We hired a car to drive to Mount Kinabalu, which is 90 km from Kota Kinabalu. The Malaysian-made Kelissa only just made it and Sandy, the designated driver, had to peddle furiously up the mountain roads. In the background is the chalet we stayed in at the base of Mount Kinabalu, about 1600 metres above sea level.
The chalet had an open-hearth log fire and after several unsuccessful attempts at lighting a fire using tourist brochures as firelighters, we called in the pros. Two Kadazan guys had a roaring fire going within minutes with the help of some tradtional Kadazan firelighting techniques ... burning plastic bags of chemicals!
Poor old Holly had fled England for the heat of the tropics and Sandy and I dragged her halfway up a mountain, above cloud level, to sit round a log fire!
Drying clothes in front of the fire ...
We did go on three decent walks: the first for 2.5 km at dusk along the ridge to the back of the chalet; the second, before breakfast the following day, a short but steep 600 m up the side of the hill next to the power station (the starting point of the Kinabalu ascent); and the third for a couple of km along the trails around the basecamp.
Hiking above the clouds ...
Sandy in the clouds ...
The summit of Mount Kinabalu ...
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