Milestones - May 2015

A first for everyone on the executive committee, as Forrest likes to call the oldest three in the family (mother, father, and eldest child). I also believe he has referred to us as the "golden triangle," as well. He uses these terms only when he is frustrated with the state of the younger three members of the family, with an emphasis on Ellis.

At any rate, I'm falling into this pit as I share our 20th wedding anniversary and his first prom, both happening in the same month, which he would say is fitting considering all.

The "promposal" with our apartment in the background

Poor Ellis. He had so many roles for this prom -  Forrest's lackey, his photographer, and his valet.

Then, there's this - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. 

Yes, those two wonderful 

people brought our breakfast

to us every morning by that

boat:)

In the days prior to our leaving for this trip, a few friends asked if we were going to Kota Kinabalu for the hiking, or to climb the mountain, and I silently wondered why they were asking about his mountain as I was off to my beach holiday. I expected the diving questions from friends, as Forrest had been the year earlier to Malaysia for some of the best diving in the world. I discounted the mountain and hiking questions, but found the answer as we sat next to our lovely pool in this beautiful resort. While we were doing our daily "nothing," we could clearly see in the distance an incredibly tall and rocky mountain. It seemed so out of place we felt our eyes were deceiving us (we only saw this mountain once during our visit). So, we asked someone about this mountain. Apparently, it's not often seen from afar because it's often covered by it's own weather system. But, it's 13,000 feet!  We quickly asked if we could visit and we found that it's not so easy to climb, even if we wanted to.  

The facts (and not my words because, again, I'm trying to catch up) on the mountain:

Mount Kinabalu’s specialty lies in its location at a renowned World Heritage Site—Kinabalu Park

A recent botanical survey of the mountain estimated a staggering 5,000 to 6,000 plant species (excluding mosses and liverworts but including ferns), which is more than all of Europe and North America (excluding tropical regions of Mexico) combined. It is therefore one of the world’s most important biological sites.

Standing majestically at 4,095m (13,435 feet above sea level), Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. Mount Kinabalu derives its name from the Kadazan word, ‘Aki Nabalu’, meaning ‘the revered place of the dead’. It is one of the safest and most conquerable peaks in the world—provided that you’re reasonably healthy and physically fit.

There are many folklores and fables that tell stories of how Kinabalu got its name. The local KadazanDusun people believe that the word is derived from “Aki Nabalu”, which translates into “revered place of the dead”. The mysterious KadazanDusun tribe believes that spirits dwell on the mountain top. According to another popular folklore, the name Kinabalu actually meant “Cina Balu”. “Cina Balu” translates into “chinese widow”. Legend tells a story of a Chinese prince who ascends from the mountain in search of a huge pearl guarded by a ferocious dragon. He married a Kadazan woman upon his successful conquest, whom he soon abandoned for return to China. His heartbroken wife wandered into the mountains to mourn whereby eventually she turned into stone.

The locals feel the mountain is sacred, which is why a group of foreigners were fined heavily for celebrating their summit with clearly inappropriate behaviour. Six days after their "celebration," an earthquake hit this area of Malaysia and 18 people died on Mount Kota Kinabalu. The locals blamed this on those same tourists.

I found this online, and it fits with everything we heard (the earthquake happened only a few days after we left):

Local native beliefs[edit]

According to the claims of local natives, the earthquake was caused by "aki" (the mountain protectors) who had become angered over the acts of ten western tourists (comprising six men and four women from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom)^[21] who "stripped and urinated at the mountain (which is believed by local natives as a sacred place) on 30 May", six days before the earthquake happened.^[22][23] The tourists also shouted vulgarities when they were told to desist by their mountain guide.^[24][25] The acts provoked outrage among Sabahan natives who want all of the alleged offenders charged in native court and forced to pay the "sogit", a type of compensation, given in the form of money or livestock, to appease the aggrieved party according to local Kadazan-Dusun native customs. It is imposed on wrongdoers for the purpose of appeasing "the aggrieved", thus placating the native community.^[26] However, as most of the detained tourists have been released from Malaysia's prison and escaping native court, the local villagers had perform their own rituals.^[27] The naked disrespect was also condemned by Malaysian Science Minister who said:

Science has no answer to that (the sacred mountain). If the mountain is sacred, we have to respect that. It is part of the traditional and local knowledge that are increasingly recognised by the international community.^[28]

One of the deceased mountain guides' brother also criticised the behaviour of the tourists saying:

It is not about laws or superstition, but about having mutual respect among human beings. As a Christian, I too do not believe in superstition, but I adhere to the advice and beliefs of the elders out of respect. It is part of being humans, we don't do things that will offend our fellow-human beings whether they are Muslims, Christian or Animists. This is something we taught here, but I guess a person like him (one of the bad nudists) doesn't have this in him.^[29]