I climbed Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak on the island of Borneo, early on my round-the-world (RTW) trip, in the fall of 1996. Arriving in Borneo after two months in Indonesia, I caught a horrible chest cold, and was laid up in the city of Kuching for a week. Climbing this peak was the end of my recuperation. All but the first picture are in Malaysian Borneo.
These are durian, a famously stinky fruit of southeast Asia (there are laws against them in Singapore), that are nonetheless considered a delicacy.
A riverfront walk in Kuching.
A colonial house in Kuching.
One of the peaks of Mt. Kinabalu.
The summit are of Mt. Kinabalu.
It's about a five hour hike up to the hut at the bottom of this picture. Then you get up in the middle of the night to climb to the summit.
Sunrise, as I approach the summit.
Fixed ropes help on a slippery section.
Looking down at the "hut".
Low angle, but slippery and wet slabs near the summit.
Here I am on the summit.
Inset-eating pitcher plants in Kinabalu National Park.
A closeup of the pitcher plants.
As I was leaving the area, sitting by the roadside waiting for the bus, I saw a sign next to the road, that there was one of these rare stinking rafflesia "flowers". They aren't really flowers technically.
For a fee of about $1, a local led me through the forest to this wild specimen. Yes, it did stink.
