Ben's Travel Blog
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves" - Edmund Hillary
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
New Zealand Nature
It's not possible to go to NZ without getting caught up in the beauty of it all, just a few photos from my most recent trip there. Enjoy!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Borneo from Above
Me on Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Photo by Ted.
Water village, Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Kinabatagan River, Sabah, Malaysia
Female proboscus monkey
Male (need I say it?) proboscus monkey
Hungry leeches
Sleeping birds
Worlds smallest frog
Hornbill
Long tailed macaque
Hornbill
Kingfisher
Fish trap
Orangutan at rehabilitation centre
Mt Kinabalu, 4095 m
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Yellow watermellons
80 kg yellow fin tuna
Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Water taxis
Interior of a couse in the water village
Water village, Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Water village, Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Kinabatagan River, Sabah, Malaysia
Female proboscus monkey
Male (need I say it?) proboscus monkey
Hungry leeches
Sleeping birds
Worlds smallest frog
Hornbill
Long tailed macaque
Hornbill
Kingfisher
Fish trap
Orangutan at rehabilitation centre
Mt Kinabalu, 4095 m
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Yellow watermellons
80 kg yellow fin tuna
Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Water taxis
Interior of a couse in the water village
Water village, Bandar Sari Bagawan, Brunei
Breathing heavily, I look down at my sweat socked shirt which is pulsating with each beat of my heart. I look around at the ever thinning jungle around me, what I don't see is that the air is also thinning, my body is trying to adjust, to compensate. It feels like it is failing, with the hut in sight I feel like I am there, but several rest stops are required before I arrive exhausted. The sign tells me that I have reached 3273 m above sea level, the temperature has dropped from a steamy 30 degrees where we started to under 10. I rest, in 10 hours we will set out for the summit 900 m above.
Tossing and turning I don't sleep, the rain splashes down in a perpetual rush for the sea. I look at my clock, 1.37, I can't sleep so I get my things together and head downstairs, the stars shine brightly in the sky, my mood lifts. We have a quick bite to eat and head out, a line of 50 or so head lamps proceeds us, weaving its' way upwards. The sound of rushing water filla my ears as the tropical rain fills every crack and crevice. We make good time, passing person after person, just one light can be seen ahead of us, we soon catch up and pass, it's only us and at mountain. We move steadily up, the ever thinning air not seeming to affect us as it did the previous day. The summit is now in sight, we scramble over the last boulders to reach the summit at 4095 m. The world pans out below, a chilly wind blows lightly, cooling us to the bone. The snake of lights moves slowly towards us to the east, a lightning storm flashes brightly to the west, lights of a town to the north and millions of brilliant stars shine above. A glow on the horizon indicates the the sun will soon arrive. Everything is PERFECT!
Labels: Malaysia Borneo Kinabalu trekking tramping hiking mountain