Post Mount Kinabalu: Pretty gruesome

Every astounding story has its horrendous side of it. Stopping at the beautiful part of the plot is not exactly my style. If you already knew that from my previous posts, kudos to you! That's a top-notch observation. If you don't, go read up! *wink*

"Gulp, gulp, gulp. Ahhh," Quenching my thirst with the untreated water from the mountain source. A little bit murky and brackish yet feels so refreshing during desperate times. At every resting checkpoint station, we refilled our bottle with water from the pipe near the washroom. Our mineral water bottle got emptied, not even halfway through the journey!

Let me recap on one crucial point from MOUNT KINABALU: BEYOND MY LIMIT. Climbing up, we only brought one bottle of one-liter mineral water each. Mine was just three-quarters filled. Carrying a full filled bottle was quite weighty for me. What more to say carrying more than that on my back? My weak backbone and soft shoulder would be in agony. At this moment, we finally thought of having some men on the team that would be blissful. Well, a man is more capable of handling more hefty burdens than a woman—biologically and physically speaking (debatable?). Sadly, it was too late for that. Haha!

Before our hike day, one of the several important things to be prepared for was altitude sickness attack. We got the drug prescription for high altitude exposure called Acetazolamide at the pharmacy as a preventive measure. With full belief in modern medicine, all of us took the tablets as specified. Altitude sickness? Not today! (I'm singing Not Today from Me Before You while typing this. Great movie! I love Emilia Clarke from this film before I watched the Games of Thrones. Okay I should stop here).

BLARGGHHH! Mount K was 'lucky' enough on the first day to get blessed by Esther from her undigested food from lunch we had at Layang-Layang Hut checkpoint. On the second day, the situation got worst. Many hikers fell ill and started retching after heading down from the summit to the camp. After brunch time at the dining hall, there was this one guy hurriedly walking to the washroom while holding his urge to vomit but ended up vomit projectile all over the wood floor. And this triggered another person to blech as well. It was like a chain reaction! 

Sorry for the gross gif but this exactly happened to the poor guy

 

ALTITUDE SICKNESS. Exposure to high altitudes—higher pressure and lower temperature than at the ground level. The only explanation that we were sure of from those never-ending throwing up series. Does it mean Acetazolamide was ineffective? I wonder.

Acetazolamide

Drizzling and cold. The journey going down was even more excruciating. We kept on moving as fast as we could while enduring the pain. That was the only way to build up our body heat for keeping us warm a little. Wearing Adidas kampung shoes along steeped gravel trail is not precisely the best for your feet and toes. However, it has an excellent grip on a slippery and muddy surface. Reaching Timpohon Gate to end our 2-day hike before it got dark was our primary goal. Funny thing, even with the countless vomit stops we had for Georgina and Esther, we were among the not-so-latecomers to arrive compared to the first-day climb up.

Anyhoo, at the end of it, a puke party began without me! Judith got in, finally? Wondering whether my body was the most susceptible to high altitude exposure, I was grateful yet feeling sorry for them at this point. *Click* *Click* Uncompassionately taking their spewing photos to laugh at later. Sorry not sorry, guys.

The puke party that I didn't get the invite

After the puke party ended for a while, we had a mini certificate giving ceremony at the Kinabalu Park Headquarters, just the parking area. A time for celebration in spite of the worn-out body and soul. We finally did it! Great add on testimonial for CV or resume. Haha! 

Happily receiving our certificate of completion from Venda, our agent, and also my uni-mate.
From left: Shirley (cousin), Me, Georgina, Venda, Esther and Judith (sister)

The dusk began to approach as the sunset dwindled and faded, the road densely covered with mist—limited visibility on the street. Our earlier plan of heading straight to Kota Kinabalu deemed to be a mission impossible; therefore, we canceled it with a heavy heart. Our hotel booking in the city just went to waste. However, safety must come first! We spent the night at the nearby lodge in Kundasang. All I need was only a nice hot shower and some food for my growling tummy. We were tired and famished.

Morning view from the lodge

The next day, it was time for us to say goodbye to Sabah. Stepping inside the airport, suddenly feeling light-headed—the first symptom of yesterday's retching series, but trying to fight it. Regrettably, I was not an exception—just a latecomer to the barf squad. OH GOD.

Earlier, as advised by the doctor, Judith was not allowed to be at high altitude for the next 24 hours due to her condition was pretty bad. She threw up every food she ate. Compared to Shirley, Georgina, and Esther, Judith newly got sick when we arrived at our endpoint of the hike. So, she bought a new flight ticket for tomorrow's date and stayed for the night at the airport's capsule hotel. I felt terrible for her, really.

Feeling so uncomfortable, I rubbed ointment all over my head, neck, and shoulder. The ointment's smell dispersed all over the plane. Trying hard not to think about vomiting, I closed my eyes—the hardest nap time I had. It was barely a success. When the plane descended, the altitude drop triggered my throat and chest uneasiness. The moment the plane touched the ground, I gagged on the McDonald's chicken porridge I had for lunch earlier. Thankfully, I had a barf bag ready. My first puke on a plane! Another 'triumph' unlocked. Gosh.

Anyway, it was not altitude sickness. We got diagnosed with food poisoning instead. 

Translation for non-Malaysians

Esther: We got food poisoning for sure.

Georgina: Really?

Esther: I have diarrhea and vomit continuously.

Judith: *forwarded message from Venda*

Judith, there's a high chance that all of us got sick because of the water at KM4. It might seem because of the drought for the past week, so the water got stagnant and polluted. If not, it should be fine because every time I climb, I refill my water there. And thankfully, there was nothing happened. Sorry, guys. I didn't expect this to happen. This incident was the unlucky first time. For future groups, I'll ban people from drinking the water at KM4. Please forward this message to your group, okay, Judith? If they want to see the doctor, ask them to tell the doctor that there's a high chance due to drinking polluted water. Sorry again, guys.

Judith: Venda just messaged me. So, most probably because of the water.

Esther: Okay, friends. If we have prolonged fever or diarrhea, etc. after five days, weeks, or even a month, must check, okay? And tell the doctor that we went hiking and drank untreated water. 

Translation for non-Malaysians

Me: By the way, I just went to the clinic. The doctor gave me the antibiotic injection. He diagnosed me with food poisoning.

Georgina: At which clinic did you go?

Me: I told him about the mountain water. Dr. George Clinic at Morsjaya. I asked for muscle pain meds too. Haha

Georgina: Haha. I'm planning to go there, as well. For sure, he would connect to our stories.

Me: Hahaha, I know, right. Tell him later about your friend who just visited him for the same check-up as well. He gave me rehydration salt too.

I felt better after I got the antibiotic jab. Thanks to Dr. George. Nonetheless, it took us about one to two weeks to fully recover. It was pretty tormenting. Food poisoning is a serious matter and may lead to fatality if left untreated. 

Indeed, a bittersweet adventure to remember.

Well, I supposed we got rotten luck. 

I wonder if the water is still contaminated. As long as it is flowing, I guess it should be fine.

To anyone planning to check off Mount K on your hiking bucket list, please be cautious of the water from the mountain. Drink at your own risk. But preferably bring enough drinking water to be on the safe side. Do check with your agent or guide about it beforehand.

To anyone who hiked Mount K from 29 to 30 July 2018 or within that same week, do drop your comment below. Did you face the same fate as ours?

p.s. Shirley was way ahead of us due to some reason. She went down earlier with a guide while we were heading to the summit. Don't worry, she's doing great now. Bravo, she could at least made it up to Panalaban Base Camp slash Laban Rata!