To climb a mountain

So, back to mountain climbing.

Friday (19th May)
We met at Shuzhen's place at like 4am in the morning so that we can take a taxi to Senai Airport in Johor for our flight. I didn't sleep the night before, so I was really tired. I slept through the flight, and before I knew it, we were in Kota Kinabalu.

We checked into a small nice little hotel, and went out to see the sights. It was a really small place, without much to see at all. We went shopping at Centerpoint and watched the Da Vinci Code to pass time. Dinner was at KFC and we bought bread for breakfast the next day. We slept very early because we were all exhausted and wanted to be rested for the climb the next day.

Saturday (20th May)
We woke up and got on the coach that took us to the foot of Mount Kinabalu. Actually, not really the foot, but somewhere around 1800m a.s.l. When we got close to the mountain, it looked really majestic, but at the same time, a little intimidating, knowing that I would be cold, tired and exhausted on the climb up and down. But, I really wanted to do this challenge, so up I went.

We had 2 guides, a father and son pair. The son was called Roland, and I forgot what his dad was called. They have been guides for over 10 years and to them, the climb might as well be our walk in the park. The first day climb would be to the lodge at 3200m. That would take around 5 hours for us, as it was quite steep and extremely tiring at some points. My thighs nearly cramped on the last bit up. But I kept it stretched and it didn't give out. I didn't push too hard at that point because I knew that if I cramped, the next day would give me hell. The scenery was beautiful at some points, but it was also quite foggy, so we couldn't see too much.

At around 3000m, the surroundings looked really like Skyline Boulevard in California, near Stanford. It reminded me so much of the mountain biking trip that I had with David. Especially when we had to push our bikes all the way back up the trail, because it was too steep to ride up it. The climate was also very cool, and it was hard not to enjoy the chillness in the air.

When we finally got to the lodge, we were all pretty tired, and Joan suffered a mild bout of altitude sickness. We all did our stretching and chilled in our rooms. I went to take a shower to freshen up. Let's just say that the "hot water" was barely above freezing, and the "cold water" nearly froze my balls off. I showered in the "hot water" and got changed. It felt so good to have that shower. Dinner was at 5pm, and we all ate heartily. We played a bit of bridge, before sleeping around 7pm, because we had to get up by 2am to start climbing the mountain.

Fun points to note: Jason Bay did not bring these up to the mountain. Extra underwear, so he had to wear his old one for a long time. No sandals either, so he had to go barefoot, or borrow mine. Grrr. And none of them brought much water up the mountain. I brought 6.5l of water all the way up the mountain, so that I would have enough water to drink up and down the mountain. They all laughed at me, but I would have the last laugh when we nearly ran out of water on the way down.

Sunday (21st May, 2.30am)
So, we all woke up after a very unrestful sleep. It's kinda hard to sleep in high altitudes. You fall asleep for what you think is a very long time, and wake up, and you find that only half an hour has gone by. It was a tiring night trying to sleep. I slept more than the others, probably around 4 solid hours. The others had much less. But we still all got up around 2.00am and got ready to set off in night.

The climb was exhausting up the mountain. The air was really thin, and I had to gasp for air at the last few parts. Some of the climb involved hauling ourselves up flat steep rock with rope, which was a little scary. But the beauty of the night sky was worth all that. We were above the clouds, which meant that we had a clear view of the stars. There were so many! I miss that sight.

The climb lasted around 3 and a half hours, before getting to the summit at 6.00am. We watched the sunrise and took pictures of our banner. The banner said, "All your base are belong to us!" It was really fun. I haven't watched a good sunrise for too long. The beautiful blend of colors, way above the clouds. We only spent around 25 minutes on the summit before heading down. Way too short a time, considering that we spent so much effort climbing up.

The climb down took a long time too. The girls were exhausted, and they were less sure-footed climbing down on the steep rocks. In the end, Jason and I took their bags and ran down the mountain, while the girls took their time with the guide to help them down. It wasn't easy climbing down, especially with all the extra weight. My thighs hurt like mad, and it still took us the same amount of time to climb down as climb up.

We had lunch around 3pm at a lodge, and then headed back to Kota Kinabalu. We were all so tired, that we just showered and crash to sleep for 2 hours before getting up for a good dinner. We had seafood at this live seafood place, with an impressive array of fish tanks that looked like waterfalls. The food was okay, fresh, and nice. Then it was playing bridge for a bit, then off to bed, so that we could actually get up for the flight the next day.

Well, it was a good trip, nonetheless. My physique did improve, as I could actually run a little faster from the muscle buildup. I keep telling the frisbee players that we should go climb more mountains as training. I'm looking forward to more trips, with friends. See the world when you're young!

I came, I saw, I conquered!

Yes! And I am back from my climbing trip. There are stories to tell, lots of them, and also pictures. (Except the pictures are with the ladies, tidying them up.)

Well, it was nice to have a get-away from Singapore. Any get-away from Singapore is good. But the climb was pretty painful. Cramps, tired feet and legs, sore shoulders and back are part of the climb. Nearly cramped on my thighs on the way up, nearly twisted ankles and knees on the way down. But none of that happened, leaving only the soreness in my muscles to tell the story. Actually, I feel a lot stronger and fitter since the climb.

Okay, I'll tell more in my next post. I'm heading out.

Just about to climb a Mountain

So, if you've been reading my posts, you'll know that I'm due to climb Mt Kinabalu soon. Actually, I'll be climbing it this Saturday. That's in 4 days. I'm excited and a little scared. Why scared? Coz I'm not so sure I'm fit enough to climb all the way up. It'll be tiring, I know that. But then again, I really want to see a good beautiful sunrise from the top of the mountain. If I don't go through the hardships, how am I going to enjoy the benefits?

Well, reminds me a little of life...

Other than climbing a mountain, other things are due in my life. I just turned in my job applications for my postings with the Ministries next year. I have to serve my bond out with the government who paid for my studies in the States. I have to choose which ministries I want to work for, and turn in things like university feedback forms and my grades.

My choices of ministries are:
Ministry of Trade and Industry
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Manpower

I believe that I can learn the most from these ministries, and yet still remain relevant to the private sector without having to trudge through too much of the public sector red tape. My psychological interviews are in late July and my Commission Interviews in August. These are the interviews which they will assess the type of person I am and how I can best contribute to the Singapore government. Hmm, I think that they will just probably find out that I'm like a complete rebel from the system, and just can't wait to break out of the system. I wonder where they would put a person like me =)

I'm also thinking of one of the programs that they have, the "Gap Year" program. Immediately after my National Service, I get to take a year off to work with any company around the world, not necessarily Singapore. I will not need to start my bond immediately, and 6 months of the work counts towards my bond. I'm tempted to take it, because it does not hurt to get a year off to work in the private sector. Maybe I'll head back to the States to do some Venture Capital work, or work in a start-up. These experiences will be useful when I end my bond and come out to work in the private sector again. I'm not sure how these experiences will help in the public sector though. Maybe just as a general understanding.

Well, I better start a daily newspaper reading program to keep updated with the world news. I'm keeping tab of the economy, finance and stock market at the moment. Probably will move on to politics around the world too. Hmmm, I heard that the Commission interviews are practically nightmares. I hope I don't flunk! =)

I'll write more. I know I haven't been writing much. The next episode will be about shoes. I've been thinking about writing about shoes... Why? I'll tell you when I write it.