...Coming down

Trip Start Jun 09, 2003
1
137
169
Trip End Jun 02, 2007


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Flag of Malaysia  ,
Thursday, October 13, 2005

Well, after the arduous climb to the top I thought it would all just be plain sailing on the way down, but alas no it was not to be. The saying it was all downhill from here springs to mind. It was fine going back across the granite slabs, much easier going down than coming up. Stopped at the checkpoint to de-register ourselves and I had a mouthful of my Snickers. Big mistake, I instantly felt very sick. I struggled down the last few hundred metres back to Laban Rata and lay down on my bed. We had just over an hour until we began our downward leg. I didn't think I was going to be in a fit state to do it, but after a visit to the loo and some rehydration salts I was feeling marginally better, not a lot, but a bit. We started off slowly but I just felt incredibly naseous so we took it even slower. We stopped off for a break and had a slice of orange which made me feel heaps better. Half an hour later we had the other half of the orange and I was feeling almost human again. Unfortunately we weren't even half way down the hill at this point. Claire, who up until this point had barely broken a sweat, was beginning to feel the pressure of going downhill. Me, I'd been feeling it for quite some time. About 2km from the bottom Tumas very kindly took my rucksack for me, giving me a small lease of energy. Claire said it was sheer desperation to get off the mountain that actually got us back down - I have to agree! Made it all the way to the bottom and there looming ahead of me were the 85 steps I'd happily pranced down the day before. There was no happy prancing on this occasion, just lots of huffing and puffing and well you know! A lot of people often say to me why do you put yourself through it, why knacker yourself climbing up and down such a big hill. I used to ask myself that very same question, I used to hate climbing hills. The sense of achievement of having done it is one thing, but the view from the top has to be worth every excrutiating moment. It's just amazing standing above the clouds at 4,095m above sea level and looking down at the land below. We handed back our poles, had our 'after' pictures taken and climbed back into the car back to the park entrance. We managed to get a mini-bus to take us back to KK where we enjoyed a nice slice of cheesecake before collapsing in front of the TV for the remainder of the evening...
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