My most fun elective

This is my report of what I was up to the last whole week that i returned from Sabah with a terrible knee pain and muscle aches.

Unfortunately my brother deleted my 'essay' before I posted it, so I have to put up my 'official' report, instead of a more personalized one.

Day 1 (24/02/06 Fri)

Arrived Kota Kinabalu airport by 5.30pm with 4 fellow batch mates- Rajendra, Kugan, Minoo and Uma Devi. Checked into 'Ang's Hotel', a budget hotel in the heart of KK.
We had a local dinner at a 'pasar malam'. We walked around Kota Kinabalu town, formerly known as Jesselton to familiarize ourselves with the place.


Day2 (25/02/06 Sat)

We left for Signal Hill at 5.30am hoping to be in time for sunrise (6.30am). Unfortunately, we lost our way and arrived the observatory tower after sunrise. Moreover we found out that it was facing west instead of east!

On the way down, we stopped by Atkinson’s Clock Tower. It was built to commemorate a governor by that name who died of malaria at a tender age of 28.

Next, we headed for the Water Esplanade. It had a wonderful view of Sutera Harbour, a 5-star resort and TunkU Abdul Rahman Park.

Further down the same road was the Filipino market. It was a great place to buy souvenirs, freshwater pearls and other jewelry. A shopkeeper we went to gave us a short briefing about the pearls. They came mostly from China and she even proved to us which was real and which was fake. However, bargaining was a very important skill needed to shop there.

After lunch, we rented a car and headed to the Sabah tourism Board for advice on the places we could visit..We then decided to go to Tuaran, about 1.5hours drive north of KK.

Along the way, we stopped by the Wisma Yayasan Sabah. It is the only building in the world with 1 pillar. According to the security guard we asked, its 18th floor was open to the public. So we went up to find, embarrassingly, that it was a 5-star revolving restaurant. After taking some pictures at the lodge, we continued our journey to Tuaran.
It is a small town and we visited the Ling San Pagoda.

On the way back to KK, we dropped by the Mengkabong Water Village. It is a floating Bajau village. We walked across the wooden ‘titi’ and talked to some of the villages. A lady we talked to invited us to her home and we had tea together. We found that they are very friendly and simple people. The older generations were fishermen, but the younger are now mainly working in town. Many of the young people did not finish secondary school and many girls are married by the age of 16.
After bidding goodbye, we headed to Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). It is quite a big campus and we were fascinated by the facilities which included a library bigger than the whole Bukit Jalil IMU building, an outdoor activites center and a jetty.


Day3 (26/02/06 Sun)

We left for Kota Belud at 5.45am and arrived the Tamu at 8am. Tamu is a weekly market where the Bajau people come to sell their goods every Sunday. They sell many items including vegetables, fresh seafood, fruits, flowers, cooked food, clothes, household items, accessories and ‘parang’. What fascinated us most were the homemade cigars. A seller even showed us how to roll the cigar. Some women were seen chewing the tobacco.

Then we headed to the Rafflesia Forest Reserve which was between Penampang and Tambunan on the Crocker Range. Upon arrival at the center, we hiked another 1 hour to see the one and only wild rafflesia blooming at the time.


Day4 (27/02/06 Mon)

Again, we started our day early by leaving for Poring at 6.30am. Poring is known for its hot spring. It is located within Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site. Mt Kinabalu is also within the limits of the park. The Poring Hot Springs has many other attractions including the Kipungit Water Fall, canopy walk, butterfly farm and orchid farm. We spent most of our time at the hot spring. There were individual Japanese style tubs where anyone can bathe in.

After having a long, warm dip, we headed to Kundasang, known for its tea plantation. The place has a scenic view and cool air. From there we took a mini bus up to Mersilau Resort.
The resort is 2000m above sea level and it was from there we would start our hike up to Mt Kinabalu via the Mersilau trail.
We met up with another 10batchmates.


Day5 (28/02/06 Tues)

We left Mersilau Resort at 9am to start our ascend to Laban Rata, 8km away. It is located 3261m above sea level and 2.7km from the peak. Unknown to us untill we started, the Mersilau trail is the hardest route to take, but it is the route to take to see the various vegetations including the ‘periuk kera’.

The trail was indeed a hard and long way. It was really jungle trekking with occasional steep stairs and bridges. Fortunately there were many rest areas where we break to rest and replenish our energy by eating chocolate bars. We missed lunch and soon ran out of food supply. By 4pm, the only motivation that kept me going was the thought of having dinner! Soon our group of 15 people split into 2 groups.
Thank God, my group arrived Laban Rata Resthouse just before sunset (6.30pm). We had the opportunity to see the sun setting below the clouds. The later group arrived 30mins later. We had an expensive buffet dinner before settling into our hostel. Everything there was pricy as they have to hire potters to carry everything, from food to building materials.

The hostel was at Gunting Lagadan, 3292m above sea level. It was quite an experience for me to stay at the hostel as we have to literally climb to our rooms. It had unisex bathrooms, a common kitchen and hall. Man and women of various nationality and age were mixing around and all had a common goal in mind-to conquer Mt. Kinabalu.


Day6 (1/03/06 Wed)

We left our hostel at 2.20am and began our final ascend to Low’s Peak (4095.2m). After 30minutes of steep staircases, there was nothing but rocks. Certain places were so steep, we have to pull ourselves up using ropes in the dark.

Finally I arrived the peak at 6.30am in time for the sunrise. Good for us, the weather was neither cloudy nor too windy. The temperature was about 4°C.

After a grueling 13.5hours of hiking up with only 4hours of sleep in between, we reach the top only to worry about going down. Under the scorching morning sun we took 3hours to decend back to Gunting Lagadan.

From there we left at noon to head back to the foothill. This time around, we were taking the easier route via the Timpohon gate. From the beginning, our group split into 2 as one of our teammates was really worn out. The 1st group arrived 4.30pm while my group arrived 4 hours later. Taking too long to descend, my group had to jungle trek in the dark with our torchlights. It was physically and mentally challenging, but we were comforted by the presence of our 2 mountain guides.

Tired & aching, we headed back to KK to arrive there at 11pm.


Day7 (2/03/06 Thurs)

We left for Manukan Island by the 11am boat. Manukan, Sapi, Mamutik and other islands are located within the Tunku Abdul Rahman park. It is about 15minutes by speedboat from the KK jetty.
Manukan island has many water sport activities including snorkeling, sea-walking, paragliding, banana boat and jet ski. There are even chalets on the island.

I had my very first opportunity to snorkel and I managed to see many corals and fishes.

Later that night we went to ‘Kampung Nelayan’ restaurant for a seafood dinner. We were on time to see a performance by the Kadazan people. They demonstrated how to use the blowpipe and performed their traditional dance.


Day8 (3/03/06)

Returned to KLIA by a 9.25am flight.