Mt. Kinabalu - Borneo

When I get a bee in my bonnet the only thing to do is get it out...I had decided long ago that I wanted to climb/hike a mountain in Asia - Everst was out of the question so I choose the highest one in Boreno, Malaysia - Mt. Kinabalu. 13,435 feet above sea level.

I had hiked trails all over Hong Kong so I thought no problem we got this covered. Little did I know what was in store for Ron and I on our climbing adventure. 

We stayed the first night in a lodge to help us adjust to the higher altitude,at about 5000 ft. In the morning we started our climb at about 6000 ft - hiked for 6 hours and reached our dorm room for the night at about 11,000 ft - the trail was only 6K long - but it was straight UP the mountain and for more then 1/2 of the time the rain was pouring down and it was like climbing up a waterfall- of course the rain water takes the least resistant path which was the TRAIL! My knee, the surgery one, would not allow me to reach the peak - you scale the granite side of the mountain - which is another 2,500 ft. 

During the last kilometer of the climb I had to mentally go inside myself and kept repeating one of my mantras... 

"I can do HARD things...I can do HARD things."  At one point on the trail..AKA the "waterfall" I just wanted to sit down and cry.  I had to keep going and pushing forward even though every fiber of my being wanted to QUIT!   

I learned some valuable lessons on my climb, some that are sacred to me.  I have done some pretty amazing things and some very hard things - but climbing this mountain was both physically and mentally one of the most challenging thing I have done in a long time.

I didn't QUIT - I kept climbing and I am okay with what we accomplished, albeit sore muscles and weary bones! 

I ROCK being a 54 year old NANA!