When unexpected extended holidays had us searching for new places to travel to, we came across Sabah on the island of Borneo in Malaysia. We did a quick google of things to do and climbing Mount Kinabalu, (the tallest mountain in all of Southeast Asia) was one of the top things to do! We were very excited and did some research on how to summit it. We found out Kinabalu Park only gives out 120 permits for the 2D1N Summit daily. With booking this trip 4 days prior to going, we quickly got in contact with one of the climbing companies that have the rights to summit the mountain and luckily got the last two park permits on days we were in Sabah!!
Coming from the Philippines (with beach clothes in our backpacks) left us scrambling to find some winter gear seeing as the summit rings in at a chilly 0 degrees with heavy winds. We also were required to have headlamps as you start the ascent to the top at 3 in the morning! It was quite the hunt on a tropical island for winter gear, however we found the bare necessities for a pretty cheap price after shopping around.
This last minute decision to summit Mount Kinabalu was pretty incredible, challenging and rewarding! We were picked up at our hotel at 6:30 in the morning and driven two hours to Kinabalu Park Headquarters where we met our guide and got our mountain passes. We started the hike at an elevation of 1866m above sea level. The first leg of the hike was a 6 kilometre trail to the base camp, an increase in elevation of 1406m (almost the equivalent of 3 CN towers). During our hike we saw numerous porters hiking supplies up to base camp (the only way to bring things to base camp), some of them were carrying as much as 80kgs on their backs. They do this everyday, we were super impressed!! We slept the night at base camp and woke up at 3 a.m. to start the ascent to the summit, which was a 3km trail with an elevation gain of 823m. It was dark, chilly and challenging the whole way to the summit where we waited at 4095m, to see the sunrise. This is the highest place on earth we’ve ever been, the views and feelings of accomplishment were priceless.
After watching the sunrise and taking in all the views above blankets of clouds, we started our 3km decent (we were pretty cold) back to base camp to have breakfast and a short rest before the 6km trek to the bottom. We hiked a total of 18 + kilometres and a total elevation gain of 2.3 km, straight up and we had to walk it back down (jello legs lol). Safe to say we slept well that night.
Enjoy!
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Song #1: Justin Jesso, Seeb - Bigger Than (MVRE Remix)
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Updated: Oct 10, 2020
While spending 32 days backpacking through Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Malaysia, we ended our trip in Singapore.
Singapore, a small country that packs a big punch and will provide you with a different kind of experience from the one you could expect in other Asian countries! There’s no other place like it. Located just off the southern tip of Malaysia, this vibrant city/country boasts a beautiful blend of Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, Arab and English cultures. Its futuristic vibes had us in ‘AWE’ at the giant illuminated trees, glass domes housing beautiful species of plants, a stunning luxury hotel with the largest infinity pool in the world and an incredible sky line.
We stayed one night in the famous hotel Marina Bay Sands. We were dying to swim in their rooftop infinity pool and in order to do so, well….you need to be a guest. If you have ever seen pictures of Singapore, you have likely seen shots of the hotel in the city’s scape. This place is easily one of the most famous hotels in Asia, if not the world.
Most locals are bilingual proficient in English, Mandarin, Malay or Tamil. The currency is the Singapore dollar and is pretty close to the CAD dollar. It is one of the worlds greenest cities with over 50% of its area covered by greenery and it is home to over 2,100 native vascular plant species.
We LOVED adventuring around this beautiful place, exploring the luxurious and futuristic vibes it had to offer.
Enjoy!
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Song #1: Frank Pole - Anything Feat. Greyson Chance
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Updated: Sep 21, 2020
While travelling through Southeast Asia we had the opportunity to spend some time in the magical country of Myanmar. It truly is an untouched gem, rich with history and full of vibrant and joyful people. We stayed a couple nights in the city of Mandalay, home to many points of interest for us. The first stop was Hsinbyume Pagoda or as others call “The White Temple” about 1 hour from the city. Such a stunning and unique temple to see. There were only a few other locals at the temple and literally we had the entire place to ourselves to roam around and gaze upon the beauty of it. We then headed to Kuthodaw Pagoda right in the middle of Mandalay. These grounds are home to the largest book in the world also named the “Tripitaka Tablets”. The book is written on 730 stone tablets and 1460 pages. Each page is 1.07 meters wide and 1.53 meters tall. All the small white buildings you see in the video contain the tablets. To finish our time in Mandalay we were intrigued to go visit the “U Bein Bridge”, the longest teak wood bridge in the world. The bridge was built in 1850 and spans 1.2 kilometers. Walking along this bridge we saw so many locals out and about, some sitting in the shade and some swimming in the water. The area was inhabited by many types of animals and was such a calming experience. We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, “You need to go to Myanmar!”. We can’t wait to go back.
Enjoy!
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Song #1: William Black & Fairlane - Butterflies (Feat. Dia Frampton)
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Follow us at:
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Instagram: @ourmovingroots
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