As some of you guys know, I've made my way (somehow) up to a very special place; Mt. Kinabalu around five days ago. I am now going to recount my journey.
It started about a year ago, when me parents got back from their annual hike up Mt. Kinabalu.
...Another thing I should note is that me mum's an avid photographer. She's been snappin' her camera all over the place while she was up the mountain. The photos were amazing. You've probably seen them on 'er facebook page. They are definitely inspirational.
Just looking at them, I made up my mind to try for the peak next year- 2011. And so the training began. Dun dun DUN! *cue awesome montage with Eye of the Tiger as background music*
Yeah, anyway, training itself was pretty cool. Everyday, me mum and I tried to cover 4 kilometers, but that usually depended on our time.
The schedule was cool. It didn't collide with nothin', so I was free to do me usual stuff. Usually, we'd go swimmin' on Saturdays, and trekking up Bkt. Gasing on Sundayz. Then yogurt before lunch.
I got a lot of time to think during these things- and I even got over wearing goggles while swimming. I hate the things.
T'was fun.
And so, after all the hard work (montage should be over by now), I finally arrived at the foothill of Mt. Kinabalu itself. Looking up at the mountain, and realizing you have to trek it within a couple of days is definitely a butterfly-in-stomach inducing feeling. But even at the bottom, there were beautiful scenes. The following reminded me of the stand-in location of Jurassic North America in WWD's second episode; New Zealand. Seriously, I could totally picture Stegosaurus armatus charging through those trees.
Incredible, right? At that point, I think we'd met everyone in our group. Here's a group photo. I think I'm somewhere in there.
If you asked me, I'd say it was a pretty awesome group.
I was the youngest- and I definitely wasn't the social type. I thought it'd be hard for me to connect with everyone else. More on this later- first, the awesomeness of the journey.
We began our trip from the gate at the Mesilau gate- which led to the Mesilau trail, a much longer, and much more tiring trail than Timpohon, but infinitely more beautiful.
For you first-timers, like I was not less than a week ago, I should make the routes clear. Mt. Kinabalu is the 20th tallest mountain in the world, and can be traversed using two prominent routes. There are others, which are lesser known, I think.
The two trails start at separate locations, but connect at a midpoint called Layang-Layang. Following that, the now single trail would lead up to Laban Rata, the base camp or rest house for the mountain, where climbers would rest after a weary day of hiking.
The next day, climbers would usually proceed to the peak, starting at 2 in the morning.
As I was saying, we were about to begin. Standing in front of the gate was in itself a thrilling experience. You know that it's the doorway to something that will definitely affect you in a way you don't know yet.
Me parents and I at the gate- I look sleepy in this one.
'Abang' Zaime and I standing at the gate- I think I woke up here.
I think I felt something the moment we stepped over the gate. Could've been gas, but I think I did feel something.
Part 2 will be up tomorrow, and there, I'll talk about the team, which I now refer to as Team Awesome :D, and the awesome-est guide ever, En. Jalin.
I might finish tomorrow, or I might do a Part 3.
Well, the important stuff is out of the way, so I'll talk random stuff.
Recently, I've been studying islandism in extinct species- namely dinosaurs of Cretaceous Romania.
Romania was a chain of islands during the late Mesozoic, so many odd species developed, such as the double sickle-clawed raptor- Balaur bondoc.
Now, Balaur is an odd specimen, as it is superficially similar to Velociraptor mongoliensis, which lived at bout the same time, but is much stockier, and attacked by 'kickboxing'. The double sickles, which it is now rising to fame for, are unique to this species. It was also probably a good swimmer.
Apart from what's quickly becoming my favourite theropod, I'll talk about Magyarosauruss, a sauropod from Romania. While most sauropods, like Argentinosaurus, and Sauroposeidon and perhaps Amphicoelias were truly enormous, being the largest land animals ever, and surpassing the blue whale in length, Magyarosaurus was miniscule, an example of island dwarfism.
Sorry, but it had to be said. Prehistory FTW! :D
BTW, to all those who wanted to hear my victory speech- tomorrow, I swear. :P
I am still looking for that tadpole
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