Mt. Kinabalu

Well, I'm back in KL and I'm finding it difficult to walk up stairs. On top of that, walking up stairs is nothing compared to how difficult I'm finding it to walk down stairs. Yesterday, Jose and I summitted Mt Kinabalu; I found it a very challenging climb, but definitely worth it.
We arrived in Kinabalu National park at around 10:00 AM on Saturday (despite a few setbacks including, but not limited to: missing the direct shuttle and having to cab to the public bus station; getting dropped off by the public bus at a town just over 2 km away from the park; trying to find a cab; and getting hit on the head with one of those parking lot barriers that raise and lower...ugh). We had until around 11:00 AM to get ready and so we checked in, stored our bags and paid our various fees. We had to pay each: RM 10 for entrance to the park, RM 100 for climbing permit, RM 7 for insurance, RM 21 for a guide (it costs RM 42 for 1-3 people), and RM 30 for transportation from the park HQ to Timpohon gate, 5km away. Included in all this was a boxed lunch before the climb, buffet dinner at 3600 meters, breakfast after that summit and lunch back at the headquarters.
So, the climb. It was tough. Well, as someone who is healthy all around but does pretty much zero physical activity besides a lot of walking, I found it pretty tough. We made it to Laban Rata at 3600ish meters around 4pm - I'm pretty sure we were quite lucky on Saturday, everyone who made it to Laban Rata ate dinner to an all around excellent sunset above the clouds. My only disappointment was not being able to dine with Lando Calrissian. Damn.
The only rooms left when me and Jose booked were in the non-heated building a hundred meters up from Laban Rata. Ours was a four person room with two bunkbeds. It got surprisingly cold as the sun went down (6-10 celcius), but the room came with ample blankets. Plus I scored a top bunk. Sweet.
Now, most people leave for the summit at 2.30AM, but our guide, Francis felt we'd probably be good to leave at around 3AM and still make it for sunrise (Correction: I would probably be good to leave at 3AM - it turns out Jose is a machine and passed every other person on his way up, making it there some time before 5. Ridiculous).
Anyways, here are some better ones of the many many many pictures I took: