First, I busted one myth while in Malaysia. Asians actually do buy (and most likely eat) Grass Carp. Granted they don't pay very much for it - about 42 cents per 100 grams (or $1.90 a pound), but the fact that they actually buy and eat it was enough to shock me. So I had to take a picture and prove it to all the people at home who think carp are worthless.
This picture is for Jill - the Jimmy Choo Store in Kuala Lumpur! They have a whole store! Unfortunately, all they sell there are shoes and bags so we weren't able to buy you anything. :(
Next up are our Mt. Kinabalu pictures. This one was near the bottom (you can't even see the peak in this picture). Ayu was feeling the nausea from the alititude, so I was carrying her stuff for a short time. I was so proud of how she sucked it up and made it to the top. My hero. Notice in the picture the type of steps we were walking up at first - not too easy, but it'll get harder.
This was about the only wildlife we ran into on the mountain - one caterpillar. But we figured it was interesting enough to warrant a picture so Ayu took this one. It was about 3-4" long.
And this is what other people were carrying up the mountain. Inside here are all the food and supplies for the resthouse that we stayed in over the night. This thing probably weighs over 150 lbs. if I had to guess.
Here's Ayu showing off her climbing technique. The first day there weren't many places you had to use your hands, but the second day there were quite a few. Notice the trail has changed from haphazardly placed steps to rocks.
Here are two sunset pictures from the Laban Rata resthouse at 3000 meters (9,842.5 ft).
As any photographer knows, low light pictures are difficult. If you don't have a proper camera they become nearly impossible. This was the first picture we were able to take on the morning that we summited.
These rock formations are called the Donkey Ears. They were one of my favorite rock formations to photograph because the sun was coming up behind them (see further down).
I put this picture here just to give some perspective to a picture further down. The sun rises pretty quickly. You can just barely make out the coastline from this picture.
These were slightly lower peaks then the one at the top. Note the Donkey Ears on the right.
And here the sun is really coming out. Sorry I didn't adjust the brightness of the pictures, you may choose to wear sunglasses. :)
This picture was taken from near the top. Notice all the people descending and ascending. It gives you a bit of scale to how enormous this mountain really is. The peak pictured here is a few meters lower than Lowe's peak. I'm pretty sure its not climbable without a harness.
And here is the same picture as earlier. The mountain casts an enormous shadow even extending past the coastline!
Ayu and I made it to the top! Lowe's peak is the highest at Kinabalu - 4,095.2 meters (13,435.7 ft). Notice my gardening gloves (they helped when I had to use my hands such as clutching the rope that ran along certain tricky sections). At this height, I doubt any gloves could keep hands warm, and mine were not designed to in the first place, so it was definitely chilly.
Here's Ayu descending. This is the trail at the top. Giant flat faces of rock angled (sometimes very steeply) and your only help is a white rope that runs the length of the trail; Which is what you see here.
Looking back up at Lowe's peak, you can't see anything, but there are actually people standing on top.
One more picture of the Donkey Ears on the way down at full sunlight.
From here you can see quite a lot. Somewhere down there is where we began our climb.
I have more pictures to post, but I'm going to make them a seperate entry. It will be following this one soon.
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