Berita MPA April 2005 (English - pdf - 1652 Kb) - Malaysian ...

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Stories bedded room, we noticed that someone had already occupied the other bunk bed. Well never mind, I thought, a good night's sleep was much needed and was my immediate concern. The public bathroom was a few doors away and the hot water, a luxury at this altitude, was a soothing welcome for my fatigued muscles. Feeling rejuvenated, I quickly put on dry clothes and was sitting on the edge of my bunkbed to don on my shoes. Suddenly the door opened and a Japanese girl appeared before us. She looked somewhat surprised to see Dr. Guna and me in the room. We exchanged pleasantries with actually little comprehension of her Japanese English. We were anticipating her male partner to turn up any moment and true enough as we stepped out of our room, there he was, in the same routine, greeting us in quite reasonably good English. We felt worse off with no knowledge of the Japanese language. After a nice meal - just imagine, all the old ladies working as porters lugging the gas cylinders, food, cans of drinks and other utensils just to make us delicious, sumptuous meals at a height of 3300m. Mountain climbers on other peaks just eat the bare minimum of whatever food they can carry by themselves, so anyone who has their meal at Laban Rata Rest House high above the clouds must be thankful and grateful to those porters. We then proceeded to sleep but it was not much of a rest, as the peace was interrupted by the pacing of climbers along the wooden corridors and the noises kept reverberating through the plank walls. Barely refreshed at 2.00am, we started off to hike the remaining 700m climb to the peak, which is equivalent to a 2.7km walking distance. The idea was to be at Low's peak (4,010m), when the beautiful rays of the sunrise bathed the sky. Final Ascent I was still in a state of extreme exhaustion and the remaining steep rock obstacled hike posed a daunting task that, as expected, made my pace very snail-like. I reached the 2km checkpoint only at 5.30am, where I had the chance to rest and perform the subuh prayers. I prayed in awe of the greatness of God the creator of this majestic mountain and the whole of the universe. The last leg of the hike, utilising pre-planted ropes, was more like a crawl up with me clambering slowly on all fours. I was with a group of slow coaches, 3 guys and a 50-year old lady, while Dr. Guna was way in front of me. At that moment, I was cursing myself and wondering why the hell I got myself into this. Every inch of my body was being tortured, resulting in sheer pain and extreme agony. But this best describes the old adage that to conquer a mountain, you need 99 percent guts, determination and willpower. The night before, during dinner at the rest house, a few hikers had opted out of the final trek due to extreme tiredness. The same question was posed to me by Dr Guna and my guide. I was never going to concede or succumb to defeat - not after coming all this way (it's not always that you can come to Sabah) and having spent all the money with the meticulous preparation that I had put in. By hook or by crook, I was going to make it to the top of the world. There have been many instances when climbers were not even allowed to proceed from Laban Rata Rest House to the peak due to treacherous weather conditions. Tonight was a crystal clear night filled with numerous sparkling stars and a big round bright moon. How BERITA MPA – APRIL 2005 10 could I come this far just to let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip me by? At sunrise, 6.10am, I was still not at the highest point Low's peak but I could already see it, and the sun made a magnificent lovely pattern of orange rays above the clouds. The remaining 5 of us ultimately reached Low's peak to quickly take photos of our triumph around 7.00am. The peak was almost deserted as most climbers were on their way down. We could pose leisurely without the crowding of other climbers. Despite the feeling of walking with a stiff lead-like body, I was elated to be able to stand on top of the world. The view was exhilarating but we could only stay for a few moments due to the possibility of dangerously strong winds and cloud formation. Mind you, there have been deaths of lost climbers due to poor visibility. Just compare, it took 7 hours to walk nearly 7km from Timpohon Gate to the rest house while the last leg took me about 5 hours to cover just 2.7km. The trip back to the rest house was not at all easy, but I picked up a trick from the guide, which was to walk fast on the steep plateau in a zigzag manner. This resulted in my reaching the rest house in only 3 hours. Coming down After a hearty breakfast and a soothing hot shower, we started our descent around 11.00am. The effort to control our steps going down proved to be even more difficult, and the jolting action on our knee joints was most excruciatingly painful. A word of advice: please attempt this climb during your younger days when your knee joints have not yet worn out. This was compounded by the continuous jabbing movement of our toenails against the inner surface of our shoes. One key factor during the descent was proper footwear to minimise pain. Yes, during the ascent use hiking boots with large coarse soles but while going down, change to strapped sandals which allow your toenails to be free from any obtrusive action of the boots. Upon reaching the park HQ at 2.00pm, we had lunch and were chatting with a new acquaintance from Singapore. This young guy had already been to the base camps of Everest and K2. He was astounded by the way the Gunung Kinabalu climb was organised. Compared to the 2 or 3 weeks slow hike up the Himalayas or Annapurna, this was an extremely intensive, dangerous and accident-prone 2 days climb. He was adamant that proper climbing skills be employed by the guides and park authorities. I kind of agree with his viewpoint and hope that nothing untoward happens before safety measures are improved. Anyway, we were all happy to conclude our expedition with good results. Recovery Phase During the following days, the climb took its toll on us. We were almost walking like penguins, shuffling around, and every step we took required enormous effort. My big toes were already swollen and the nails almost avulsed off their bases. Anyway, I can safely say if given another shot at it, I would definitely not miss the chance to again surmount Gunung Kinabalu. And to those who may wish to do it, my advice, taking the cue from the Nike advert: "JUST DO IT".
4 th WORLD CONGRESS OF THE WORLD SOCIETY FOR PAEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES - WSPID 2005 Date : 1-4 September 2005 Venue : Warsaw, Poland Address : 4th World Congress of Paediatric Infectious Diseases - WSPID 2005 Kenes International 17 Rue du Cendrier, P.O.Box 1726 CH-1211 Geneva 1, Switzerland Phone : 41 22 908 0488 Fax : 41 22 732 2850 Email : wspid2005@kenes.com Website : www.kenes.com/wspid2005 6th MOH-AMM SCIENTIFIC MEETING 2005 "INTERFACING CLINICAL MEDICINE, MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH" Date : 1-3 September 2005 Venue : The Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur Address : Secretariat 2nd NATCAM Academy of Medicine Malaysia Secretariat 19 Jalan Folly Barat 50480 Kuala Lumpur Phone : 603 2093 0100/603 2093 0200 Fax : 603 2093 0900 Email : acadmed@po.jaring.my 3 rd NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTENSIVE CARE "INTENSIVE CARE IN TRAUMA" Date : 9-11 September 2005 Venue : Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre Petaling Jaya Address : Congress Secretariat 19 Jalan Folly Barat 50480 Kuala Lumpur Phone : 603 2093 0100/603 2093 0200 Fax : 603 2093 0900 Email : acadmed@po.jaring.my Website : ncic.org.my 2 nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BIRTH DEFECTS & DISABILITIES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD Date : 11-14 September 2005 Venue : Beijing, China Address : Organising Secretariat International Dept, Chinese Medical Association 42 Dongsi Xidajie Beijing 100710, China Phone : 86 10 6524 9989 ext 2462 Fax : 86 10 6512 3754 Email : chinaconference2005@cdc.gov Website : www.chinamed.com.cn/birthdefects NEW ORDINARY MEMBERS Dr Lim Tee Kiap 430 Lorong S2A 10/6 Green Street Home 2 Seremban 2, 70300 Seremban Negeri Sembilan Dr Azurin Chan Mohd Mansor 2125 Taman PKNK Jalan Tun Abdul Razak 05200 Alor Setar, Kedah Dr Unnikrishnan Gopinathan 276 Jalan 10A Taman Dato Tan Yew Lai Batu 6, Jalan Puchong 58200 Kuala Lumpur Dr Anu Ratna Gopal 15 Taman Sejati Off Jalan Sekerat 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah Dr Mehala Baskaran 16 Persiaran BLM 8 Bandar Laguna Merbok 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah Dr Khamini Ramanujam 27 BLM 4/12 Bandar Laguna Merbok 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah Dr Noor Hayati Mohd Sharif No 26 Persiaran Pakatan Jaya 8 Taman Pakatan Jaya 31150 Ulu Kinta, Perak Announcements 7th ASIAN CONGRESS OF DERMATOLOGY INCORPORATING THE 5TH REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF PAEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGY "CLINICAL DERMATOLOGY IN ASIA - 2005 AND BEYOND" Date : 28 September-1 October 2005 Venue : Hilton Kuala Lumpur and Le Meridien Hotels Kuala Lumpur Address : Congress Secretariat 7th Asian Congress of Dermatology 19 Jalan Folly Barat 50480 Kuala Lumpur Phone : 603 2093 0100/603 2093 0200 Fax : 603 2093 0900 Email : acadmed@po.jaring.my Website : www.asianderm.org FRATERNITY Dr Khoo Kim Kea 92 Jalan Foo Win Yin Canning Garden 31400 Ipoh, Perak NEW LIFE MEMBERS Dr Chong Sze Yee 112 Leboh Semangat 1 Taman Rapat Indah 31350 Ipoh Perak Dr Chua Bee Sim 17 Jalan Kepayang Taman Kinta 31400 Ipoh, Perak Dr Siti Aishah Saidin 266 Laluan Taman Meru 2 Taman Meru 1B 30020 Jelapang, Ipoh, Perak Dr Ng Su Yuen 85 Jalan Yeoh Chai Lye Ipoh Garden 31400 Ipoh, Perak CHANGE OF ADDRESS Dr Heong Yee Gian 9 Persiaran Pengkalan Timur 24 Medan Pengkalan Impian 31650 Ipoh, Perak 11 BERITA MPA – APRIL 2005
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