Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Our Mount Kinabalu Climb

I thought I'd share with you some pictures of my recent Mount Kinabalu Climb. Mt. Kinabalu is in Sabah, Sawarak and is the highest peak in South East Asia. My friends were very surprised to hear that there were mountains in Malaysia. When I told then it was the highest in S.E. Asia, most of them said 'Wow, the tallest maintain in Asia?' I had to explain to them that 'no, sweet dears, that would be Everest...'

My dad, husband and I went just after spending Chinese New Year in Kuching, Sarawak with my relatives.

The majority of the climb was in horrible pouring rain, but we managed to take pictures during the rare moments where it was dry.




Us at the beginning of the climb. 'Selamat Mendaki' means 'Happy Mountaineering'.


A beautiful waterfall along the way.




I absolutely adore greenary. Well, nature in general.

My dad and I in the early stages of the climb. It was just starting to rain.


The further up you get, the larger the difference in vegetation.

Lodgings halfway up the climb. I don't know why my husband took a pic of this one rather than the one we stayed in. Ours was tiny compared to this and made this one look positively luxurious.


We woke up at 2:30am the next day so we could reach the summit before sunrise. I reached the summit an hour before sunrise so sat the shivering in the dark for quite a while!


The wait was worth it. Once the sun started coming out, I realised just how spectacular the view was.


I have to say that sadly our most spectacular pictures are terribly blurry, as my husband forgot to take it off manual focus!


My husband, on our descent.



I can't believe I passed all this beautiful scenery in the dark on the way up.

Going back down was great fun.

There were no more pictures after this as it started to rain heavily. So we decided to leg it back to base camp rather than suffer a minute longer getting drenched in the rain!

All in all a really good climb. I'm truly proud of all the natural sights my country has to offer. I've spent my childhood hiking in the rainforest and visiting the beaches and caves, so it was really nice to view a whole different kind of scenery.

21 comments:

  1. are you malaysian? :) I should really really make a trip there one day considering the fact that I'm malaysian and never been there before XD glad you enjoyed you trip!

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    1. Yes, I'm Malaysian. Born in Miri, Sarawak but due to my dad's job lived in numerous countries while growing up :)

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  2. Such beautiful scenery! What an amazing looking hike trail.

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  3. Wow, it's so beautiful! I haven't gone on a hike like this in years. Jealous, but happy for you :)

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  4. Nice pictures, I wish I could do this.

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  5. Hi Penelope--- your photos are breathtaking! I especially love the ones with the vegetation fading into the mist. It makes me feel like taking an adventure :)

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  6. aww how wonderful! I would love to go somewhere like that! lovely pictures sweets xoxo

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  7. Beautiful pictures! The breaking dawn and cloudy mountains look spectacular

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  8. Wow! I've been contemplating whether to scale mount kinabalu for the longest time..now I think I must do it for sure..

    BTW, am pretty surprised that u're a Malaysian! :) haha..same here..hope u had a really good trip back to the country..

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  9. the view is so breath taking... :) i wish i could go there too penny. it seems like a wonderful place!

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  10. these photos are absolutely gorgeous. amazed by mother nature. :)

    xoxo
    jasmine

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  11. what a fantastic climb! The view looked really awesome from the top!! Thank you so much for sharing your journey to the top!

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  12. Ooooh I didn't know you were Malaysian. The weather on Mt Kinabalu looks great. I'm still not used to Malaysian weather and really want to get away to a cooler place.

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  13. I miss hiking and going out with my family!
    lovely photos, too bad it had to rain :(

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  14. i've never been to take part of malaysia, but love to go one day. the view is beautiful.

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  15. wow, these photos are amazing, i love the waterfall and fogs! thanks for sharing!

    Stumbled upon your blog and I love it. I am your newest follower. Please check out my blog and follow me too if you like it, thanks!

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  16. Wow Penelope, your pictures are beautiful! I love nature and especially waterfalls!!! I used to print out a bunch of waterfall pictures lol I was such a nature girl! Looked like it would've been a great hike if it didn't rain.

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  17. Wow, you are so brave, I would never do that in a million years,I am afraid of heights and a bit of a scardy cat to go in the jungle, kudos to you! I didn't know you are a Msian, haha Msian here, excited :D

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  18. thanks for sharing this!
    the last time i climbed a REAL mountain was almost 10 years ago. :)
    what beautiful scenery!
    i believe nature gives us strenghts that we cannot generate ourselves. i think i need to make more efforts from now on!

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  19. Your photos are always so gorgeous! This blog is perfect (:

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