Mt KK Trip: Pampering Ourselves at Gaya
Centre Hotel and Our Way Back Home
After our recent success on Mt Kinabalu, the group will have
a short stay at Gaya Centre Hotel to pamper themselves. It is located in the
heart of Kota Kinabalu. This hotel is pre-booked by our travel agency. If you
travel double check your bookings if this hotel stay is included. Most of
travel agencies arranging trips like this arranged everything including hotel
stay after the climb.
Day 3 -- Arrival to the Gaya Centre Hotel (28 Oct)
Past 7:00 pm, we have reached the hotel. Thanks to our driver Tom
for a smooth drive from Kinabalu HQ to the hotel. All members of the team are
tired but still the general mood is in ecstasy. Summitting a 4, 095.2m above sea
level mountain is a feat that not all people can do. A self-fulfilling
experience.
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| Our good friend and tourist guide Tom. |
As we disembark from our service van, our bodies screaming.
Screaming because of body pain. Each one of us complained of having muscles
pains. This is natural for such activity so we proceeded to unload our bags and
all of our gears. Luckily, bell boys had helped us to unload our things and
carry some of our things in our respective rooms.
We occupied 4 rooms in total. Previous partnering before our climb
was the norm. My roommate is Allan. After all of our packs had been set into
place inside the room we check each of everyone of us. This is to make sure
that all of us are okay. After doing so, we set our things and we rested a bit
before having our dinner. As dinner is not pre-arranged, most of the team
members had there dinner outside the hotel. Luckily, food stalls and resto are
widely available around the hotel. My sister told me to go with them but I
refused and ask for take out foods instead. When they are out to find dinner, I
lay on my back and stretch my whole body especially my legs to relax myself.
After which, I opened my pack and unload all my wet gears and clothing. Wet
because of sweat. Gears from head to toe are really wet that I can squeeze out
my sweat in it. I hanged these gears inside the toilet and have a hot bath. After
pampering myself with a hot bath I jumped into my bed and relaxed myself. The
bed was soft. So soft that I instantly fall asleep.
Approximately after an hour, the room-phone rang and to my
surprised my sister and my roommate are waiting for me to open the door. My
sister brought me food. Wow, my favorite fish fillet and fries both came in 2
servings. This is too much I said but she just smiled and told me to eat the
foods to regain my strength. Thank you sissy.
After our dinner, my roommate and I checked our summitters and Via
Ferrata certificates and took photo of those. We stare at these certificates
for a long time. Probably more than 15 minutes thinking that we still cannot
believe what had happened this day. Too shallow and ordinary for some especially to those
who are really experienced mountaineers that have reached higher mountains than
us. However, for us it was indeed a pretty good experience to treasure.
Summitting Mt Kinabalu at 4, 095.2 meters above sea level and completing its
Lows Peak Circuit Via Ferrata at 3, 776 meters above sea level in 2 days time
during monsoon season with fluctuating weather and temperature dropped 4 deg C
excluding windhill are no easy tasks to complete. We are indeed lucky to
complete the feat and we thank God for this awesome experience.
Day 4 – Way Back Home (29 Oct)
Exactly 8:00 am, most of the team members were already awake and
ready for breakfast. Some were still sleeping and enjoying the soft touch of our
beds and comforters. Ryan, Moth and I were the first persons to get up from our
beds and immediately walked through the hall way going to the food hall. Today,
we will eat as much as we can for we had avail a buffet breakfast.
I was so delighted upon seeing the various foods on the table. I
noticed various cuisines. OMG, I wanted to eat all if I can. I noticed
Malaysian traditional cuisines. Mediterranean, American, and other cuisines are
also prepared. Fruits and veggies are free flowing too so choose and pick what
you wanted to eat.
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| Having our breakfast. L-R: Ryan, Moth, Me. |
Few minutes have past, other team members arrived and pick up
plates and choose their food of choice. Some chose beef-based cuisines and some
picked seafoods. I chose of course my favorite seafood based cuisines. Last
night I had a pretty good fish fillet and now another bite of fish. Well,
nothing wrong with that except maybe you end up smells fishy too. Joke. Pun
intended guys.
Lastly, I picked some fruits especially watermelon and honeydew. I
also took some deserts like chocolates and ice cream. Well, these will surely
replenish whatever amounts of calories, fats and cholesterol I have burned in
climbing Mt Kinabalu. I must replenish.
Ryan, Moth and I ate on same table and we discussed things about
our recent success. Still fresh from our climb, we teased each other about the
German beautiful lady that we have met along the trail. That lady is climbing
the mountain with no ther companion except her mountain guide. The lady also
told me that she is working in Kuala Lumpur. I never had a chance to get her
mobile number or even chat with her for so long since our pacing is different
from her but I remember we noticed her when we were eating at Laban Rata
Restaurant. This restaurant is situated just below Pendant Hut. Also all
climbers who reached Laban Rata eat here in buffet style. There you will have
the chance to eat what you wanted to eat and meet other climbing group. When
you climb Mt Kinabalu, always think of the delicious food that awaits you
there. This is your chance for carbo-loading.
Hmmm enough talk for the Laban Rata experience and with that
pretty Germany lady.
While we are eating our
breakfast, we are enjoying the cool wind that touches our face. Our dining
place is on the veranda. We enjoyed the beautiful view of the Kota Kinabalu. We
can see passersby on the street just below the hotel. We have noticed speed
boats and yachts passing by the sea. We enjoyed the beautiful horizon. We
really proclaimed God’s beautiful creation. Thank you God for letting us enjoy
and experience what you have created.
When the rest of the group finished their breakfast we returned to
our respective rooms to prepare our things for check out. We are scheduled to
check out at 12:00 noon. Allan and I started to pack our things while other
team members explored the place. Since we have barely 3 hours left for check
out, other members went to the nearby park and take photos. Of course we do not
want to go home without photos for photos are very precious to us. Photos will
speak million words about our experiences. Others also bought some souvenirs
like mug, key chains and shirts. Mine was a shirt with Mt Kinabalu summit print
on it.
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| Checking in AK5301 bound for Johor Bahru |
After these extra-curricular activities, we are all set for check
out. Tom, our Malaysian driver arrived earlier than expected. He helped us load
our packs to the van and he drove us to Kota Kinabalu Airport. Our flight
AK5301 to Johor Bahru will be at 1:25 pm and ETA to JB is at 3:40 pm. After few
minutes we have reach KK Airport and we say goodbye to our driver and friend
Tom who has been a very good driver, a tourist guide and a friend to us. See
you next time Tom.
At 12:25 pm we boarded the Air Asia plane bound for Johor Bahru.
We sleep the whole duration of the flight since we are all tired. The rest of
the flight was smooth. No air pockets.
Five minutes before the ETA, we touched down Senai International
Airport in Johor Bahru Malaysia. After we checked out our packs all team
members gathered near the information counter to have final words with each
other. This was our last chance to chitchat before we bade goodbye to each
other. We split the group for easier transport through express taxi that will
take us straight to our homes in Singapore. We are being grouped depending on
our locations. Moth, Allan, Honey, Mike and I were all in the same cab.
Past 5:00 pm, we have reached our place at Marine Parade. Honey,
Mike and I put down all of our packs inside our flat. We sit down a bit and
decided to go to the nearest hawker center for our dinner. We had a heavy
dinner consisting of fish soup, char kway teow, hokkien prawn mee and bak kut
teh, apple juice and coke. These foods will do the rest and cure our deep down
hunger and thirst.
We were very silent while eating our dinner. We were all tired. We
just eat and eat. After eating we slowly walked home and rest. We cannot forget
this once in a lifetime experience that we had. We enter into our room and we
sleep early but what’s running inside our heads is the feat that we completed.
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