Mt. Kinabalu, tallest peak in Malaysia and on Borneo, Sabah province, Malaysian Borneo. They hauled us all in bas minis from the ranger station to the trailhead. From there, a six-kilometer trail led up to our destination, the Laban Ratah guest house, at 11,000 feet.

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Here was a sign, "NEPENTHES VILLOSA areas 9000-10,300 ft." by which they meant those curious pitcher plants were about, and we spied several in the woods, the biggest the size of two fists.

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Twenty or thirty meters of steep steps would lead to a bend, and you’d yearn for a stretch that didn’t lead straight up, but time after time after time after time after time, you’d reach the bend and see even crueler steps beyond. And then you’d do it again. And then again.

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We aimed only to make it to the the Laban Ratah guest house. From there the path to the tallest peak in Malaysia and on Borneo, at 4,095 metres (13,435 ft), still looked entirely daunting.

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Back at the Hotel Perkassa, exhausted, in time for sunset over the mountains of Sabah province, Malaysia.

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