Journey to the summit..... Day 1

The day has arrived..... Finally, I was about to hike up Mount Kinabalu... woke up at 0700hrs to have our breakfast and this view greeted us... it was like a postcard of the swiss alps.... our target was clearly in sight....

Soon after we left the resort at 0800hrs to head to the start point of the Mersilau Trail.... met up with our guide Francis who claimed he could reach laban rata in 3 hours on his own time... Wow, that is impressive....
It was Friday the 13th... with that said we met our first obstacle along the way through Kundasang town...
A lorry has managed to lodge itself into the grounds horizontally across the access roads closing all possibilities of passing through to the Mersilau trail.... at that point all we could do was stare and each other and wondered was this an omen to use the Timpohon trial instead... A local suggested we use an alternative route which would take an additional 45 minutes of road travelling to get to an small slip road just after the obstruction... Aaron, our friend who volunteered to send us suggested we wait 30 mins and the road would be cleared...
It seemed quite hopeless since multiple attempts of dislodging it has failed but we waited... lo behold Aaron was right...30 mins later after 5 attempts or so it finally managed to get itself out!! Yaay!!!
So up we went towards the start point of the Mersilau Trail... collected our pack lunch and took a photo for the albums... a before shot.... it was to be an 8.2km hike right up to Laban Rata.....

"We are heading here!!!"

The first flight of stairways....

"Jeng jeng jeng... here we go.....!!!"

We kicked started our hike at 0937hrs...It started off as like any other hikes... we were tired by the first 15 mins or so... panting a little... haha!! but it was all good...

Passed the o.5km mark at 0955hrs and was still feeling fit... the pace was right...didnt think I needed to photograph the marker... it was after all just o.5km right?

We reached the 1km mark at 1012hrs... the hike was beginning to show on our faces... better take a photo to mark our journey... haha!! we decided every 0.5km was worth documenting after all....
The non stop uphill was taking its toll.... was panting hard upon reaching the 1.5km marker at 1018hrs... so far the average speed was about 14mins every 0.5km...not too shabby I suppose...
As we trudged on, the path took a downhill turn at km 1.7 which suited us fine.... actually it was more than welcomed....
We reached the 2.0km marker at 1045hrs all smiles... haha!! downhill was doing us good..... headed on towards the 2.5km marker at 1057hrs still on a downhill terrain... Ming is pretending to be tired... haha!!Checked with our guide on how long more would lady luck be on our side and we continued the downhill hike... The answer was not good.... Francis told us it will only be only km3.0 and onwards from that, it is all uphill!! Yikes....
Reached the 3.0km marker at 1110hours.. at this point we also reached a small waterfall....
It was nice to take a break and just take in the view for awhile.... appreciate mother nature's work.... After a 5 mins break it was back to our journey... Uphill this time....
Whoa.. after a km plus of downhill, this first 0.5km uphill climb was gruelling...but we reached the 3.5km marker at approximately at 1137 hours...
Another kodak moment at the 4.0km marker at 1157hrs ... Ming's leg was giving him warnings already.... time to be more careful.... to add to the situation, it started to rain as well... as if hiking was not bad enough, that rain pelting all over you while you were hiking made it worse...
We were utterly exhausted by the time we saw the 4.5km marker at 1227hrs.. so tired that Francis noticed and told us our lunch stop was just ahead of us... haha!! but the route to the lunch hut was not an easy one...The most daunting stairways of the entire hike was along this stretch... it looks like the stairways to heaven but trust me... when you are taking it, it seemed more like you were headed to hell.... At last, we arrived at the hut at 1300hrs for lunch....
What's for lunch? Mmmm... a couple of sausages (but one group had Popiah... wonder why? hmmm) a hard boil egg, a couple of cheese sandwiches and a fried chicken.... after all those hours of hiking... who cares what you are eating... it's FOOD.... took a 30 mins lunch break and got back on our feets to soldier on....
Just before approaching the 5.0km marker at 1340hrs Ming had a bad case on cramps and needed to down some salts just to reduce the cramps... Look at the pain in Ming's face.... his leg was really giving him a hard time...really admired his determination... mind over matter... it was 1405hrs and we just reached theb 5.5km marker...3 more km to go!!! went along ahead and somehow missed the 6.0km marker...haha!! Francis said we passed it at the point were I got so engrossed with taking the photos of these pots.... Finally, we managed to reach the meeting point of the Mersilau Trail and Timpohon Trail...What does this sign mean? It was then 1450hrs and we had just completed 6.2km and have 2 more km to endure and we were done for the day.... But how demotivating it was to see the next marker.....Yikes!!!4.5km?!!!!!!Why is the number reducing?What happened to 6.7km? The marker was meant for the Timpohon trail only... how unfair... Ming fell on the way to this marker and I didnt know until he told me coz I was a wee bit ahead of him... Sorry Ming... *guilt*

At 1550hrs we had 1 more km... yes!! 1 more km to go!!! Only 1!!!!! but the the road ahead was not any less merciful....Every step and turn we took lead us to a view similar to this... it was all uneven rocks and mud... Didnt help that it started to rain once again... We reached our final marker at 1615hrs.... just a little bit more.... the light at the end of the tunnel was near.... the first sign of relief came when we spotted Waras Hut... our humble abode for the nite which is just slightly below Laban Rata, the checkpoint for the day....Yess!!!! We made it... it is official... at 1651hrs we have finally made it to Laban Rata...The view of Laban Rata was surely a sight for sore eyes... we were finally there and no more climbing for the day.... we were 3272.2meters above sea level....

Temperature was a cool 10.8 Degree Celcius but we didnt feel it at all... Must have been too tired to feel any coldness... we have just hikes for the past 7 hours and 14 mins.... We had our dinner, a bath and went straight to bed... it was an early 2am morning call the next day... we will need as much energy as possible... Zzzzz......