About 85km from Kota Kinabalu lies
the 4095-meter high Mount Kinabalu, the
highest mountain of South-East Asia. It is also probably the easiest
climbable over 4000m mountain in the world, requiring no
mountaineering skills: they actually organize a yearly contest, Mt.
Kinabalu Climbathon, of running up and down the mountain -- and
they do it in less than three hours... I took two days.
| The path up is well-trodden, but you do have to be careful about wild animals... |
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| The flora is interesting as well. |
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| Starting at 2am on the second morning we got to the top just before sunrise, to which these pictures do no justice at all. |
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| On the left is Carolyn, to whom I promised to send this picture but I lost her address! If you recognize her and know her present address, please let me know! |
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| On the left are the two highest peaks, Low's Peak (4095m) where we climbed and St. John's Peak, just a few meters lower. On the right are Donkey's Ears some 50m below. |
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| Going down we could actually see the route we'd come. I'm not sure if it made it easier or not... The view was beautiful in any case. |
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| On the way down we sidetracked to take a look at flesh-eating plants. On the left Swedish Åsa is testing her courage with one, on the right our guide, Sopinggi, pours a little of the plant's digestive juices. |
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 next: return trip
|  previous: Kota Kinabalu
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Copyright © Tapani Tarvainen (tapani@iki.fi) 1997, 1998.