Inspirational folk on the Road: Mount Kinabalu Porters

It's the people you meet on the road that makes travelling so humbling. It's usually the locals that do it for me and I have decided to write some posts on the people who have inspired me along the way. Starting with the unsung hero's of Mount Kinabalu.

These guys and gal's are the porters for all food, appliances and necessities of the camp at the mid way point. They can carry upto 40kg's at one time up the 6.5km trail, which I struggled up with just a 6kg backpack. They are paid just 10RBM (40 cent/ 25p) per kg (400RMB is a great daily wage in Malaysia but the work and effort required for that sum is just madness).

On our journey up the mountain we saw men and women varying in age from 16years (guessing)- 65 years. They powered up the steep steps of the trail and whizzed by us. The older women took a more slow and steady approach but still took only about 4 hours to reach the camp. Truely amazing people.