I arrived pretty much a whole day ahead of my friend, so I've had loads of time to take a look around Kota Kinabalu (KK). I'm not gonna lie, it's not exactly my favourite SE AsIan city. First off, it's ugly as hell - there's an industrial, concretey feeling everywhere you go, the nearest beach is littered with rubbish and there's nothing to do or see here. Why people keep this as a base for day trips instead of actually moving out of the city and staying closer to where they want to go is beyond me. Granted, you can do loads of day trips from here, but it's one of those things where you'll spend longer on the bus than you actually do at the destination.
So yesterday was our big one. Climbing Mt. Kinabalu. We already knew it was gonna be tough because we only had a few hours sleep the night before and we were heading there from KK, so we were up at like 4:15am on the day of the climb. When we were on the way to the national park, the sunrise was BEAUITFUL. It put a smile on my face. When we saw the mountain. I started to get nervous - I think it was coz the summit was all these jagged rocks and I was in disbelief that we were going to try and climb to the summit and back in one day.
We set off later than we should of and from the off, it was tough. Stairs, stairs , stairs. You can't climb without a guide and as my friend powered off ahead of me, he told me that only one in four groups who attempt the day climb make it to the top. Crap.
I started to get tired quickly, but I took a lot of mini rests and kept powering on. But when Istarted to get close to 2500m, apparently my breathing started to change and I started to feel dizzy. I've never had altitude sickness before, so I just thought it was because I'm not the fittest person in the world and I hadn't had enough sleep the day before. I started to power on and after about 50m, I just threw up. And the started throwing up every 50 meters from there.
My friend was way ahead of me and my guide advised that I turned back. He said that even if I continued, by the time I made it to the 6km mark at my current pace, I wouldn't be able to go onto the summit anyway because I needed enough time to get back down before the gate closed. And then he also to,d me that I would only get worse and if I had to be carried back down from the 6km point, there was a fee of RM300 (9000¥) per kilometer. I made the decision to go back down and let the guide go and catch up with my friend.
Gutted didn't even come close to the way I felt as I headed back down. I felt like shit and was throwing up as people were walking past me. I went past a group at the rest stop and they thought I was the first person down from the summit and were cheering me on. Ridiculously embarrassed, I hurried past. The guides on the other hand, knew that I was turning back and they were really sweet, giving me praise that I made it as far as I did and told me that it happens to people all the time.
When I got back down and to the bus stop I met a guy who had done the day climb the day before. He was an experienced climber and he told me that it ws just relentless stairs the whole way up. Literally. He said he was hoping for even 5 mins of flat land, but it never came. I saw another guy's pictures of the sunrise and they made me cry because they were just stunning and I felt that heavy sense of disappointed that I hadn't been able to even make it halfway. He told me though, that one woman got severe altitude sickness at the 6km mark and had to turn back. That would be more frustrating because that is so close!
From hearing all that and then my friend's experience, it sounds like a super tough climb. They said that you need adequate fitness, but I reckon you need to be fitter than average to get through this climb. My friend said climbing Mt. Fuji was a doddle compared to this and it sounds like you need serious mental toughness to do it. I wonder now if I actually would've made it if I hadn't gotten altitude sickness.....
Anyway, now it's off to see the orangutans!
Xoxo
Anyway, now it's off to see the orangutans!
Xoxo
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