Desiree Koh:
We stayed at the Protea Aisha Hotel in Machame the night before embarking on our odyssey. And we ate this slop, consisting of leftovers from the evening's buffet dinner, for sustenance. It was beef stir-fried in pepper with a selection of rice, spaghetti
Desiree Koh:
Meeting Douglas, our amazing, fantastic sherpa, for the first time.
Desiree Koh:
Porters from various expeditions milling about, getting ready to divide and conquer all the crap they have to bring up the mountain for all us spoilt brat city slickers.
Desiree Koh:
Why, hello.
Desiree Koh:
Well, I had a cold and I went beyond 3,000 meters. I also pushed myself to go to the summit when I was suffering from extreme exhaustion and pretty bad mountain sickness. I'm above the law.
Desiree Koh:
Wondering why I never thought to pay someone to carry me up the mountain on his head.
Desiree Koh:
Immortalized, forever.
Desiree Koh:
Our porters' stuff. You don't want to see ours.
Desiree Koh:
We felt really bad they had to bring all these luxuries up for us. Honestly, we were shocked at all the amenities available. Camp chairs with cupholders and a folding side flap? No, we could have done without that! I think.
Desiree Koh:
We could NOT have completed our expedition without this fantastic crew. Really. I feel like summiting was nothing without these guys. I remember when Douglas introduced them and he said, "These are the guys that will make your dream of climbing Kilimanjar
Desiree Koh:
Still clean. Still excited. Still happy. Still optimistic. Still smiling. Still wanting to climb the mountain. Still clean. Still clean. Still clean.
Desiree Koh:
About 100 meters onto the trek, I believed Kevin asked, "Are we there yet?"
Desiree Koh:
Amazing. Just amazing.
Desiree Koh:
We climbed Kilimanjaro via the Machame route, generally known to be the most scenic and second most popular way up the mountain. On day one, we went through the rainforest level, which is muddy and slippery. No, I didn't trip and fall. Yet.
Desiree Koh:
Descent? What does that mean?
Desiree Koh:
Yay for lunch break!
Desiree Koh:
A toilet. The same rule of elevation applies inside: don't look down.
Desiree Koh:
Our lunches each day, except for the short acclimatization days towards the summit, were packed, so we could eat from it whenever we wanted, or wait until a proper lunch break. Oh, Chrisburger - I miss your fried chicken.
Desiree Koh:
Lunch was an aridly-dry burger, two pieces of fried chicken (I don't eat this often and I ate it everyday on the mountain), two small bananas and a cupcake. I believe I traded Belinda a cupcake for her fried chicken. Being on the mountain makes you primit
Desiree Koh:
Belinda requested for vegetarian meals and got an egg burger. And two pieces of fried chicken. Sounds like fowl play to me.
Desiree Koh:
This guy carried about 20 pounds of camera equipment in his backpack everyday.
Desiree Koh:
This girl would always say she wasn't hungry, yet would be the first to finish everything in her lunch box and leave nothing.
Desiree Koh:
See what I mean?
Desiree Koh:
Here are porters from the fancy Alpine Ascents expedition (you would almost see the same people all the time up the mountain, if your schedules coincided). These hikers got a hot lunch everyday - their porters would set up the dining and cooking tent at l
Desiree Koh:
PIZZA. Before the trip, Yanming and I discussed what would be the ONE thing we would wish to eat on the mountain. She said popcorn. I said pizza.
Desiree Koh:
So, my wish came true less than four hours into the trek! They gave me a slice of pizza. I should have saved it for the summit and eaten frozen pizza.
Desiree Koh:
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the P+P Kilimanjaro Expedition. That's Piss and Poop to you.
Desiree Koh:
I did not have any gaiter-aid for the mud.
Desiree Koh:
Ask me about how you can create the best trekking equipment ever for yourself with a plastic bottle and duct tape. What would MacKoh do?
