Aiden and I were really busy after we upload our Mount Kinabalu Reservation form in the website. Since the beginning (in early February), we received at least 3 request per day, and up until now, we have more than 50 request in queue. Unfortunately, we could not help most of the request because:

1) The actual date of climbing is too close to the booking date, and accommodations are already full.
2) They are coming in a bigger group, and not booking the accommodations at least 6 months beforehand.

I must emphasize here that for Visit Malaysia Year 2007, Mount Kinabalu climbing packages are selling like hot fried bananas. Sutera Sanctuary Lodges office that handle the reservation and booking almost always busy and the line is always engaged. Hopefully you can understand the situation. For those who want to climb Mount Kinabalu, I would suggest NOT TO BOOK YOUR AIRLINE TICKET FIRST, unless you have secured your stay in Laban Rata.

Normally, we do advice our friends or people from anywhere around the world to book at least 6 months in advance, if you want to climb Mount Kinabalu. That is because they have only 130++ accommodations up there, in Laban Rata area. And try to imagine people from around the world is coming in to Sabah to climb Mount Kinabalu every single day ! That is why we urge whoever that want to climb Mount Kinabalu, please plan and book at least 6 months before. If you have a bigger group, lets say 15 persons in a group onwards, you would have to make the bookings even earlier. So, in the future, if you or your friends are planning to climb Mount Kinabalu, do let them know about this “Golden Rule” too, so you will be able to win the accommodation in Laban Rata.

You can always plan ahead (maybe in the year 2008) to climb Mount Kinabalu, and send me another request. I will be glad to serve you.

From my blog:

There are a lot of things happened since the last edition of newsletter, and one of it was a blog entry by Aiden himself, explaining to us on what happened to him since we upload the reservation form. Then there are few entries from me about Sabah first “Wildlife Park” aka zoo and some photos of my family visit there. And for those who like to have a get away from your daily routine hectic city life, Aiden and I have organized a pre-packaged trip to Rungus Longhouse, complete with the trip to the Tip of Borneo and Kudat district.

Oh, if you missed the link to our Mount Kinabalu clipvideo, check out the link here in my blog. The photos were contributed by Ganesh C, from Singapore. He will be coming again this April to Mount Kinabalu. We would like to wish him luck and hopefully he can reach the summit this time.

Last but not least, few photos on native Rungus accessories. It’s difficult to find Rungus people wears this accessories nowadays, as modernization sets in…

Ruhaizad