We Went, We Saw, We Conquered! - Mt. Kinabalu

On Thursday night of the 23rd, we took a bus out to the headquarters at Mt. Kinabalu where we stayed the night. Even though it was only the base of the mountain, the climate was a bit chilly and much different from what we were used to back in KK.
We started our ascent of the mountain around 10am on Friday the 24th. The climb started at 1880m, and from that point on all we saw were stairs! The climb to the base camp was 6km, and took us about 6 hours. I've never experience physical activity like that in my life, and it was such a relief to reach Laba Ratan, the place where we stayed the night. On arrival, it was chilly and rainy, so we had ourselves a hot supper and some Milo (something like hot chocolate), and went to bed around 8pm.
We bundled ourselves up as best we could for bed, but it still wasn't enough to keep us warm. Not quite sure what the temperature was at that point, but when we started our ascent to the peak of the mountain at 3am it was around 10 degrees.
The climb to the top of the mountain was done in compete darkness, and it was a crazy experience. The day before had been all stairs and rock, but the climb to the peak, which was 3km and took about 3 hours, was done mostly being led by a rope.
The sun started to rise just as we neared the peak, so once we got to the very top (Low's Peak at 4095m) we had an absoluty gorgeous view of the surrounding area. It's quite unexplainable how it felt to climb a mountain and sit at the top, knowing you're at the highest point in Southeast Asia. It was somethign I'll never forget, that's for sure! And the view....breathtaking!
Anyhow, it was quite cold at the top and the wind was a bit fierce, so we started our decent around 6:40 am. It took us about an hour and a half to reach Laba Ratan, where we had some breakfast and geared up for our 6km descent back to the base of the mountain.
The decsent took about 3 and a half hours, and it was especially hard on the leg joints! I'm more sore today than I've ever been in my life, and stairs have never been such a challenge! However, it was totally worth it as I can now say I've climbed the highest mountain in Southeast Asia!
From the base of the Mountain we headed to the Poring Hot Springs, which were about another hour drive from Mt. Kinabalu. The springs were a bit of a disappointment, but we still got to soak our muscles in some hot water, which was great! We also had the most comfortable sleep since we got to Borneo, so that was worth the stay in itself!
That brings us to this morning, where we did a canopy walk, which was in the poring hot springs park and is the highest canopy walk in southeast asia (and yes, that means we had to climb stairs to get to it. It was cool and definately worth it, but at the same time I'm not quite sure what we were thinking!) After the canopy walk we took a two hour taxi back to KK. That brings you up to the minute! All we're doing now is avoiding stairs and getting ready for our flightto Melbourne, which leaves at 6am tomorrow!