OK. I'm terribly behind with the bloggage, but we've had some full-ass days and I've been too tired and lazy when I've gotten in at night to want to spend time writing. =P
Anyways! So Mon-Weds this week was spent hiking Mount Kinabalu, which we thought was the tallest mountain in SE Asia but instead turns out to be #4. Oops. Still, it's bout 2km rise over an 8.7km run, which is roughly a 23% grade. Which is enough to be a royal pain in the legs.
But first, the rest of Sunday was pretty laid back... after my last bloviation on here I went back to the hotel and went swimming at the Hyatt's pool, and watched the sun set on the ocean. Nice. Then we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called Banana Leaf, which was realllllly good Indian food served not on plates, but on giant placemat-like banana leaves. It was like, a motif or something. =D We walked back towards the hotel through a night market by the water where there was a huge amount of activity selling fish and every imaginable seafood. It was cool, though the ground there was NASTY. God save the soul that drunken faceplants in that shit. Then we grabbed drinks at a bar and played some Uno (woot!), and after a couple hrs of that hit the sack.
Monday morning, we got up and tooled around... we got a slow start (mostly my fault), then walked to the docks and negotiated with some locals for a boat tour of the bay. It was beautiful out... totally sunny and the water was so so blue. We boated past some Filipino shanty houses out on stilts by an island in the bay... and just generally enjoyed the outdoors. Ahhhh, relaxing. After that we grabbed lunch at that same night market, which during the day is more of a giant open-air cafeteria. We got some good food, mostly the same brown fried street noodles, plus a lot of fried stuff. Oh, and me and the Kellys split some fresh coconuts we bought in this massive indoor market. mmmmm fresh! Oh-squared, we also hit up the local mall for some walking sticks. I own one, but didn't bring it to Asia because I was thinking I'd just live without it. The advice we got was to have one, though, so we all went and bought some for ~$15 each (they're $100 or so from REI in the states). Clearly, I had to get the one with a knife concealed in the handle. It's so awesome... I was ready to monkey-knife-fight any mountain primates that dared to attack us.
After all that we checked out of the hotel and left some bags there, then bused over to Kinabalu National Park. It was about a 2-hour ride in the bus, with some great views of the mountain we were about to climb. Holy bejezus that thing is TALL.
Anyways! So Mon-Weds this week was spent hiking Mount Kinabalu, which we thought was the tallest mountain in SE Asia but instead turns out to be #4. Oops. Still, it's bout 2km rise over an 8.7km run, which is roughly a 23% grade. Which is enough to be a royal pain in the legs.
But first, the rest of Sunday was pretty laid back... after my last bloviation on here I went back to the hotel and went swimming at the Hyatt's pool, and watched the sun set on the ocean. Nice. Then we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called Banana Leaf, which was realllllly good Indian food served not on plates, but on giant placemat-like banana leaves. It was like, a motif or something. =D We walked back towards the hotel through a night market by the water where there was a huge amount of activity selling fish and every imaginable seafood. It was cool, though the ground there was NASTY. God save the soul that drunken faceplants in that shit. Then we grabbed drinks at a bar and played some Uno (woot!), and after a couple hrs of that hit the sack.
Monday morning, we got up and tooled around... we got a slow start (mostly my fault), then walked to the docks and negotiated with some locals for a boat tour of the bay. It was beautiful out... totally sunny and the water was so so blue. We boated past some Filipino shanty houses out on stilts by an island in the bay... and just generally enjoyed the outdoors. Ahhhh, relaxing. After that we grabbed lunch at that same night market, which during the day is more of a giant open-air cafeteria. We got some good food, mostly the same brown fried street noodles, plus a lot of fried stuff. Oh, and me and the Kellys split some fresh coconuts we bought in this massive indoor market. mmmmm fresh! Oh-squared, we also hit up the local mall for some walking sticks. I own one, but didn't bring it to Asia because I was thinking I'd just live without it. The advice we got was to have one, though, so we all went and bought some for ~$15 each (they're $100 or so from REI in the states). Clearly, I had to get the one with a knife concealed in the handle. It's so awesome... I was ready to monkey-knife-fight any mountain primates that dared to attack us.
After all that we checked out of the hotel and left some bags there, then bused over to Kinabalu National Park. It was about a 2-hour ride in the bus, with some great views of the mountain we were about to climb. Holy bejezus that thing is TALL.
We're supposed to climb that bitch in TWO DAYS. Wow.
So that night we get to the park and check into our dorm/bunk-beds... luckily the 6 of us aren't sharing a room. Unluckily, 3 of us are snorers, and one with sleep apnea. You know the kind, where the person snores in a steady crescendo until they stop breathing altogether for 30 seconds, and then start over. It's amazing people like that can live through the night!!! Though we all still love them.
Anyways, that night we hung out at the dinner building and played Uno for a couple hours, making the loser of each round go and do bitch-errands for the rest of us. Like fetching food from the buffet, or getting us drinks, or bussing the table, etc. It was fun. =D We all went to sleep relatively early cause we had to get up at ass'o'clock to start up the mountain. Wheeee!
So that night we get to the park and check into our dorm/bunk-beds... luckily the 6 of us aren't sharing a room. Unluckily, 3 of us are snorers, and one with sleep apnea. You know the kind, where the person snores in a steady crescendo until they stop breathing altogether for 30 seconds, and then start over. It's amazing people like that can live through the night!!! Though we all still love them.
Anyways, that night we hung out at the dinner building and played Uno for a couple hours, making the loser of each round go and do bitch-errands for the rest of us. Like fetching food from the buffet, or getting us drinks, or bussing the table, etc. It was fun. =D We all went to sleep relatively early cause we had to get up at ass'o'clock to start up the mountain. Wheeee!
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