No-Sp@m Internet!

Continuing from Day 2 Part 2… Soon after crossing the beautiful hanging bridge near 3.5km mark, the hardest part of the trail started, just at a time when fatigue was setting in. We had a lot of photo-taking near that bridge, as it was really scenic. You need to see it to believe. The air was cool and the water was icy cold.Here, the steep climb began and we ascended again. As usual there were rocky treks, steep wooden ladder and challenging terrains that fully tested the girls.

It looked the same everywhere as we were stepping into thick forested land here. Not a lot of sunshine filtered through the forest canopy and it was quite dim at some portions. Occasionally, a strong breeze would send the trees and shrubs swaying and made us shudder due to the coldness. I couldn’t remember anything special along this trek except that we had some rests along the way.

It took us nearly 2 hours to get out of the forrested trail and broke through to a plain that was ravaged by biting strong winds. It was about 1.45pm now. I took a picture of the view of the mountain here. It was spectacular, wasn’t it?

Here is a view of the “spooky-feeling” trail soon after crossing the plain. Would you dare to come here alone?

After another 30 min or so of walking, we reached the section which was definitely my favourite when I recalled. It was a wide open space, the view of the mountain was magnificent. And occasionally I could glimpse Labang Rata, the place we trekking too, and in seconds it would be covered by clouds. Edwin our trainer said we would walk straight and turned right next all the way up. It looked near, but I wondered how many tedious hours we would take, and whether we could reach there by 7pm, as our pace was rather slow apparently. Have a view of this section in wide screen mode hehe..

A close up view of it.

Awesome view from the mountain of the roads and town below.

Trekking continued amidst growing fatigue and the 10kg backpack was draining us a lot at the same time. However, we still chatted and joked. I must have gone berserked as I did not know what “fun” is haha. (please check with our Bob or Karen if you wish to know why). The trail somehow appeared to be unending and each ascending ladders and paths took more strength from us.

After busily shooting so many of the amazing pictures, my little Fujifilm camera’s battery was dying too. I could no longer shoot those magnificent cloud top views of the mountains at this time, much to my dismay. What a pity! There were really lots of sights here at this level.

At about 4pm or so (late already) we reached the long-awaited junction of the Marsilau trail and Timpohon trail. It was a rocky place filled with large boulders and red clay. It was the most challenging climb at this stretch for me as those boulders coupled with rock steps made me lost of a of stamina, all made worse by the thinning air here. Each 20 steps taken, I would feel like wanting to sit down by the boulders and rest. At just a this time, my stomach was churning again! I had to speed up now so that I could reach the next toilet. At this stretch, there were some strange scenes too, particularly those giant “bonsai” like trees that lined up at the steep side of the mountain.

Finally after doing business at the spot where there was extremely strong chilly wind, we hurled ourselves as fast as we could go as the twilight condition by now was making the trails so much harder. The visibility had dropped to about 10m or so by now. The air was getting colder and I was feeling the headache too due to the altitude. It was nearly 6.30pm now. The trek conditions were still the same as 2 hours ago, those of large boulder steps. I tell ya, it was those most exhausting experience of my life so far. I knew I had to go on, but at the same time, the body was not listening. Only the mind was strong enough to push the tired body up.

It was dark by this time, Labang Rata was still no where to be seen. Exasperation plus dehydration plus self doubts began to creep in. So I know how much sacrifices and toil those great mountainers made when they were scaling great peaks around the world.

Eventually, it had to arrive. The long awaited Labang Rata. It was lovely, wasn’t it? The shot below was taken by another colleague who reached earlier than me. It was still quite bright then. By the time I reach, it was already pitch dark.

I guess at this moment, my face should be quite pale. My mind was at a blur and there was a little bit of ringing sound due to thin air. I remembered the path to the main door of Labang Rata seemed so ever-lastingly long, even though it was not so, due to extreme exhaustion. There was also a large digital thermometer just before the entrance of the place. It showed 9.4 degree celsius at that time. Wow, it was amazing!

The rest-house served buffet dinner (very simple one) but you can buy those zhi char food with your own money. One plate of fried rice costs RM18 I think. I remembered I stared at my dinner for some unknown minutes as the appetite was simple not there. The mood was quite sombre in fact. By now I was already contemplating whether to pull out from the submit trail tonight at 2.30am. At this physical conditions, I had doubts if I could go on. A short briefing was done after that by David Fotheringham about the summit expenditure later, and we had to make another 100m trek in complete darkness (but with head lamps) to Panar Labang, our temporary sleeping house. It was near freezing at this time because the body had already cooled down. The time was about 9pm.

Summit trail continues…