The recovery and relaxation

After getting off the mountain we had a relaxing evening at Poring Hot Springs which had mixed reviews from websites and the Lonely Planet. But it was lovely. Hot, not-stinky water, in a private room mended my aching limbs somewhat.

We were confused with the dress code with some fully dressed muslim women mixing with westerners in bikinis. But it all seemed to work.

This was followed by two nights outside Kota Kinabalu on the beach where I got massaged, reflexologied, ate fries, and generally had the holiday I'd wanted from Day 1.

4000 metres in the sky

The top of the mountain - well 2ks shy of the peak is just over 4000 metres above sea level. Probably the highest place I've ever been outside of an airplane. Altitude sickness can cause nausea, dizziness, sleeplessness, gas, slow circulation, breathlessness etc etc. Seems like a place I’d like to go.

I didn’t experience all of these, although dizziness was certainly there as was the lack of sleep at the hostel (but that may have been the noisy Koreans and Russians and freezing conditions). I politely declined to get up at 2am to see the sunrise at the peak and laid in bed, enjoying the feeling as warmth returned to my thighs and fingers.

The descent was to be slightly shorter, with us taking the main trail and we were hoping to be done by lunch. The first few steps were shaky and unsure as my legs rejected any more walking especially down slippery wooden planks spaced at uncomfortable intervals down a sheer granite slope. But I had a stern talking to myself and braced for the next four hours of knee slaughtering angles and steps.

I did make it down for lunch and ended up almost running the last 2ks – I was ever so happy to get off that f-ing mountain.

The, erm, Mountain

My happiness at driving 5 hours in the opposite direction to sealevel was short lived. We arrived at the town around Mt Kinabalu to a lack of humidity and the first comfortable weather of the trip. We packed day packs for the 400th time for our couple of days on the mountain and chatted endlessly about what was needed for walking for ages and altitude (apparently gas and ladies problems are two things not mentioned in the guidebooks about the affects of altitude.

Our night at the base camp was lullingly comfortable; wide bunks, warm showers, and endless cups of tea. All that was missing was the sauna and fresh Milk (Borneo is a big fan of creamer).

We had a leisurely start to the first day at 9 am and had 8ks to tackle. Piece of cake I thought, I could run that in 40mins. But alas it was not terrain for moving quickly, and my concerns about how my body would react to altitude made me slower than usual. The first 5 ks were pleasant, we chatted and walked and joked with our mountain guides we even stopped each k for a snack and loo break. The trail was exceedingly well marked; even though we had taken the less popular Mesilau trail (and extra 2ks).

At the 5k point it all started to go horribly wrong and I debated going back, crying or just sitting down and waiting to be rescued. First the rain started; we were in the middle of a rather large mountain which turns all paths into waterfalls – my shoes held up for about an hour and then became heavy bathtubs on my feet. A little after that it started getting dark and I sped up, leaving my walking buddies and mountain guides behind in the hope of a warm bed and the end of the trail. But it seemed to go on for forever as it got darker and darker and rained in monsoon like fashion I repeatedly asked myself what the hell was I doing. About 500 metres from the top I started getting dizzy and I realised I couldn’t really see where I was putting my feet. It was the longest 500 metres in the history of 500 metres. And I was only saved by a porter’s Motorola phone light after stacking it in a puddle (don’t worry I was already soaked through).

10 hours after starting the walk I arrived at Laban Rata and proceeded to kiss the ground through tears of joy.

My Peeps

I was a bit excited about seeing the Orangutans in Sepilok and I wasn't disappointed. They had 2 feeding times and there were lots of visitors both times. In the mornings the little ones came out who had recently been released from the centre and seemed pretty happy performing for people - so much so that one of them followed the crowd of people back to the reception centre and hung out on the gutters for a while. In the afternoon I was confronted with the alpha male, who was huge and scary - although only a portion of the size of the ones in the wild and a mum and her two babies - one so tiny you could barely see it on her tummy. They were all pretty cute, especially the two who were chasing each other in what appeared to be a serious manner as the one being chased kept peeing himself.

Other than that, Sepilok is a pretty quiet and bloody hot place, so I was somewhat happy to move up into the mountains.

Borneo- the Jungle

The 'sleeping in a hammock and homestay' part of this trip was one I wasn't really looking forward to. I had pictured rain, leeches, and uncomfortable moments with the locals. But I was pleasantly surprised. We were the lucky recipients of beds in the new eco camp which consisted of little camps on stilts and mosquito nets. Other than my toothpaste and glasses case being gnawed on by some small animal and the prevalence of DEET resistant mosquito’s it was a pleasant stay.

Did I get a leech you ask? Yes, I did. But I caught it just before it reached the skin on my stomach at the top of my trousers....lucky escape.

An early morning river cruise on the Kinabatangan river saw loads of different monkeys and birds and some quite rare ones as well. We also saw some otters in the river.

Borneo - The Jungle

The 'sleeping in a hammock and homestay' part of this trip was one I wasn't really looking forward to. I had pictured rain, leeches, and uncomfotable moments with the locals. But I was pleasantly surprised. We were the lucky recipients of beds in the new eco camp which consisted of little camps on stilts and mosquito nets. Other than my toothpaste and glasses case being gnawed on by some small animal and the prevalence of DEET resistant mosquitos it was a pleasant stay.

Did I get a leech you ask? Yes, I did. But I caught it just before it reached the skin on my stomach at the top of my trousers....lucky escape.

The highlight was a river boat ride where we saw loads of monkeys, even the probiscus ones, as well

Air Asia - not so bad

After some concerns Air Asia turned out to be pretty comfotable. They were on time for both flights and I had loads of space. For Melbourne to Malaysia I had three seats to stretch out on and a individual screen. However, the food was horrendous. Lets hope they keep up the good work on the way home.