Mount Kinabalu

Trip to Kota Kinabalu (KK)

Julia, David and I drove from Brunei to KK, climbed the mountain (4100m) and had a short holiday on the way back. We packed up the Pajero having carefully segregated all the clothing we would need for the entire holiday.

Due to the geography of the country you need to go in and out of Malaysia and Brunei a few times. It takes a lot of form filling and passport chopping to finally get to where you need to be.

Day 1 – Brunei to KK

We left the Brunei border at 6:30 am and headed into Malaysia. We met up with 2 friends and drove to Temburong where we rendezvoused with our Tour Leader (Hadi Sham) and 3 more people.

After a short break for breakfast we headed in convoy towards KK. After numerous border crossings and the occasional ferry crossing we arrived on the outskirts of KK town (close to Tanjung Aru 5* hotel) at 12pm.

waiting for lunch

We had a bite to eat and rested for a while before making the final leg of the journey towards our accommodation at Kinabalu National Park.

The accommodation was basic dormitory style. 4 bunk beds in a room with no air-conditioning. Air con was not really needed due to the alitiude we were already at.

the accommodation

somewhere, way up there is the summit!

Day 2 – climb to laban rata

After breakfast we met up with the others and arranged for a porter/sherpa to take one of our bags up to the top. This bag contained our winter gear - coats, hats, gloves, etc. Porterage costs MYR7 per kilo. The bag weighed 10kgs. We then met up with our guide and we got on the bus to the start of the climb up the mountain. The bus was rather ancient and had to negotiate the twisty road to the Pondok Timpohon Gate.

the start of the climb

We started walking at 0845 and arrived at Laban Rata (mid way overnight rest stop) at 1345. The scenery changes dramatically as you ascend the mountain – the vegetation becomes thinner until it disappears altogether.

The last hour of walking before reaching Laban Rata was difficult. My legs were extremely tired at this point and I was worried they might not recover for the tough walk the following day. I took it slowly and steadily to conserve some strength. It was raining lightly but it was still possible to climb up to Laban Rata in shorts and a T-shirt. David was showing some early signs of altitude sickness (nausea) so we made him rest and drink plenty of water.

laban rata

Laban Rata contains dormitory / Bunk Bed style accommodation. Our guide was unable to secure us a room but we were fortunate to get some accommodation on the cafeteria floor.

Day 3 - "the longest day"

We slept as well as could be expected and then woke up at 1am to get some breakfast. We left Laban Rata at 3am for the climb to the Summit !

geared up for the climb to the summit

The walk to the top is challenging. It is pitch black so you can’t see beyond the range of your torch light. It’s cold and steep. For a large part of the walk you need to hold on to rope for support up the mountain.

Again, slow and steady is the best way to reach the summit. David was battling with strong feelings of nausea but luckily had no headache as this may have meant descending back down the mountain. The climb was made much easier due to the fact there was barely any wind. It is approximately 0 degrees at the top.

The views were spectacular on the climb to the summit:

nearly there !

We reached the summit at approximately 6am:

the summit !

We climbed back down and arrived at Laban Rata at about 0800. We rested, drank some tea and ate some noodles. At 11am we started the descent back down the mountain. The drop in altitude from the summit to laban rata immediately made David feel much better.

All food, equipment and supplies have to be carried up/down by hand. Local men and women are paid by how many kilos they carry up the mountain.

carrying a gas cylinder down the mountain.

carrying planks up the mountain. Each plank weighed 20.8 kg!

It's something of a humbling experience when these people come past you. The massive effort it takes to provide all the food and facilities that we had at laban rata was much appreciated.

The descent was tough. I found it more difficult than going up the mountain. A combination of the 5 hour walk already completed that day, uneven ground and heavy rain made it hard going.

weary & wet at the bottom

We took the bus back to the National Park headquarters and changed into some dry clothes. We followed Hadi in the car down the mountain and into KK town for an overnight stay at the Beverly Hotel. A hot shower was much appreciated !

It was a monumental effort but we managed to drag ourselves out of our hotel room and we drove a short distance to the Waterfront part of town – here there are numerous bars and restaurants. We had a nice Italian meal and a beer to celebrate our achievement. We returned to our hotel and slept soundly until the morning.

Day 4 - check out of Beverly and drive to our resort.

Walking on the flat is an effort, but walking down steps is simply painful ! With weary legs we head down to breakfast (taking the lift of course). We ate well then checked out and headed to Lanka Syabas beach resort about 20 minutes drive out of KK town.

The resort is small and picturesque. It is run by an Australian couple and is popular with expats in the region. It has a nice beach, a good bar and good food. Roaming around in the grounds are two sheep, a mini horse, a dog and a cat. Close to the resort is an adventure park with rock climbing (hmm…), crazy golf, death slide, quad biking and dune buggies. There is also a horse riding centre nearby.

On the day we arrived we took it easy. Went for a beach walk, had a jug of tiger beer and generally relaxed around the pool. For some reason David and I thought it would be a good idea to have a sprint down the beach – a true test of manliness when your legs ache like buggery.

We enjoyed a leisurely walk on the beach and watched the sunset.

a double rainbow (if you look carefully)

the view from the balcony at the resort

Our night's sleep was interrupted by a loud banging noise, the mini horse rammed it's head against David's door. It then proceeded to eat the contents of the bin on our patio. I got up to shoo it away but it just looked at me and wondered what a man standing in his pants was doing staring at him.

Day 5 - more relaxation

On the second day we played a game of crazy golf and amazingly we all scored the same. Lucky really as Julia is a sore loser.

In the afternoon we drove back into KK to have a look around the shopping malls. My company called me and said there was some urgent business I had to attend to. We found an internet café and sorted out the problem. We returned to the resort, David and I played darts in the bar and we had a couple of beers. Julia went on a horse riding trek down the beach with some others from the resort.

Day 6 – Quad Biking and Journey home

We got up quite early ate breakfast and then headed to the adventure park 5 minutes down the road. David and I geared up for some quad biking. Fantastic muddy fun !

other people would look silly in hairnets but we can pull it off !

learning the controls

We showered and then headed back to the resort to pack up the car and check out. The journey back to Brunei was very easy and we only went slightly wrong in Limbang before finding the correct road to the Brunei border. We stopped in Kuala Lurah – the border between Brunei and Malaysia and had some food and drinks. We arrived home about 1 hour later safe and sound.

The organised trip up and down the mountain together with all accommodation cost B$290 each. The holiday after the mountain climb cost MYR220 per night for the accommodation (approx £35)