Photo: (WT-shared) Robert Biuk-Aghai, CC BY-SA 1.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Built in 1902 in memory of Francis George Atkinson, the first district officer of Jesselton, as Kota Kinabalu was then called. He died of a tropical disease in the same year at the young age of only 28. The clock tower is one of only two structures to survive the World War II destruction of Jesselton (renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1963), the other being the Post Office building, which is now the Sabah Tourism Board building on Jalan Balai Polis. Not to be confused with the general Post Office building on Jalan Tun Razak in Segama district of KK city.
The Atkinson Clock Tower is the oldest standing structure in Kota Kinabalu. It was originally known as the Atkinson Memorial Clock Tower and sits in solitary on the bluff along Signal Hill Road overlooking this seaside city and capital of Sabah, Malaysia.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Gaya Street
Located in the city centre surrounding Gaya Street and Pantai (Beach) Street. There is a Sunday market here the Market starts early 6:30AM-1PM, arrive late you will miss it. There is also a night market every Friday and Saturday from 6PM to 2AM. The area is home to Chinese shops and restaurants and together with the adjacent area around Australia Place near the city police station has the highest concentration of budget hostels in KK. The name "Chinatown" is mainly a tourism gimmick after the arch gate was erected not more than after 2005, so many locals would not know what Chinatown is. Use instead "Gaya Street".
A small park and the only park in the city center opposite the court complex. It contains the British North Borneo Memorial which commemorates the soldiers who fought and died defending the British Empire during World War I. The memorial was built in 1923.
Contains an interesting 12-tier pagoda and is part of the Moral Uplifting Society.
formerly known as Kota Kinabalu Bird Sanctuary
A 24-hectare mangrove conservation area used for recreation, education and research. It is located in Likas along Jalan Bukit Bendera Upper just 5 minutes drive from city centre (15 minutes walk from Signal Hill Observatory). The area is managed by the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society.