Pool side chillin’ and the victory over Mount Kinabalu

We have both been quite busy at our jobs during the autumn and it was not until we sat on the plane and ordered a miniature bottle of red wine that we realised that we were on our way to another great vacation.

To completely unwind and forget (almost) everything that can rhyme with job, we had planned to start our vacation with 4 days by the pool – 1st stop Singapore. Apart from relaxing at the pool on the 57th floor at Marina Bay Sands, we did a little bikini-shopping and meet up with our good friend Måns on his way to Bali.

After a fantastic day in Singapore, it was time to let the stress-o-meter go down another grade or two at a resort near Kota Kinabalu on Borneo. Needless to say that there are not many wild adventures to write about from this stay, the purpose was to do nothing except from swimming in the pool, reading books, walking on the beach, consume excellent food and watch the sunset with a drink in our hands.

But anyone who knows just a little bit about us would also know that three days by the pool doing nothing is a long time without stimuli in form of hiking, driving, exploring or other activities. Therefore, we soon found ourselves leaving Kota Kinabalu, completely relaxed, heading for the highest mountain in South East Asia, Mount Kinabalu. It was time to do some mountain climbing!

To minimize the risk of altitude sickness, we decided to spend a night at the park headquarters at 1600 m above sea level before heading up the steep slopes of Mount Kinabalu. After breakfast, we meet up with our own knowledgeable local guide Rommie, who would be our company all the way to the top.

After a day of hard trekking and countless steps, we arrived at the base camp, Laban Rata, where we would rest and spend the night. The alarm clock was waking us from our well-deserved snooze at 2am. After a light breakfast, we were on our way to the top, hopefully arriving in time to see the sunrise from 4095m above sea level.

We were lucky. It was a clear night and when we arrived at the top (Danielle the first one of all the climbers that day, Carsten a bit behind gasping for air) all clouds had disappeared and we were the happy witnesses of the most amazing sunrise over Borneo (please see photos). The temperature at the top was around 0 degrees Celsius and with a very strong wind, you easily get cold – especially when you are fatigue from climbing a mountain. On the way down, we saw several examples of climbers who had a much harder time coping with the steep slopes and cold weather and we were smiling, knowing that we would soon be back at the park headquarters with a well-deserved beer in our hand and an unforgettable memory in our rucksack.

One adventure leads to another and tomorrow we are heading east, where the rainforest hopefully will bring us close to Orang-utans and other native wildlife.

Take care back home,

Danielle and Carsten