Gaya Market

"If you go Sabah, you must visit the Gaya Market" friends have been telling me.

So, on my final day in Kota Kinabalu, I made the early morning trip to the well known & must visit Gaya Market.

This is actually one of the busier streets in the heart of KK - Gaya Street. But on Sundays, it its closed to vehicles and turned into the Gaya market.

Despite only being 7 plus, the crowd was already out to this unique market, which sells nearly anything and everything (yes, you'll be surprised!).

There were lots of snacks, and one of them is this cake, nicknamed the Doraemon cake!

The other cakes I saw is the many colours kuih lapis (layered cake).

And the local Sabah coffee, with machine and all.

From food, there's also fruits like the kampung durians (which was really tempting to buy!)

And the pink guavas.

One of the fruits that caught my attention - the 'love shaped' soursop (btw, this was taken the day after Valentine's - what coincidence.... haha!)

And from fruits, the other common sell were the uncommon plants like these beautiful orchirds. There were also hibiscus and other types of orchirds, plus some other uncommon plants for sale.

Tourists are not left out here.... and would also be able to buy souvenirs - from t-shirsts, keychains and vases.

Some stalls were also selling Sabah's local art and the seashells (btw, the prices here for the shells seems reasonable compared to some other places I've seen).

This wouldn't really be a souvenir, but then again.... (btw, this is a natural sponge).

There are also some unique antiques sold here. The uncle gets a fair bit of attention by playing his musical instruments.

I thought this pan looks interesting (can be used to make apom or roti canai?). The pastel and mortar (lesung) are behind.

The food, fruits and even souvenirs may seem common, but what makes the market interesting is also the vast varieties of pets being sold here, starting with fishes.

One of the hits with kids - the hamsters.

It really is a pet lovers' paradise - so many rabbits!

Even cats were for sale! Of course, this is a fluffy (and playful) one - plus not to mention, a pricier one.

But of all pets, nothing beats the many cute puppies, all waiting for its rightful owners.

Will that puppy get a new owner?

There were so many pets around, and one may just mistaken all live animals here are for pets. But apparently, this tortoise is not to be bought as pets, but for consumption (though one could of course).

That's not the only unique find - there's also this seahorse, which is apparently good for health.

In all, I'm glad to have visited this colourful Gaya Market... which was quite an eye opener, seeing so many different items from what we would usually see in the markets in Peninsula Malaysia.

In fact, it's not just this market that was an eye opener. The whole KK trip was a big different experience... seeing a very different yet unique Malaysia, and that's coming up next!