KINABALU NATIONAL PARK, MALAYSIAN BORNEO
One of the biggest tourist destinations in Sabah is Kinabalu National Park, about two hours' drive from Kota Kinabalu. And the main reason people visit it is to climb Mt. Kinabalu, a strangely flat-topped peak that's half the height of Everest, and the tallest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Unfortunately, we won't be climbing it while we're here, as Chris' knee has still been giving him problems, and he doesn't want to do anything more to aggravate it.
All right, I guess I should admit that even if his knee was fine, I'm not sure I'd want to attempt the summit--it's a pretty grueling two-day hike straight up a granite rock face, high enough for many people to get altitude sickness on the way to the top. Still, looking up at it today kind of made me wish we were trying it. (Ah well, there's always next time.)
Our ride from KK to the park this morning was a bit hellish--the air-con express bus was nice enough, but the horde of vomiting babies was not! We seemed to be in the middle of an infant spew-fest, and it was not pretty. (Someone actually told me later, very authoritatively, that "Malaysians throw up a lot on buses," which I thought was amusing, but not necessarily believable.)
Anyway, once we got to the park, things started to improve. Chris and I did some jungle trekking on the trails near the visitor's centre, and we also took a walk with a guide who pointed out a number of interesting plants, many of them endemic to the area. We didn't see any wildlife (I had really wanted to spot a pangolin), but still it was a beautifully lush, green, jungle-y area to hike through, and it's high enough in altitude to actually be quite cool. Later in the afternoon, storm clouds rolled in and it started to rain, so we decided to cut short our trekking and check in to the park's hostel.
For dinner, the park restaurant featured a "Steamboat Special," which means that they bring a pot of broth out to your table on a small stove, give you a bunch of ingredients (vegetables, chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, eggs, etc.) and you cook your own soup! It was a most excellent dinner, especially on a cool, rainy night, and a helluva lot of food, too.
After dinner we felt refreshed enough to attempt a little night trekking to see if we could spot any nocturnal critters. Not too wisely, though, we chose an unfamiliar trail that snaked up and down the mountain for several kilometers through thick mud and boggy areas, with steep dropoffs beside the trail--and we only had one flashlight between us. Which made for a really long, wet, and slightly unsettling experience. And to top it off, we didn't even see any critters!
Oh wait, I take that back: After we got back, Chris and I took off our socks and discovered we both had picked up some big leeches, which were happily sucking the blood out of our feet (through our socks, no less!). Aiyeeeeeeeee! Getting them off wasn't so hard, but stopping the bleeding was! We were just dripping puddles of blood everywhere for hours--it was pretty funny, in a totally disgusting kind of way.
One of the biggest tourist destinations in Sabah is Kinabalu National Park, about two hours' drive from Kota Kinabalu. And the main reason people visit it is to climb Mt. Kinabalu, a strangely flat-topped peak that's half the height of Everest, and the tallest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Unfortunately, we won't be climbing it while we're here, as Chris' knee has still been giving him problems, and he doesn't want to do anything more to aggravate it.
All right, I guess I should admit that even if his knee was fine, I'm not sure I'd want to attempt the summit--it's a pretty grueling two-day hike straight up a granite rock face, high enough for many people to get altitude sickness on the way to the top. Still, looking up at it today kind of made me wish we were trying it. (Ah well, there's always next time.)
Our ride from KK to the park this morning was a bit hellish--the air-con express bus was nice enough, but the horde of vomiting babies was not! We seemed to be in the middle of an infant spew-fest, and it was not pretty. (Someone actually told me later, very authoritatively, that "Malaysians throw up a lot on buses," which I thought was amusing, but not necessarily believable.)
Anyway, once we got to the park, things started to improve. Chris and I did some jungle trekking on the trails near the visitor's centre, and we also took a walk with a guide who pointed out a number of interesting plants, many of them endemic to the area. We didn't see any wildlife (I had really wanted to spot a pangolin), but still it was a beautifully lush, green, jungle-y area to hike through, and it's high enough in altitude to actually be quite cool. Later in the afternoon, storm clouds rolled in and it started to rain, so we decided to cut short our trekking and check in to the park's hostel.
For dinner, the park restaurant featured a "Steamboat Special," which means that they bring a pot of broth out to your table on a small stove, give you a bunch of ingredients (vegetables, chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, eggs, etc.) and you cook your own soup! It was a most excellent dinner, especially on a cool, rainy night, and a helluva lot of food, too.
After dinner we felt refreshed enough to attempt a little night trekking to see if we could spot any nocturnal critters. Not too wisely, though, we chose an unfamiliar trail that snaked up and down the mountain for several kilometers through thick mud and boggy areas, with steep dropoffs beside the trail--and we only had one flashlight between us. Which made for a really long, wet, and slightly unsettling experience. And to top it off, we didn't even see any critters!
Oh wait, I take that back: After we got back, Chris and I took off our socks and discovered we both had picked up some big leeches, which were happily sucking the blood out of our feet (through our socks, no less!). Aiyeeeeeeeee! Getting them off wasn't so hard, but stopping the bleeding was! We were just dripping puddles of blood everywhere for hours--it was pretty funny, in a totally disgusting kind of way.
posted by John Kuge at 11:37 PM
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