Teacher Getting Hit By Culture: Conquoring New Heights

Hello blog readers,

The last few weeks have been quite the adventure. The title of this post is, Conquoring New Heights, and it couldn't be a more accurate reflection of all the wonder and joy I've felt the last 2+ weeks. The last 2 weeks have been highlighted by my successful climb of Mount Kinabalu during Chinese New Year and coming back with my team as champions of the South China International School Athletics Conference (SCISAC) volleyball tournament.

As I'd like to describe both events in some details, the topics will be split into 2 posts. The rest of this post will focus on the Mount Kinabalu climb and the next post focuses on the SCISAC tournament.

After flying into Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo in Malaysia, I spent the first day simply relaxing in KK with 2 other teachers that also came for the Mount Kinabalu climb. Unfortunately, I couldn't climb on the same dates as they were planning the climb, but it was great to meet up with them and enjoy a laid-back day together.

The morning of the climb started with a 6am wake up to be ready to take the 7am bus into Kinabalu National Park. Upon arriving at the bus depot, I spied out a few others climbers who also planned to tackle Kinabalu that day. The weather forecast for the day was not looking too good with an almost certain chance for precipitation. Even before the climb started, the rain was already pounding down. After registering for the climb, and filling out all the necessary paperwork, I met my mountain guide and was being shuttled off to the start of the trail to the summit of the mountain. My guide was a great fellow by the name of Julius. Julius told me during the climb that he had been climbing Mount Kinabalu with visitors for 30 years and had completed the climb over 3000 times!!! I can't even imagine myself taking the stairs up my apartment 3000 times let alone climbing the highest peak of Southeast Asia by that staggering amount of times.

The very start of the trail was a bizarre scene, as the path wound DOWN for a few hundred metres before the "climb" really started. In that time, we passed a small waterfall. Asides from that, the rest of the first 2 hours of the climb was mostly uneventful. The rain continued to fall from the sky, and a heavy mist, prevented any great views into the park valleys when there was a break in the treeline. In the first 2 hours, we covered 4km in distance, going from 1800m above sea level to just less than 2500m above sea level. It was here that we took an extended break for lunch.

It was only 2km between the lunch stop and Laban Rata resthouse, the checkpoint for the first day, where climbers retired to before attempting to summit the next morning. The remaining distance was misinforming, as the climb really started ascend rapidly from this point. It was fascinating seeing the landscape rapidly change around this height as the temperature plummets for every few hundred metres in ascension, meaning that the larger varieties of trees near the start of the climb were quickly replaced by smaller hardy species of plants. It ended up taking another 2 hours to reach the Laban Rata resthouse from the Layang-Layang rest hut that I stopped at for lunch. Towards the very end of the climb to Laban Rata, I started to experiencing an immense amount of fatigue from ascending nearly 1.5 vertical kilometres during the day.

The rest of the day was spent unwinding at Laban Rata. It was while resting, that I noticed the first very mild signs of changes brought along from being at a very high attitude. I didn't succumb to any altitude sickness, although I did final myself having breathe deeply or even in some cases, panting a little from doing physical activities that normally wouldn't even quicken my heartbeat. After a very early dinner, I went back outside to enjoy the view of sitting above the clouds. It was surreal to be standing on solid ground while looking down the mountainside to see that I was standing above the a layer of clouds. Many other climbers who had also already finished dinner also took this opportunity to come out of the resthouse and check out a gorgeous sunset, high above the clouds. While for most of the way up, the weather was wet and miserable, the sky finally cleared up just before evening.

I didn't stay up too late, nor did anyone else, as the climb was scheduled to resume 2:30am in order to reach the summit before sunrise. The resthouse was arranged in dormitory style rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds. It was not the best arrangement, and I barely slept 3.5hours. This might have been the only pronounced case of altitude sickness, which I was otherwise symptom-free. When I woke up at 1:45am, my brain was asking me if I was truly insane to get up at 1:45am to climb a mountain, in order to just see the sunrise. After having the earliest breakfast I've ever had, the climb began again. Day 2 would prove to be an even bigger challenge, as I would have to summit the mountain and make my way all the way down to the base of the trail in the same day.

Ascending in the dark required a headlamp to see where I was going. The first segment wasn't too bad, as it was mostly wooden steps, ascending at a modest rate. In fact things were quite slow paced, as the path was very narrow, leaving few opportunities to pass slower climber who had an earlier start. The next segment was definitely the most harrowing part of the climb, where one would literally have to haul one's own body weight up a rock-face with a piece of rope. The path was quite steep and even in the dark, I could see that losing grip of the rope could potentially be a fatal fall. Luckily, everybody seemed to navigate this segment without problems, although a few climbers with a fear of heights did resign their climb at this point.

Not longer after this tricky segment of terrain, we reached our final rest station/checkpoint before the summit. After taking a small break, we forged ahead for the summit. By now the winds were starting to pick up and you could really start to feel the biting wind, without the presence of any large objects to shield us from the wind. The terrain did ease up, as it was now simply an inclined rock face that could simply be walked over. However, it still wasn't an easy walk, as it seemed that after walking mere minutes, I would be winded from shortness of breath. It was a unnerving experience to be physical challenged doing what would otherwise be a very simple task. The increased slope for the last 200m was grueling but by that point, my attitude was simply to put my head down and push for the summit standing at 4095m.

After hearing what seemed to me my guide's 10th time saying, 1 more minute to the summit, I was finally there... On top of the world. Serene. Surreal. All I could think was: I climbed a mountain, I'm on top of a real mountain! The rest of the world looked distant, many hundreds of metres below where I was standing and there was nothing but a brilliant field full of stars above me. It was a little while yet before the sunrise, but I could distinctly see the distant lights of Kota Kinabalu near the horizon and a tiny sliver of the South China Sea just beyond that. The feeling of that moment cannot adequately be described by words. The sunrise itself was a little obscured by distance clouds but seeing the multitude of vivid colours was beyond amazing.

The trek back down was an exercise in determination and pain tolerance. Pounding down a mountain on tired legs, an empty stomach, and a lack of sleep did not wring up positivity. I was a zombie when I walked into Laban Rata for a mere hour to pack up the rest of my belongings that I didn't bring to the summit and cram as much down for breakfast #2 as possible before embarking on the next 6km of the descent. There was not much emotion for the rest of the climb, I just wanted to crawl into a bed or stuff my face with food. The world of international teaching is apparently very small because I ran into some education friends from Queen's on my way down as well as my teaching colleagues from TIS who were on day 1 of their climb. Shortly afternoon, we reached the start of the trail. The car ride back to the park headquarters was blissful as I went to pick up my certificate, grab lunch, and head back into Kota Kinabalu.

One incredible aspect of the trip that I didn't appreciate until after the climb is meeting new people undertaking the same monumental task. While it was only really for small parts of 2 days, I really enjoyed getting to know people coming from all around the world coming to take on Kota Kinabalu. Seeing friends I didn't expect to see during the climb and after the climb was also a very satisfying feeling.

While, I had to endure my share of physical suffering after the climb, it was something that was completely worthwhile. While I've never seen myself as a really fit or athletic person, even I have to admit that people understand the significance of climbing a mountain and that not every can accomplish such a task. While I don't think that I'll really get seriously into mountain climbing, it did feel very rewarding to tackle a physical challenge that I wasn't even sure I could handle at the onset. The idea of seeing the world from a unique perspective and especially the idea of pushing past personal boundaries and limitations was what made sweat, aches, hunger, and lack of sleep utterly worth it. I like believing (true or not), that the world is full of limitations that can be overcome with absolute commitment, an unwavering will, and unfailing hard work. That anyone can reach previously unimaginable echelons by staying true to these attributes. As if merely to continue to solidify my belief in this ideal, a second trip out from Macau the week following my return from climbing Mount Kinabalu proved this ideal in a whole different manner...