Malaysia Take Five: The Pinnacles

The big day had finally arrived. Hiking the Pinnacles was the main reason we booked this trip. Off the super touristy beaten track, a real challenge for "experienced hikers ONLY!!!", and a unique geographic sight to be seen at the top.

So, 4 am on May 1st we rose, got dressed in the very stylish spandex under shorts, thick socks, dri-fit look I rock so hard, and ate me some fried noodles Malay style. Tasty, but probably THE worst thing to have at 4am before an epic hike... me tummy no likey:(
Told you Richard's all brawn - check out those legs!!!
Let the Pinnacles hike begin! About a 60 degree incline for the first 3/4 of the hike. Awesome!
The sun's coming out to play and so am I.
Ladders marked the beginning of the end. Psschhh - who needs ladders?
We made it! Posing with Dr. Ramly at the peak of Mt Api, who then proceeded to think he was photographer extraordinaire and insist on doing a photo shoot of Julie and I separately. The results were hi-larious. Talk about extreme close-ups.
We lost the rest of our Malaysian crew on the way up because as Richard said, "they like to sing and hug trees too much". Julie and I reached the peak first, followed shortly thereafter by the other mainland Malaysian crew. They had these sweet t-shirts made in advance and came correct with an ipod and speakers to bust out 80's power ballads with. Nice.
And this is the view we worked for the whole morning, The Pinnacles: crazy limestone formations in the middle of a forest.


Us and the whole OTHER crew of Malaysians; our group still hadn't made it up yet:(
We waited over an hour, then decided to head back down. We were a little worried, but knew they were in good hands with Richard.
Took it easy on the way down and noticed a lot more of the gorgeous flora and fauna.




Great sign to notice AFTER completing the hike.
Made it back to Camp 5, safe and sound, took a dip in our river, cleaned up, got into a Murakami novel, and chatted with some sweet ladies from Switzerland. Status on our Kuala Lumpur representatives? MIA.
Then, it began to rain... no, pour. By 5pm, everybody was back, some more drenched than others, but all safe and sound. We all felt a great sense of accomplishment from having completed the vertical hike and seen the stunning view of the Pinnacles. Despite getting caught in the downpour, our KL peeps were still the loudest in the Camp at night. Gotta love 'em!
See that peak behind us? Yeah, we were there. The Pinnacles '09, baby!!!