� The Sunday Gaya Street Fair �
Tanjung Aru Beach � Signal Hill �
� The Atkinson Clock Tower �
The Sunday Gaya Street Fair
Originally known as Bond Street, this is the main street of Kota Kinabalu. It
also has many eateries open during the day and night. Every Sunday morning,
Gaya Street is closed to traffic for the Gaya Street Fair.
 The tamu, as the
morning market is called starts about 6.30am and until its closing time around
noon, hawkers and vendors do a roaring, and at times, noisy trade selling
food, local cakes, potted plants, sea shells, clothes, antiques, pottery,
puppies, birds, ornamental fish and other stranger animals.
There is something for everybody � tribal artifacts, Filipino handicrafts made
of shells, fibres and pearls, Sabah handicrafts, ancient brass gongs, Chinese
ceramics, the famous Tenom coffee and traditional medicine, etc. There are
also mobile health clinics offering minor check-ups. It's amazing what you
may find at the Gaya Street Fair.
Location: Jalan Gaya in the Eastern edge of Kota Kinabalu old quarter of town
 Tanjung Aru Beach
Located at the end of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman at just about 10 minutes drive
away from the city centre is the popular tanjung Aru Beach. Taking its name
from the casuarinas or aru trees that fringe the fine sands, this is where one
might get a ringside seat to the greatest sunset on earth every evening when
the crimson sun dips slowly into the horizon, leaving the vast skies a
brilliant red. Food-stalls serving local food and drinks are open till late at
night. Enjoy coconut and sugarcane juice, chicken or beef satay and steamed
peanuts and corn, or indulge in a full-course dinner at the seafood restaurant
located there.
 Signal Hill
As the name suggests, this is a hill once used to signal ships approaching the
harbour. The roofed observation platform is situated on the edge of Signal
Hill, or Bukit Bendera, offers one of the best places to get a good view of
Kota Kinabalu. The airy deck where you can get a bird's eye view of the town
centre, as well as a distant view of the Tanjung Aru and Likas Bay areas. From
here the view that extend to the outlying islands of the Tunku Abdul Rahman
Park and and some of the traditional villages built on stilts in the sea. The
Kota Kinabalu coastline is clearly visible from this point. This observatory
can be quite lonely at times. Hence, it is not recommended for visitors to go
there at night, especially if you are alone or a company of two. For bigger
groups, it should be no problem to visit there at all.
The Atkinson Clock Tower
Built in 1903 on a bluff along Signal Hill Road adjacent to the old Police
Station is this this all-wood, no-nails clock tower. Mary Edith Atkinson built
the Tower in memory of her son, Francis George Atkinson the popular first
District Officer of then Jesselton who died of 'Borneo fever' (malaria) in
1902 at the age of 28.
This quaint old clock tower has the distinction of
being one of the 3 structures of having survived the allied bombings of the
town in World War II. As late as 1956, the lights of the clock tower were used
as navigation aids by local shipping.
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