1/12- Mount Kinabalu

Up and out bright and early, Mr. Hamid is waiting for us as promised at 7:30am.  We hop into his Toyota van with the cool polka dotted seat covers, and off we go – through the horrendous early morning traffic, around the little bay where Mr.Hamid said foreigners were forbidden to swim because it was polluted – it was chocolate colored.  Um, yeah, it was definitely chocolate colored and not appealing in the least.  We continued on past the gorgeous Sabah State Admin center and the 1 Borneo retail/hotel/apartment complex  then finally out of the city suburbs and up into countryside, rising higher and higher as we get closer to the mountain.

We first see the peak from the car after about an hour driving – it is beautifully clear rising above everything else on the island.

We are so lucky with the weather today – had it been like yesterday all this driving would have been for naught as we’d have seen nothing of the mountain.  Another hour in and we stop at a little tourist enclave for restrooms, souvenirs and coffee for Mr. Hamid who got up very early to come get us and hasn’t had his coffee yet!  Besides the shopping and toilets (Asian style, no toilet paper, of course – but I’m prepared), there is a fabulous viewing area for the mountain.  After unsuccessfully trying to fight our way to the front of the viewing platform clogged with Asians taking photos, we move off to the side on a path and find an even better view to take our shots.

Another 30 or 40 minutes of Mr. Hamid racing up the hills, overtaking slower vehicles and generally mimicking Dale Earnhart Jr., we make it to the National Park entrance.   We pay our 30 ringgit entrance fee (which will also get us into the Poring Hot Springs) and proceed to drive through the park, looking at the different lodging and viewpoints along the way. 

Unfortunately, by this point in time, the clouds are rolling in, so the views of the Mountain are rapidly diminishing.  Mr. Hamid walks us up to the starting point of the mountain hike.  He’s made the climb (when he was much younger) and it took him 2 days and one night on the mountain.  This in juxtaposition to the sign he shows us listing the times of the top marathon runners who make it up and back in under 3 hours.  Unbelievable.

We get to walk through the entrance to the trailhead, and watch as a bunch of hikers begin their trek below us.  Mr. Hamid snaps  couple of shots of us and we get our last glimpse of the mountains peak as the clouds start rolling in.

We’d like to stay here longer and maybe do some quick hikes, but we don’t really have time since we have to be back at the ship by 4pm.  We can’t even go through the botanical gardens if we want to go to the Poring Hot Springs, where the big attraction is the canopy walk.  So, off we go in the Barney Olfield car again, heading further into Borneo to visit the hot springs.