After sunset watching the evening before, I went to see sunrise at Kota Kinabalu Waterfront the following morning. We woke up around 0530 in the morning and reached the section of Waterfront in front of Hyatt Regency Kota Kinabalu 5 minutes before 0600. I quickly set my camera onto the tripod and awaiting the moment the sun rose from the sea level. 5 minutes passed, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, 20 minutes; the sky slowly turned bright and yet the sunrise was nowhere to be seen! Asking the locals only to find out that this is not an ideal place to see sunrise as the sun rises from behind those high rise buildings! Damn! Nonetheless, I still managed to take some really good dawn pictures!
The sky is still dark
At dawn
Dawn at Kota Kinabalu Waterfront (click for wallpaper size)
Swordfish statue in front of Kota Kinabalu Waterfront
The sky turned bright
We went back to our hostel to clean ourselves and take bath. Yes, I had not brushed my teeth and washed my face when I first woke up for the sunrise watching! After breakfast, we proceeded to the famous Sunday Market along the Gaya Street. Formerly known as Bond Street, Gaya Street is situated right in the heart of Kota Kinabalu city centre. The 2 rows of shops at the centre of Gaya Street are the oldest shops in Kota Kinabalu. Today, Gaya Street has the highest concentration of backpacker hotels in Kota Kinabalu. Our hostel, Borneo Backpackers is situated just off the Gaya Street and is less than a minute walk to the Gaya Street Sunday Market.
Gaya Street
Oldest shops in Kota Kinabalu
Gaya Street has been the venue for the weekly Sunday Market in Kota Kinabalu. The Sunday Market is open from as early as 0600 in the morning till 1300 in the afternoon. Hawkers, both locally and from outside of Kota Kinabalu, gather along the Gaya Street every Sunday to sell everything from traditional ethnic cultural souvenirs to pets and flowers, all at bargain prices. The Sunday Market is very popular among locals and tourists.
Entrance to Gaya Street
Big crowds!
Big crowds!
Big crowds!
Corals for souvenirs?
Seashells for souvenirs?
Seashells for souvenirs?
Seashells for souvenirs?
Seashells for souvenirs?
Stuffed starfishes
Cultural performance
Souvenirs
I ban this!!!
Tortoises
Rabbits in the cage
Poor puppies!
Poor puppies!
I am always against pet selling. But on Gaya Street, I found the biggest pet selling street fair I have ever seen in life. Look at those poor helpless puppies in the cages. I cannot help but feel pity for them! Dear pet lovers, do you like to be put into confinement like those cute little puppies too? Confucius once said, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself” (己所不欲，勿施于人). Ever heard of the sentence?
Technorati Tags: Kota Kinabalu Waterfront, Gaya Street
The Gaya Street Sunday Market by Life Is Like That, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Malaysia License.
jam | 
March 26th, 2010 | 
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kaka (1)
Are those stuffed starfish edible or souvenirs? Not very environmentally friendly if those starfish have been killed for those reasons.
I missed out on visiting the market when I was in KK couple of years ago.
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No, those stuffed starfish are meant for souvenirs. You are right, it is definitely not environmental friendly.
Isn’t selling corals and starfish illegal there?
The Anderson Bridge is next to the Merlion, that’s one stop all visitors to Singapore must visit!
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I also think that selling corals and starfish should be put illegal. Somehow, they still sell those things along the Gaya Street every Sunday :guns_tb:
lovely pics. makes me wish i was there too. but i am not really a tourist kaki. i dont like the discomfort of walking around. i jus like to take pics
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If you do not walk around, how can you possibly get good pictures?
Corals as souvenirs? I thought it is illegal although they are dead? :p
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I think so it is illegal, but what to do?
Hey I ban those corals, seashells and starfish. They are valuable sea life.
Oh yeah the pet thingy… I didn’t have the heart to go see it. Too cruel.
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I too ban myself and my traveling partners to buy those corals, seashells and starfish.
Sure ada “Gaya” haha. What about sea shells are they illegal too, they are collected on the beach and not killed? Nice nite and day pix of swordfish. thanks for sharing
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I think seashells are illegal too. They must have been collected alive from the ocean, how can you possibly find such a big seashell on the beach nowadays :doh_tb:
wow gaya street… miss the curry mee there
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Oh ya, not only curry mee that tastes nice!
these pichas make me reminiscent my industrial training days in sabah! :em34:
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Oh well, go back there for holidays in the future :clap_tb:
I have yet to visit the Gaya Market! Hope to go there next time!
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The next time I go there I will invite you to come along, ok?
[...] in Kota Kinabalu Besides Gaya Street Sunday Market, we also went to a few other markets next to Kota Kinabalu Waterfront. One of them is the Kota [...]
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:jittery_tb: just went there a few hours ago…..about the corals issue, i think, we don’t have to say it’s illegal or not here in sabah…coz sabah have this valuable things, i think, so many of them are founded in sabah ocean. the valuable treasures can not be extinct here.. :nono_tb: heheh :hk54:
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Ya, Sabah is full with corals, but if we do not preserved it well, it can be extinct.
[...] on Sunday, you can go to Gaya Street for jalan-jalan . Some photo from other’s blog : Life Like That. This entry was written by Crys Joan and posted on December 10, 2010 at 3:15 pm and filed [...]
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is there got sell hermit crab? if they got sell it,i wanna go there n buy! :clap_tb: :jittery_tb: hehehe.. pls answered my question k.. :em51: :help_tb: :help_tb:
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I don’t think one can find hermit crab in Kota Kinabalu.
hye who’s get sale guinea pig and rabbit pls call me at 0109468861…
o you all can help me to get rabbit ang gp seller phone number frm gaya street
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If you think its cruel seeing the puppies being in the cages, then why not stop their miseries by adopting/buying them. Rather than “aww, I ban from them being sell like this, aww its too cruel” and etc. Actions speaks louder than words.
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