The Community Heritage Exhibition, Kota Kinabalu ( Jesselton )

Something exciting is in the air! The Community Heritage Exhibition, “Bonding with Gaya Street” in Kota Kinabalu kicked off on Feb 11 and events have been lined up for the 11th and 12th weekend.

I rushed down to town to check out Gaya Street with hardly a thought for the blazing mid-day sun. I wasn’t disappointed.

Old photographs and stories depicting the old days of Gaya Street, the main thoroughfare in Kota Kinabalu, formerly known as Jesselton are on display on shop windows along the street.

Artists and schools have contributed their art in the form of colorful and creative sun shades which bring vibrance to the otherwise mundane appearance of a street parked with cars on both sides.

The sun shade below shows the train coming into town with the Atkinson Clock Tower in the background.

In the old days, the train came right into the town. Nowadays it stops at the outskirts. Below is a sunshade depicting a man looking at the approaching train.

There is a replica of the old War Memorial placed along the divider of Gaya Street.

Gaya Street is closed during certain hours during these two days to facilitate the events planned for this occasion. Programs include singing, oral story telling, music forum, plus music performances at night featuring the A Go Go theme by veteran musicians. There will also be a vintage car exhibit at Lintasan Deasoka, the beginning of Gaya Street, I believe, tomorrow morning as it is a Sunday and hundreds of people will throng the street which turns into a street market with vendors hawking all kinds of goods, from food, fruits, vegetables, clothing,dogs, kitchenware,flowers and plants, gardening tools, shoes and sandals, hats,bags, etc.,etc.

I don’t go out at night because of poor night vision so I will miss the night programs but tomorrow morning I will catch up on other parts of the exhibits that I missed today.