I don't write many blog entries. I'm not a writer, and I doubt my daily stories has much potential to inspire. Lately my days are just filled with tasks to be done so I don't have to think about them anymore. Who wants to hear about that? But tonight is different. I think I've hit some sort of a mental wall. All the things that are happening are just blurred into one whirlwind, and I'm over telling everyone that I'm busy.

In regards to where my jewellery business is at, it's going fantastically considering it's interrupted by school and work. I'm juggling between replenishing popular designs, designing new things, filling in custom orders and updating my online presence. But thanks to the great people out there who follow my work, sales has been going quite steady even with no markets. CIT is going crazy preparing for Floriade and work in the florist is picking up also. With all this happening, Greg and I just bought our first house. We're going to move in there somehow soon before Floriade starts hopefully. We also have our 7 month old niece in the back of our mind who is in the hospital.

Tonight was supposed to be my 10 year school reunion. I could't cope with the thought of having to travel to Melbourne over a weekend with all this happening so I chose to stay at home. Greg is away to Sydney for the weekend leaving me alone, and I'm feeling a deep regret being alone doing nothing while everyone else is out there having a great time. Oh well, I've had a good run 10 years after school. I might still not be rich but I finally know what I want to do in life... I don't know if I'm good at it or not but at least I know I'm worth something.

Something happen to me this week that I thought was quite ironic and actually, I still don't quite understand. I was jobless in 2011, got depressed and thought I had nothing to give to the world. Somehow this year I got a confidence boost with Fenon doing very well and the significant Royal Easter Show win. You would think that with that kind of improvement it would give a big boost to my career. Yet things haven't really changed much and I still get problems. Until this day my boss still doesn't let me touch any work that is mildly interesting, I still get rejected to attend into a few markets and finally this week my teacher at school wouldn't let me get my hands on the floral jewellery making book because she doesn't want the rest of the class to get a shock when they see what I could do. And that kind of discourages me a little.

I live everyday having faith in God knowing that everything is under His control, so I'm not complaining. I'm simply standing here, observing His works in my life and the worldly view of the bi-product of my worldly achievements. When I was on the other side I always thought that if I could prove to all these people I'm worth something, maybe I will gain a bit of respect and my life will get infinitely better. It did get better, but I didn't realize being great doesn't just mean happy ending.

I never thought that if I climb the ladder higher it means the possibility of falling even harder. But thats Ok, I will never dwell on that. I'll just never ever look down.

My Tribute to Van Gogh

Floristry has been half of my occupation for almost 2 years now, but I've decided to go back to school and get qualified. I always thought it was going to be a waste of time and money. The time I could've spent to work is now replaced with class and homework. Plus, since they still count me as an international student I had to pay 3 times more for this semester not including materials and flowers. Somehow these things didn't put me off. Greg supported me, we found the money and paid for it.

Because of that I didn't really want to miss a single opportunity to grow, and I've told my teachers that. The day I enroll they gave me a competition to enter- which I didn't think much of, all I know it had a vague uninspiring theme 'Tribute to a Falling Star". I thought, 'O geez, what a way to make a political statement and get into trouble'.

Anyways, first day of class came and I was really, really nervous my stomach felt like it's invested by things that flies. The idea of going back to school terrifies me. But as it turns out, I really enjoyed school. I really like my teachers and my classmates, and I'm learning A LOT. We wired a heck of a lot of stuff too which is right up my alley. Didn't find it easy though. I need to work faster, and although my jewellery making skills help, I still have to stop making everything so petite like my jewellery.

Week 4 of school came and it was right on the date where I'm supposed to have submitted my application to the Oasis people- and I completely forgot about it. As soon as I saw Gina she says, "Are you going to the Easter show?" I'm like, "What Easter show?"- and that's the other thing I didn't know. The competition is part of the Sydney Royal Easter Show- and it really threw me off because I've never heard anything about it let alone know what it is. Though it did clicked to me that well, I almost missed my opportunity. I didn't get home till after hours that night and so I had to email them. The next day I called them to make sure they've got my application. They did, I'm in, all good.

So now I have to find my topic. Oh my goodness my head goes round and around between Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson and I just can't see it. I spoke to all my friends about this thing that I have to do. And actually I found the idea that my topic doesn't have to be an actor/singer from a conversation over dinner I had with a girl I bumped into from Melbourne. We were talking about the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition in Canberra, and then about how Monet's paintings are coming soon to Sydney. Monet was actually my first choice of topic. The next day my boss said, "Did you know Monet has had a lovely life?" No, no idea but he's famous and I can actually relate to him as supposed to Marilyn Munro and I'm freakin out cause the competition is next weekend! 2 days later I mentioned this idea to Hazel and she said, "Why don't you choose Van Gogh? He had a terrible life and he was a painter of stars!"  

So that was it. Topic chosen. During class I was making a bridal bouquet and sketching ideas at the same time. By the end of the class I showed Hazel my sketches, she gave me feedback, more ideas, and off I go.

That coming weekend was very busy for me and Greg. My husband Greg is a very handy man so I drew him my ideas and he helps me build it. We tend to not know what step 2 will be until you're finished with step 1. Greg will ask me how are we going to do this and that and that and I'll have no clue until we get there. It was a challenging weekend. Greg was optimistic that whole time, but then on the way to church on Sunday night he said, " I'm not so sure about this anymore, I think the pole is going to fall over...". During church I was so stressed I couldn't really think about anything else besides my stupid installation

On Wednesday I invited Hazel to my house to have a look at the installation because it was already half buildt. She was only there for 45 minutes, but in that time she managed to give me feedback that changed my ideas and materials that I chose initially. It was so productive and focused, I don't think I've enjoyed a more intelligent conversation ever. That afternoon I made phone calls and run around for flower source. This is really bothering me but being in Canberra I have no choice but to order flowers from Sydney and pay double just so that I have a peace of mind of having the materials that I'm after. An hour after I called the supplier, Hazel called me back and said, "Hi Fionna, I'm in Belconnen and looking at your flower order right now. I see that you're missing this and that...". I'm kind of amazed how committed she is to this. I spent the rest of the afternoon making wire swirls and when Greg came home he drove me to school to see Hazel again. We managed to make more changes to it and finally wrote up a run sheet. Talking to Hazel with Greg was extremely helpful- it just means that all of us are in the same page with absolutely everything. Hazel just knows the black and white of common sense and it saves me and Greg arguing about the little things. We drove home that night feeling very confident that our installation is going to stay up.

The flowers arrived to Canberra from Sydney on Friday afternoon. Greg and I had to work that day but Greg generously left work early to pick it up. That night we still had time to go to a Tripod concert- because they are our heroes and I actually get to see their concert this time. After the concert Greg and I tried to work more but we were both so tired that we ended up just getting cranky at each other and didnt get anywhere. I went to bed at 2am, got up at 8am and kept going. I was mainly working with the wire swirls, making them and gluing them to the transparent tube. The wire wouldn't stick to the plastic and I was getting very frustrated, so in the morning I decided to wire them to the tube.

By the time we've got everything sorted and packed, it was noon exactly when we left the house. We dropped by to "office works" to get my Van Gogh's sign laminated and then we're really off to Sydney. Once we got there we checked in to the formula one hotel in Einfield and dropped off Theresa to the train station. After that we went to visit one of our friends in the hospital who just had a major kidney surgery. His surgery went well and we had a good catch up time with him even though it wasn't very long. And then we met up with some other friends for dinner. Thankfully we finish everything by 8pm and we were both really exhausted.  Greg fell asleep while I finish more wiring and I spent a few minutes before going to sleep to memorizing my run sheet, praying and trying to calm my nerves. Not sure how well that works because I could't sleep for a few hours and for some unknown reason I jumped out of bed at 2 am.

We left the hotel at 5:30am and got to the Olympic park at around 6am. As I'm writing this I just realize the reason why I was so tired all that time last week. I didn't really get much sleep did I? We were the first one to arrive at the flower pavilion for this competition. There's already a few people there for the Interflora competition, but not for the Designz cup. A few minutes later while we were setting up, we met Maria, Katrina and Michael.

The previous night and that morning I was actually really worried about the state of my irises. They were closed when I got them, but they opened fully when we drove them to Sydney. That's the thing with irises, when they are exposed to a bit of heat, they will open straight away and they will die within a day or 2. I have been warned about getting marked with the quality of flowers so the fully bloomed iris was a bit of a worry. On the other hand, my orange lily hasn't opened yet and I would really really like them to be open. Aaah well... this is the life of a florist. I sms Hazel the night before about this and in the morning she rang me at 8:30am to see if there's a possibility I could get a replacement. The competition starts at 9am so I thought it was out of the question. Though I asked one of the stewards opinion about it and she said it looks fine. Phew...

The competition has been postponed to 9:30 because 3 of the participants weren't there and we thought that they might have been stuck in traffic. As it turns out they were just a no show, which was a bit annoying. My brain was so committed to start at 9am that I became so incredibly agitated  The few minutes before we start all of us were just standing around waiting. My stomach is churning, my hands are tingling and I was hyperventilating so much I thought I was going to faint. Argh! Thankfully the girl next to me, Naomi started talking to me and diverted my attention for a bit, until we heard someone yelled out "Start!"

I tried to move and think as fast as I could. I think one of the most difficult thing to do is trying to get perspective of the design because I can't really stand back and look. The general public was also there to see us work but I was so focused I couldn't see anything else apart from my flowers.  The technique I was unfamiliar and nervous about is glueing, and I have to glue all the blue florets for the stars. Hazel had briefed me about it so I just did exactly as she said and it worked. I did wasted time gluing a lot more flowers than I need because I had no clue of how much I need. How am I supposed to know these things? And speaking of being concerned of the quality of the irises, the blue orchids were bad news when I opened it- good thing I only used 5 florets in the end. I think dyed blue orchids are horrendous anyway. Gina reckons I should get extra marks  just to use them and making them look acceptable. The Xanadu leaves were also terrible but I didn't actually realize until after. The bag of moss that I got was also terrible, but I don't use them enough to realize that. I even thought, "Oh, so this is what commercial moss looks like. Ok well this is great cause it's really easy to pin!".  

I thought I finished everything when they yelled out "5 minutes!" so I walked around to check. I forgot to cover one of the glue spots with blue flowers at the back and quickly did that, and that's about what I had time for. Of course there are more things that I would have liked to fix but we only have 90 minutes....

I quickly tried to clean my area, but alas I forgot my dusting pan- which was one of the biggest mistake I made. My moss look so messy! My mouth was so dry and my head is spinning. So much stress and now it's all over in a split second! I'm supposed to be cleaning up but I had no idea what to do so I got distracted talking to spectators and putting left over blue florets on little girls hair... until Gina came and told us that we can put everything away in the back room.

So that's it, it's over. We finished at 11am on the dot. I gathered up with my new found friends and started circling their works. Oh wow... the amount of work and interpretations of fallen star by everyone else is so diverse and impressive. I really enjoyed being with them and talking about their concepts.

Tiny Tim 

Audrey Hepburn

Lance Armstrong

Heath Ledger

Michael Jackson

Judy Garland

Amy Winehouse

As soon as I saw the judges circling around our work I am out of there. I didn't want to see any more flowers. When I walked out of the flower pavilion, I realized that I was well and truly in some sort of a carnival. People, shows, rides, it's all very exciting but then I ended up paying $14 for a disgusting hot dog and a small drink. Oh well we were quite desperate for food. We actually had lunch with Maria, her daughter, Katrina and Michael which was really nice. During lunch Michael actually mentioned that my piece was his favorite. Katrina also said that even before she knew I did Van Gogh, she could already tell from when we were setting up the installation. I was so flattered and its very humbling actually. I think everyone realize that art comes first and winning comes in later.  

We had to be back by 2pm for the judges and so Greg, Theresa and I went exploring. We saw the free-style motorbike show, wood sawing comp, domestic animal competition, arts and craft tent. Oh man, it was phenomenal... I only wished it wasn't so hot and the food wasn't mind blowingly expensive.

I wasn't keen to go back to the pavilion. I hate competitions to begin with so it was hard to face reality. Nevertheless I was nervous to see the result. By the time I got there the rest of the contestants are standing next to their creations and the winner is being announced. Michael won highly commended with his Lance Armstrong, Maria won third with Heath Ledger's character of "The Joker", Sahar won 2nd with Michael Jackson. "...and the winner of the New South Wales 2013 Designz Cup is, Fionna Tamin with 'Starry Night'."

When I heard my name being called I kind of have this dream-like feeling like I was watching myself from the crowd. I felt like a rockstar for about 20 minutes onwards. There's cameras flashing everywhere, and everyone wanted to talk to me. I was really happy of course, but I was too tired to process the reality. All I wanted to do is cry but I have to keep smiling for the camera. I was so flattered when Maria came and hugged me, and then Michael- I really want to start crying then! I mean, they are competitors, but they are genuinely happy for me. I'm so utterly and completely moved by them. Gina called Hazel almost straight after the announcement. I can't believe that last week I thought I'd be lucky to just have the installation staying up, if Hazel didn't plant confidence in me on Wednesday I don't think I'd have much faith in myself to do this.

Glory aside, I have received some constructive feedback from David Burger about my piece. He said instead of just moss to cover the bottom of the board, he would've like to see the board covered in some material that resembles the brush strokes in the painting. Especially the moss that I use aren't very good quality. Luckily for me, everyone else's moss are in the same state as mine so I was excused. After receiving feedback from David, Gina was willing to reveal her comments which in my opinion is more valuable. She mentioned the quality of moss I used, which was bad luck, but then the Xanadu leaves that I used wasn't great either, which I didn't realize. I have to admit that I was too focused in figuring out how to place them that I forgot to inspect their quality. I also cut the really tall gymea leaves in half and use both half in the arrangement. Gina mention that in a florist it's Ok to do that because we're trying to save cost, but competition work is not about being efficient with materials. And then my parallel Molucca Balm is not really parallel so I have to make them face a certain direction. I did it subconsciously and made them facing out instead of in. Gina reckons it made the arrangement loose it's energy. And lastly, I used a banksia in one arrangement but forgot about it in the other 2 oasis which I agree, it was a super big mistake. Actually, the second I finished, I looked back to the pile of banksia behind me and thought, "Oh great... I totally forgot about them."  I remember that as I was doing the banksia, I somehow remembered to glue the paper daisy in the moon swirls and then forgot about the rest of the banksia after. Oh well, I do have issues staying calm under pressure, so I'm just happy that I didn't forget anything major. 

Picking Van Gogh's painting might have been lateral but I let the painting dictate my design, whether other people have to come up with their designs from scratch. Out of all the displays, Michaels' Lance Armstrong was my favorite. He ran out of time and didn't get to put more flowers in but I really like his concept and you can tell that he's done his research.

After the announcement Greg and I decided that we wanted to stay in the Easter show as much as we can even though we were exhausted. We stayed up to the rodeo show and left at 7:30pm. We arrived Canberra at 11:30pm. I was so exhausted from adrenaline and hardly any sleep. I closed my eyes and before I knew it I had to go to work. On Monday after work I was sorting out photos and writing up interviews, got over tired and couldn't sleep until 3am. I couldn't concentrate at work on Tuesday and felt very frustrated with myself. That night for dinner Greg decided to cook a roast. We didn't have dinner until 10pm and although I was very hungry all I want to do is sleep. When it was time to eat, Greg accidentally moved me while I was holding a boiling hot gravy and it spilled all over my left hand. It didn't hurt too much but I started crying because I'm over worked, hungry, my house is a chaos and I felt like an absolute mess.

But now it's all over. As I'm writing this I'm at my in laws farm for the Easter long weekend. I slept 12 hours last night and woke up a 11:30am this morning. My mum in law fed us very well in time and everyone leaves me alone with my tab writing this all day. This competition has been a really awesome adventure.  

Mt Kinabalu Adventure

My friend, Amanda is a mad keen adventurer. I first met her when I decided to go on a spontaneous 6 day hike along the Great Ocean road organized by her and our mutual friend, Liz, along with 2 other strangers. Ever since that amazing 6 days together, we have done another 5 day hike along the ocean wilderness in the border of Victoria and NSW. On the first day of that hike, Liz brought her ukulele along and we were making up songs over the camp fire and hot chocolates about brown bears. And then we started wondering if brown bears exist in Malaysia because Amanda is thinking about going there at the end of this year for her housemates wedding. After that, we jokingly sang songs about island hopping and climbing mountains in Malaysia.

11 and a half months later, on Boxing day, we found ourselves in Sabah, getting ready to climb Mt. Kinabalu together. God have planned our timing perfectly. It just happen that the tallest mountain in South East Asia exist in the Borneo part of Malaysia. I wasn't really planning to attend Amanda's housemate's wedding in Kuala Lumpur, but Greg's sister who lives in Bangladesh just had a baby and so along with many other reasons, we decided to go there via Malaysia.

It took 2 and a half hours for us to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu. There are 6 of us going on this hike. From the airport we decided to take a taxi straight up to the base of the mountain instead of the bus. It is much more expensive, but we decided that it would be much safer and straight forward. Besides, it is an additional 2 hours drive from the airport to reach the lodge we're staying in. We hired 2 taxis for 6 of us and 4 large suitcases. One taxi cost us 160 ringgit which is around Aus $55

This is our first time in Sabah, we haven't even seen the city and already we're making our way up to the mountains. The road up the mountain is very steep and the Toyota we were in is struggling to push through. When we traveled high enough we could already see the beautiful mountain and sunset views.

We arrived at "Sutera" lodge where we will spend the night before our hike. Greg, Glen, Luke and I are in a larger lodge with 2 rooms, a bathroom, a lounge and a kitchen. Amanda and Cecilia stayed in a separate cozy lodge that is more like a hotel room. That night we had a buffet dinner, did a bit of last minute preparation shopping at the souvenir shop of all places. The shop is actually pretty good and definitely catered for a last minute mountain climbing prep. After that, we all went back to the bigger lodge to play cards.   

Amanda and Cecelia went back to their lodge at around 9pm for an early night as we planned to get going by 7am the next day. Little did we know that the rest of us are up for a very exciting night. I distinctively remember that I was flossing my teeth and the guys are packing up their back packs when we heard this crashing noise on the roof that is very close to us. I was hoping to God that is wasn't our lodge. Nothing happened for about a minute... and then water started trickling from our bathroom roof. Less than 5 minutes later the water came down more and more and started coming down to the room next to it which is our bedroom. I stood there in disbelief, frozen. Thankfully Glen was very realistic and decisive of whats going on. He told us to pack all our luggage and take them outside the lodge- we are definitely not spending the night there. 10 minutes later, the house's floor was pretty much flooded and it was like raining indoors! We called and called the reception but no one came. The girl on the phone was obviously in training so even though I explained to her that the house is flooding and we desperately need to be relocated, she kept saying that she will send us the 'maintanance'. Finally Glen took over the phone and ask to speak to someone higher in charge. Only then finally they are sending us a van to re-locate us. As soon as that's done, Luke and Greg turned off all the power as it was leaking through the corners of the rooms.

We all got out of the house waiting for the van and stood there watching the lodge as if it was melting away. At one point I thought I left my camera inside so I ran in to the house with my head torch- it felt really weird, like I'm walking through that dump of a house in fight club or something.

We lost an hour of sleep because of this and so we decided to get up an hour later than what we told the girls. Unfortunately for Greg and me, waking up that morning was another event in itself. We wanted to get up at 6:30am and hopefully get out of there by 8. Greg's alarm went off that morning and although it was hard, we managed to get out of bed. Greg had a shower, we both finished packing, got all our hiking gear on and are ready to go for breakfast. Greg went next door to get the boys while I waited in the room. When he got back inside he said, 
"Guess what?" half smiling. "...I'm still in Australia time." Which was 3 hours earlier!!! 

"Oh Greeeg...! Are you serious? Are you kidding meee???" 

"No, no I'm not. I went into the guys room and they asked me what time is it. I looked at my watch and I was like, Um... I think I'm still on Australia time. Luke laughed though, and Glen went straight to sleep. So, yeah... no wonder it's still dark outside! Hehe..."

 I must admit that I started laughing listening to his story. But then I quickly remember that it's 4am and I'm already in my hiking boots... and then I feel like killing him.

So without much of a muchness I went straight to bed in my gear and all. Unfortunately the second half of my sleep isn't that great as I dreamnt that Luke and Glen had turned into zombies and both tried to eat me.

On the way to breakfast, we went back to our flooded lodge to see if they have done anything about it. And sure enough, there were still water running inside the house and the wall paint started to bubble up from being wet. How amusing....  

We aim to start walking at 8am in the morning, but there is a few things that need to be done before we go, and a few extra costs that need to be paid. At this time, 3 Ringgit is an equivalent to 1 $Aus and $US. It cost 10 RMB per luggage to leave our luggage overnight in the reception while we climb the mountain, 15 RMB per person for the park permit. Everyone who climbs up must have a guide. Our guide cost us 150 ringgit for the group. And lastly, we didn't realize that we need to catch a a van to the starting point. At first we thought it was a bit of a rip off to pay another 8 RMB each for transport, but then we realize that the starting point is 4.8km away from reception, and there's a lot of uphill, so it was more worth it. Later on in the hike, we met a guy who is travelling alone and they asked 48 Ringgit from him for transport. He refused to pay so he has to walk the additional 4.8km whilst his guide took the van and rode past him.Yeah, he's pretty unhappy about that. 

We met our guide from the reception. Without even kidding, his name is Genius (spelled Jennius), and he is an absolute champ. Today, we are climbing 2/3 up the total climb from the starting point which is 1800 meters to the hut called 'Laban Rata'.We didn't start walking until 9:30am.

What can I say about the walk? Well, it's definitely not flat...AT ALL. At first we were all quite happy and being under the cloud level so it was warm and we could see things. Amanda, Jennius and I tend to stick together as I'm the slowest member of the group and can't help but to stop and have a good look at the vegetation. I'm particularly very fond of flowers, moss and trees- same with Amanda so we got along well- and Jennius didn't mind.

Every time we pass another guide, they would greet Jennius with a surprise. Turns out that he had just climbed up the mountain yesterday and back again earlier this morning. End of December is a very busy season for them so they are out of guides. Jennius is already a part time guide but I bet he is capable to do it anyway because he is super fit. Every year they held a worldwide 23km run up and down the mountain. People from all over the world are attracted to this extreme challange. Jennius participated in the veteran race this year and he came 10th and won 400 RMB!

Jennius has been married for 24 years, and he's got 8 kids. The rest of the time when he's not guiding, he grows vegetables and only sell them in the market occasionally  I'm not so sure how that works. Although the land in Borneo is very fertile. It might just be that he's living a self-sustainable life and only need money to send his kids to school.

There is a hut built roughly on every kilometer of the hike where we can have a bit of a shelter and there's flush toilets! There's also a lot of 'squirrels' around the huts but Luke reckons they're some sort of a forest rat with fluffy tails. Jennius said that they love chocolates, and they are super tame because of all the feeding and attention they get from the tourist. It is a bit unsettling for me though, as cute as they are. The idea of a wild animals relying on tourist for food is never good.

Soon enough we reached the clouds line and it was very foggy. We met a lot of people walking down from the mountain. They said the view on the top is really worth it so it was a sign an encouragement for all of us. It must be at the cloud lines where I got puffed up very quickly and every time that happened it was very hard to catch my breath and the climb was getting challenging. It was very clear and sunny above the cloud which was great. We could see the hills under us covered in clouds and we could see the granite mountain getting closer and it was very exciting- although from there on the hike got noticeably steep.   

     

Amanda, Jennius and I were sort of hiking in sync with a very big Korean grou11p. There were 17 people with 2 guides going with them. We got along with them on the way up. Since I was going very slow, I was loving their pace. Everytime they see a nice spot for a break, they would sit down and have a few minutes of picnic or so. This happens probably almost every 50 meters up. On the way I learnt a bit of Korean, and I was trying to get a tiny bit of English out of their youngest member of the group which was a 9 year old boy. They offered me and Amanda some Korean whisky and lollies- why not hey? I tried to sing some songs with Amanda and their guide Jimmi- who is super friendly and speaks brilliant english- but unfortunately I couldn't get enough breath to finish any songs and need to save some air to actually climb up these super steep rocks.

Jennius was very good in pointing out some flowers to me and Amanda- so we managed to stop and appreciate a lot of different type of flowering orchids and the mountain's most treasured plant- the Napenthes Villaosa- the most gorgeous carnivore plant I've ever seen in real life- and in their natural habitat too! 

When I was anticipating to go on this hike, my biggest fear is to get eaten by leeches and come across with worms as I am terrified with anything that is gooey, has no legs or has waaay too many of them. I'm very thankful that I hadn't seen any leeches. Although I did saw an extremely big worm in the middle of the path. It look like it was about an inch wide and 30cm long. I freaked out big time, and Amanda just laughed and took a photo of it!  

The last 2 kilometers up was extremely hard. We always thought that laban rata is just sitting right on the corner of an uphill- but it never seem like it is. We finally got there at 4:30pm. The Koreans were ecstatic, but they didn't come in to the hut straight away. They stayed outside the hut for a good 15 minute to take photos and getting absorbed of the views from the hut. Amanda and I went straight in to the hut in the dining room where there is a massive dinner buffet and the rest of our friends waiting for us.

Greg was getting worried about me and even started to consider about climbing down to come and get us. Greg, Luke and Cecelia went zooming up the mountain and had arrived in the hut 2 hours earlier and already had a shower and everything. Glen arrived with the fellow hiker (same guy who had to climb an extra 4.8km before the starting point), Eduardo around an hour earlier. I thought I would be completely starving, but turns out I was only hungry for speficic thing- a sweet green bean and sago dessert soup with coconut milk. I needed that good extra sugary goodness. We were in a very happy mood during dinner. Saying hi to everyone we saw throughout the hike, laughing and telling stories. Everyone who are in this hike are the sort of adventurous people that are very easy to talk to.

After dinner, I really tried to make an effort to get to bed by 6pm. We have to be in the dining room to have supper by 2am for a 2:30am start to climb to the peak of the mountain by 6am for sunrise. 

All 6 of us stayed in one tiny room and the smell of each other is not really all that pleasant but I was so focused on getting to sleep I didn't care. The room is heated, and the bed is nice and clean so even though it was still light outside, I was asleep in no time. It seem like Cecelia and I are the only ones who got any deasant sleep. When Amanda's alarm went off at 1:30am, you can tell that Luke hasn't been asleep at all and he went, "Well that was a good restful sleep!" And everyone else laughed. Unfortunately all of the boys and Amanda got less than an hour of sleep. If I were them I don't know if I'd be keen to go up without much sleep.  

After supper, we were all out of the hut by 2:30am. It was raining outside and Jennius said that if the weather kept going like this they wouldn't let us climb all the way up. But the rain didn't hang around too long as we climbed up. The climb was alright, but again the lack of air is making me struggle a bit. It was nice to see everyone's head-torch shining neatly in line ahead and behind us though. The full moon was shining and it was very easy to see the view of the mountain peaks and the drop down.

Before long we reached the end of vegetation and the start of the granite where we have to get up using the white ropes. The ropes are attached to the granite so we used the ropes to pull us up when it's steep. When it's not steep we used the ropes as indication of where we are going especially when the weather is misty or cloudy.  The first time was a bit scary actually. We were pulling ourselves and walking up with a bit of granite path under us but with a steep drop just behind us.

Greg hiked with me the whole way this time. The shower he had the day before at Laban Rata was freezing and that gave him a cold so he decided to take it easy with me. It was a long tedious climb up the granite. I can tell you now that Greg and I never made it up to Low's peak. Greg and I are 400 meters away and we could see the peak but then it started raining. There isnt much view to see and the big scary wet cloud is starting to roll over in so we're convinced that there's not much to see from whichever side of the mountain.

The most memorable time for me I think is when I was sitting on the slopes of the granite next to a white rope when it was still dark. I felt like I was sitting in the heavens as the mountains around us look like hills and and the clouds are also so far down below us. It felt so amazing, peaceful,  tranquil and a sense of surreal-ness about it. Once I stop and look behind me it's really hard to believe that I got up half of that mountain with my own two feet. 

Going down in the rain wasn't much fun at all. We have missed the sun rise completely, it was white all around us and freezing cold! I had a long sleeve, a t-shirt, a jacket, and a rain jacket and it still feels very cold. I am also not a morning person at all! So when the  sunrise hit, I felt so exhausted, and it was getting a bit too much I wanted to cry. Then when we had to climb down the slippery granite with the ropes, I started falling asleep. Yes that's right, I was climbing down a super steep and slippery slide off a rock face with a rope and I was falling asleep. Greg kept looking back at me as I doze off and yelled at me to wake up. Anyway, we kept going and managed somehow. Now I understand why they don't let you go up there when it's raining. 

When we got back to Laban Rata, Greg's cold was playing up and he's even getting a fever. He was getting a bit worried about going down and wanted to go as soon as possible. On the other hand I was extremely tired and wanted to have breakfast and a nap before heading down. Anyways, I managed to have a tiny bit breakfast and less than 10 minute power nap. It must've done miracles to me because I suddenly felt very awake and look a lot less pale.

We left about one and a half hour before everyone else at around 9am. You use different muscle when going down the mountain so it was a different challenge. It wasn't until on the way down that I realize how incredibly steep the steps are. Makes me wonder how I managed to get up there in the first place.

On the way down we met very many fellow hikers who asked us how far left they have to go and if it will get any easier. And of course it really doesn't get any better from which ever way you look at it. The walk stays steep and difficult until you reach the very top. So unless you're in a race or doing it for the challange, I try to tell people to pace your energy instead of burning it up too fast. Try to enjoy the experience and the surroundings instead of focusing too much on getting there. With that being said, we did met this father and daughter who's trying to get to the top and back down in one day. They left at 8am and by 11am they've reached the 4km mark. That is just insane.

On the way down we also met a lot of 'porters'. Everything that is in Laban Rata is carried by these porters. We saw a few porters carrying all the food up there and then guy carrying up a gas tank up the mountain and another guy carrying all the rubbish down.

Greg and I reached back to the starting point by 3:30pm. Cecelia and Luke took over us and got there a few minutes earlier. We got picked up with the van from the resort and thankfully we didn't need to pay anything this time. Sitting inside that van felt like the greatest relief EVER!    

From there we had buffet lunch back at the Balsam restaurant. Going down must be very hard on Glen's knee's and it took him a lot longer to get down. Amanda and Jennius stayed with him though. They did managed to caught sight of the red monkeys in the trees- Glen is pretty happy about that.

We had a very good long lunch at the restaurant, but then we realize that there's a few things we needed to do before we go. We got our transport back sorted out for 150 RMB per van- and we all fit in one van this time. We got our luggage, and we got our walk certificate printed out. Turns out that they cost 10 RMB each to get printed out, which I ridiculous that they make you pay for your reward- but I guess it is only $3 really.  You can also ask them to print out several names into one certificate which is what I did for Greg and I. The buffett dinner finishes at 4pm, so I got 2 packed fried rice for Glen and Amanda when they get down the mountain. They dont seem to be very strict about giving food away either, so that was  very easy.

Finally Amanda, Glen and Jennius arrived at the reception at 6:30pm. It was getting very dark at this stage so we're all very glad to see them back. I thought Glen and Amanda would be extremely exhausted- and I am sure they are, but they don't look it at all. They seem content and happy. I gave Jennius a big tip- I think he's earned it. After saying a short goodbye to him we took the van straight back to Kota Kinabalu.

It was a long 2 hour ride to the hotel but none of us fell asleep. We were too excited discussing about what just happened to us. Even Glen and Amanda who hadn't had a big rest was very awake and talkative.

It's hard to believe that after all that, Glen, Greg, Luke and I checked into the fancy "Le Meridien" hotel looking (and smelling) extremely unpresentable. I was wearing my flip flops into the reception and carrying my muddy boots by hand. The lovely concierge saw my boots and insisted taking them off my hands along side with the rest of our luggage. I would suspect that we're not the first guest looking like this to arrive in the hotel. After a long bath and shower, Greg fell straight to sleep with his cold. I however went downstairs in the lounge with Luke and Glen and we all had a fancy cocktail each and had a mini post hike celebration. Just a side note, the Sabah Ice Tea in this place is very good.

The next day, I think I had the worst muscle sore compared to the other guys. Theirs only lasted for 2-3 days whether my legs were so unbearable to walk on for 5 days after. Oh my goodness it pains me very much every time I see even a single step in front of me. I thought I would spend the extra few days in Sabah doing things like island hopping and snorkeling  but no. Turns out that my muscles ached way too much, I caught Greg's cold, and the weather there is super hot and humid that as restless person as I am, I was very reluctant to get out of the hotel.

All in all. It was a very difficult walk, but it is only 1 day so it was worth it. It is very memorable though. We are all very glad that we've done it.