More pics from the Mount Kinabalu Expedition












see the mist. we had to walk through such conditions and the
temperature was cold too. Cramps were a constant hassle
because of the cold conditions.





That building is where we stayed for the night after one day of
trekking up the mountain. You can see the peak too from here.
We woke up at 2am the next day to climb up to the peak
to witness the sunrise.



This is the same building that i mentioned above. Notice that we were
literally above the clouds. Here we are having our dinner at the
cafeteria balcony. It was really cold. We couldnt stand it after 5 mins
of eating, then we moved indoors to eat.


This photo is beautiful. But of course its not as beautiful if u witness
it in person. The view will just keep you awestruck. I was just speechless
and i just stood in awe of God's creation.


I was mesmerised by the picturesque sunrise at the top of Mt K.
Look at that. Simply stunning isnt it?



We made it to the peak. See the hordes of people trying to climb
up the peak too. Thats why we cannot stay up there forever haha.


We were right at the edge of a cliff. Behind us was a steep dropoff!

Hey i'm back.
As promised, here is a recount of the expedition.

PJC MOUNT KINABALU EXPEDITION
( 21-25 NOVEMBER 2005 )

First day: 21 Nov (Monday)
Singapore-JB-Kota Kinabalu-Kinabalu Rose Cabin
arrived in school at 8 am.
received and wore the expedition t-shirt and pull-over.
conduct final checks and we were briefed by the principal and the teachers.
thank goodness mr kwek didnt talk long coz i was going to burst out laughing.
good riddance to him and thats the last time i'll ever hear from him.
We set off for Senai Airport in JB thru the causeway.
On the plane i sat beside jun jie and one junior malay girl(nuraini) from arts soc.
she's definitely a minah but she kept denying it(hahaha).
well then she riled me by calling me a mat.
and further kept me in suspense by saying tht her friend has a crush on me.
well junjie was definitely jealous coz he knew my fan club was growing in membership.
u should have seen the way he reacted. sour grapes.
the plane ride was great though.
took 2 hours to get there and even the food served exceeds expectations.
when we reached Kota Kinabalu, it was another 2 hours bus journey to get to our lodging.
The place was called Rose Cabin and for us students we were herded into dorms.
the place was almost 2000 m above sea level and the surrounding air was cool like air con.
it was so refreshing and rejuvenating.
We had dinner and then were sent to our dorms but of course we didnt sleep.
Played card games with my juniors. They're such a great bunch. Full of crap.
Went for a nightwalk and gazed at the stars.
They're much more prominent up there and we were mesmerized by it.
Packed our backs for the trek and slept at 1030pm.


Second day: 22 Nov (Tuesday)
Kinabalu Rose Cabin-Mesilau Gate-Laban Rata
Had breakfast at 7 am before setting off for the starting point of the trek up to Mt K.
With our walking sticks and heavy rucksacks, we set off for the ascent.
The first few hundred metres were harsh for us.
We had to adapt to the thin mountain air and we were already gasping for breath.
We were certainly not used to it.
We only breathed normally after some time.
The big group was splitted into smaller groups with those faster ones advancing ahead first.
The group tht i climbed with, consists of crazy ones.
We were singing all the way and crapping too.
It certainly made us forget about feeling tired.
I even joined in and led them by singing the children's day song hahaha.
We had lunch at a small resting hut. It only comprised of chocolate bars and muesli bars.
Continued climbing after lunch and this is where the groups were splitted into even smaller groups.

Fatigue certainly began to take its toll after lunch and many people were hit by muscle cramps.
We keep on stopping as we help the "crampers"(thts what we called them haha)
The guide then said tht if we stop too often we might get cramps too.
So I continued and left the rest behind and it was only left with me , nuraini ,yuan xiao and one guide.
i started to feel my right thigh muscle beginning to tighthen and was almost hit by cramps.
i stopped and stretched the muscle right away.
The guide saw me and advice me that the only way to avoid cramps is to continue moving even if its step by step. He said tht if we stop too often our muscles will be hit by the cold mountain air and this might contract the muscles and hence cramps will arise.
I certainly followed his advice and my thigh even though still felt tight did not submit to cramps.
We didnt realise Yuan Xiao was left behind until quite some.
So it was left with me nuraini and the guide.
At one point the guide told us to look up and we saw pitcher plants!!!!!
After that the guide also left and advanced ahead leaving only 2 of us.
after more than halfway up, u dont even think of being tired.
being tired is a formality and something part of us.
we even become numb from fatigue.
with my tight thigh muscles and heavy load i literally took one small step at a time.
i took my time and didnt rush through.
i took the most gentle path and avoid the high step-ups.
As a result i was left trailing nuraini by 5-10 metres.
yes u must be thinking that i got beaten by a girl in this aspect.
and yeah the ego did took some beating.
but i have no problems with that.
she could have accelerated away and left me for good, but she didnt and waited for me instead and gave me doses of encouragement.
i really appreciated that and i thanked her for that.
its amazing how a small encouragement can go a long way.
gives you a boost and a sense of newfound hope.

after more than three quarters up the journey to the resthouse, the body really feels like shutting down.
u feel so numb that u just wanna fling yourself on the ground.
but i didnt do it.
i have gone through this road before on previous treks.
i just focused on the path ahead of me and keep telling myself i can do it and i'll reach the destination eventually.
i almost cried when i reached the resthouse at Laban Rata.
could not believe that i was three quarters to the peak of Mt K.
even though i took my time going up, i was the 7th person to reach the resthouse out of 32 people.
while at the canteen i saw my friends having tom yum soup.
the soup certainly perked me up in the cold weather.
i reached there around 4 plus.
by 530 everyone had arrived at the resthouse.
ate dinner and went back to my dorm.
i called home. talked to my family.my father gave me some advice for the summit push(he already climbed it).
after that went to sleep early as we have to wake up at 2 am for the summit push.

Third day: 23 Nov (Wednesday)
Laban Rata-Low's Peak (4095.2m)
woke up at 2 am in the morning.
it was freezing.
they mentioned that temperatures could drop to 5 degrees at the top.
i certainly took heed of that and wore 5 layers of clothing plus a beanie.
it was tough at first.
the path was getting steeper now.
more leg power was needed.
i was getting breathless very easily.
i was also afraid that i would get altitude sickness.
with the air getting thinner still, it was much harder for us to breathe normally.
it got to the point where i wanted to quit and come down.
but i managed to reason myself out and i sat down to catch my breath and had a drink.
as a result i was left quite far behind and my closest pals were nowhere to be seen
but after that i didnt stop for rest.
i still took one small step at a time and i took deep breaths with every step i took.
the wind was blowing so violently that it can throw you off-balance.
the air was so cold that it literally stung my cheeks .
i did not even use my torch as the moonlight was shining very brightly.
when i looked down, i could see the specks of light coming from the city.
i suddenly felt so small.
i continued climbing up till i reached the part where it was so steep that u need help from the guiding ropes.
this is where the upper body strenght comes in. i pulled my way up.
some parts of the path was so narrow that a small mistake could prove to be fatal.
i did not think about anything else.
i just set my mind on reaching the peak.
i caught up with my friends soon after.
they were thrilled to see me.
we then set off together with me leading at the front.
it was almost 6 am when we reach the peak.
4095.2 metres!!!!!!!!
i was in disbelief when i reached the top.
i almost cried again.
i was lost for words.
i thanked God that i managed to reach the top.
the view was just picturesque.
no amount of words is enough to describe it.
simply incredible.
i managed to see the sun rising there too.
if only i could share the moment with the others who really wanted to go but couldnt.
i was breathless and speechless.
i wanted to shout out the names of those who wanted me to scream their names atop the mountain but i only managed to mouthed them out.
i was still in disbelief.
only when others joined me at the top then i started speaking again.
"Hey man we made it!!! We reached the peak! We're on the highest point in Southeast Asia!!"
We then took photos.
I didnt feel like coming down at all.
I just sat there gazing at the horizon in awe of God's creation.
Only when one of the teachers told us to get back to the resthouse then i descended.
i descended with Mr Koh.
Knowing him, we took quite a while to get back to the resthouse as we were stopping now and then to take photos.
We managed to view and appreciate our surroundings more.
My knees then started to feel the strain.
the feeling still didnt go away when i reached the resthouse and rested after eating breakfast.
i knew i was in for a tough descent down the mountain.

At 1030 the whole group went down from the resthouse in Laban Rata.
it was torturous for me.
a quarter way down and i was already wishing i could trade the descent for an ascent up the mountain again.
if my knees were being given voices, i think they would've been screaming in pain.
they felt like buckling under my combined weight with the bag.
yuan xiao lended me one of his walking sticks and now i was descending with 2 walking sticks.
it helped a little but still the pain didnt go away.
i just beared with the pain all the way down.
i was so glad when i reached the ending point even though i was soaking wet because of the rain.
i was told that the early birds had to wait for almost 1.5 hours for the last group to reach the ending point.
we were herded back into buses and back to Rose Cabin where we had our lunch.
We changed into dry clothes and we're back in the bus heading back to Kota Kinabalu.
During the jouney back Alvin claimed that he had lost his handphone and said that it could be in the Rose cabin.
luckily i was seating at the front and Mr Koh told me to tell the driver to stop somewhere where we could check the bags again.
i was glad to be of help and translating back and forth.
and luckily Alvin managed to find his handphone after searching for it frantically.
we reached K.K at around 8pm.
checked into Trekkers' Lodge.
It looked shabby from the outside but actually they just renovated it and was equipped with air-con.
dumped our bags and went to eat at KFC.
the chicken there was way much bigger than Singapore's KFC.
went back to the dorms and hit the showers.
unpacked our bags and played card games.
then my group decided to go to 7-eleven to replenish our tid-bits.
but we ended up having supper at an indian restaurant and we had pratas and murtabaks.
ate till 1230 am.
when we reach our dorms again we played card games again.
haha i kept winning at taidi whenever wendy is sitting next to me.
she got fed up after i won 5 times and changed her seat.
junjie sat next to me instead and then she won that round.
played cards till 2 am.
then went to sleep.

Forth day: 24th Nov (Thursday)
woke up around 5 plus and had breakfast at the same indian restaurant.
we brought more company this time.
and i was the translater for everyone.
at the end of the meal and after paying and tipping them, my juniors overheard the owner saying to me," ok terima kasih boss"
and after that they keep calling me boss.
haha
boarded the bus at 715am and we went to a train station to get to our white water rafting adventure.
we had to wait more than 2 hours for the train to come.
the train cabins were stuffy and after some time, i followed my friends out on the open air goods compartment and sat there.
even though the sun was shining pretty brightly, there was the rushing wind to cool us down.
we couldnt wait when we got to the destination.
everyone was excited.
we were given a quick briefing by the guides and we were grouped into different rafts.
the people in my raft were, the 2 guides, alvin, wen yang , guo wei, junjie, ms lin, wendy, jelaine and me.
After getting into the raft we finally got a taste of White Water Rafting down Padas River.
Furthermore the rapids were graded 3 and 4. (1 being very calm and 6 being the suicidal kind)
I was one of the bowmen at first but we kept changing positions among ourselves.
We then saw another raft being caught up in an internal splashing war contest.
The fever spread to our boat and on of the river guide took off his helmet, scooped water from the river and spashed it on top of ms lin's head twice. hahahaha
Ms lin then grabbed the guide's helmet and did the same thing to me. hahahaha
Arter that everyone was trying to get the other person wet.
There were alot of rapids.
Some of them named, Mickey Mouse, Scooby Doo, Headhunter, Snake and Washing Machine.
We had to paddle even faster when we were in the rapids or result in capsizing.
It was not easy paddling in the rapids,the boat would tip and turn the sides and sometimes we were left paddling air.
Our raft didnt capsize though.
Before one of the biggest rapids,the guide told me to sit right at the front edge of the boat with my feet in the water and holding on to the ropes.
It was to make the boat much more stable in the rapids.
And boy were the waves high.
It was more than 9 feet and the was boat tipped and tossed about in the water.
I was holding on to dear life at the front.
I felt like a cowboy in a rodeo (bullriding).
I held on and ride it out.
It was such a great and fun experience.
I was given another nickname after that. Cowboy.
Towards the end of the rafting, we had a mock capsize since we didnt actually capsize along the rapids.
It was fun really and we floated and swam all the way to the end point.
We ate a barbecued lunch before catching the train back.
During the train ride i sat at the cabin door.
The rest of the people were gazing out the window and some were trying to catch flowers growing by the edge of the tracks.
I saw Joscelin managed to grab a bunch of purple flowers and i decided to try my luck too.
I missed a few times but my effort paid off when i managed to grab one pretty purple bunch of them.
the juniors cheered and went woot when they saw this.
i became more ambitious and wanted more.
nuraini pointed to those bluish purple growing low near the tracks.
I reached out and grabbed them and ouch ouch ouch.
the next thing i knew i was howling and my right fingers were pricked with thorns.
I had chosen the wrong type of flowers(mimosa).
Luckily i had long fingernails and i could pluck most of them out.
I didnt blame her for that but she felt bad all the same.
Being injured has its merits too.
Girls come outand show their care and concernand will do anything to help.
In this case nuraini and esther helped me to pluck off some of the thorns on my fingers and esther even handed me a tissue.
haha thanx gals.
luckily at the end of the day i managed to pluck it all off.
we reached trekkers lodge again at 8pm.
i showered and after that most of us went to the pasar malam.
the girls especially were anxious to go shopping.
Wendy and Jelaine wanted me to go along with them coz i'll be their translater and they want me to bargain the prices. typical. haha
yeah we got some good bargains.
i bought a t-shirt, a fridge magnet, some handicraft pens and purses and a pair of shades(on impulse)
so u see i ran out of cash pretty fast.
and i couldnt afford to buy any more souvenirs to my dear friends.
My juniors saw me trying out the shades and they all concurred that it looked cool on me.
"Hey boss, wah lao that pair of shades look really cool on u leh!!!"
After that i went to dinner.
then return to the lodge for a de-briefing by the teachers.
after that played card games till the wee hours in the morning.
they tried to teach me bridge at 3 am in the morning!!!
can u believe that and we ended up having pillow fights instead.
Had such a fun time that we laughed till our stomachs hurt.
Almost all of them slept after that.
Dean, Alvin , Jelaine and I ended up talking till 5am in the morning.
They went to sleep but i went to take a nice long hot shower instead.

Last day: 25th Nov (Friday)
Last meal at that same indian restaurant.
then we set off K.K airport.
flew back to senai airport.
senai airport to pjc thru causeway.
final words by teachers and giving out certifcates.
Went home.

---------------------------------------
i would like to thank everyone on the trip who have helped me in one way or the other.
all of u guys really made the trip the more enjoyable.
words cant describe how great this trip is.
the new friends i made, the closer bonds i forged with my juniors and teachers and the wealth of experience and memories that we wil cherish.
it was not just any other trip.
it was indeed one very special one that i will remember for a very long time.

I'm going off for my Mt Kinabalu expedition tomorrow!!!
for those of u who still havent finished their papers yet, well dont be jealous u guys will get to enjoy too
... eventually.
haha.
i'm already writing down lists of names i'll be shouting when i reach the peak of the mountain.
damn it i'll be out of breath after that.
and yeah i'll be breaking the bank after buying back souvenirs. (have u been nice to me lately??)
well dont miss me while i'm away. (i know u will haha)
and dont bother trying to call or msg me.
i'll retell the whole story(a blow by blow account) when i get back.

hmmm thts all
wish me well and a pleasant journey. =)

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A levels are over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes i know it will really sound very evil to those who still have papers.
haha but heck them i'm having the time of my life.

not gonna talk about studies during this period.
i'll leave life like theres no tomorrow.
my class already had plans to celebrate after the last paper.
the last paper ended around 530 pm and my class had a barbecue at one of my classmate's
semi-d house at 8 pm.
and while some were preparing for the barbecue others went to play pool.
well the last time i played pool was during the june holidays and yes i was very "rusty" indeed.
anyway ate lots at the barbecue and played taidi(well no money was involved).
and i reached home at almost 12 midnight.

well today, in the morning i went to the gym to condition myself for next week's mt kinabalu expedition coz i've not been running for quite some time.
oh wait i didnt mention i was going to climb mt kinabalu u say???
haha true true i had forgotten to mention it earlier.
yes next monday on the 21 november i'll be going to Sabah, Malaysia to climb the highest mountain in South-East Asia.
i'll be going with my cca but only 2 guys are from j2 going (me and jun jie) and the rest are my juniors. those j2s who wanted to go unluckily still have papers that end on 24 november.
too bad.
anyway i'll not only climb mountains i'll also be white-water-rafting!!!
how cool is that!!!???
hope i get to see the sun rising while i'm at the peak of the mountain.
the view will be picturesque.
oh yeah anybody want me to shout out their names at the top of the mountain???
hahaha

ok thts all for now i've still yet to pack my bag yet for the expedition.
see ya around.

tomorrow the epic war begins.
are we all prepared for it?
are we gonna survive it?
its all to each his own...

Wishing all the best to all my friends taking the As!
May we command and conquer this damned exams!!!
hehe

on a lighter note,
hari raya was a blast.
ate lots.
drank lots. (err nothing intoxicating of course)
and got lots of money!!!

Wishing all Muslims around the world ,"Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!!!"
Sekiranye ada tersalah cakap atau menyinggung perasaan anda maka maafkanlah yer.
Seeking forgiveness for all the sins i've committed.

This year i'll be celebrating the first day of raya in Singapore instead.
too bad i cant play with my rocket propelled fireworks this time round.
cant risk bringing them back to Singapore with the gahmen making stringent checks upon coming back from johor.
always blaming the blardy gahmen.

ok thts all.
hope i get lots of "collection money" this year.
haha

MDJ
First April Eighty Seven
md_djfk@hotmail.com
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