28 January 2014

As informed by the brochures on Kota Kinabalu, we headed over to the Gaya street Sunday Market relatively early on Sunday morning.  We had heard plenty of positive things about this bustling street market and wanted to check it out.  With it being the weekend of Chinese New Year, there was also a lot of excitement around the area with loads of lantern decorations and dancing dragons gliding through the streets.

True to form, the market did not disappoint with its vast array of goods for sale and the whole of Gaya street was blocked off with several rows of stalls. Some of the things we spotted were: clothing, puppies, plants, juice, gadgets, curios, pots, lasers, baskets, fish, fresh produce, fake jewellry, nailpolish, handbags, turtles, musical instruments, canvas artworks and coconut carvings.

Not being too fond of close contact with hundreds of people, we only lasted about an hour and then headed back to find some brunch. The only purchases for the day were a mango juice and matching caps with ‘Sabah Borneo Malaysia’ embroidered on the front.

Getting there:

Coming from Centre Point side, you cross the main intersection at Centre Point heading away from the ocean.  You then head towards the city hall park area (you’ll see a KFC on your right at some point and a bus terminal on your left) and keep walking until you see the colourful Gaya street market decorations. There is a big hotel and a bird statue just before the entrance to Gaya street.  It is the street where a lot of the lower-end backpackers are located.  The traffic and amount of people should also guide you to the right area.

There’s more information about the Gaya Street market here.