I am currently completely engrossed in a book – Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It is very well written and very easy to read. I am on Day 3 and already half way through. Some complained that the book is incomplete however, I [...]]]> The title is just irrelevant to this post.

I am currently completely engrossed in a book – Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It is very well written and very easy to read. I am on Day 3 and already half way through. Some complained that the book is incomplete however, I wonder if one can ever fit a lifetime of great man within a book? He is indeed inspirational!

Chinese New Year is around the corner… again! Time flies. I am pretty excited to go home. Looking forward to catch up especially with my friends whom I have not been in touch as often as I would like. I will have to sacrifice some family time but hope to spend some quality time with my friends. I have the tendency to speed thru the week, spending a minute with everyone, touching lives but not engraving depth. This time, I want to have some slow ‘us’ time. Savoring the good old memories, catching up on time and keeping close for the coming journeys.

I know, I still have to complete my blog on Kilimanjaro. And I will!

My weakness is a passion that burns out too fast – as the Malay proverb goes, hangat hangat tahi ayam. I am trying to make a habit out of the innate motivation that grew within me since Kilimanjaro. I tell myself if I can complete that harsh journey, I can complete everything I do if I try hard enough. I managed to finish that last 5mins to meet my goal of 45mins running today. Phew! Seems like a small task but hell yes, it takes a lot of internal determination to run that extra mile. Especially with no personal trainer and no one looking, the temptation to get off the machine and ease my muscles was hard to resist. But I made it and now it drives me to want to complete things that I have not been able to get around doing in the last years. Like learning french (small). And find meaningful work (big). I still don’t know what I want to do (definitely not a telecom sales forever) that will make me happy yet fulfilled but I will start seeking that out.

Am going back to my book for now…

 The title resonates after all.

Distance: 13km
Duration: 8 hours
Altitude reached: 3950m

Chris decided to leave us this morning as he was really feeling unwell. I think he had a slight bout of hypothermia as his lips were kind of bluish. Unfortunately, his Camelbak which he placed next to him during [...]]]> Thursday, 15 Dec 2011

Distance: 13km
Duration: 8 hours
Altitude reached: 3950m

Chris decided to leave us this morning as he was really feeling unwell. I think he had a slight bout of hypothermia as his lips were kind of bluish. Unfortunately, his Camelbak which he placed next to him during the night leaked and left him freezing all night long in his sleeping bag.

On this day, we actually hiked up the same route we did the previous evening and continued till  the Lava Tower at 4600m. Then we descended again to our camp site which is at 3950m. It is in fact on of the vital acclimatization walk. According to our guide, if we made it up here, chances to get to the summit is high. Yeah!

But it was raining again! It was really nice of our guides to organize a warm lunch for us at about 4500m. We really needed that to warm us up. We had soup, fried chickens and vege empanadas. It was so good!!!

No pictures for today! My camera was clogged up with moist as I left it out of my bag the night before.

We headed up to the Lava Tower after lunch. Afredo started feeling really bad 30 minutes before Lava Tower so we gave him a Diamox. And then he kept going.

I felt completely ok! But again, I was walking like a turtle. I think my breathing technique helped too (regulated with my steps).

The vegetation declined eventually, leaving some sparsely scattered rocks and weird looking plants. And I had to take a pee break! My, it was quite a task to find somewhere discreet!

Before arriving at our camp site, we were greeted by majestic giant tree groundsels, celebrated kilimanjaro lobelias, evil-looking thistles called carduus keniensis and more lobelias. Magical!

We arrived at about 5pm. It was pasta night. Essential energy replenishing for our 6-days comrades who would be heading off for their big day the day after.

Oh, the view this night was amazing! Millions of stars shinning above us, and millions of city lights glittering below us.

After days and nights (I do think about other important things in life), I reached a compromise with myself to watermark with font size 6 [...]]]> I have been toying with the idea to have or to remove all the watermarks on my pictures. Also, where to place them and what size to make them be.

After days and nights (I do think about other important things in life), I reached a compromise with myself to watermark with font size 6 on the right corner of my pictures. (Sorry for the uneven sizes and placements in the past few posts. They were not very sightful!)

WHY? Just in case I become a popular blogger/ photographer one day

To dream is to hope

Sopa Lodge is one of the 4 lodges located on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. It stands at the highest altitude on the rim (2800m) which was great for our Kilimanjaro pre-acclimatization (main reason for my choice).

The place was serene and lovely. I spent most of our free hours reading [...]]]> 10-12 Dec 2011

Sopa Lodge is one of the 4 lodges located on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. It stands at the highest altitude on the rim (2800m) which was great for our Kilimanjaro pre-acclimatization (main reason for my choice).

The place was serene and lovely. I spent most of our free hours reading and dreaming away on the rattan rocking chair in the room. The rooms are huge! The other hours were happy hours by the pool side. It was chilly on most evenings and hot water bottles were placed to warm up the beds (and feet!). The walk from our room to the main lobby got us quite breathless but good training for us! Dinner was well presented, yummy and service was impeccable. We also met Goodlove, our waiter who speaks too many languages, a young and ambitious man. He inspires me with his enthusiasm to live for a better future.

Most of all, it has a million dollars view of the crater. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Verdict: Yes! Yes! Yes! They were nice to accommodate us upon our request to a room with a complete 180° view into the crater.

Distance: 7 km
Duration: 6 hours
Altitude reached: 3840 m

We were the last to be ready! I think our group members started to recognize our trait then. Malu!

Our chambres.

Another long day of walking in the rain. The vegetation gradually [...]]]> Wednesday, 14 Dec 2011

Distance: 7 km
Duration: 6 hours
Altitude reached: 3840 m

We were the last to be ready! I think our group members started to recognize our trait then. Malu!

Our chambres.

Another long day of walking in the rain. The vegetation gradually changed into a mix of heath and moorland which gave a different impression. I felt like being in a magic forest. Enchanting! Was expecting to see some magic mushroom and pixies (Thanks to Enid Blyton fairy tales).

It made my heart wrench every time I see the backbreaking hardworking porters passing by us. Can you imagine the hard work for just 7 USD per day!

Do remember to drink a lot! I also read somewhere that it was not advisable to walk and drink at the same time so I only drank during breaks to avoid AMS (also know as altitude sickness) at all cost. We only used water purification and neutralizer tablets without any flavoring. And still I managed to drink about 4 litres of water everyday! (That’s Agrey, one of our guides taking a break next to me)

It was really lovely except that the rain which made us cold. So, those cheap ponchos were worth it!

Can’t really remember how long we walked, perhaps about 4-5 hours (6km). The paths were rather steep but truly scenic moorland. There were streams and waterfalls. We had to go all the way up onto the Shira Plateau!

We trekked until a height of 3800m, descended and then camped at 3800m again.

Upon arrival, our guide suggested a short acclimatisation walk up to 4000m. It took about an hour and most people suffered from a mild headache due to the altitude while up there except me. Yeah! But I did walk really really really slow as I was afraid of being sick (remember my bad experience in KK!). At the end of that trek, I earned the nickname ‘moon walker’. Someone even asked me if I have asthma.

Poor Chris didn’t join us as he wasn’t feeling too well since the morning trek.

We missed the usual popcorn and tea session as we took too much time cleaning up (using baby wipes only!). Had the usual soup, rice with sauce for dinner and special treat of Belgian chocolates from Chris after. Yummy!

Toilet was again behind our tent. Easy access!

Distance: 12 km
Duration: 6 hours
Altitude reached: 3000 m

Chaotic morning! We had to check out, put our stuffs in the storage, grabbed our rental walking poles (we were so picky that they just gave us brand new ones), ate breakfast etc… And we were late [...]]]> Tuesday, 13 Dec 2011

Distance: 12 km
Duration: 6 hours
Altitude reached: 3000 m

Chaotic morning! We had to check out, put our stuffs in the storage, grabbed our rental walking poles (we were so picky that they just gave us brand new ones), ate breakfast etc… And we were late as usual. The bus almost left without us!

The group was finally complete with Charlemagne from Spain (works for UN) whom we met in the bus.

After quite a ride, I think about 40mins or so (with a last minute shopping break where I grabbed a bottle of juice to be used as pee bottle – useful for men!), we arrived at Machame Gate. There was a lot of hustle and bustle going on, porters distributing and packing stuffs. Thinking we were gonna set off immediately, we quickly wore our gaiters and strapped on our day pack but only to be instructed to go register ourselves at the front office. We took a classic picture with the Machame Gate board. 

Then we waited for quite a while (luckily I used the nice clean toilets twice because upon entering the park, there were only bush toilets). We chatted with everyone a bit and got to know each other better.

We also got insulted by a German couple of our new shoes. Anyway, we didn’t only had new shoes, we had new everything! We were truly novice climbers!

Finally, our guide came to get us and we set off. Near the entrance of the park there were still a lot of activities going on. The porters had to weigh the loads they were going to carry on their back as they are only allowed to carry a maximum of 18kg nowadays but man, that’s still heavy!

After trotting for about 10mins, Michael told us that we should remove the cover of our walking poles. Hehe, newbies!

We started our journey walking through the rain forest. It was beautiful and enchanting until it started pouring. And pouring. And pouring. We used the rain cover for our backpack and put on the poncho (useful to have!) to protect us from the rain .

We continued walking in the rain for hours. At lunch break, we huddled closely together under the trees and chomped on the lovely lunch box provided (bun, egg, samosa, cake, juice, peanuts). During this time, we realized Alfredo was totally soaked. He forgot to bring his rain gears and the poor guy was shivering. Mr Fudge offered his jacket or poncho but Alfredo couldn’t accept them. In the end, we asked the guides for any extra rain gears which they kindly provided including a whole new set of clothes change for him too. Phew!

The walk was more than 10km and it was really tough for me especially with the rain and cold. At the end, Wilson (our own guide as we are doing the 7 days program instead) offered to carry my backpack for me which I gladly accepted. I still struggled but managed to reach the first camp after a long 6-7 hours. Yeah, happy faces!

We got assigned to our tents and found a portable toilet erected next to us. Luxury camping! They gave us some warm water for cleaning (in which I managed to wash my sweat-filled hair too).

Next, was tea and popcorn time then followed by dinner (soup, fried fish, meat sauce, rice). We had to go to our mess tent for all meals. It was always cozy there!

A long drive of 6 hours awaited us, but we were excited to go to Moshi to meet with the rest of the group. So, we left Sopa Lodge at sharp 10am and arrived at Springlands Hotel at 4.30pm. We will do the climb with Zara Tours which was selected by [...]]]> Monday, 12 Dec 2011

A long drive of 6 hours awaited us, but we were excited to go to Moshi to meet with the rest of the group. So, we left Sopa Lodge at sharp 10am and arrived at Springlands Hotel at 4.30pm. We will do the climb with Zara Tours which was selected by Chris and his friends. Zara has a good reputation so I was not too worried about that. They are the largest climbing tour operator in Moshi.

We quickly checked in and joined the evening briefing for the climb at 5pm. Met Raymond who is the head guide for our group, a soft spoken guy. He briefed us on the route, various camps, portable toilets (yeah!), gears, minor details and answered to our questions. We also met up with part of our group – Adam from Atlanta (Professional euphonium player), Sarah from Melbourne (Medical trainee, doctor-to-be), Alfredo from Spain (Veterinarian) and Chris (Banker), our friend. The rest were due to arrive that night.

Also, made a quick trip to the rental shop to get some stuffs which we needed (walking poles for 10 USD).

We had dinner at the hotel (9 USD). Food was quite ok, self serving. 3 more of our group members arrived – Michael and Clarissa (Bankers) from Hong Kong, Melanie from Melbourne (another doctor-to-be, yeah!). What a diversity!

We retired early to our rooms to pack and rest for the big day.