We drove over to Mount Kinabalu Park and stayed in dorm rooms which compared to other accomodation was pretty good - it was clean!! We were due to start the mountain early the next morning so we just walked on some short trails near the head quarters; we than discovered there were leeches!! I got one on me but managed to spot it early so grabbed it, then got it stuck to my finger then tried to flick it off and got it stuck to the other finger!!! Finally got it off with no blood lost - Stef wasn't so lucky she hasn't got the Hillsters quick reactions!!

Had a good meal that night opted for something western to give me a bit of fuel for the next day, to be honest I really haven't been impressed with the fod in Borneo; they don't really seem to have there own dishes as it is a mixed race country and what they serve is often not that warm and contains odd bits of bones. Generally the chinese options are okay but it is nothing special. However my beer battered fish and chips were great! I know I shouldn't be eating English but hey we don't batter snapper do we!?

We set off around 8.30am in the morning after a good breakie it can take from 3 to 6 hours to make it up to the over night stop 6km up hill away. I did it in 6 hours!! No but to be fair we went really slow with lots of breaks as we were trying to avoid altitude sickness. I was really pleased; it wasn't as hot and humid as I imagined and I felt fit as a fiddle I had plenty of energy in the old legs. Three people in our group zoomed up and 2 of them suffered with some of the effects of altitude sickness so the slow way was the best way!

After a night in a dorm room (or a bit of a night) we set off for the peak at 2.30am - the aim was to get there for sun rise. It was a lot lot cooler than before the walk kept us warm and we headed up some pretty steap terrain sometimes on rope with head torches to light the path. I kinda lost the others (long story) so did the last hour on my own - it was really odd and quite - I knew where to go as I followed the rope but I couldn't see anyone in front or behind and it was so quiet!

Made it to the peak and had to wait just over 15 minutes for the sun rise - it was kinda of cloudy but good to see to break through the patches of cloud. Also really good seeing how the day lite up below us (we were above the clouds). I got bloody frozen hands though where I was trying to take photos, it was -2C. Once I warmed up on the decent my hands were on fire!

We walked straight down that day so it was a really really long day of walking - we made it back by 1.30pm but my knees were b*****ed. My right knee (good one) was actually worse where it had been taking the strain for the weaker left knee, I wasn't sure if I'd done some damage but it got better after a couple of days; I think I aggravated the tendon. However my muscles did not stop aching for 4 days after! It was absolute comedy watching our groups reaction when we saw any flights of steps!

Once we got to the bottom we headed to Poring Hot Springs to relax for the afternoon and the following day, well earned I say!

By the way I got a certificate to prove I did it and I've had it laminated!!