The journey to the windy peaks.

It was roughly a year ago when Sphinxy dreamt she would scale the tallest peak in Malaysia before she turns 25; and from a dream it became a plan, and later it manifested itself and finally it became a reality, when the opportunity arises (in the form of cheap flights) we lunge for it.

Fast forward to the present, we were on the first flight to Kota Kinabalu. 6.45am. That means we had to be in the airport at around 4~5ish. I hardly managed to get any shuteye, was still packing the night before. Sphinxy's dad dropped us off at the LCCT airport.

Our luggage.

We checked in our luggage. My backpack, consist of Sphinxy's and my stuff which weights a whopping 11kgs!! So much for packing light. Once we dropped it in, it was time for some breakfast.

*all aboard~!

And off we go, we could hardly believed that its' finally happening, after months of hardship, heartache and training. Credit goes to my beloved gf for taking the huge responsibility of organizing this. Muakz.

*beautiful dawn over the horizon.

The flight from KL to KK took about 2hours. I was exhausted for having only an hour's sleep. Was double-triple checking my backpack the night before, fearing that I might leave out something important. I tried to get some shuteye, but by the time I felt a hint of drowsiness, the plane was about to landed. Zzz

And....touchdown

Camwhoring

...and touch down! Must. Plurk.

Our expedition team was split into 2 groups, Team 2 was on a later flight so we had a couple of hours to kill before they arrive. So we grabbed a map and head towards the local shopping district. KK Centre Point. While getting on the cab, it dawned to us that our backpacks will hinder us from briskly strolling around KK town in hippidy hop manner. Oh no, especially if you have one of these on your back. 

Spotted an Artreous MegaBagticus

First thing we look for was a place to sit down, and the first thing that comes to mind is... Starbucks. :p Well, needless to say in our group where there is Starbucks there's bound to be psp, and when there's PSP there's bound to be a hunt or two. Monster Hunting that is. Oh and a bit of Patapon-ing.

Everyone was stoning at this point, mostly zombified by the lack of sleep. We though we managed to shave a  good couple of hours off, but it was only 12 ish the rest of the group wouldn't be here until 3.30pm. Zzz

Eventually we decide to go hunt for food instead.

*and cue MH theme song

*V.T phone home

*killing time.

*Lugging our backpacks around.

Finally we met up with the other group (a much relieved sight as we were running out of things to do) , and off to the National Park we go. From KK town to National Park will take 2hrs 30mins ++ The roads heading towards the park is not an easy one, those who are easy nauseous do take note.

*photo courtesy of Kim Hui.

To what seems like forever, we finally reached the National Park, we were welcomed by the cooling fresh air and the fidgeting cold breeze. We got down to stretch our legs and checked ourselves in, but because we were taking the Mesilau route, our lodging was another hour's drive away. @_@

Okay... ULTIMATELY, we reach the lodging place. Everyone was famished, we dropped our bags and hurried to the cafe for dinner. Oh did I mention it was pretty cold outside?

As we were the last group to check into the lodges, by the time we reach the restaurant the food was almost  gone. T_T What's left was some scraps of veges and stuff,  but thankfully the staff quickly fire up the burners and cook up some more food for us.

The eager wait for food.

It wasn't gourmet dinner but better than nothing.

After dinner we went back and repack our bags, and prep for tomorrow's climb. TIP: For those of you who doesn't want to carry a heft load up the mountain, you can leave your extra luggage at the lodges they will keep it safe until you descend from the mountain for a small fee RM10 per bag.

And that was exactly what we did, went back to the room unpack & repack my backpack ( I'll be doing that a lot for the days to come. )

*Time to charge up them cameras & phones.

Goofing off in our dorm style double bunk beds.

*Kick off them shoes and off to bed.

For tomorrow's hike I knew the key was to pack light, the entire journey will take around 5~8hours (depending how fit one is) to reach Laban Rata, which is an approximate 7km hike. So water is foremost important! Although there's water reserves scattered along the trail, Here's the rough list of things I loaded into my backpack:

• 1.5 Litres of Water
• Powerbars/chocolate bars
• Raincoat/Ponco
• Knee Support 
• Mentholatum aka Deep Heat Rub/Spray 
• Digital Camera.
• Paracetamol 650mg

That's bout it, the rest of the stuff I kept it in the bigger backpack, which will be carried by the porters to Laban Rata. Take note, they'll charge RM10 per kg so yeah pack light!!!! and with that it . Lights out. zzz.