On a guided tour of Kota Kinabalu, we visited the Atkinson Clock Tower, The Blue Mosque, Sabah State Museum & Heritage Village and the Kwan Yin Chinese temple.

Kota Kinabalu or KK, the capital of Sabah, is a vibrant coastal city, famed as the gateway to Mount Kinabalu, stunning islands and rainforests. It is known for rich seafood, lively markets, and an iconic ‘floating mosque.’

The local guide met us at the Horizon Hotel in the morning and we first walked to the Atkinson Clock Tower near Signal Hill just across the road from the hotel. The wooden clock tower was built in 1905 to commemorate Francis George Atkinson, a British colonial administrator who passed away at the age of 28 due to malaria. It stands at 15.7 meters tall and is one of the oldest structures in Sabah. The tower was funded by Atkinson’s family and sailors’ contributions. Over the years, the clock tower underwent many transformations. 

We stopped briefly at a memorial plaque in the area known as Australia Place – the Australian Liberation Forces campsite at the end of World War II.

There were stalls selling fresh Durian. It is a tasty fruit but is banned in many hotels, public transport systems, and airports across Southeast Asia—and in some places elsewhere—due to its incredibly powerful and persistent odour. The smell, often described as a mix of rotten onions, sewage, and sulfur, can linger for days in enclosed spaces.

We drove along the seafront with fishermen waist deep in water casting nets and joggers on a path next to water, to the modern part of the city. Kota Kinabalu has an interesting mix of modern, futuristic, and historical architecture, with standout landmarks such as the cylindrical Yayasan Sabah Tower – a 30-story circular building completed in 1978, and the “floating” City Mosque surrounded by a man-made lagoon, creating the appearance of it floating on water.

The Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, often called the “floating mosque’ was officially opened in February 2000. The architectural design is based on the Nabawi Mosque, the second holiest site in Islam, in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The mosque sits on a 14.83-acre (6.00 ha) site on the shores of Likas Bay, on the South China Sea. It has a maximum capacity of 12,000 worshipers and features an ATM, three madrasas, a palliative care clinic, and – in a joint project with the University of Sabah – a fish farm.

The Kwan Yin Buddhist Temple built in 1980 features traditional Chinese architecture, a large statue of the Goddess of Mercy at the entrance, and a reclining Buddha statue.

The original Sabah State Museum was established in 1965 in a shophouse in Gaya Street. It moved to its present 42 acre location in 1984. The complex contains not only the museum proper, but also an ethnobotanic garden and an heritage village.

The Heritage Village situated within the Ethno Botanical Gardens in the Sabah Museum Complex has several traditional houses of Sabah such as a Bajau House (often called “sea gypsy” homes, are traditional stilt houses built directly over shallow coral reefs or tidal flats, primarily using bamboo, wood, and thatch. These structures are designed for life over water, with floors elevated two to three meters to manage high tides. They are sometimes connected by wooden walkways and are essential to the nomadic lifestyle of the Bajau people), complete with a wedding dais, a Murut longhouse, a Chinese farmhouse with earthen floor, a Bamboo House and a House of Skulls.

We weent to Jothy’s Curry House for lunch. Typical Indian food was served on banana leaves.

We returned to the hotel for a rest in the afternoon. Dinner that evening was at a Chinese restaurant. We opted out and settled for Fish & Chips, Lamp Steak and a glass of wine in the hotel restaurant.

Again, Gaya Street in front of the hotel looked spectacular.