Sabah Day 7: KK

Before we even woke up, we could hear people setting up stairs outside of our window. It's the Sunday Market! It starts at 6am every Sunday on Jalan Gaya and finishes at around 1pm. The length of the street was lined with stalls selling souvenirs, handicrafts, handmade jewellery, clothing, local snacks, plants, kitchenware and much more.

Tents set up outside our hotel along Jalan Gaya

Food magnets!

Great souvenir idea for someone who you are not so fond of

Foot massage

We wanted to attend mass at 9am so we took a taxi to the Sacred Heart Cathedral that is 10 min away from the city centre (RM10). The church can hold more than 1000 people at a time and is of a modern design. It was a special celebration that day so part of the English mass was in Latin. It was 1.5 hours long! Afterwards we had noodles and rice dumplings prepared by the kitchen service of the church for lunch. Food was slightly cheaper than usual and part of the profit was dedicated to the church.

The beautiful statues of each Station of the Cross set up outside the church

To go back to the city, we crossed the busy street of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and hailed a taxi. The Sunday Market was starting to close but we managed to snatch some more snacks :)

Atkinson Clock Tower is a landmark of KK located at the foot of Signal Hill. It was built in memory of Francis George Atkinson, the first district officer of KK (then-called Jesselton), by his mother in 1902. Initially it also served as a light tower.

Another 15min walk uphill along the road brought us to the Signal Hill Observatory, offering a great view of the KK city centre. It would have been a nice place to relax except many of the chairs had been damaged. We did manage to find a good spot to sit down and enjoy the view.

The Signal Hill Observatory

View from the platform

The beach closest to KK is probably the Tanjung Aru Beach and is a popular spot for both locals and tourists. Bus 16 departing from the bus terminal opposite to the Wawasan Plaza would take you there but did not seem to be very frequent. The bus terminal was also quite a distance from the city centre. Unless you are prepared to wait at the dusty bus stop for an unknown period of time you might want to consider taking a taxi for RM15, which was what we did.

The beach was really pretty and clean. The sea was really wavy so was not the best spot for swimming but the was very smooth. It was a bit cloudy but we could still catch the sunset while walking down the long beach. There was a big food court right next to the beach and we decided to have dinner there.

More seafood and satay stewers!

Mooncake my mum brought all the way from home!!!