Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu

The Gaya Street is a street Sunday market area in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. It is dubbed as the Chinatown of Sabah due to many Chinese coffee shops and restaurants situated there. In addition with an arch gate that was erected since 2005.[1]

Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu
Chinese-style welcome gate at Gaya Street, Kota Kinabalu.
Traditional Chinese加雅街
Simplified Chinese加雅街

History

The street was known as Bond Street during the British colonial era, and was established in 1902, after the construction of shop houses there was completed.[2] The street started as a railway track for the transportation of rubber all the way from Sapong and Melalap rubber estates in Tenom which ended at the wharf. The Jesselton Harbour was the main gateway from North Borneo during when there is still no passenger planes.[3] The market is once considered as the "heart" of Jesselton as major business activities was done there.[4]

Since then, farmers and ordinary folks from the interior and fishermen from the coastal areas would make their trip to sell agricultural produce and other crops in the market, this include the Chinese immigrants as well Filipino and Indonesian traders.[3][5] Aside from agricultural products, local food, souvenirs, arts and craft, footwear, antiques and even pets are sold in the market.[6]

Along the market street, it is also the place where the old Jesselton Post Office (now the main office of Sabah Tourism Corporation (STC)) are located together with the Jesselton Hotel.[3]

Further reading

References
  1. "About Kota Kinabalu – Place of Interests (Chinatown)". University of Malaysia Sabah, Faculty of Engineering. 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  2. Danny Wong Tze-Ken (19 September 2011). "Jesselton's story". Malaysia History. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. Sharifah Seri Lailah (19 January 2015). "Gaya Street (a.k.a Bond Street), Kota Kinabalu". Museum Volunteers. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  4. Wendy Hutton (November 2000). Adventure Guides: East Malaysia. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-962-593-180-7.
  5. "25 years of Gaya Street Fair". Daily Express. 15 February 2009. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. Ian Ray Garcia (4 December 2014). "Wanderlust: Free and easy in Kota Kinabalu". Mindanao Times. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.