A Walk Along Gaya Street

Gaya Street or Jalan Gaya is one of the most famous streets in KK town. Formerly known as Bond Street, it is also one of the busiest streets in this town. I had the opportunity to visit it on my 3rd day in KK.

After I left the Atkinson Clock Tower at 9am, I realised I had many hours left before the pick up van arrive at 1pm for my Klias Wetland Tour to see the proboscis monkeys. I decided to have a leisurely walk along Gaya Street.

One of the first buildings I saw on Gaya Street was the Sabah Tourism Board. If you had read my earlier post, you would have known that I went into this building to enquire about the tarap fruit that I've been trying to find.



Do you know that this nice looking building was constructed in 1916 and it survived the Allied bombings during World War 2? It was gazetted as a heritage building and officially became the Sabah Tourism Building in January 1991.

Walking along the road, I soon reached a junction and it was here I saw the famous Jesselton Hotel.



Established in 1954 when KK was then known by its colonial name Jesselton, this hotel has the distinction of being KK's oldest hotel. Despite that, it has managed to retain the serenity of bygone days, while offering the conveniences of a modern hotel. It was completely refurbished in the mid 1990's and today stand as the only premier boutique hotel in KK, and possibly one of Malaysia's leading boutique hotels.

Walking further along Gaya Street, I came across the Daily Express office.



Daily Express, by the way is the largest circulation daily newspaper in Sabah. Known as an independent newspaper of East Malaysia, it first hit the streets on March 1, 1963. It is published in 3 languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia and Kadazan.

Like the famous The Star Online, now you can read the latest news concerning KK on Daily Express Online.

A few shoplots away from Daily Express, I saw one of the well known NGOs in KK - Persatuan Hokkien Kota Kinabalu or the Kota Kinabalu Hokkien Club.



I noticed that this Gaya Street was a really busy street with lots of cars and people. Well, it is no wonder that this area is the centre of business in KK. There are many businesses here that had been passed from one generation to the next. The older folks would remember well the wooden shops with nipah roofs now being replaced by modern buildings lining the street.

Walking further, I reached a small roundabout with a nice looking water fountain in the middle.



There is a tourism college here as you can see from the photo. Not a bad idea to have a tourism school in a popular tourist town!



It was a pity I did not have the opportunity to walk along Gaya Street on Sunday as I would have already left KK by then. Every Sunday, the entire length of Gaya Street would be closed off to traffic to make way for the Sunday Market.

To the locals and tourists alike, this market is known as the Gaya Street Fair or simply Gaya Market. It is reported that you can find almost anything there. For write-ups and photos of the Gaya Market, you might want to visit QuaChee's blog.

Coming up next - The Procession And A Swordfish

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