Finished Mt Kinabalu, now in Manila

Mt. Kinabalu is approximately 12,000ft or 4100m high. In comparison, Whistler Mountain is only 2200m, and Grouse Mountain is 1200m high.

The climb up Mt. Kinabalu was both hard, and challenging. I assumed I was in good shape from running all those marathons. I was so wrong. Weh and I climbed in two days. The first day started with a steep, soggy 6km hike to camp at 3300m. I took three quick hours to climb up to 5km. At 5km, we were at 2900m above sea level. The air was considerable thinner at this attitude. Hiking the next kilometer was difficult for me. I had to crouch over, and breathe deeply with my hands on my knees several times. It took 2 more hours complete the last kilometer. When I finally arrived at camp, I was cold from the rain and wind, and had mild attitude sickness. I feel asleep wondering if I would be able to climb up to the summit the next day. Working on 3 hours sleep, the second day started at 2am in the morning. We ascended to the summit in the moonlight, and arrived at the summit five minutes before sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful. Huddled in with at least 100 fellow climbers, we saw the sky change from black to blue to orange. It was an unforgettable experience. We took 3 knee shattering hours to climb down the mountain in the afternoon.

That same day, we got back to the city, Kota Kinabalu (KK), around 5pm in the evening. Weh and I had a quick dinner where we were joined by some fellow travelers from Norway, Scotland, and Denmark. From there, we befriended some Malaysians who kindly drove us around KK into the wee hours of the night while we all listened and sang to live covers of popular music.

I arrived in Manila a few hours ago. It took another 2 hours to get to the city from the airport. From there, I decided to a take a jeepney from the bus station that I was dropped off at. Jeepneys are low roofed trucks with benches inside to haul around passengers. Jeepneys provide cheap local transportation, and usually decorated with bright lights, chrome, and large signage. The jeepney took me to an area called Malate. I settled into a nice hotel room, and I walked around for an hour before finding a street BBQ where I ordered up some traditional Filipino food, BBQ pork and Pancit. Yum.