Sayat-Sayat hut somewhere down there in e middle of e picture (HY)	Trachymene saniculifolia (HY)
e trail down e western summit plateau to Sayat- Sayat hut (HY)	Donkey's Ears (HY)
promise that these are e last two pics of Donkey's Ears =P left: northwest view, right: southeast view (HY)

preceding pictures: e Kundasang valley below (SC, HY, HY)

e last human I'd seen, a Cantonese-speaking man ahead of me, had long since disappeared, & e others behind me were nowhere in sight when I looked back. finally alone to enjoy e wind in my ears & all e rock around me, with all e peace & quiet I'd been wanting so badly =) went near e edge of e summit plateau above e Panar Laban rockface to photograph Laban Rata & e helipad below.

Laban Rata, & Kundasang valley now hidden by cloud (SC)

Laban Rata below e Panar Laban rockface; took this stretch down to Gunting Lagadan alone as Japili stayed back with Teck Chia while e other guys went ahead to look for a loo (HY)

so glad to see that Laban Rata looks as if it could be swallowed up by e vastness of e big fat mountain anytime, that human presence still appears in balance with nature. if Gunung Kinabalu were in Singapore there would be condominiums rampaging up its slopes, e trails would be paved with concrete steps & lined with green railings & pink bouganvillea bushes, a cable car system with fare discounts for POSB & DBS bank cardholders would link Timpohon Gate & Laban Rata, & to top it off, squatting at e top of Low's Peak would be a hideously ugly Merlion vomiting into Low's Gully - e world's tallest manmade waterfall would no longer be in Jurong Bird Park.

saw clouds below me being pushed rapidly up against e southeastern face of e mountain, which could only mean one thing - strong winds ahead. e winds hit as Sayat-Sayat hut was reached around 9.30am. found e park ranger crouched beside e fence trying to keep his papers from being blown away, & convinced him that I am NOT Lee Teck Chia & that he had ticked off e wrong name on his list - at one point we couldn't hear each other properly over e wind even when speaking face to face. he asked if there were still climbers further behind, & heard him relay e info to someone at Laban Rata via walkie-talkie.

continued down e trail - no guides around so no one to point out e route to Cauldron Gap nor e starting point of Bowen's route to e eastern summit plateau. wished had packed a heavier load to weigh me down - ended up having to crouch down on e more exposed parts of e trail for fear of being blown off e rocks; even Ivan had to do e same & reported having to stop from time to time to wait for e wind to abate. could only manage 2 blur shots of e wildflower Trachymene saniculifolia down this stretch. guess Swee Cheng had no problem since he could still take e following photo:

e view from somewhere below Sayat-Sayat hut; Swee Cheng & I had rested somewhere at e bottom left corner on our way up (SC)

e wind blasted in from e southeast, & e direction was perfect - made use of it to help press us against e rockface. Ivan & I ended up not having to use e ropes at all - not that we wanted to, especially after Ivan freaked on seeing how one of them was secured around a sliver of rock e thickness of my finger =P rest of us freaked out when Teck Chia later told us that he was left hanging onto that particular rope with only air to stand on after he fell where e above photo was taken. HENG Japili was there to save him.

if any of e other 4 of us were to fall, no one else except e mountain would know, at least until we failed to report back to Laban Rata, & then people would only be able to guess e exact spot where any of us had disappeared. & therein lies e this (perverted?) sense of absolute freedom - just e mountain & you, your own choice of footholds & handholds, your own common sense, judgement & decisions; no one to tell you what they think you should do, any mistake made is yours & yours alone, everything is your own fault. when you fall, you fall a fall that you created. mentally exhilarating, & you learn lots about trusting yourself =) felt so happy!!

rest of e way down to Gunting Lagadan hut was a matter of hopping from rock to rock & rung to rung on e wooden ladders - felt like some Nintendo computer game character bouncing from level to level =P somewhere before e 6.5km mark where rhododendrons were blooming in bursts of dark pink, met a guide on his way up to help his fellow guides help e remaining climbers down e rockface.

looking back along e trail down to Gunting Lagadan - how much more beautiful can this place get? (SC)
another section of e trail down to Gunting Lagadan hut, near e 6.5km mark of e main summit trail (HY)
e 6.5km mark of e main summit trail (HY)	more of e trail (AK)

reached e gate at e back of Gunting Lagadan hut at 10.30am, & there was this strange feeling of wanting to go all e way back up again, not wanting to waste such fine climbing weather. moved our stuff to e verandah next to room 12, & got down to repacking & organising our stuff in e fresh air & warm sunshine. wouldn't mind spending e rest of e day sitting there bird- & cloud- watching =)

Gunting Lagadan hut, taken while Angeline & Kaimin were waiting for those of us who had gone up to e summit to get down in time to check out (AK)	e final climb to e summit starts at Gunting Lagadan hut, where climbers first encounter e white ropes that start below e hut & lead past e left door (AK)

Panar Laban rockface above Gunting Lagadan hut (AK)

Gunting Lagadan hut again; climbing up & down between here & Laban Rata for meals gives you an idea of e terrain to expect for e final climb to Low's Peak (AK)

view of Laban Rata from Gunting Lagadan hut (AK)

we welcomed Japili & Teck Chia at e gate behind Gunting Lagadan hut just after 11am =)

Teck Chia finally reaches e gate at e back of Gunting Lagadan (AK)	Ivan at e verandah of Gunting Lagadan hut where we packed & reorganised our gear while waiting for Teck Chia & Japili (TC)

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Singapore to Mesilau
Mesilau trail
summit trail up to Gunting Lagadan hut
Gunting Lagadan hut up to summit
Gunting Lagadan hut down to Park HQ
Park HQ, KK & Manukan