Part 2: 6th May - the first day of climb

Amidst the cold of the morning, we had buffet breakfast. Food was not bad!! Anyway, hot food is most delicious what these are in a cold weather. Once done, we gathered and had a group photograph taken and after a group prayer, it was already 8am when we started preparation for the climb. Bags were assembled and weighed by the guides. Tags were distributed and climbers were assembled in groups of 5 to 6. Then we started the climb.

Immediately we had to tackle a 1.5 km of uphill jungle trek. We could feel the strain when people start to pant, stop, walk, stop, pant. Someone then said it's because we are not warmed up enough yet and should be okay as we go on. I thought, ya, that's true and hope to recover as I journey on. There was a short reprieve downhill and then it was uphill most of the time. The climb gets difficult most of the time and mostly are through rather narrow jungle treks. At certain stretches, it can get a bit spooky if one walks alone and I was caught in the middle of the stream of climbers. At this time, the fast ones have gone far ahead - these are the youngsters. No way that I could catch up with them unless they stop for a long while. While the slow ones are behind and I was in between these two groups. I was alone before Dr. Leow caught up with me.

The view was scenic at certain part. At two short stretches, we had to cross the ledge of the mountain. This point was very scenic indeed - we could almost touch the passing clouds and the flowers too were beautiful.

At the trek gets higher and further up, I began to feel the anticipation and anxiety of reaching the destination for the day - Laban Rata. At one point, I could actually see Laban Rata amidst the clouds but through an uphill jungle trek, that actually means hours more of climbing. The strain and tiredness really set in. The doc and I had to really pace ourselves. We were doing a few steps, stopped, a few steps, stopped and this carried on even as we were almost there at LR. At the approach to LR, a sudden blow of mist brought a misty shower and I signalled to Dr Leow to put on the raincoat. I suddenly felt warm and nice but the shower went away as quickly as it came. We continued on and finally, the resthouse at Laban was within sight and reach. Walked up to the main resthouse and walked in, into a big group of people who were having their food in nice, warm comfort. The first group was already there since 2pm, while me and doc reached at 5pm, a good 9 hour climb!