Conquering Mount Kinabalu

25-28 August 2017

2 newbies, 1 anemic and 1 hopeless case (that’s me).

Sometimes, you just need willpower to conquer mountains.

The carnivorous pitcher plant

Similar to when I went to the Himalayas, as soon as we booked our trip to Kota Kinabalu, I prepared for the trip by doing two local hikes (Mt. Ulap and Mt. Batulao) and visiting the doctor (I was slightly sick for the last 2 months). Two weeks before our flight, I had my annual physical exam and after some hiccups with my results, it was deemed that I was not unfit to hike. J

Even though we arrived early in the afternoon at Kota Kinabalu, we didn't bother going around the city. We went straight to our lodging, prepared our gear and just went out to eat and buy what we needed. We were asleep early that night and by 6AM, we were ready to go!

We started at Timpohon Gate (1866 MASL) sometime past 9 in the morning and arrived at Laban Rata (3270 MASL) around 5PM. My friends were walking at my pace, so we were all slow (although they eventually went ahead at the latter part of the trek). A lot of groups arrived earlier and our group was among the slowest.

There were (6) huts along the route to Laban Rata. One hut for every kilometer (out of 6 kilometers) although the distance from one hut to the other varies. There were toilets and benches on each hut and a sign on how far is the next one. The route was mostly stairs and large steps. Then when it rained, it became mud.

The route to Laban Rata is mostly steps

After around the 3rd hut, one of our mates hired a porter and I was walking a good distance behind from all of them. It started raining when we around the 4.5km mark. I had a poncho that kept me dry, except for my shoes which got soaked (even though they were supposed to be waterproof).

It took us almost 8 hours to reach Laban Rata. Without taking off my soaked shoes, I had my dinner. I had two servings of dinner and a porrridge before bringing my bag up to our room. I was going to go back for another serving but I ended up staying in bed.

We switched off our lights by around 7 in the evening but there seemed to be electricity throughout the night. My bed was next to the window and I could hear the rain most of the night. The room felt stuffed and a little suffocating and it was a relief when someone finally left the door ajar during the night. I was damn tired and although my sleep was more or less sufficient, I kept on waking up to pee during the night.

We were awake by 1:30 and had a small meal before we resumed our ascent at 2:30AM. The beginning of the route to the summit was mostly stairs and steps. Near the summit, we were walking on big rocks (the peak is basically a massive rock) Some parts of the route were so steep that you need to use ropes to ascend. We were told that we had to reach the checkpoint by 5AM and the summit by 7AM. I knew that I was slower than the average so I was determined to keep on walking no matter how slow my pace was. I barely stopped to rest throughout the ascent. We made it to the checkpoint a quarter before 5AM. I later learned that they weren't that strict with the time limits. As long as you're willing to go up, you will make it to the summit.

Ropes on the route

Steep ascent

The sun was rising when we reached the 8.5km mark. For a moment, I thought we were already at the summit. We weren’t. But the summit was in sight. We just needed to walk and climb over a few more boulders.

It was cold and windy. When we made it to the summit, my body was warm but my hands were freezing. I brought a fleece jacket on my way to the summit but didn't use it. My windproof/waterproof jacket over my sports shirt was sufficient to keep my body warm. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring proper gloves. I brought safety gloves which protected my hands while holding the ropes. But since the ropes were wet and there was cold wind, my hands were freezing. Since I had to keep my hands in my pocket, I ended up not taking photos (which was unfortunate for my friend who took my photos).

The sky is your backdrop

After waiting in queue to have our photos taken on the summit, we started our descent and made it back to Laban Rata 10AM. After 3 servings of breakfast, we checked out around 11:30 and resumed our descent. Descending was torturous. Imagine climbing down a staircase from 4095 meters to around 1200 meters. Our stops were less than 5 minutes. My knees and thighs were in pain. We all hired a trekking pole for 10myr (120php) each at the start of the trek. I didn't use it on the way up but I leaned on it all the way down.

After what seemed like endless flight of stairs, we finally made it back to Timpohon Gate around 4PM. My legs were aching and I was walking funny (It ached for an entire week). This is probably gonna be my last hike for the next couple of years.

Why I trek

Skydiving in Queenstown

3 September 2016

When people ask me if I’m acrophobic, I’m not quite sure how to answer. I always hold the rails tightly when using the escalator, my heart races when I stand near the glass windows in high rise building and looking down from at least one floor high just make my stomach turn. But skydiving is on my bucket list and if I was able to survive bungee jumping in Nepal (which I think is scarier), it never occurred to me that my bit of acrophobia would inhibit me from skydiving.

There are so many places you can dive in New Zealand—from North to South. Angela and I searched through several diving operators and shortlisted 3 and decided to dive in Queenstown with NZone. There were other cheaper options but we chose NZone primarily because of the view it offers. We were going to dive with snowcapped mountains and a blue lake beneath us. If you’re gonna dive only once, might as well, dive with the best view. Plus, skydiving in Queenstown fit well with our schedule.

I was decided on jumping at 12,000 feet but on the day we booked, Angela convinced me to dive at 15,000 feet. We also chose to document our dive by hiring a cameraman. Yep, it wasn’t cheap. Thank god, I’m not an unemployed student anymore.

On the day of the skydive, I was worried because I had a runny rose. Why do I always have a runny nose? (I later learned that I had nasal allergies). The good thing was that my nose wasn’t as bad as when I did my bungee jumping in Nepal. I was also worried that I might feel really cold when I’m there (I was already cold at ground level and it was definitely colder at higher altitude).

My tandem master and cameraman introduced themselves to me and kept me entertained as we waited for our turn to ride the plane. While waiting, we watched parachutes coming down from the sky and the tandem masters packing chutes for another dive. They sometimes dive 8 times a day, one after another. My tandem master and cameraman have both dove thousands of times already. This gave me confidence that the probability of our chute and emergency chute failing was pretty low.

Finally, it was our turn to fly. We boarded a small plane which didn’t have seats but there were windows that gave us an amazing view. My tandem master told me the names of the places beneath is although all I could remember was which was Queenstown and the Remarkables.

Then, one of the tandem masters signaled that it was already 15,000 feet. Next thing I know the door was opened and the girl beside the door and her tandem jumped. Within seconds, I was already by the door tightly strapped to my tandem master and my cameraman was already half outside taking a video of me. Then we jumped.

For a second, it felt as though my heart skipped a beat. It didn’t feel like falling (the ground was too far beneath us). The runny nose and the cold was forgotten. I was enjoying the wind and the view. It wasn’t scary at all. We spent a good 60 seconds freefalling. 15,000 feet was a good decision—not too short, not too long.

Unfortunately, on my way down, I got motion sickness. The parachute had to make turns so we could go down faster but since I was getting sick (just to be clear, I didn’t vomit) the tandem master maneuvered it with less turns on our way down. I was a bit dizzy once we reached the ground and was not feeling good till afternoon. Angela on the other hand, was very cheerful and hyper. 

Franz Josef to Queenstown

31 August 2016

We didn’t book our transportation from Franz Josef to Queenstown in advance since we wanted to be flexible in case the weather would require us to reschedule our glacier heli-hiking. Fortunately, although there was a cloud hanging over the glacier on the day of our hike, it went on as scheduled with good weather. When we knew that our hike was pushing through (30 minutes before our meet-up time), we immediately booked through Intercity for early the next day. There was only one bus leaving Franz Josef for Queenstown, which leaves at 8 AM and stops through Fox and Wanaka.

Franz Josef

It was a long but scenic ride. For an hour or two, part of the route didn’t have any network connection (mobile or wifi), which our driver warned us about. He knew exactly where the network is out of reach and at which point we could connect again. Like our driver from Greymouth to Franz Josef, he also gave us commentaries along the way. We also gave us 5-minute stops in Bruce Bay and Lake Hawea so we could take photographs of the beautiful scenery.

Bruce Bay

We changed bus drivers at Haast; our bus driver went back via another bus going to the direction of Franz Josef, while their bus driver when back to Queenstown by taking our bus. During that change,we also had a few minutes stop where we could hike for a few meters from the main road to see the Thunder Creek falls.

Thunder Creek Falls

The bus route also passed through the edge of the huge Lake Wanaka until we had a brief stop in Wanaka, an adorable small town. The original plan was for us to stay a day or two in Wanaka for skiing and/or snowboarding before proceeding to Queenstown but our priority was to skydive and take the Milford Sound cruise first (we figured we can ski and snowboard in our next trips). Our itinerary was also open to going back to Wanaka after Queenstown.

Lake Wanaka

After 8 hours on the bus, we finally arrived in Athol Street, Queenstown and we walked to The Black Sheep Backpackers hostel in Frankton Road. Queenstown was very touristy yet it was lovely and picturesque. You could see the snow-capped Remarkables at the city’s background and there was Lake Wakatipu at the edge of the city. After checking in, we decided to book our Milford Sound cruise and skydiving. There were several travel agencies around Queenstown which seemed to provide activities at almost the same rates. Since the wifi wasn’t consistent at the hostel, we booked with Peterpans Travel for Milford Sound on September 1 and skydiving on September 3. That left our pockets burning but our neurons excited.

Queue in Fergburger

We ended our day by joining the queue for some Fergburger. There were heaters outside the shop so it wasn’t so bad queueing outside in the cold weather. I’m not really a meat person (or a foodie) so I can’t don’t really know how to describe food except but it was good. Good night Queenstown!

Glacier hiking in Franz Josef Glacier

30 August 2016

Glacier hiking in Fox of Franz Josef was one of the activities on my list while I was planning for my New Zealand trip. However, when I learned that you couldn’t just walk your way to the glaciers anymore and you really need to ride a helicopter, that plan went out of the window, thinking that it would just blow up my budget.

Glacier hiking

For some reason, I still found myself researching about glacier hiking and the prices in both Fox and Franz Josef. And I stumbled into Franz Josef Glacier Guides which offered a helicopter ride to the glaciers, 3 hours of guided hiking and entry to their hot pools for NZD 379. Expensive, but… it was affordable. I wasn’t quite sure if I was willing to spend this much money for 3 hours of hiking. Interestingly, when I told my mum about my dilemma, her response was, Go for it! YOYO! (Yup, she really said YOYO—You’re only young once). Weeellll, I’m an obedient daughter… I followed my mother’s advice. And that’s how we ended up in Franz Josef.

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier Guides provided us with waterproof pants, jacket, shoes (with detachable crampons), socks and bag for the hike. They also gave away a beanie for each participant. We only needed to come in comfortable clothing and our happy selves.

Hiking through the glacial crevasses

The tour started with a safety briefing and hiking guidelines. Then we made a short walk through the forest to the helipad where we took a short helicopter flight to the glacier. We had a strong pretty lady as our guide who chipped off the ice and paved our way through the glaciers. There were several other tour groups but we were far apart. The hike was slow enough to take quick photos along the way. Some of the ice were dirty but a lot of them were crystal blue and white. It was pretty amazing to see the glaciers up close.

Going inside the glaciers

It wasn’t tiring at all and since it was quite sunny, I was pretty warm under the jacket they gave and the down that I was wearing. The hike wasn’t tiring at all and going through the tiny spaces between the glaciers was really cool. Before we knew it, three hours had gone by and we were flying back to the town.

Ice ice ice

After the hike, we made another trip to the Terrace Walk. We didn’t finish the entire trail the night before so we decided to walk a little bit earlier up to end of the trail, wait till it gets dark before walking back so we can check the entire trail for glow worms. We found the glow worms under the same tree we found them yesterday. Although the glow worms were still disappointing, the walk in the forest was nice and easy.

Terrace Walk

We ended the day by taking a dip into the hot pools. It felt so good that my runny nose got cured right away (I’m really meant for the tropics). I was glad I didn’t skip glacier hiking. Although a small town, Franz Josef has a charm of its own--a view of snow-capped mountains, hot pools and a memorable glacier hiking.

Christchurch to Franz Josef

 29 August 2016

It was only two nights ago in Lake Tekapo when we finally decided to go to Franz Josef instead of Wanaka. We decided to go back to Christchurch then take the route through Arthur’s Pass and Greymouth to Franz Josef. The issuanceof driver’s license in the Philippines was suspended until October, so when I renewed my driver’s license a few months ago, I only received a receipt which served as my temporary license. Obviously, that wouldn’t pass for driving in New Zealand (although I didn’t bother to ask), so we had to make use of public transportation. We found Atomic Shuttle, which provided transport from Christchurch to Franz Josef.

Another option (more expensive) is to take the Kiwi Rail

Early in the morning, our cousin dropped as at the pick-up point in Lichfield Street. The shuttle was early. It was quite spacious and comfortable although I prefer looking though the bus’s glass window. We passed by Castle Hill and made a stop at Arthur’s Pass, which was supposed to offer spectacular views. Unfortunately, it was cloudy when we passed by the mountains in Arthur’s Pass so although the scenery was good, it wasn’t quite spectacular.

The shuttle dropped as off at Greymouth where we had lunch and waited for about an hour until we resumed our journey via an Intercity Bus. The ride was quite nice because the driver provided commentaries along the way. We traveling along the west coast, with a great view of the Tasman Sea. We made another stop at Hokitika where we had another dose of the sea. The beach wasn’t as good as Kaikoura a quick break beside the beach is always good.

After more than 8 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Franz Josef. The town was quite small that we got dropped off right across our hostel (and the other passengers were dropped off in their respective lodgings as well). It was still early when we arrived so we visited Franz Josef Glacier Guides and booked our heli-hiking.

That night, we decided to do a short hike at the Terrace Walk, where glow worms were supposed to be found. We were fairly warned that they were disappointing and true enough they were so disappointing that when we saw the glowing dots in one area of the forest, we just burst with laughter.

A 30-minute walk through the dark

And so, my day ended here. Tomorrow, I can’t wait to do one of the adventure activities we’ve been looking forward—to hike on a glacier.