Megamoon

After 2 days and 12 hours of hiking through the hot and humid rainforest and some incredible animal encounters, it was time to leave Danum Valley and the Borneo rainforest. It was a 2.5 bumpy drive back to Lahad Dutu and then a 45 min flight back to the capital, Kota Kinabalu. Looking back-what an awesome experience. We saw all of the ‘big 5’ animals, which appeared to the thriving in the wild.

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu seemed a bit of an anticlimax after the high of the rainforest adventures, the city isn’t aesthetically great and is polluted. We took a stroll along the waterfront after the sun had set and were disappointed to see a large quantity of rubbish floating in the water – the seafood stalls didn’t appeal for dinner. Things picked up though-we found a great Italian restaurant (after eating countless Jungle curry dinners, a pizza went down a treat). We also found a tiny laundry place that did all of our very smelly washing for £6 (fresh clothes!) and a number of great hipster cafes that served French toast, tea & proper coffee. We treated ourselves to a massage too, to help our legs recover from the rainforest hikes and prepare us for our next trip – climbing Mount Kinabalu ? Yes- the Malaysians know how to provide a great (and cheap) massage!

Our mountain climb was quite an experience, pushing our legs to the limit. We met our guide at 8am, alongside some of the other 70 people doing the climb that day, including about 30 competitive Chinese men wearing very tight Lycra! Day 1 was an 8km trek, starting at an altitude of 1866m (higher that the peak of Ben Nevis) and finishing at 3272m – a 1406m climb. It took about 5 hours and involved climbing a lot of steps at altitude. Our guide had the flu so lagged behind us most of the way. After a day of climbing we stayed in a basic hut on the mountain and got very little sleep-a group of approx 30 people chose to stay up all night, keeping the rest of us awake as well. We were up a 2am (yes,2am!) to complete the climb to the summit- Lows peak (4096m), which took approx 3 hours and involved some steep rock climbing with the help of some ropes, all in the dark. We arrived at the summit just in time for sunrise and some spectacular views.

By 2pm we’d descended the mountain (with a rest, shower and hot brekkie in our mountain hut on the way down). Our legs were like jelly-the decent was the hardest part!

It was amazing to watch the locals transporting their goods to the lodge on the mountain. Every day they carry up to 45kg up the mountain and then run back down 9th the flimsiest of shoes on…even the ladies were lugging all sorts up there! It made us feel distinctly average (and grateful for our office jobs)

After the climb, we booked ourselves into (a different) Shangri La hotel near Kota Kinabalu that night and it felt so good to have a night in a luxury hotel. We also got the full honeymoon service with rose petals on the bed and a special chocolate cake (which was easily devoured) ?

The leg pain really kicked in the next day and we waddled around, struggling to stand up with our muscles seizing up every 5 mins. Liz attempted the morning yoga session provided by the hotel (somehow!). We had a relaxing morning at the hotel, before hopping on another plane to our next (and final) destination in Borneo-Kuching (Malay translation, cat ?)