Conquering Mt. Kinabalu

I can finally strike off one of my wish list ...

That is to conquer Mt. Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia, with a height of 4, 095 metres, known as the Low's Peak, which is located at a awesome beautiful state of Sabah, Malaysia. As a Malaysian myself, how can I miss this opportunity. :)

My experience up to the mountain is tough yet I did enjoy along the way although most of the time, I'm alone walking up. I am really thankful to the help by one of the staff branch at KK for helping us out in doing all the arrangements for us, including providing transportation.

Tough journey but trust me, it's all worth the pain and sweat. I myself who always had breathing difficulty since young can make it to the top, why not normal people like you, if you had not done so. :)

The most important preparation you need to do before that is have a regular training at staircase. If you are staying in KL, why not head to Batu Caves or even to Bukit Gasing or FRIM, take it as a morning walk. It'll help a lot as it needs a lot of leg muscles especially when descending as you might be just exhausted by the time you descend from Laban Rata straight down.

You got to be mentally prepared of the long hour journey. As you'll almost be walking 2 days 1 night up and down the mountain, though you do get to rest on the first night. But got to bear in mind that you'll wake up at 2am in the morning for 2nd leg of the journey, which is the toughest and then descending straight down to where you begin.

Here is some tips that I find it very useful during my journey there:

• Try to pack 100 plus instead of mineral waters, as you are going to higher altitude, you somehow dehydrates even faster than your usual exercise. Otherwise, get some dehydration salt.
• Have chocolates and energy bar .. You know you need there along the journey
• MUST get yourself a Kampung Adidas. It's a rubber shoe and it won't cost you much. It ranged from RM6 to RM10 only. This is super useful especially when you are going up from Laban Rata to Low's Peak as the gripping of the shoe is way better than our usual sport shoes. But you may need to wear a thicker socks so that it will not hurt your toes when you descend. If you later do not want to bring it back home, you can always pass it to the tour guides, they'll want it.
• Always have your headlight in your backpack. You'll never know when you need it. I have experienced when descending where I took almost 8 hours and the sky has turn dark before I knew it.
• Have ankle and knee guard. I've put on knee guard when descending, it helps. I suppose ankle guard is important too because I just strained my ankle too many times. =(
• Walking stick for rent. It's just RM10 and it will help you along your journey. So try not to safe on this as well.
• Try to stay close with friends or at least your guide. Never ever walk alone. Because you'll never know when you needed them. :)

Some other preparation that you may already knew from other sites like basic medication, getting a porter for your luggage, travel light etc ...

Some photos that I took when I was on the top, but I'm just too exhausted to take more than that ....

I'm glad that I did not give up along the way because it's all worth it with such beautiful scenary. :)

I've done it, why not you? :)