Mount Kinabalu, Sabah

I've stopped travelling for awhile at least to overseas since the year 2013. Hence, I start my vacation again for 2014 with a challenging trip that I've been wanting long ago which is the Mount Kinabalu climbing trip !

The planning and booking were actually started about a year ago as the responses are always good especially during peak seasons. So here we go ! A little briefing on the route, rules and safety precautions before the start.

So it began !

We were accompanied by 2 accredited guides as required by National Park regulations. There are two main trails for the climb which are the Timpohon Gate (6 km) and Mesilau trail (8 km). We chose Timpohon Gate and started climbing around 11:00 am :D

Kinabalu Park is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna that changes in nature as your altitude increases. There are still a lot of greeneries before reaching Laban Rata. Near the top of the mountain the trees thin out and give way to shrubs and stones.

The last 2km is entirely rocky and turned into a water course when the rain started. We stopped by at the fourth rest point for awhile due to heavy rain and thunder storm. We had to continue our climb later in the rain due to time constraint and finally we reached Laban Rata Resthouse at around 5:00 pm.

We then rested and had our dinner before we went to sleep at 8:30 pm. We slept for few hours and woke up at around 1:00 pm to have breakfast before the last part of the climb to the peak. We then started to climb at 2:30 pm. The distance from Laban Rata to the summit is 2.7 km hence there is only 1 check point at Sayat-Sayat Hut. We then rushed up again for the sunrise !

We stopped by behind the big rocks before started descending due to strong chilling wind.

Short rest for some photo :D

Started to descend at around 7:00 am.

We were back to Sayat-Sayat Hut again to check out !

Let's continue to take some more photos along the way...

The descend part is not difficult although it's really steep but we have to be extra careful. The journey down back to Laban Rata only took slightly more than 2 hours.

There are some stuff to bring along other than a good pair of shoe (Kampung Adidas) and warm cloths which are:

  •  Gloves/hat/mask
  •  Extra Socks
  •  Rain and wind gear, raincoat, thick windbreaker, rain cap
  •  Headache tablets
  •  Deep heat lotion (for muscle cramp)
  •  Headlight & new batteries
  •  High energy food (chocolates, nuts, raisins)

We booked through SUTERA SANCTUARY LODGES Kota Kinabalu if you are wondering. It costs RM 600 for Malaysian and RM 682 for non-Malaysian which includes accommodation, shuttle service to National Park, climbing permit, 5 meals, mountain guide, certificate and insurance.

There is a Via ferrata (or iron road in Italian) path consisting of a series of rungs, rails and cables embracing the rock face. There are a lot via ferrata routes around the world and Mount Kinabalu has the world's highest via ferrata. It is a challenging route hence they provide free rental of all safety devices like harness, lanyard and helmet.

Lastly, as always, would like to end this with an amazing view of the South Peak of Mount Kinabalu.

臺北市 Taipei City, Taiwan (Part II)

So we left Jiufen (九份) at around 1:00 p.m. after we bought some souvenirs from Jiufen Old Street (九份老街). We took the same public bus to the Ruifang (瑞芳) train station and the same way back to Taipei (臺北) but alighted at Taipei Railway Station (台北火車站) instead of Wanhua Station (萬華車站). 

We then walked to Taipei Main Station (by the Taipei Metro) to get to Ximending (西門町) by MRT. But before we left, we rent a luggage locker to store our luggage and souvenirs. The prices are quite reasonable in my opinion which are NT$20/3Hrs and NT$50/3Hrs for small and big compartment relatively.

So here we are at Ximending (西門町) again. This time we went there more for food hunting plus some minor shopping.

When you are there, don't forget to try their "not to be missed" Ah Zong Mian Xian (阿宗麵線) or Mee Sua.

We left Ximending (西門町) at around 5:45 p.m. to Jiannan Station (劍南). That's where our next hotel located. On the way there, we stopped by Taipei Main Station to collect our luggage.

This was the rush hour time when we were taking the MRT.

By the way, we stayed at Wego Boutique Hotel. It's a very nice hotel with lots of different room designs with different themes.

Such design even inside the elevator.

After checked in, we went to Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) for some snacks. This time we didn't really enjoy much probably this was the last night market that we visited and most of the street foods were tried in the previous night markets. Or probably this was the last night here that we felt quite exhausted.

In the next morning, we visited the Miramar Entertainment Park (美麗華百樂園) which is located across the street from our hotel. It is a shopping mall with department store and also an IMAX theatre. On top of that, on the roof of Miramar Entertainment Park is a 70 metre tall Ferris wheel, second tallest in Taiwan which makes this building unique.

So here's the end of my Taiwan trip. Hope you find this is informative enough and most importantly that you enjoyed the photos ! By the way, I'll be travelling to Taiwan again next year sometime in Spring. So stay tune :D

Click here for the full 8D7N itinerary.