When it rains, it rains...

Gulang Santubong, August 14th, 6.57pm.
Today my plan was to climb mount Santubong (c.810m), between the village of Santubong and Damai beach resort. I was woken at 8am to my hostel room phone ringing. Sarah managed to somehow get through from Canada. We spoke for about 45 minutes which was very nice despite the 15 hour time difference which meant I had literally woken up.. Anyway, too much information, but it has a point - my room is quite cell-like - there are no windows and a small bed in one corner, a small desk in another and much welcome air con. But, the lack of light means I won't wake up. I currently have no watch and mobile is kapoot so zero way of telling the time. So, lucky me I had a nice chat and got woken up.

I got to Santubong about 10am. I think I was a bit ill-prepared again. I've been quite blase travelling this time, but occasionally I get a wake-up call like I did today. Anyway I was wearing trekking sandals and had sufficient water so thought I would be ok.

You have to register at the start so they know who is on the mountain and ideally they take a mobile number, but obviously mine is on the blink. So, I off I went into the jungle enjoying the sounds again and the rich plant life. After twenty minutes or so I was soaked in sweat and realised this trek was going to be harder than I thought. I passed some workers mending a bridge and I forded a river next to them. I fell in, much to their amusement. I passed on, ego bruised a little.

The path started to get steeper and there were frayed ropes and tree trunks to hold on to at some points. Everywhere was slippy and I was getting a little nervous. The worst bit was a vertical drop. The rope was frayed and the rocks looked treacherous. I threw my bags down and then gingerly made my own way down. I worried about my ability to get back up again. I felt fear at this point. It's that sort of gut wrenching, throat gripping fear which only happens once or twice. The last time was on a trek on my own in Peru.

Anyway, ever the bloody-minded one I carried on.

And then the rain started. It's a rainforest. It rains a lot. It comes down in torrents and I was soaked through in minutes. There is absolutely no point in wearing waterproofs. It was weirdly calming and I was suddenly aware of the overwhelming, pungent smell of wild garlic.

I continued with water pouring off me, treading ever more carefully as the path turned to river. I saw an opening (if you've ever spent long periods in a jungle you'll know how inviting a open glade appears). I made for it and had reached a junction - the summit 2.5 hours or the easy(!) route down, 45 minutes. I thought I would continue up.

I saw a sprightly young guy coming down towards me who informed me that he had made it to the top, but that it was even harder than the way I had come. He talked of more frayed ropes and slippery rope ladders. Alarms bells started to ring.

So, the mountain or the rain or a combination of the two defeated me and I continued back down, sopping. Eventually it stopped and I sunned myself on a rock, drying out myself and all my soaked flight e-tickets and ho hum passport!

From the bottom I walked 2.5km back to my original start point to sign out.

The afternoon was spent in Damai Beach Resort; actually a horrible self-contained resort. The only saving grace was the beach which was stunning, looking out to Malaysian hilltops. Oh and they served food and beer.

Notes on food and drink:

I'm inadvertently eating like a Muslim at present (it's Ramadan) i.e. little during daylight, mainly because the heat kills my appetite and then several meals in the evening.

I had a Malaysian fried rice dish the other day - made with vegetables and pieces of chicken and prawn.

Today I ate Sarawak (the region I'm in) Laksa - basically a soup made with fish curry sauce, filled with noodles, chicken pieces, prawn, raw vegetables and sliced omelette. Very hot, but delicious.

Drinking is a must. Isotonic drinks are a favourite here and I've been enjoying several cans a day of '100 plus' - 'helps you maintain an active lifestyle', probably similar to the role that lucozade plays in treating diarrhoea!.

Top traveller tip
Internet places are few and far between in Kuching, but there is a Hilton hotel. The last couple of days I've been pretending to be a guest and have been getting unlimited access for free. Love it.

Tomorrow I spend a night in Kubah National Park and will hopefully see some tree frogs. On Monday/Tuesday I stay in Bako National Park, where I might finally get to meet a loris. We are similar in many ways..