musings

I met up with Bajay and the sweepers group last night at Dampa in Paranaque. It was Bajay's 38th birthday. Siyempre, the food was great. Crabs, prawns, fish and beer. Lots of beer. I liked Lori's gift to Bajay. A great picture at Anawangin entitled "The Nymphet and the Buddha" lol.

I got home kinda tipsy. I barely heard Thad asking for my opinion in his nasty letter to Smart. I'm still coughing and this cold is a bummer.

Mosscake has a lover. That's what his blog says. Sana worth him. Sana it works out.

The trouble with young kids (18-20's) today is that they are so maarte. They give everyone labels like: chubs, effems, straight-acting, bisexual, etc and its silly and immature. And they act as if they know it all and they are the best thing that ever happened in the scene. Ha! I got news for them. They're mostly shallow, callous people. Except for a few. Like A.

Orly texted me the other day. He'll be back from the UK on August 7 so I guess we'll have to move his despidida dinner to August 12. I wanted it on August 11 but Thad teaches in OB on Thursdays and he won't be able to cook. Bummer. I wanted to climb pa naman that weekend. The bus leaves at midnight and I can't tell everyone to go home before midnight!

Sayang, I like that mountain pa naman.

Whats a gurl to do?

I still have this cold and I can't seem to shake it. Maybe I should rest a bit.

Got a call from Leo yesterday. Told me that I was going to be in his wedding entourage as a cord or veil sponsor. Good. At least I'm not one of those major sponsors and that suits my age! He's getting married in Baguio on January 7, 2006. That week after New Year is going to be hectic. Pam, a 2nd cousin of mine is also scheduled to get married in Boracay during that week. I just hope it wont be in conflict with Leo's wedding.

Sometimes I've ever wondered how I existed before without a mobile phone. I went through the 1st 3 decades of life without any mobile phones and I survived. I am about to find out today. I left my phone in my house. The thing is, everyone has a phone now and we're kinda somehow so communication dependent on this gadget. Unlike during the ancient times when no one had this contraption.

I slept late. I purposely did it because I need the sleep. I've been getting up so early lately that I'm beginning to feel ragged. Maybe that's why my stupid cold wont go away.

At least on Saturday, I get to play gotcha. I'm bringing Thad along so we can bond some more.

I had and still have a cold. I hate colds. It makes me miserable. But a cold is the least of what happened to me.

On Friday, I found myself with fat Elmer (my colleague from Finex) in Bacolod. We left on a very early 6am flight. Early flights are killers. It makes your day seem a lot longer and tiring. And I was starting to feel the symptoms of a cold.

It's a good thing we were picked up at the airport. We checked into the L'fisher Hotel, Bacolod's best hotel. I've stayed there before and the hotel is undergoing a facelift. The rooms are better looking now, a bit more stylish. I tried the breakfast and the food's ok. After breakfast, I sauntered over next door to my cousin's office to touch base with him. Ramon is a Montelibano. One of the families that "own" Negros. His mother happens to be Dad's younger sister. I like him. He's so natural. He like food and drink and I like those things too. But he likes women and I like his cute, buffed farmhands and his cute, effete cousins. Lol. We made plans to see each other after Elmer and I are done with business.

The local Finex president, Romy picked us up to start our presentation. We were suppose to start at 10am but in typical Ilonggo fashion, everyone came late. The presentation went smoothly, with Elmer backing me up. Elmer was along for the ride and he also wanted to sample the local 18 year old "delicacies" (girls). I wanted to sample the local 18-year old "delicacies" (boys). Lol.

After the presentation, we hooked up with Ramon at an Italian resto called Regente. It is owned by a real to goodness Italian with a bald forehead and longish hair in the back. By 3pm, we already finished 2 pizza washed down with 2 bottles of wine. We moved over to his house and we finished a 1 liter bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. By 6, I was swaying. But hungry. Ramon was drunk. We drove over to that famous chicken inasal resto and we had a meal for P500. Really cheap.

By 8 I fell asleep with my clothes on at the hotel.

The next day, I flew back to Manila. That's when all hell broke loose. Apparently, Thad accessed my blog and A's blog. So he confronted me with all that I've written. Oh was he mad. And that's an understatement. He was furious! He wanted to kill me or skin me alive. I don't blame him though. I deserve it.

Anyway, that night, after a long afternoon and an even longer evening, we talked. We evenutally made up. He knows that I love him and really would not leave him for anyone.

Which leads me to a question: when 2 poeple love each other, and after a nasty fight, is the sex is always good. Why is the sex always good after a nasty fight?

Thad and I spent Sunday like newly weds. We watched a lousy movie, giggled like kids at funny looking straight people, bought browsed and bought books at Power Books and ate dinner at Segafredo.

However, I had to give a lecture at DLSU-Dasma. Yep, I spoke on "Investment Banking". I was excited to speak there. I thought these students would at least be on par with the DLSU-Taft students. Not that DLSU students are intelligent. Remember, they're not Ateneans. They're not even in our league. Lol. Those students disappointed me. Here I was lecturing them on "Investment Banking" and the careers that they can have and I get blank stares. Even my jokes fell flat. It's either I'm speaking too fast, don't understand English or just simply could not get what I'm driving at. At least when I lectured at FEU, I got puzzled looks. Here I got blank stares. Scary.

Then the open forum confirmed it. Not one question was asked! Questions are a good way to gauge an audience's intelligence. But not one single question was asked! Now that is truly scary. Since no one really wanted to ask a question, they put on a dance number. Yes, dearies, a dance number.

With that frustrating note, I left that God forsaken school and contented myself in listening to GMS's SONA on the way to my boxing appointment.

Next day, Davao was next in this series of roadshows. I like Davao. Its got a nice spanking new airport and it is clean. The people there are nice and nice looking in a native sort of way. And the seafood is fantastic. I ate tons of crabs, prawns and fish. Too bad I had to leave that afternoon.

My cold is still with me. And I'm hoping it will go away soon.

Jing texted me that my blog of the Mt. Tapulao climb was boring. It is boring. I wasn't inspired. I liked the company but the mountain was lousy. It had no great views (fogged in), no wind, the trail was rocky and hot, the terrain, so-so. I won't climb that mountain again and that goes for Mt. Pinatubo too.

I don't feel so good today. I drank too much last night and I'm coming down with a nasty cold. I'm feeling a bit woozy. I have to leave for Bacolod tommorrow for Finex business and I'm looking forward to seeing my cousin, Ramon and his wife Ria.

A texted me. That was nice of him.

Got back from Mt. Tapulao in Zambales. It was a nice getaway for a weekend climb but I'll never climb that mountain again. The trail consisted of stones, rocks and more stones and rocks. I have a blister in my dainty right toe. And it hurts like hell.

I enjoyed the company of the climb group. There's the usual cast of characters like Mama Mench (I have a new name for her), Melody, Eloy, Pat, Mau, Bien, Armin and our fearless group leader, Lorie. Fortunately for us, the trainees assigned to us were a strong bunch. There's Jason (the Queen of this batch), Maricar (who likes to whine), Rendo (a twink, kinda ok for a 1 night stand. Lol) and Happy (who strangely looks like Luli Arroyo. Lol). Most of them are all easy to get along with.

Fortunately, we had good food and a good pine convered campsite. That more than made up for that lousy, hot, rocky trail. Jason cooked a mean pasta meal. I liked the sauce better than the pasta. I brought a whole rhum butter cake. Simon and Shrub lined up for it. I didn't know what Mench and the others had but I left them half the cake. Knowing those hogs, they ate it all! Lol.

My kinda lazy to do a blow by blow account of the climb because I hated the trail. It won't be fair to the nice and funny things that happened during the climb. So I'd rather give the highlights in bullet points.

• I saw this trainee named Alexis, who everyone thinks looks like me, winded, at the 1st water source. How can he look like me when he's short (5'7 feet) and fat. Ok ok I'll admit he's fair skinned and bald. But he's fat and I'm not. I'm a svelte hunk. Lol. But no way he looks like me! I'm tall, cute, bald and reasonably fit with a slight (yes slight) belly. Lol.
• Aling Otik (Ane) needs to examine her pacing. I saw her a couple of times asleep by the trail while her trainee, Francis and he was at a loss on what to do.
• I gave Francis some tips on how to trek up. I also told him that at 42 years old, there are members like Kuya Lito and Pedro who are much older and faster. Apparently it worked!
• Jenny's head finally, yes finally, hit the string holding the sweepers' tarp up. Jig Jig saw this and teased her. I fell off my chair laughing. Picture a midget getting her head caught in a line.
• I needed a tarp for the kitchen area so we can sit on it. Doc gave his tarp to someone else. So I had to ask Shrub (aka Johnny) to lend me his tarp. He (the vermin) asked me to to say three times that De La Salle is better than Ateneo, LOUDLY.
• I ended up drinking in 2 places: with the group of Pam and Greg and the sweepers area with Pres. I saw Bing fall on his back, drunk and dead to the world.
• This bunch of trainees gave the worst presentations during the socials. The look alike contest was even better.
• Jason should have given his "Supermodel" rendition in the presentation. That would have been funny.
• On the way home, the bus should have passed a decent restaurant where we could have had some food.

I'd like to join the 2nd climb but it might fall on sister's birthday. Hmmm... I wonder if the BMC will move the schedule. I wonder if they'll move the schedule for the acquaintance party since I'll be in Bacolod land. I doubt it though. I ain't President anymore and I've been reminded about that so many times. Lol.

I'm on edge right now. I have this road show presentation to the Metro Manila and Luzon colleges and universities on the Intercollegiate Finance Competition. We've had this for 7 years now. This is the 1st year that I'm Chairman of the committee handling this competition and its putting me on edge.

I had a spat with Thad and that's also putting me on edge. I have the beginnings of a sore throat and I feel a cold coming. I can't wait to climb. I can't wait to get out of the city.

This came from a column at the Philippine Star:

This is what i posted on Saturday regarding the Finex Statement:

"And what irritated me yesterday is that Finex actually asked for the President's resignation. It didn't sit well with me. I can't stand the opposition and Susan Roces and Noli is an unknown. Those leftist are idiots harping on failed ideologies. Everyone is acting as if they are so moral and the President is so immoral. Hell, most of these guys committed sins worse than her. The only difference is that she got caught.:"

Here is that stupid Finex Statement that rode on the Makati Business Club Statement:

July 12,2005

To ALL FINEX MEMBERS:

Upon instruction of FINEX President Melito S. Salazar, Jr., we are providing you the following (copies)
1. Letter of Pres. Salazar to all Members
2. Joint Statement with Makati Business Club
3. Statement of Civil Society
4. Leadership and Credibility
5. Statemnt of a Time for Change

Heck, I could not paste the rest of the documents.

Personally, this stupid stance of Finex makes Finex look like a copy cat to the MBC. Secondly, this stupid stance of Finex was done without consultation with the members (like me). Thirdly, I almost lost my Visa sponsorship! Visa said that they don't want to get caught in any political bickering!

Hay all this tension makes me horny. I raped Thad. The tension is still high and it makes me want to rape some more. Hmmmm... wonder if A is available??? I miss his blowjobs.

Just came back from a Cebu and Dumaguete trip. It was an exhausting and satisfying trip. What was I doing there?

You see, I belong to this organization called by its short name, FINEX. The long long name is Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. No one calls it by that stupid long name. But the shorter name has always been mis-pronounced by all jologs I've come across. Its mangled pronounciation is FINE X. We pronounce it as FIN X.

Anyway, that organization is supposedly one of those premier, pre-eminent, influencial business groups. It is composed of about 800 of the country's CFO's, CEO's, business owners, professors and other assorted very well off characters who are all successful in their own right. A lot of egos in that organization but the women are the worst! Lol. Most of the political infighting in FINEX are started by women. Somehow when women fight, they drag everyone with them. They say that MAP (Management Association of the Philippines) and the Makati Business Club have less politics and infighting because they have less women members. Lol.

Anyway, I digress. Early this year, someone in the hierachy of Finex decided to appoint me as Junior Finex Chairperson. I've been active in the committee for about 5 years now and I know that committee is a very diffcult committee to run. Its mission is to bridge the gap between the students and the practicing finance executive. So every year, we conduct talks for free for students in any business topics. The students like it because it gives them a glimpse of the real world. We also conduct a contest called the Inter-Collegiate Finance Competition. And that is dthe hardest part of the committee. Running the ICFC is like a full time job. You've got to get funding, you've got to gt the schools to participate and you've to run this successfully or your reputation is toast. Lol.

I was in Cebu and Dumaguete to promote the contest. As Chief Pedophile, it was my duty to sell the contest. All major schools are in except for a school in Metro Manila that considers itself a major school but is actually a light weight. We call this school rather derisively as the University of Armani and Prada. They're actually known as the University of Asia and the Pacific. Lol.

Anyway, I was there to promote the contest. Its kinda hard to promote the contest when you get easily distracted by all those yummy students. Sigh, I can only look but cannot touch! I have a reputation to uphold you know. Lol.

Anyway, when I was there, I got texts from Melody about the upcoming training climb. I was more excited going to the training climb than doing this schtick.

The one thing I hate going to these places is my non accessibility to emails. And reading A's blog.

And what irritated me yesterday is that Finex actually asked for the President's resignation. It didn't sit well with me. I can't stand the opposition and Susan Roces and Noli is an unknown. Those leftist are idiots harping on failed ideologies. Everyone is acting as if they are so moral and the President is so immoral. Hell, most of these guys committed sins worse than her. The only difference is that she got caught.

What is this country coming to?

Thad's back in my arms. We both decided to stay in for the weekend. No wild parties, no socializing, just cuddling and watching movies we both missed.

On Friday, we watched War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise is still gorgeous and so is that guy that played his son. I couldn't stand Dakota Fanning. All she did was scream.

On Sunday, we watched Monster In Law. Jane Fonda was really a bitch and I liked her. I couldn't relate it though to real life. My mom is a good mother in law. Its my sister in law that is a MONSTER! Lol. Seriously, she is an evil witch. She is so concerned with money and she does not have any friends. Such a lonely evil thing. Enough of her. Talking about her spoils my day.

Heard A has got allergies. He's got chicken skin. Kawawa naman. I hope he recovers soon so he can find someone nicer than me. Lol. He deserves someone better. Someone single, cuter, more intelligent, grounded and stable.

Its nice gettting my life back. At least, my Sundays are normal now. Thad brings so much stability to my life. He makes me so grounded.

AMCI's training season is in full swing. Since 2002, there is a QUEEN in very batch. There is one now! hahahahaha.

I have a book on mountaineering called “World Mountaineering”. It features all the highest and most challenging mountains in the world. Mt. Kinabalu is the highest peak in South East Asia, rising to about 4,095masl. In contrast, the Philippines’ Mt. Apo rises to only 2,970masl. Mt. Kinabalu is located in Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. The book calls Mt. Kinabalu a “people’s mountain” as opposed to a mountaineer’s mountain.

Sabah, where Mt. Kinabalu is located, used to be part of the Sultanate of Sulo. The Sultan of Sulo, in the 19th century leased Sabah to the British. When Britain granted Malaysia independence, Sabah was never returned to the Sultan of Sulo and by extension, the Philippines. This issue has always been a thorn in the otherwise excellent relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia. It may explain the whole brouhaha when the Malaysian authorities expelled illegal Filipino workers in Sabah.

To the Dunsun people of Sabah, Mt. Kinabalu with its majestic granite peaks is a sacred mountain. This is where they bury their dead and where the spirits of their ancestors reside.

Sir Hugh Low, a British civil servant from Labuan, first explored Mt. Kinabalu in 1851. Gunting Lagadan, a local guide, guided him. Sir Hugh was not bothered by the steepness of the mountain. He was bothered by the hardships in the lowlands in getting to the mountain.

When Team Leader Mama Menchie (Menchie Barbudo (98)) invited me to join Melody Cruz (99), Eloy Mallari-Gonzales (99), Patrick Gonzales (00), Bernie Calingnacion (98) and Chris Padilla (98) to scale Mt. Kinabalu and to tour Sabah in a shoestring budget, I told her to count me in. The group was comprised of old Ayala Mountaineer friends when AMCI was still known as Ayala Mountaineers. We knew each other quite well and we knew we were going to have FUN. We were scheduled to leave on June 23 via Air Asia from Clark International Airport on board one of those cheapo airlines.

Since we were AMCI trained, we held our pre-climb meeting at Melody’s spacious conference room at Glorietta 4. Based on information given by Eena Nonato (01) and Xenon Walde (93), we planned our meals around canned tuna, Chinese chorizo, maling, pork and beans, instant noodles, bread, cheese and rice. We didn’t need to bring any climbing gear. All we needed to bring are our cold weather clothing and gimmick clothes. Patrick, the ever conservative climber, opted to bring his stove and cook set. Pat, Bernie, Mench, Chris and I brought our sleeping bags. Mama Mench was determined to keep our expenses, including airfare to P15T max.

Menchie is an old friend. She hated me when I was a trainee in 1999 because I was one of those “pasaway” trainees. But after the BMC, we became friends and went to several mountains together. We became closer in 2001, when I was Chairman of the Board of Trustees and she was BMC Director. Melody and Eloy are batch mates of mine and both were involved in the 2001 BMC Committee. Melody is very efficient in getting things done. The only thing she’s still trying to perfect is the quest for a boy friend. (LOL) Patrick courted Eloy in 2001. In the “20 Peaks at 20” climb at the summit of Mt. Apo, Pat got down on his knees and proposed marriage to Eloy. Because this was such a romantic proposal that still brings tears to my eyes, I agreed to stand as a sponsor in their wedding last year. Chris and Bernie are both batch mates and AXN teammates of Menchie. Chris is the bitter half of Astrid, a batch mate of Eloy, Melody and me. I tease Chris that he’s a wimp (he really is not a wimp) since Astrid beats him in running, climbs faster and out does him in any physical activity. Chris has a wicked wit and like me, an Atenean. Bernie is a great photographer and has very funny one-liners.

We left on June 23 at 11am on Air Asia via Clark. Most of us took the shuttle Philtranco bus at the Megamall. We kept our packs under 14 kilos. The 737 plane had free for all seating as in most cheapo airlines. The seats were encased in leather rather leatherette (vinyl). You had to pay for food. The chicken with sambal sauce that Pat and I had cost P140. Both Pat and I are TALL and we hardly fitted into the seats.

We got to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on time at 1:30pm. Rushing out of the airport, we took a couple of taxis to Centerpoint Mall to change our money into ringgit. Since Air Asia is a cheapo airline, they didn’t have money-changing facilities in their terminal. We got to the mall and ate at the local McDonald’s.

We were getting conflicting times when the buses to Kinabalu Park were leaving. Finally, we just decided to go to the bus terminal and get our tickets. The Pinoys there informed us that the next bus was at 7pm. But he offered a bas mini (mini bus) as an alternative at R15/pax. We grabbed it and headed towards Kinabalu Park 2hours away.

We got to the park at 5pm and were met by a charming lady named Veronica. She speaks some Pilipino because she is a devoted fan of Jericho Rosales (yep, Echo is big in Malaysia!). She informed us of the ranger’s climb briefing at 6pm. She would check us in after the briefing. A ranger named Rai briefed us on the various aspects of the climb. For the Timpohon Trail, expect to pass 7 shelters with flushing toilets and faucets for water. For the Mesilau Trail, expect to pass 7 shelters with toilets and faucets for water. But he added that the Mesilau trail is 2.5km longer and is more challenging than the Timpohon Trail. He does not recommend novices to use the Mesilau Trail. With the typical AMCI flair for arrogance, we ignored his warnings much to our regret. (Lol).

Veronica checked us into a 2-story cottage with hot water, 3 bedrooms, kitchen with cooking facilities, living room with satellite TV, and a beautiful balcony with a view of the granite peaks of Mt. Kinabalu. The lights of Laban Rata guesthouse shone in the distance. We cooked our dinner, heckled each other, watched TV and sorted our things before going to bed.

Most of us were awake by 5 the next day. We had to be at the entrance of the park by 7am to pick up our guide and our climb badges. By 7, we sauntered over to the park entrance to meet Bungin our mountain guide. While Bungin was arranging transportation to the Mesilau jump off (40 minutes away), we stored our gimmick clothes in the luggage room. Stopping briefly at the market in Kundasang, we reached Mesilau at 9.

Amid light banter and humor, we started the climb. In 45 minutes, we reached the 1st shelter, the Bambu shelter. We climbed over 500 meters and Bungin kept on telling us to slow down. Menchie, Eloy and Melody took pictures of the pitcher plant (nepenthes). The trail started to veer steeply down. Chris and I didn’t like the steepness of the descent. We noted that what ever we gained in altitude, we lost through the descent. On our right side, we could see the peaks of Mt. Kinabalu. Then the trail started to steeply ascend again. We noticed that the trails were beautiful maintained. Wooden sticks with metal spikes were used to hold up the trail. But it made the trek tougher. The steps were wider and more physically draining. We learned to trek on the side of the trail so we could use our “baby steps” on the ascent. 2 more times the trail ascended steeply then descended again. The ascent and the descent had an average of 60 to 70 degrees angle. By the time we got to the Layang Layang junction, we were wasted.

The Layang laying junction was where the Timpohon trail and the Mesilau trail converge to form the summit trail. From the junction to the Laban Rata rest house, it would take 2 hours. Because of the challenging aspect of the Mesilau trail, it took us 3.5 hours. On our way up to Laban Rata, we could all start feeling the cold air. Then it started to rain. We didn’t take any chances and we wore our rain gear. Pat, Chris and Bernie; all strong climbers admitted the toughness of the trek. We were not speaking anymore. We wanted to get to Laban Rata to eat and change into our warm clothes. Bungin, our guide, kept telling us that we were near. We passed 2 more shelters and took our breaks there. We couldn’t stay very long because it was very very cold.

Finally, a little after 5pm, we reached Laban Rata. I collapsed into a chair in the dining hall and Melody handed me a cup of hot soup. I rested for a while and changed into warm clothes. We were so hungry; we kept on going back to the buffet. The buffet cost us RM22. But it was worth it. We talked to some of the climbers there and they were surprise that we took the Mesilau trail.

After a hearty dinner, we got ready to trek to our hut, Gunting Labadan. It’s supposed to be a 10-minute walk uphill. It took us 20 minutes. We were in no condition to trek. Gunting Labadan is 50 meters higher than Laban Rata. Laban Rata is 3,220masl. Mt. Apo is 2,970masl. We were to sleep 250meters above Mt. Apo. We could feel thinness of the air.

The nice thing about climbing Mt. Kinabalu is that a real bed and a hot shower await you at the rest house. Since we were the last to arrive at the rest house, we had the showers all to ourselves. I was just plain tired and wanted to sleep. Bernie still managed to flirt with a couple of Asian ladies (we can’t tell if they were from Singapore or Malaysia). The girls wanted Bernie to wake them up at 2am. The girls were pretty but they have awfully bad taste! (Loll).

We woke up at 1:30am. I didn’t sleep that well. I was hounded by nightmares. I was dreaming that demons were after me at the trail. I told the group of my dream and Chris remarked that he heard dying moans and he was wondering where that came from. It was cold! The temperature read 10C. Rain was steadily pouring. We were wondering if the assault to the summit would push through. I’ll be honest. I didn’t feel much like going to the summit. I wanted to rest and I wanted to sleep some more. The guides from the other groups arrived. They were discussing among themselves whether to allow us to assault the summit.

Bungin arrived and he told us to get ready. At 3am, we left the rest house. We started to climb through 70degree trails. It was like a never-ending upward climb through a tunnel. The vegetation round the trail made it seem like we were in a tunnel. After more than 45 minutes of climbing, I saw the 7km marker. I began to wonder when the edge of the vegetation stopped and the granite slabs began. It’s a good thing though there were a lot of climbers. The sheer number of climbers created traffic. At least we could catch our breath. As the vegetation ended, we saw ropes embedded in the granite slabs. Bungin signaled us to grab the ropes. Little by little we inched forward. We finally reached the 7.5km mark just before the Sayat Sayat huts. The Sayat Sayat huts (3,810masl) were huts placed there by earlier explorers to Mt. Kinabalu. The rangers stationed there inspected our climb passes. Again there were toilets at the huts. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was TWO PUBLIC TELEHONE BOOTHS PLACED THERE BY TELECOM MALAYSIA! It had a sign saying “THE HIGHEST PUBLIC PHONE BOOTHS IN THE WORLD”.

By now as we approached the summit plateau, we were barely walking. Every three steps I had to stop to catch my breath. There were times I felt like passing out. I could see spots in front of me. At one time I almost fell backward after almost blacking out. I’ve never experienced this lack of air. Finally after an hour, we made it to the summit plateau. There are several peaks at Kinabalu: Donkey’s Ears (4,054masl), Ugly Sister Peak (4,032masl), South Peak (3,933masl), Victoria Peak, St Johns Peak (4,090masl) and the highest peak, Low’s Peak at 4,095masl. We were headed to Low’s Peak. But I was tempted to go to the lower peaks. I couldn’t breathe. The last 200meters was pure torture.

Finally, we made it to the summit. Everyone had a smile on his or her lips. I just wanted to take the pictures and head down. And I needed to pee too! Plus it was freezing cold at 1C. After all the picture taking ceremonies and all that other ek ek, I left the group and headed down. As I descended, I began to feel much better. I had to remind myself to grab hold of the ropes because those granite slabs are slippery. It took me an hour to get down to Laban Rata. A far cry from the more than 4-hour trek to the summit.

Upon reaching Laban Rata, I devoured the buffet breakfast. Climbers were congratulating each other for having made it to the summit. After breakfast, I headed back to the hut. The group wasn’t there yet. I fell asleep in the balcony in one of those plastic chairs. Finally at about 9, they arrived.

Chris, Pat, Bernie and I prepared breakfast. Breakfast consisted of Chinese chorizo, maling and rice. We offered Bungin some canned tuna and bread. We didn’t want to offend Bungin sensibilities of offering pork dishes.

After breakfast, we headed down using the Timpohan trail. We left at 11:45am and the temperature was a cold 12C. It took us 45 minutes to cover the 2km to the Layang layang junction. We were right. The Timpohan trail is a far easier trail. At 3:30pm, we hit the end point of the Timpohan Trail.

In high spirits, Menchie took us to Poring Hot Springs. Poring Hot Springs is still part of the Kinabalu Park area. We are to spend the night here in a hostel.

When we got to the hostel, we saw some climbers from the rest house. We easily made friends with a Slovakian couple and a Singaporean student group. The next day, after trying out the hot springs pool, we transferred to a chalet type unit with 3 bedrooms, 2 toilets, kitchen, living room and satellite TV. Menchie also arranged for a mini bus to take us to the market at Renau. Eloy did the marketing; I bought the Guinness Dark Beers and Pat bought the local Malaysian made brandy. That evening, after a satisfying adobo dinner, we drank ourselves silly.

The next day, Melody, Eloy and Pat went on the canopy walk while the rest of us chilled in the chalet. That late morning we headed into Kota Kinabalu and checked into Lucy’s Backpackers Hostel. For RM18 (P250)/person including continental breakfast, Lucy’s is a bargain. The rooms are dormitory style and the toilets and showers are clean.

That evening we treated ourselves to a nice Nonya dinner at the new boardwalk fronting the bay.

Now that I’m back in Manila, I can still see the granite peaks of Mt. Kinabalu in my dreams. It will be a climb that will remain with me forever.

TIPS: We spent about 15T including airfare. Expect to spend more if you go shopping and if you go to the more expensive side trips. There are lots of Pinoys around so watch your language. Stay in hostels to keep your costs down. The souvenirs are mostly made in the Philippines and in Thailand.