miri/mulu: day 3

sorry, people. with all that's happened recently (chewie's passing, moving house), my miri/mulu series got interrupted. ok, here's the next installment.

we woke up before 6am to prepare for our hike up mount mulu. actually we didn't plan to wake up this early, but the UUM students we shared the sleeping quarters with were already up and boy were they noisy!

ah, fresh mountain air!

anyway, after breakfast at 7am, we set out for our hike.

N and i just stood around waiting for the students to finish their warming-up session...

can u see N in this pic? :P

unlike mount kinabalu, it was a difficult hike right from the beginning... all of us were huffing and puffing not 30 min into our hike!

here i'm walking without the burden of a bag! coz N and i shared one bag (we didn't bring small bags for this part of the climb to put our water and whatnot - we were totally unprepared!) and N carried the bag most of the time! thanks, darling! *muaks*

pit stop at the mini pinnacles... 

the climb got tougher still...

as our guide told us that time is not an essence anymore (we had to reach the first metal ladder before 11am and we were making good time), N and i took it easy and stopped to replenish our energy... with this packet of the best-tasting milo in the world, courtesy of MASwings! :P

but as it turned out, we arrived at the first ladder about 15 min AFTER 11am (not only us two, but a few of the students too!), which after some discussion with the team, we decided to go on anyway. but along the way, we met with another group led by the park ranger, who nagged and nagged us about the danger of reaching the summit too late, descending too late, reaching camp 5 after dark, he's not going to take any responsibility should anything happen to us, bla bla bla... gosh, just shut it and let us on our way already! the more you nag, the later we'll descent and reach camp 5! *rolls eyes*

further to the top, we had to navigate these metal ladders...

...as well as these metal "bridges", which can be very slippery when wet. and it's ALWAYS wet up there, due to the mist!

finally, after hiking for about 5 hours, we were greeted with this view!

view of the pinnacles on the summit of mount api, seen from the summit of mount mulu... we made it just in time, before the pinnacles are being engulfed in mist!

we looked so fresh in this pic, but in actual fact, we were dead tired and covered in mud!

we stayed at the summit for about 1/2 hour, where we had our packed lunch, before starting on our descend. it rained the whole way down and other than mud, we were covered in blisters and bruises from slipping, sliding and knocking ourselves on the rocks and tree roots. we were way beyond tired and was just concentrating from jatuh tergolek (malay for fall tumbling) down the mountains, that we couldn't be bothered to take photos (also coz it was raining and we didn't wanna get our cameras wet).

and contrary to what many believed, the descend was tougher than the ascend... we took 6 hours to reach camp 5!

we were the last group to arrive at camp 5. the other groups have already started on their dinner!

the limestone looked as if it's on fire in the sunset, at around 6.30pm... maybe that's why it's called mount api (api being malay for fire)?

*phew* this climb was totally out of our expectation! we never thought it'll be THIS tough, hence we came so unprepared... in terms of the things to bring as well as the mental state of mind! also, we thought that since we've done mount kinabalu, this should be peanuts! how wrong we were... and since then, we've developed a new-found respect for this lesser-known mountain of borneo!

read also:
1. mulu/miri: day 2
2. mulu/miri: day 1
3. off to another adventure!