There is a good reason why the locals were upset.

The Kadazandusun believed when one dies the soul will walk towards the mountain and pass into the different realms of afterlife — hence Mount Kinabalu is a sacred site.

The community also conducts a sogit (healing ritual) every year at the mountain with seven chickens, seven kampung cigars and seven betel nuts to appease the spirits.

In many local cultures, the jungle is considered a place that demands respect.

One needs to watch their behaviour, lest be punished in some ways by the spirits that reside there.

For example, the Kadazandusun believes sopok (dwarves or gnomes) and pampuvan (leprechauns or fairies) can trick campers into following them deep into the jungle never to be seen again.

Many a times, campers are told to “ask permission” before urinating in the jungle or do not bring back items from there.

This is to avoid being cursed by the supernatural or inadvertently bringing them home."

This is one of the most famous Chinese superstitions worldwide – the pronounciation of the number four sounds like the word for death in Mandarin and Cantonese.

As a result, the Chinese avoid using the number where possible. Some of the most obvious examples are in house addresses and elevator numbers; you’ll often see ‘3A’ or ‘13A’ to replace the number four and 14 (the latter sounds like ‘will definitely die’…as if just ‘die’ wasn’t bad enough). Car number plates don’t escape the prejudice either."