Last updated on September 9, 2022
Old city streets, aging buildings, busy port, urban malls, green hills, white beach. All of these within reach in my favorite summer city, Kota Kinabalu. I kept remembering Gandalf when I got here. He said, “all that is gold does not glitter.” (Fellowship of the ring, Lord of the rings, J.R.R. Tolkien)
“All that is gold does not glitter.”
1. Walk to Atkinson Clock Tower
For history buff, the all-wood-no-nails and oldest standing structure in the whole of Sabah that survived World War II would be a good place for a photo shoot.
2. Wander around the old Gaya Street ♥
Gaya Streets transformation from weekdays to Sunday was astonishing. I witnessed the infamous Sunday market and I was more than amazed of many vegetables new to my eyes, see birds nests drinks, and cool musical instruments made by locals. This area is also the hub of many restaurants serving good food. Yumyum!☺
3. Trek to Signal Hill Observatory ♥
Trekking with the chance of seeing monkeys teasing each other. This was interesting especially when the trek starts close to the old Gaya Street. There were two starting points to get here. The longest one starts in State Park or Padang Merdeka. The second point was close to Community Center (Dewan Masyarakat). Both were along Jalan KK Bypass.
4. Check out the street grafitti in the ruins of British Colonial building
5. Visit Suriah Sabah Library Malaysia♥
I cannot miss a library wherever I go.
Read more about the Library here.
6. Photo shoot with the famous Marlin in the City
They say that the Marlin statue was inaugurated when Kota Kinabalu got the city status.
7. Watch Sunset in Tanjung Aru Beach ♥
It may be the beautiful mix of orange and red hue of the sky (rayleigh scattering), maybe the people flocking at the beach or the person whom I with. No matter what, the sunset was magnificent!
These places may be free to access but a lot of walking was involved in the making of this list. A lot of sigh, sweat, photos, smiles, and laughter too. There’s beauty in little things. Gold, it is.
Go scroll back up and find the heart shapes ♥ where I would love to go back to again.☺
Click here for the map of all the places above.
Helpful links
- Anne rice, the novelist
- John Grisham, the novelist by jgrisham
- Suriah Sabah Library by LibrarySabah
- Suriah Sabah Library by LibotTayo
- Suriah Sabah Mall by SuriahSabah
- Best of Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia
- Street Art Graffiti by MySabah
- Marlin statue by KotaKinabalu
