Wednesday 11th August

Today started the same as yesterday. With the dorm still to myself, I showered (if you can call it that), dressed, breakfasted and packed before walking the 500m to the bus station.

There were several ways to get to Mt Kinabalu - taxi (expensive); coach (long) or shared mini-van. The mini-van is the best option except they only leave when full - which could be hours, unless you pay the driver to make up for the missing passengers. Luckily when I arrived there was one with 1 seat remaining, so I snapped it up and off we went to Kinabalu National Park. There was an American couple on board who were working in Krabi (Thailand) teaching English, and they gave me their details if I wanted to catch-up when I'm there.

Let me try to paint a picure of the van. It carried 14 passengers with no boot, meaning our luggage was carried in the van 'entrance', stacked to the ceiling. I was sitting on one of the fold out chairs which was only big enough to carry a small child, with about 2 mm of leg room. Not matter how I sat or placed my legs I was in extreme comfort. I also had to carry my daybag, as there was no leg room. Then against the window there was a metal bar to hold onto that was at eyesight level - only problem being that everytime we rounded a corner, my face smashed straight into it. This was an extremely uncomfortable ride, but I was glad to be travelling after the mundanity of KK!

I checked into the hostel, D'Villa Rina Ria (12 bed dorm which was near full with Europeans - as it's European holidays, Europeans are everywhere!) and then went for a walk in the national park to help adjust to the altitude. Top of today's 'to-do' list was the canopy walkway, which was located 47km away at Poring Hotsprings. With no mini-vans in sight, I bartered with a taxi to take me there and back. It was expensive, however it was like having a personalised tour and was free to stop wherever I wanted (i.e. I stopped at a supermarket to pick up snacks for the next day).

Along the way to Poring we saw a sign saying "Rafflesia in bloom!" The rafflesia flower is the largest flower in the world and can grow up to 1m in length, and is quite rare, only growing in Borneo and Sumatra. It only blossoms for 4-8 days after an 18 month growth period before it dies and goes through a 5 year re-birth process. It is also know for it's foul smell, resembling a rotten corpse.

As the rafflesia was on private land, I paid the owner to take me down to see it. Another thing crossed off the list!

Arriving at Poring Hot Springs, my taxi driver told me he'd wait as long as I wanted, and I headed inside to the canopy walk. The canopy walk a wooden walkway suspended in the trees by ropes, and allowed a 'bird's eye view' (literally) of the forest. Following this, I trekked down to a waterfall also within the complex. By this time I was soaked with sweat - I thought it was supposed to be cooler in the mountains!

I realised it had been 5 hours since I'd eaten so I made my way to a road-side cafe and ordered Cream of Mushroom soup. The waitress walked over to the adjoining store, grabbed a Continental packet of Cream of Mushroom soup and proceeded to make it! Oh well, at least it was cheap ...

The taxi driver then dropped me back at the hostel just as it started pouring, so I spent some time inside reading and vegging with my 'roommates'. When the rain cleared, I had dinner at a restaurant opposite the Kinabalu Park headquarters, which had spectacular views of the sunset over the mountains.

Back to the hostel, the weather had cooled considerably so we all made an early retreat to bed. For me, the next two days would be long ones as I attempted to conquer Mt Kinabalu!