Flying into the town of Kota Kinabalu we're struck by the sight of many fires, set purposely for clear cutting, burning in the Borneo brush. Thank goodness the area around the mountain is protected because otherwise I'm sure these fabulous jungles would all be destroyed eventually. Since Henning and Jan are working stiffs, we're not messing around when it comes to time. We hire a cab to go directly to the mountain. We stay in a nice room at the park's visitor center. Henning is running this expedition, having done the research and not trusting my base standards for accomodation.

I hadn't met Jan before but immediately like him, so the company is good. The weather is perfect. The area around the mountain is gorgeous. What could go wrong?

Well, for once with me, nothing really does go wrong. We meet our obligatory guide the next morning and climb at a leisurely pace up to Laban Rata, the final guesthouse below the summit. Henning has booked us in the "Buttercup" room, which appears to be the best they have. Not that there's much opportunity to sleep though because all of the Malaysian climbers (by far the majority) get up at one in the morning and wake everyone else up. Jan suffers a bit from altitude sickness but recovers nicely.

We set out for the summit at around 3am, far earlier than is necessary, but we do want to arrive in time for sunrise. We're one of the last ones out the door but even at our slow pace we wind up passing more than half the people ahead of us. At one point I get a bit ahead of Henning and Jan and find it hard to get my footing in the dark. I gave Henning my flashlight, so I just lay down for awhile on a rock and wait for a suspicion of light. Once I have that I can move much faster and can appreciate my surroundings better.

The narrow summit gets a bit crowded during sunrise, but the view is absolutely wonderful. Kinabalu is a beautiful mountain, with many interesting granite formations -- just like a wonderland on top. When the first direct rays of sun blaze forth from the east, everyone cheers. Thanks to Henning and Jan, I actually have many photos from this trip and will try to get some online sometime.

On the way down we wisely stop off at Laban Rata to have a short nap in the room. Coming down off a mountain is always more difficult than the way up. It's quicker, but the down muscles are less used, so they are always the most sore afterwards. I do get to appreciate the jungle scenery more on the way down, since my eyes get a much larger field of vision. We stop to examine some pitcher plants and some flowers.

Climbing Mt. Kinabalu was another one of those trips that had been in the back of my mind for many, many years. It was every bit as good as I'd anticipated and I couldn't have had better company.