I guess that's why they call it the rainforest

One of the many songs I made up/edited and sang all the way up Mount Kinabalu, much to the delight of Andy, our German tour partner, and our Malaysian guide.

Once again I cannot believe there has only been a 48 hour window since my last entry - maybe because I have been awake for about 40 of those hours. To explain why requires two stories, both equally exciting in totally different ways. 1, the episode of the angry dogs. And 2, climbing (and un-climbing; ouch for the knees!) a 4,095 meter mountain in 24 hours.

1. The angry dogs
Last time I wrote, I was boarding a night bus to Kinabalu National Park. If you thought swimming with sharks was stupid, let me tell you an even more careless move: getting on a night bus with a 2:30 am arrival time without booking a hotel in advance.

So I guess I don't need to go into detail of how Andy and I ended up on the side of a Malaysian highway in the middle of Saturday night. Nor will I go into detail about the tricks your mind plays on you in the middle of the night, surrounded by the unfamiliar sounds of the jungle and enveloped in thick fog. I think you can probably imagine...

To make a very long story a little bit shorter: we walked down the highway and passed a few hotels - all of which were closed. We contemplated our stupidity, our coldness, and then finally, our next move. I suggested sleeping on the bench in front of the hotel, but Andy won out with the idea to just keep walking until we found somewhere that was open, or had an unlocked door and we could sleep in the hallway.

However, we hadn't walked more than a few hundred yards before the jungle noises erupted in the loud barks of a group of dogs ahead of us on the highway. I'm a little scared of dogs already, and (I think I mentioned my lack of bravery a few entries back?) I started shaking as we back-pedaled our way to safety.

Where was "safety"? My brilliant idea: the hotel bench. So there we were, at nearly 4 am, shaking in the cold, sitting on a wet bench, plotting escape routes in case the dogs managed to get inside the hotel gates. When suddenly... the most unlikely savior appeared.

A super-drunk Malaysian man pulled his car less than gracefully into the hotel lot, and sat there staring at Andy and I in disbelief for a few minutes. I was afraid, but Andy pointed out that the man was evidently too drunk to do anything to us. A moment later, the man opened his car door (and left it wide open until the next morning), cracked open a beer, and began banging loudly on the hotel door.

Apparently that's the secret when it comes to "closed" hotels: knock and the door shall be opened to you. The owner came out from upstairs and surveyed the scene. One drunk and rowdy man, two Westerners shivering on the bench. To his credit, he got us each a room, and didn't even charge us until the following morning. We were in a dorm hostel room with two full families (complete with crying children) but I'm pretty sure I fell asleep with a smile of relief on my face.

2. The climb
After our 4:30 bedtime, Andy and I got up at 8:30 am, still determined to climb Mount Kinabalu. (Crazy? Maybe.) We bundled up, got breakfast, and arranged for an overnight near the top of the mountain before finishing the climb the following morning.

During the climb, we covered roughly 20 km and climbed over 3,000 vertical meters. We spent 4 hours reaching our hotel, 3 hours from there to reach the peak, and a total of 5 hours in descent. So yes, 12 hours of climbing. And yes, my knees hurt. But it was worth it... Just wait until you see the pictures. :)

So why the lack of sleep, then? Well, we reached our hotel at around 4 pm on Sunday. We ate a huge buffet dinner, and went to sleep at around 9 pm. Our alarm sounded at 2 am, and we ate "breakfast" before returning to climbing at 3 am, in order to catch the sunrise from the summit. The views, as you might guess, were fantastic. And I'm fairly certain it will be a pre-9 pm bedtime tonight, and I will still manage to sleep in tomorrow.

To finish off an already too-long entry, I'll append a highlight list - my favorite! - from the very grueling climb.

• The rain. The entire way up, it alternating between sprinkling and pouring on us. I'm not sure how, but under my very attractive yellow poncho, even my bra managed to get soaking wet. Luckily we covered our bag in plastic before the climb, so we had warm and dry clothes when we reached the summit.
• The vegetation and animal life. First, the sounds of the jungle are quite different from the sounds of North St Paul, MN, and I enjoyed just listening to the birds and forest sounds (when I wasn't busy making up songs to pass the time). I got to see many pitcher plants, which grow all over the sides of the path. And I saw three foot-long earthworms! Of course later I will provide photographic evidence.
• The views. We first climbed above the tree line, and then the cloud line. The mountain is half the height of Everest, after all!
• The porters. How do you think we got all those extravagant meals so close to the summit? There are many Malaysian porters who bring huge bags of food to the hotel for the buffet breakfast/lunch/dinner. We passed several, and I kept questioning our guide about them. What is in that bag? Vegetables. How long does it take them to climb? 3-4 hours. How many porters are there? Oh, very many. How many trips do they make per week? Seven, of course. In conclusion, when you see the physical effort put into your meal preparation, it really makes you think twice about wasting food...

Is it bedtime yet?! To Kota Kinabalu we go.