Tag Archive for: sabah

2016 04 16 09.32.59

Last week, I went for a short 1 week trip to Sabah, for some hardcore adventure sports like mountain-climbing and whitewater rafting.

It was something I wanted to check off my bucket list before I hit 30 haha. 😀

So, for those who are keen on pushing the limits, here is a rough log of my journey, peppered with some useful survival tips.

To see the full photo albums for this trip, please visit: https://synapsetrading.com/travel-log/

 

Finally the real accommodations ???

A photo posted by Spencer Li (@iamrecneps) on

 

PADAS WHITEWATER RAFTING EXPEDITION:

This is actually not that physically demanding, but the real boring part was having to travel about 4-5 hours (one way) just to reach the river. This meant we had to wake up at 5.00am to be able to catch the morning transport out.

Survival tip: Make sure you have strong teammates who can paddle hard. :p

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Expect to get wet, very wet. But make sure you do not gulp any of the toxic brown water.

Survival tip: When attacked by a crocodile, aim for its eyes with your paddle.

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MOUNT KINABALU EXTREME EXPEDITION:

For this adventure, it is strongly recommended to do some training (which I neglected), if you do not want to be struggling just to reach the top like I was.

For those who are not so fit, do not try to be HERO and carry your own stuff up (like I did). You can get the porters to help you for a small fee.

Survival tip: The less you bring, the less you have, but the less you have to lug up the damn mountain!

 

Timeline for the whole ordeal:

  • 6.20am – Bus pickup to travel to mountain base (2-3 hours)
  • 9.30am – Started the 6km climb to the top (3-8 hours depending on fitness, I took 6.5hrs)
  • 4.00pm – Reached the top just in time for the Ferrata briefing at Pandan Hut (our accommodation).
  • 6.00pm – Dinner & rest (optional: shower with cold water). Temperature here is about 10-15 degrees celsius.
  • 2.00am – Had a quick breakfast before heading off to scale the summit. Temperate is about 5 degress celsius.
  • 6.00am – Reached the summit just in time for the sunrise. Proceeded to rush off to the starting point for the Ferrata activity.
  • 7.30am – Experienced some minor earth tremors just as the activity was about to commence. Some people backed out. Delayed for about 30min.
  • 8.00am – Commenced the Ferrata activity, which included a 600m mountain-side scaling exercise, 300m jungle bashing, and 300m of climbing up a sloping mountain surface. After the activity ended, there is a roughly 1 hour staircase trek back to Pandan Hut.
  • 1.00pm – Had a quick lunch, and packed up my stuff to check out.
  • 2.00pm – Commenced the hike down the mountain to catch the last bus at 6pm. (3-6 hours)
  • 6.00pm – Made it just in time. Whew.

Roughly 36 hours of non-stop action! Yar, quite insane.

 

Away to Mordor! ? #MountKinabalu

A photo posted by Spencer Li (@iamrecneps) on

Make sure you get some good photos before you leave, because there won’t be any smiles for the next few hours.

2016-04-16 15.22.06 (6)Some cool pitcher plants. (See more in the full album link below!)

2016-04-16 06.18.50Just in time to check out the markets. What can beat trading on a mountain top with the sun rising in the foreground? 😀

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photo album


Once again, to see the full photo albums for this trip, please visit: https://synapsetrading.com/travel-log/

Enjoy! 😀