March 10, 2019 - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia- Sunday, Day 63

March 10, 2019 - Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia- Sunday, Day 63

The day started with us overhearing a lot of grumbling at breakfast about how the tour we were on yesterday took us to places that were all within easy walking distance of where the ship’s free shuttle stopped. The complaint was that the free shuttle was not announced until after tour bookings closed, and cancellation fees went into effect. This is not an unfounded concern. We hope that communication of this sort of thing improves. We still have 18 days in which they might achieve this.

We had decided that today we were going to make our way into the city and visit the markets. There is a free shuttle to a centraly located mall. From there The Sunday Market, Fish Market and Central Market were all an easy walk. Much of that would be along the waterfront.

First Views of Kota Kinabalu

 Stilt Homes of Sea Gypsies - Lowest Social Status

Dancers Greeted Us

We arrived at the mall shortly after 12:00. We had not docked until 11:00. The Sunday Market would close at 1:00 so we made our way there first. It was just 3 blocks from the mall. It went on for many blocks with 4 rows of stall occupying the street. There were all sorts of merchandise, flowers, fish, birds and produce. It was fascinating to observe the high level of activity. Again, we were dismayed to see so many vendors competing with the same products right next to each other. And we were disappointed to learn that the vendors here did not take dollars. We had visited the few vendors in the terminal before boarding the shuttle. They did convert to dollars at a reasonably good rate. So we did not convert any to local currency. This relegated us to curious observers. Everyone was friendly nonetheless.

After the Sunday Market started to shut down, we walked to the tourist information center. Here we got maps as well as several brochures featuring things to do in and around Kota Kinabalu.

From there it was 3 blocks back to the waterfront. After a nice walk along the boardwalk, we came to many docked, colorful fishing boats, and the closed Fish Market. This was disappointing, but we did get to see the clean booths and multiple places that would serve freshly prepared seafood. This also extended quite a way.

Bright Lights for Night Fishing - Probably Small Squid

It led us right to the Central Market. It is HUGE. We cannot imagine anything that you cannot buy here. The vendors were friendly. A few spoke English. None took dollars. We wandered aisle after aisle and row after row of stalls. Did we see products repeated? You bet we did. For a Sunday afternoon it seemed pretty busy. We had been warned by the assistant on the shuttle about pickpockets, but we never felt crowded or threatened. We had a good time. 

Holding 1/2 Coconut Against High Speed Blade to Shred It

As we turned to walk back to the mall we decided to walk along the street outside the building. What a surprise. Here we passed 2 blocks of men sitting at old treadle sewing machines. The machines looked like the old treadle machine in the attic when I grew up. These guys were all busy making adjustments to garments just purchased or making something new from fabric just purchased inside. They each had a ruler they used to measure for seams and such, but no one used a marker of any sort. It was all done freehand by eye. It all seemed straight and accurate. Customers hovered around to monitor the process. The tailors used both feet on the treadle, and the machines hummed. The fabric flew through the machines. This is another WOW.

We did some shopping at the mall for souvenirs and postcards before boarding the shuttle for our return to Maasdam. We enjoyed Kota Kinabalu, and found from the information we picked up at the info center that there is much  more to do here if we ever return.

Bridal Show in Progress

Some Views of Buildings