The next morning at 9.20 am, we left KK on an air conditioned bus provided by Sutera Sanctuary Lodges. After two hours, we arrived at the Kinabalu National Park. The park was established as a state park in 1964 and became Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its outstanding universal values and role as one of the world’s most important biological sites. It covers a staggering area of 754 sq. km filled with an astonishing variety of flora and fauna. Among the more spectacular flowers are rhododendrons, orchids, and pitcher plants.

The bus dropped us off at the Kinabalu Park Headquarters, which is situated on the southern boundary, at an elevation of 1,563m. Most of the park’s facilities are located there including visitor’s accommodations, restaurants, exhibition centers, and park offices where overnight visitors and climbers must register.

To register, we had to pay for the park entrance fee (RM15 adults/ RM10 children for non-Malaysians), climbing permit (RM100 adults/RM40 dhildren), mountain guide fee (starting at RM70 for 1-3 climbers/roundtrip), and climbing insurance (RM7 per person). In order to cut down the cost of the climb, we shared a mountain guide with a couple from London and a guy from Columbia. After registering, our young and good-looking guide showed up and handed each of us a climbing ID card. There are a few checkpoints on the way to the summit, so we were asked to keep the cards with us all the time.

There are 2 routes to climb up and down Mt. Kinabalu. The first route starts from Timpohon Gate. It is 6 km away from Laban Rata and an 8.72km walk to the summit. The second route starts from Mesilau National Resort. This Mesilau trail is a bit longer and harder to climb than the first trail, but the advantages are less people and more sightings of pitcher plants. In addition, climbers can take the Timpohon trail on their way up and take Mesilau trail on their way down.

Since the five of us chose to use the first route, we took a shuttle from the park office to Timpohon Gate. With warm clothing (including a hat, a walking stick, and gloves), proper walking shoes, bottles of drinking water and high calorie food like chocolate bars, Bebee and I started the ascent with excitement. It was 1pm exactly.

For the first 500 meters the trail was easy. I finished it with a broad smile on my face. But when I saw the dirt path in front of me changing into a steep ladder uphill, my smile suddenly disappeared. It was the first time on the journey that I said to myself: This is a nightmare!

Bebee and I had to stop every ten or fifteen steps to catch our breath. The three other climbers in the group walked past us and soon disappeared from our sight, but we didn’t bother trying to catch up with them. We figured it was better for us to take our time and walk slowly. That is what many guidebooks suggest: take it easy and walk at a comfortable pace. I put one foot in front of the other while breathing in and out very slowly. Step, breathe, step, breathe, step, breathe. After a while, it made me feel like I was practicing walking meditation.

We stopped from time to time to rest, eat the chocolate, drink water, and photograph rarely seen flowers and the pitcher plants along the trail. The higher we walked, the thinner and chiller the air got. It is lucky that neither Bebee nor I got altitude sickness. We kept on walking.

After a few hours, the landscape gradually changed from tropical rainforest to barren rocks and scrub. When I reached the signpost of the fifth kilometer, my fatigue has suddenly wiped away by the glimpse of the peaks on the summit. I turned around, and then got stunned by a panoramic view of a bank of white clouds hanging over the hills and lush jungle, parts of which we had just walked through. We were standing higher than the clouds. It was unbelievable!

Then we were only one kilometer away from the resthouse, but to us it seemed like millions of kilometers away. This last kilometer of the trail was probably the hardest and steepest part of the first 6 km. When we finally arrived at the resthouse, the clock on the wall said 6 pm and it was 9 degrees Celsius. Bebee and I rushed to the canteen’s terrace to watch the beautiful, last sunlight disappear into the dark sky. During that moment, we were quite proud of what we had achieved that day.

During dinner, the guide briefed the two of us about the trail we would have to climb the next day. He then told us that since we are such slow climbers, it’d be better if we made the dark early morning ascent to the summit. He and the other climbers in the group would start later and catch up with us. We agreed.

In order to catch the sunrise at the top of the mountain, we woke up at 2am and met with other groups of climbers in front of the canteen at 2.30am. Our bodies were covered by gloves, parkas, thick sweaters and long pants. The only thing that everybody had but we didn’t was a headlight. (We had planned to rent them at the resthouse. Unfortunately, they were all rented.) Therefore, in order to be able to walk in the darkness, the two of us would have to walk in the middle of people who had them.

The trail from the resthouse to the summit is about 2.7 km. The first fifty meters is easy. Bebee and I walked at our own comfortable pace while we stayed with a group of Thai climbers. After a half an hour walk, we found the trail getting more and more difficult. I swore a lot as I walked up the endless, narrow and steep path. After an hour, we are utterly exhausted and lost from the group. Luckily, all the other groups of climbers that followed us are as generous as the first group. They let us walk in the middle and provided us with lights along the way.