Kilimanjaro 5 : Best and worst

Best moment

Every single one – from watching the sun rise to going to the toilet tent in the middle of the freezing night and cannot help but stop to gaze at the stars. I am not sure if it was the endorphins produced through exercising or the sheer fact that I was in the park, I was really happy all of the time. Happy and nervous somewhere in the middle but still savouring everything that was happening. Sure, it was great to have reached the peak but given that the summiting process was broken into 5 days and the amount of effort everyone had put in to make it possible, the 'reaching the peak' event was just something that happened along the way.

The first sunrise

First glimpse of Uhuru Peak

Best food

Soup category – carrot soup (which surprisingly, tasted like the tom yum soup flavouring that comes along with instant noodles) 

Main course – a close fight between tomato and cheese toast and fried chicken with chips

Dessert – the crème brule that I was dreaming of and never arrived (Well, I really believed that the chef could whip up miracles! Either that or diamox causes hallucination. Ha!) 

Beverage – hot tea at Hans Meyer Cave, Redbull at Gillman's Point and cold mango juice from sweet Ernest who walked up the trek to meet us outside Kibo Huts. They never tasted so good.

Ernest (in yellow)

Best game 

A toss between the guessing game “what are we having for soup/ main/ dessert” (even Ernest and Aloyce joined in this game) and the betting game of “who has the biggest/ smallest card stuck on the forehead” (too many sweets at stake).

Best joke

Too rude to repeat here.

Best riddle/ trivia 

From Simon – name 3 fishes with names starting and ending with the alphabet 'k'. I cannot remember the other 2, but I like this one – 'killershark'.

Best footsteps

I like to walk behind Geoff, PJ, Guido or Jonas because they had sure and safe steps that I could follow (without using my brain or spraining an ankle). 

Worst footsteps

Hesbon tended to skip as he walked. Simon and Dave often walked beside another person, which meant that they would be walking on unbeaten and not so nice path. Jessie just walked all over the place/ jumped down from rocks, wherever his long legs took him. Very irritating. ;p

Most meaningful conversation

With Hedson. The kid was reading Our Daily Bread (in Swahili) before dinner and we had a chat about why I believe there is no/ more than 1 God. He did not try to force his religion on me but came up to me every evening after the conversation to tell me he is glad I made it to the camp safe and sound. You stay safe on the mountains too.

Best 'great minds think alike' moment

5 minutes before Geoff asked me what I would like to have when I get off the mountain, I was thinking of having a coca cola and a beer (don't know why the combination but I just felt that I had to have both). He was thinking of the same!

Best fitness

Jessie, who carried his backpack from Day 1, to the summit and down again. 

Best comeback 

Gloria, who overcame stomach upset and nausea on Day 2 and the summit day and completed the whole trek.

Favourite song 

This one. I hummed it most often.

Best equipment

Most of the items I bought were used and worked well. I used my Salomon hiking boots and the rented Black Diamond trekking poles most. 4 out of 7 of us from the group wore Salomon and the boots supported me without any issues. The trekking poles was great and I was very glad Toño taught me how to use them.

Worst equipment

My 1 litre Liquitainer which sprung a leak on the side and wet my day pack (I have only used it once). The 2 litre Liquitainer worked fine though.

Worst fashion crime

PJ, in his socks and sandals. TWICE! Serious fashion faux pas, mate! 

Favourite camp

Mawenzi Tarn Hut because there was a tarn, it had great views and offered lots of options to roam.

Mawenzi Tarn Hut camp

Favourite flower

Red hot poker (sci: Kniphofia thomsonii) because they looked like flames that have set the mountain on fire from afar.

'Flames'

Careless injuries sustained

3 bumps on the head, sunburn on the back of my legs, some scratches on my legs (to add on to the 3 scratches from cat in Madrid and 54 bite marks from sandflies in China).

Sunburn