Finally, the day comes,,,,the journey - part 1

5th May

Started journey by cab to sentral. Costs RM29 but the cab went like wind.

Connect to a coach to LCCT which costs RM8. Bus left at 0630 and reached LCCT one hour later. Check in was slow- typical of a low fare carrier? Had nasi lemak for breakfast - another RM8!! Flight took off after 15 minutes delay. Touched down at 1230, a good flight.

The group was picked up by travel agent and proceeded to a chicken rice lunch which costs RM11. Yummy. Got few bottles of water and maggi from a local store. Started journey to the base at 1430. The road was windy and the weather, hot. The road was long and bumpy. Expecting to take us about 2.5 hours and ETA at base 5pm. Going uphill, the sit-in-coach has difficulty moving. 8 in the coach. Hope no breakdown. Towards end of the drive, the coach indeed couldn't move up the slope to the resort. We had to get down to lighten the load and had to carry our own luggages up a slope - is this a preview of the torture to come? haha.

After 3 torturous hours, finally checked in into the Mersilau Nature Resort.

Mersilau nature resort is very welcoming but temperature's very cold here. There are a few chalets. Like living in a jungle. We have a few rooms with bunk beds. Had an upper deck in a 8-bed bunker room. Dinner was served immediately after a short briefing by the resort's personnel on what to expect the following morning. Dinner was buffet style, mainly vegetables!! Weather was cold, very cold, think it was probably below 10 degrees celcius.

Decided not to take any shower from that point until Wed. Hot shower did not work anyway and the water was really cold. After much repacking of bags, dressed up 3 layers for the night - socks and all and went straight to sleep. Target to start climb 730 after breakfast.