done two thirds of our Adventure Grand Slam, i'm very tired
i'll try to summarise the epic trip to climb mt. k, highest mountain in SEA.

inside the claustrophobic lift


buying some drinks at marrybrown while waiting for check in, was quite early but it was good


here's marian shooting some lazy houseflies.
serious, they dun fly even when you go close to them


here's stan goofing around before the flight


and here's stan after losing his phone (first trip situation)


finally reached the hostel and began unpacking


yep, this is the one called x-plorer backpackers
the folks there are super nice (phew!)


on the van to kinabalu park where the mountain is located
good weather, good spirits


my second time climbing this and i still dun believe that i made it twice


still in high spirits in the toilet


everyone's expression is so funny
check out marian and suan's sianded face and stan's siao jumping


the man-vs-wild-under-the-pants shot


right.


still at the kinabalu park hq, misty weather


down the steps of timpohon gate, marking our start


omg its the summit trail!


check out the awesome lighting


at carson's falls


climb, climb, climb


breathing increased cuz the air up there is thin so 1 step equals like 2 breaths


peng san already


that's marian with help from a stick and our guide venjohn (yea you saw that right)


that's the guy who helped us take a group photo at the hq


taken with marian's kit lens
L lenses are like obsolete already


trees are really tall so most of the time we didn't get any sun


the porters bring like 50+ kg of bags up the mountain
this is only 20+ kg


shit.


yea gosh its heavy


i'm hopeless in peeling boiled eggs


nope, havent reach yet
check out how misty it was


terrain change signals the nearing of leban rata guesthouse
marian=hee listening to music
stan=rawr!!
ven=so slow... sian


funny thing i shot this
like some man and nature theme


i like this terrain the best
nice colour and easy to walk on


after this, stopped taking photos cuz of the cold and laziness to take out the camera so i'll try to put it into words

started the night climb with almost everyone kena AMS
i was so worried that something would happen but i had to keep those fears behind me and focus on the climb.
had to stop a few times cuz suan was queasy but he was alright after some water and the beautiful star display in the sky.

Reached the slopes and the wind started to blow like there's no tomorrow. totally didn't expect that to happen. we tried to push on until KM8 where we just couldnt take it and hid behind the signboard with ven. my torch died...

suan and stan moved ahead first while i stayed behind with marian. could see that she was really struck by the cold and we rested behind every rock we could find. by then, the awesome sunrise has begun and man was it gorgeous, so worth it!

saw ven on the slope with the sunrise at the back and it made into a really nice silhouette shot by marian. she was really shivering and ven had lent her his jacket and we managed to push on and rendezvous with suan and stan behind a rock to summit together.

and at 6.18am, all of us managed to summit mt. kinabalu.


us atop low's peak


after 1 and half days to gruelling climb, we've made it


its really fun to go out with photogs. just when everyone is so shag, they just continue to do their thing like...

checking photos


checking B+W filter


this trip, being my second trip to the mountain had not brought any less learning experiences for me. in fact, i felt that i learnt much more this time around. this trip has also come at the right time just as i was getting back me faith.

we were so blessed to have wonderful weather and i can't put it to words but i really felt that God is with us along the way. I felt that there's someone to hear my prayers and to calm my nervous soul as I was really really worried that something bad would happen to my friends but I decided to put that in His hands.

When I was climbing the summit portion, with the winds threatening to make me give up, lyrics from the song "Still" played in my head and I knew that I would be given the strength and will to continue. *lyrics at the top of my blog*

this really puts meaning into the name Emmanuel, God With Us.

to end off, i think this song is really appropriate for this experience.

one good shot at 1:20 AM