Day 69 - 84 - Mount Kinabalu, Game Rangers and the South China Sea.

Following lunch at the Scuba Junkies Cafe, they took us on the hour long transfer to Tawau Airport through endless Palm Oil Plantations. Our time at the coral Islands off Sabah have been extremely enjoyable and a wonderful contrast to the Jungles of Borneo and Loas. The diving has been a huge adventure for the children and opened their eyes to a whole new world under the sea and for Jo and I, getting to dive Mabul and Sipadan has been amazing.

We arrived at the Airport which was fairly modern and we managed to change a couple of flights to allow us a bit of time at Kuala Lumpur, in order to try to break up our currently booked epic journey from Kota Kinabalu to Port Elizabeth, via Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Johannesburg. ................ It sounded nice and quick when I booked it!!!! All we had to do now was try to change the Emirates leg to give us a stop over in Dubai.

The flight was fairly quick and uneventful and after about an hour we arrived back in Kota Kinabalu to prepare ourselves for the Big Mountain climb. Harry's feet had obviously grown whilst being away as his walking boots no longer fit him, .......... clearly signifying that his 12th Birthday was almost upon us. With new hiking boots purchased we now had to trim our luggage down to a bear minimum, as what we were taking, we were carrying!!! ............. so we managed to pack ........... unpack, ............... and re-pack, several times before the minimum could be reached, with our remaining luggage being kept in storage at the Best Western.

Mount Kinabalu shrowded in cloud in the distance.

With a welcome lie in, the following day, we spend most of our time in Kota Kinabalu, chilling out with a bit of cafe culture, pints of Latte with 'pure caramel ice blend milk shakes' for the children and making sure we have everything for our climb. We have a couple of hours drive to our accomodation at Mount Kinabalu, which is at the Riva Lodge and we aim to get there for 4pm. Not sure how good it will be but we are soon on our way to find out.

The accomodation, although reasonably expensive, is about as basic as it comes and complete with a fragrant aroma of 'damp & must', obviously a new air freshner that hasn't quite hit the UK shelves yet, probabaly on a par with our 'scratch & sniff'!! ...... we were also next to a very busy road, so sleep that night was limited!! Fortunately there were some interesting guests staying, a couple of young lads who were students from near Dubai, had just conquered the mountain that day. They had climbed the whole thing in a day, which is not normally allowed as overnight accommodation, two thirds of the way up is usually compulsory. Very hard to climb up and down in one day and even they said that they had no control over their legs at the end. Mount Kinabalu was going to be a huge challenge for us all as at 4095m above sea level and 8.7km from the start gate to the summit, .......... the question of whether we would all make it up was left open. To put it in to perspective, Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK is only 1,344m above sea level, with Scaffel Pike and Snowden slightly lower!! Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the mighty Himalayas and New Guinea, sporting a crown of granite towers and altitude sickness can strike as low as 3000m, but on a clear day at the summit the view extends across all of northern Borneo and as far as the islands of southern Palawan, in the Philippines. As it was significantly colder at Mount Kinabalu and we had no room in our backpacks for warm padded coats, conquering the mountain in a string vest was not going to be cool!! ........ or rather, it was going to be absolutely freezing!! ......... I had visions at 3,500m, of Scott and Oats and those immortal words of "Harry, ........ I may be gone for some time!!". ........... Urgent action was required and as if by fate, our dubious accomodation at Riva Lodge, we're selling second hand coats!!! .......... Can you believe it!!!! ....... Clearly a regular problem for backpackers!! Filtering through the array of 1970's fashion we were all soon kitted out in washed, but slightly musty outfits, ranging from a Puffa type waistcoat, to Imogen's aquamarine number, with real rabbit fur hood and looking as though we had just walked out of a Romanian village, we were now fit for purpose!

We had packed a few Milo hot chocolates in for the children to keep them going at the Lodge stop, as I don't think they were quite up to 'Kendal Mint Cake' yet and after a sleepless night with the road noise we woke at 6.00am and headed for the Mount Kinabalu Park entrance, which opened at 7.00am. The walk to the Park took about 40 minutes, ........ seemed like 40 days!!!! and by the time we had got there, Fred already starting to lag behind! ........ the thought of another 8.7km and 4,095m up, didn't boad well ......................... in fact I could have probably settled for a full english breakfast, a quick sleep, and a bus back to KK for a pint of Latte and a blueberry muffin!! .................... but we are English!! ..... we don't quit ........... we are fools!!!!

We made it to the entrance gate!, sorted out our permits for climbing the Mountain and organised our guide and young porter. .......... The porter was going to help carry the childrens rucksacks as clearly within approximately 347m from the entrance gate they would be thrust upon my shoulders to carry to the summit, apart from Harry who was determined to carry is own to the top.

Our Guide took us in a bus to the Timophon Gate entrance for the climb, where permits were checked and we were on our way. 8.20am, 30th May 2012. We start with a smal decent to Carsons Falls and then begin climbing, step by step, stride by stride, up ....... up .... and up! There are markers every 1/2km to spur you on and sheltered stops every 1km. The first 2km take us just over an hour and the scenery is beautiful wih Banana trees, orchides, birds, small squirrels at every stop looking for food and weird insects known as 'Killer Bites' .............. I assume they came from the i-insect family and had big brothers called 'Mega Bites' and 'Terra Bites'!! ............ glad we didn't meet up with them!!

We had a 45 minute lunch stop at the 4km mark and Jo and Fred in particular were begining to feel the strain. We were also walking through the clouds at this point and a misty rain began to surround us, which called for the plastic ponchos we had been given at the Sandakan Memorial visit. We were heading for our overnight stay at Laban Rata, a large lodge building, two thirds of the way up the mountain, comprising a huge number of basic dormitory rooms with shared bathroom facilities and a large dining area for food. This was at the 6km mark which still appeared a long way off as step after step we made our way slowly on, passing various local people at certain stages who were carying long heavy steel poles to the lodge, obviously for building works. By the look on the faces of the workman, this was clearly an extremely difficult and tiring job. The rain was short lived, although long enough for Freddie to have a fight with his poncho! ........... as it was quite long on him, the poor chap kept tripping on it and that coupled with tiredness caused him much frustration.

This gave Harry and I a good excuse to walk ahead at this point as we wanted to keep the pace up and get to the lodge as soon as we could, as too much stopping was getting us frustrated and it was also a much more peaceful walk out of reach of the various complaints going on from behind!!! Poor Jo was really feeling the pace at the 5km mark and decided to put on her ipod in the hope that a bit of music would spur her on , and block out the moaning .......... and it did. Harry and I arrived at the lodge at about 2.15pm and Jo, Fred and Imogen arrive only 15 minutes later, not too far behind. All in all it has taken us nearly 61/2 hours to reach Laban Rata, whereas, our German freind who we had met in Riva Lodge managed it in 4 hours - I doubt he had such long stops as we did. There was a huge look of exhaustion and relief on Jo's face when she arrived at the Lodge, which was entirely understandable as it had been a hard climb, but a sweet milky coffee perked her up and we now had time to eat and rest before the 2.30am start tomorrow morning to get to the summit - Jo even braved the ice cold shower. Dinner was served at 5pm, which was greatly appreciated and we all retired to bed at 7pm for a good sleep.

We were in a dorm for 6 and a family of 5, so shared our dorm with a young Malaysian chap. However, much to our dismay, and with the limited amount of sleep we were going to get anyway, his mobile phone was constantly ringing, I suspect from a love sick girlfreind who was clearly missing him and kept phoning him every half hour to tell him! ..... I am not sure Jo, Harry or I got much more than an hours sleep before the alarm sounded at 1.45am for us to get up for a very early breakfast. It is the 31st May and Harry's 12th Birthday - This was his big challenge for his birthday, to conquer Mount Kinabalu and boy was it a challenge!! I make sure I have a good breakfast as I am sure I will burn it off very quickly but it is hard to persaude anyone else to eat in the middle of the night. It is not raining when we rise, which is a good sign, as rain at this time would usually mean it would be impossible to summit, instead it is dry and relatively warm, so, with no excuse available, it looks like we will be attemptng the summit - at 2.40am we venture outside armed with torches, fleeces, water-proof jackets and backpacks. The first kilometer, to the 7km mark, is very steep which makes the walk difficult as it is slippery and pitch black - it is not long before I can hear various grumbles from behind ............ but it is understandable as everyone is very tired. We need ropes to help us up some sections and this seems to give Imogen a burst of energy and excitment, but Harry is feeling sick, probably a combination of tiredness and altitude and we decide to review matters at the 7km mark - We rest for a while and Harry begins to feel better and fortunately we meet our friendly German man who tells us we are over the worst so we continue - Jo and Freddie begin to wish they were back in their beds at the Lodge, or better still, back in KK in a hotel! ........ but as we heave our bodies across large granite slabs, the sun begins to rise, revealing a most fantastic view from above the clouds, .......... this is what makes it all worth while and the sun provides a new burst of energy for us all. ................ it always reminds me of that great phrase a Banker once told me in a meeting as we were haggling over interest rates ................ 'there is no gain without pain' ............. Such true words!! ........... even today in the market, we go through the pain ............. he gets his bonus!! .......... what a shrewd cookie!! ................................... not a generalisation of course!

At the 8km mark we can finally see the summit and this certainly spurs on Harry who is determined to reach the summit first ......... and who could deny him such a victory on his 12th birthday!! - Imogen and I are close behind, but he won't let us catch him up!!! ...... a huge granite slope before the last climb seems to roll away before us down into the abyss of a huge drop and here we witness a beautiful sunrise which makes the journey worthwhile. The last stretch to the summit is a steep climb up and over large boulders, but victory is in sight! Harry conquers the mountain first, just before Imogen and I and as we sit and rest we can see Fred and Jo coming up in the distance. I wander back down to help with the last stages but they too are now determind to make it themselves. The weather at the top is unbelievable, a beautiful sunny calm morning with a most spectacular view. The top is fortunately not too crowded and photos are taken with Harry's birthday banner! ..... We have a short rest but need to start our descent fairly promptly as we need to be back at the Laban Rata Lodge for breakfast and check out at 10am!!! ........ Getting down is a much faster pace and Jo, although finding a new source of energy on the downward leg, is now leading the pack, however, she does manage a slight fall, sliding down a section of granite, but she is ok bar minor cuts and a bang to the head. Harry is feeling very weary and a lack of early breakfast has not helped and Fred just wants to lie down on the granite and go to sleep. ............ The best way to deal with Fred is to walk on and he will eventually come down!!

Imogen and I are feeling fine, although I know my old knee problem will kick in at some stage on the way down and sure enough it doesn't disappoint me, but I have a couple of walking poles to assist! ........... that is not a couple of Polish walkers by the way!! ....... thats those long things with handles and bouncy bits on the bottom. We all make it back for a welcomed breakfast, although Harry needs a bit of support at the end, and a good English Breakfast brings us all back to life. We are soon back on the track for the final descent which seems to go on and on ........ and on and on ........ and on! ............ but in the face of victory ....... it's not a problem. All in all, since our very early rise this morning to summit Kinabalu, we had been climbing and descending for almost 11 hours! ........ and it was a great relief to finally walk back through the Timophon Gate entrance. We were briskly transported back to the base entrance for a good bowl of pasta at the restaurant and the children collected their medals and certificates for 'conquering the mountain', which they were all extremely proud of.

We were supposed to be staying another night at 'Riva Lodge' but actually, we most certainly needed something a lot more comfortable, so we get a lift back to Kota Kinabalu to find an hotel. The 'Best Western' hotel is full so we collect our luggage from their storage and head for 'Hotel Sixty Three', which is actually cheaper and a much nicer hotel! ....... We had not realised at this stage that both Jo's and Imogen's cameras had been stolen out of one of the bags in storage, which is hugely frustrating as not only did it have old footage of our time at Garden Hill Cottage, but it also had the photos of the children fully kitted out in scuba diving gear and successfully managing backward roles off the dive boat at ....... Island. ............. but alas, ............. one of those things!

We celebrated Harry's birthday, crashed out in the bedroom watching 'Pirates of the Caribbean' snacking on Pringles recounting stories of the day and we all slept remarkably well that night. The next day, after a good lie in, we picked up a pre-ordered 'Angry Bird' cake that we had organised before our climb and celebrated again in the hotel! and although a certain amount of 'rigamortice' had set into everyone bar Imogen, who was fighting fit!! ..... we headed for a good italian restaurant to complete the celebrations.

The Angry Bird Birthday Cake looks better than it tastes!!

The next couple of days we spend chilling out in KK, drinking coffee and shakes for the children, but there is only so much you can do in KK, so we meet up with our faithful tourist information lady and book a couple of nights at the 'Rasa Ria Resort' (part of the Shangri La Group), an hour north of KK. This is a beautiful resort, on the beach and set in a 65 acre reserve that they use to rehabilitate Orang Utan's in conjunction with the Sepilok Reserve and a great bit of R&R after our epic climb!! The afternoon is spent boogie boarding in some very strong waves in the South China Sea, which is great fun for us all and the children stay in as long as they can, but they have an early rise the next morning as they are all booked in as special Game Rangers to assist with the feeding of the baby Orang Utan's they have in the reserve, having first passed a medical check!

Tenten the baby Orang Utan.

The children are in their element and given special uniforms and caps and are sent off with the head ranger to prepare the food for feeding time. We watch a promotional video and then are escorted on a walk to meet the young Orang Utan's. It is a great experience and one of them comes down onto the deck and grabs a bottle of water from out of the hand of one of the guests and runs up the tree spening the next 20 minutes trying to open it and drink it and then filling his mouth and spitting it down on the other guests! .... We then meet up with 'tenten' the youngest member of the orphan Orang Utan's, who at 10 months old is exceptionally cute and all the children were quite keen to stuff her in their backpacks!! ...... in a caring conservationist way, of course! The children are given special 'Game Ranger' cetificates and can keep their uniforms (polo shirt and cap). The next day we again chill out on the beach, boogie boarding and kyaking down the waves and later in the afternoon Jo and I manage a few too many cocktails during happy hour, as the sun slowley sets behind the beach volleyball match, that Harry and Fred are now participating in. Rasa Ria was a wonderful break to re-charge the batteries before we head to Southern Africa via Kuala Lumpur.

We board our flight form KK to Kuala Lumpur and whilst in the plane, sitting on the runway awaiting our take-off slot, Fred with great excitement anounces in a loud vioce: "Dad, dad, ........... I've just seen a plane crash" .................... with my head in my hands and noticing a few uncomfortable twitches from some of the other passengers, I ask him to keep his voice down and assure him that he must be mistaken and anyway people don't want to hear about plane crashes just as we are about to take off!! .................. "no, no dad, I have seen a plane crash ........... look out the window ................... a couple of fire engines are coming out now!" he exclaimed in an equally excitable voice! .............. In an attempt to appease him I looked out of the window, as did several other passengers, to see .................... a couple of fire engnes frantically making their way to a light aircraft who had landed and come off the runway!! .......... "oh yes, ....... your right Fred!" ...... I humbly admitted! ................ The plane had not actually crashed as such, it had obviously made an emergency landing. The Captain then made an annoucement that the take off would be delayed as a light aircraft had made an emergency landing and they would have to move him off the runway! ............. I felt that Fred feeling particularly happy wth his observational discovery would soon be recounting, throughout the journey, as many plane crash and near death incidents as he could remember from his 9 years of research!! ......... much to the dismay and alarm of most of the other passengers!!

Petrobas Twin Towers.

In Kuala Lumpur we were unable to change our Emirates flights to break the African journey and sort out a stop-over in Dubai, without huge expense. ................... thank you Emirates!! ........ A much cheaper option was to spend the next few days in KL, in a nice hotel, chilling out, ........... not just a nice hotel, but the 5* Istana Hotel, in the only room they had left which was a club room. Admittedly, we had only one room with a king size bed and a single bed for all of us, but this was quite comfortable from experience, and the room was large, but also as a club room we found out that it not only included breakfast, but also hot and cold snack food served at lunch and in the early evening, including spirits, wine and soft drinks! .......... all for 90 pounds per night!! ............ we didn't need to eat out! We took a visit to the Twin Petronas Towers, formerly the tallest building in the world, now I believe the third tallest? with the 'sky bridge' at the 41st floor and now you can take a lift to the viewing gallery on the ............81st floor! The children were excited as they had recently seen a movie where Saun Connery, attempting to rob the vaults inside a bank, has to escape by climbing down fron the 'sky bridge' ............. in his suit and brogues!! ......... as you do!! Apart from this and filling in journals, coupled with a bit of comprehension and maths, our only other activity in KL was to visit the very exclusive shopping centres, as we needed to purchase a few sets of binoculars for the children ready for Southern Africa and wildlife spotting, as sharing on such an adventure was not an option with three young children!!!


Fred's feet are growing!!




Imogen and Freddie find a new toy at the Harley Davidson Store to conquer Mount Kinabalu!!

We were now prepared for our epic flight to Port Elizabeth, via Dubai and Johannesburg and with a 2.00am departure from KL we eventually arrived in Port Elizabeth some 44 hours after getting up in KL, following various coffee lounges in between flights, with probably no more than an hours sleep!! ......... The childen actually coped with it remarkably well, especially as they had their own personal movie screen for most of it!!! ....... why would you want to sleep!!! We arrived in Port Elizabeth at about 10.00pm local time and quickly sorted out a hotel for the night as sleep was needed quickly!!! ................ We are now in Africa!!