V-olga » 02 апр 2008, 17:43
Блин мы забронировали 2 койкоместа в отапливаемом "дормидоне" за 1936 RM на двоих через Wildlife Expeditions, не знаю радоваться или нет... с одной стороны, мы просто счастливчики что сумели взять такие места, а с другой - это дохера (извините) деньжищ!
Прочитав отзыв (вставляю ниже) я поняла что нам все-таки типа повезло... Смысл на русском примерно такой: чувак смог забронировать только место на полу в отапливаемом дормидоне через Wildlife Expeditions, тех, кто не забронировал себе какой-либо ночлег - заставляли спускаться обратно вниз, тех, кто забронировал через мелкие туроператоры селили на полу харчевни. Сами помещения для ночлега (то бишь дормидон и тп) открывались не сразу, а в опр время и, когда они открываются, начинается толкотня и хаос, и все лезут. Мне интересно, если я забронировала через Wildlife Expeditions bunk beds в отапливаемом дормидоне - а под шумок меня на пол в итоге могут положать чтоли (если кто-нить попроворнее меня место займет раньше). А хрен их знает может они одно койкоместо 10 раз уже продали на эту дату и у всех будет равное право на него... Блин, а что те несколько комнат, которые типа люкс - двухместные, туда тоже кого нить на пол кладут? Короче мрак! Дерут три шкуры, монополисты, спать в общаге почти за 700 баксов 1 ночь!
А вот собственно и тема для размышления:
Advice if Laban Rata is booked
Hi everyone, I just hiked Mt. Kinabalu last week, and I have some advice for people who can't get a bed at Laban Rata but who want to do the hike on a specific date. You can book through a travel agent to sleep on the floor. It might suck to pay so much (2 or 3 times what you would pay to do it on your own) and to have to sleep on the floor, but if this is your only chance to do the climb on a specific date, it might be worth it for some people. It was for me. And if you book with one of the larger tour companies, you have a higher chance to get a bed if one does open up. Details below.
I tried to get a bed on the mountain about one month (mid July) prior to my desired hiking date (August 10), but as is expected, all of the beds were booked. After reading some posts on here, I decided to go through a tour company thinking that maybe a few companies had reserved beds but still didn't have enough clients to fill those beds on the date I wanted.
I started by emailing and calling some of the cheaper companies, but they all said the same thing, "no beds at Laban Rata." I ended up emailing every single tour company (about 45) listed on the Sabah website. After a while, I thought I was screwed and wouldn't get to climb the mountain, even though I had already bought plane tickets out there.
Finally, one of the larger tour companies, Borneo Wildlife Adventures, responded that although the beds were all booked at Laban Rata, I could still do the hike with them and sleep on the floor in a heated room. I didn't care where I slept, I just wanted to do the climb, so I took the offer.
I was really glad I did. At the park headquarters there were lots of people wanting to go up that couldn't because they didn't have a bed reserved. But since we had "reserved floorspace" through an agency, we were allowed up. At Laban Rata, we met another couple who hiked all the way up (I'm not sure how they got a permit) and then asked if they could also sleep on the floor, but they were denied, and had to hike down. So it seems like you can't sleep on the floor if you do the hike independently.
There were about 30 people who had booked through agents in order to sleep on the floor. All of them, like me, had been told that they would be sleeping on the floor in a heated room. We all found out that in fact, we would be sleeping on the floor of the restaurant. Not only is it not heated, but that means you can't go to sleep until the restaurant closes, and you have to wake up when the restaurant opens. Not ideal, but again, none of these people would have been on the hike that day unless they agreed to this. Actually, before you hike up the mountain you sign something that says, "I agree to sleep on the floor of the restaurant and not complain about it."
Now, here is the interesting part. Beds did open up eventually, maybe around 5 or 6pm. I think about 10 people total got bumped up from sleeping on the floor to sleeping in a bed in a heated dorm room. I was one of the lucky ones. When some beds opened up, the staff went around asking us which tour company we booked with, and it was based on these answers that they offered the beds to people. So my guess is that the larger the tour company, the better your chance at getting a bed. The people who got beds all booked with the larger companies (like ones listed in Lonely Planet, etc), while the people left with the floor were the ones who booked with smaller companies I had never heard of. This is just my guess though. I'm not exactly sure as to the level of cahoots between these tour agencies and the Sutera people.
So I can't comment on what it was like to sleep on the floor. They do provide mattresses and blankets, but I can't imagine those poor people got much sleep during the few hours when no one was in the restaurant. But again, if you only can do the hike on a certain date, this is better than nothing.
Hope that helps someone out there eager to do the climb. It was an amazing experience for me, even though I think I'm going to lose two toenails over it.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
-Erika
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