Mt Kinabalu - Day 2

6am…bright and sunny…an exciting day awaits! Alarm was set at 630am but it was one of those rare mornings I woke up earlier. Even the warm comfortable bed failed to entice me for another 5minute snooze. Gunung Kinabalu is calling!
When it comes to eating, everyone is punctual. If you’re late, oh it’s so sad. 730am and all of us were busy stuffing ourselves silly with nasi lemak without any sambal, chicken curry, ommelette, milk & cereal, bread, muffins…the list goes on. Tummy fuel tanks full, body engines warmed up and cameras were clicking away and hyper gila antics were in the air!

Big daddy Tony & mountain guides gave us a short briefing. All of us were more than eager to climb and before you know it, a bunch took off as if competing in a climbathon while the photography maniacs snapped on almost every step they take. Happily shooting whatever they can get their lens on but those pics were worth it.

Mesilau trail, with undulating or should I call it rolling hills was in a more natural form compared to Timpohon trail. What do I mean? Timpohon trail became so commercialized with wooden staircases and steps carved into the trail most of the way. Very climber friendly. So are we still climbing Mt Kinabalu? I don’t think so. Taking steps up Mt Kinabalu is more like it. Gone are the days when Sir Hugh Low took nine days just to reach the summit plateau. Today, nine hours is enough to reach the peak.
Well, being a tourist attraction, you can’t expect to torture tourists with a real mountain climb. But hopefully everything is in place to maintain it as The World Heritage site. Even flushing toilets made their appearance beside some of the huts.

Somewhere around km5, we stopped for lunch.
Nicely packed lunch box. Fried chicken was better than kfc.

On one side, Low’s peak and the other, Kundasang or some small town.

Instead of sheltering myself from the sun, I’d rather be under it as the wind chill is making its presence. Heavy breakfast had us still bloated, without appetite and lunch were more on munching on titbits, thus saving it till we reach Laban Rata.

The higher the altitude, vegetation changed from tropical rainforest down at Mesilau into sub tropical and at Laban Rata, temperate forest.
The first group reached Laban Rata just after one o’clock. Magnificent views above the clouds!

...to be continued...