8 most important tips on personal hygiene in climbing Mt Kinabalu:
- There are flush toilets, approximately one in every kilometer distance, all the way up to the last 1.5km of the peak of Mt Kinabalu. Thus, through out the climb journey, you don't have to dig a single hole or to find bushes to hide. ;-)
- Sayat-Sayat has the last toilet before reaching Low's Peak. Most people take about 2 -3 hours from Sayat-Sayat to reach the peak and about an hour back to Sayat Sayat. So don't miss this last toilet.
- At Kinabalu Park, the place that climbers spend a night before the climb:
- There are hot shower and clean bathrooms at Kinabalu Park's hostels.
- Gentlemen and ladies bathrooms are separated and are not attached to sleeping room.
- The resort provides dry towel, body shampoo and shampoo.
- We stayed in a 4 beds dormitory. There is no separated room for man or woman. It is up to your arrangement with your teammates.
- The beds are clean and comfortable.
- At Laban Rata Resthouse, the place climbers rest and sleep before the night climb to summit:
- They are clean bathrooms at Laban Rata Resthouse.
- Gentlemen and ladies bathrooms are separated.
- Laban Rata provides dry towel, but not body shampoo and shampoo. So remember to take the shampoo and body shampoo from Kinabalu Park along.
- We stayed in a 10 beds large dormitory. There is no separated room for man or woman.
- The beds are clean and comfortable.
Theoretically there is hot shower water at Laban Rata Resthouse. But since the electricity at Laban Rata is not stable, practically we still had to take freezing cold bath water. In a different trip, my friends (another team) managed to upgrade to a smaller dormitory with lesser beds. They had hot shower (arrrhhh....!)
Shower water in Laban Rata is freezing if you do not have the luck to stay in that small dormitory. My teammates shivered in bed covered by blanket for an hour after taking the cold water bath. This was how I dealt with cold bath water:
a. shower your head and face clean
b. while washing your head and face, cover your body with towel provided by Laban Rata Resthouse
c. then, wipe clean your whole body with the wet part of the towel and wipe your body dry with the dry part of the towel
- As the electricity at Laban Rata is unstable, hair dryer or charger can hardly be used. I found only one power point in that ten-bed dormitory.
- After the climb, when we descended back to Kinabalu Park from Laban Rata, we had a problem taking bath. Since we were to leave Kinabalu Park for airport the same day, we had already checked-out from Kinabalu Park's hostels the morning we climbed up to Laban Rata. We had to use the toilet beside the HQ's Operation Office & Reception O7. ffice to change clothes before leaving for airport. No bath.
My colleagues who came earlier with another team simply went back to the hostel they stayed (and checked-out earlier) and just used the bathroom (as the bathrooms are not attached bathroom).
Another group of colleagues simply booked to stay for another night in Kinabalu Park after descended from Mt Kinabalu. This solves the problem.
- Remember to clear bowel in Kinabalu Park the morning before going up to Laban Rata, because your next morning is at Summit.
- Please don't think that there are 5 stars toilets and bathrooms. This is National Park, not luxury hotel. I found dead moth in a toilet. One of the hot showers at Grace Hostel was not working. Sutera Sanctuary Lodges had not been doing a very good (though reasonably decent) job in maintaining the facilities.
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Outside the ladies' bathroom/ toilet
of Grace Hostel at Kinabalu Park. |
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Outside the men's bathroom/ toilet
of Grace Hostel at Kinabalu Park |
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