Friday, September 19, 2008

Kota Kinabalu Waterfront

Kota Kinabalu, located in East Malaysia, is the state capital of Sabah. Originally known as Api-api, it was renamed Jesselton during the British era. After Sabah gained independence and joined Malaysia, the city was renamed Kota Kinabalu, or KK for short.

I am not particularly happy with the renaming, as my hometown is another KK – Kuala Kangsar. Kota Kinabalu essentially hijacked the name ‘KK’ from my hometown! Furthermore, Kinabalu itself derives from Mt. Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Malaysia and literally means ‘Chinese widow’ – not exactly a great name. Some foreigners have even mistaken the city to be on top of the mountain!

Anyway, Kota Kinabalu is by the sea, not some 3000m above sea level. It has a beautiful waterfront. Here are some photos taken on September 15, 2008 – the eve of Malaysia Day.

It is worth noting that Chinese Sabahans continue to refer to this city as Api 亚庇.


Tourists at the waterfront. There are lots of Westerners and Koreans...


The flags of Sabah, Malaysia, and... not sure about the last one


A ship, a boat, a sampan and the sunset...


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9 comments:

  1. day-dreamer9/19/2008 1:19 AM

    Nice pictures! :D

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  2. Anonymous9/19/2008 8:58 AM

    Seems like a nice place to chill on a lazy afternoon. Thanks for sharing.

    Have a great weekend!

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  3. Kikey Loo9/19/2008 9:38 AM

    the sunset picture is very nice!

    # Death Valley National Park located east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Inyo County and northern San Bernardino County in California, with a small extension into southwestern Nye County and extreme southern Esmeralda County in Nevada.

    maybe u will have chance to there in future... :)

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  4. 迷迭香9/19/2008 11:16 AM

    love the last pic!!
    golden sky....

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  5. kyh9/20/2008 7:29 PM

    nice pix! KK (by this i mean sabah's cap :P) is a beautiful city... but i still prefer its colonial name... :P

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  6. Anonymous9/20/2008 9:53 PM

    Beautiful pictures!

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  7. 三姨9/29/2008 9:14 AM

    good place and nice pictures.. shall go back there soon after huh..

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  8. khengsiong9/29/2008 3:59 PM

    pingping
    You graduated from Universiti Malaysia Sabah?

    ReplyDelete
  9. foongpc5/12/2009 12:13 PM

    Too bad Kota Kinabalu hijacked KK initials from your hometown Kuala Kangsar! haha!

    However, KK may no longer be known as Kota Kinabalu at least when you are referring to food, cos KK may soon stand for Krispy Kreme, which just opened in Berjaya Times Sq to long queues! : )

    ReplyDelete

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