Exploring old Jesselton

September 27, 2009 · 7 comments

Kota Kinabalu Post Office

Kota Kinabalu Post Office

Kota Kinabalu (named after Mount Kinabalu) was previously known as Jesselton (name change in 1968) was mostly destroyed during WW2, although took over from Sandakan as the state capital after it. There was only 3 buildings left of Jesselton after the allied bombing. They are the Land and Survey building, the Atkinson Clock Tower and the Post Office.
The Land and Survey building wasn’t listed on my map so I only had the other 2 to visit.
The Atkinson clock tower was at the end of the road where my hostel was, the post office a short walk away.
The Post office was certainly a stock and sturdy looking building, I’m not surprised it survived bombings, in contrast the Atkinson clock tower looked fragile and thin made of wood, I’m surprised it has survived a harsh wind!

Atkinson Clock Tower

Atkinson Clock Tower

I walked up the road to see the tower clock up close, the other side doesn’t have clocks on it, just the front side facing the city buildings. It is a small 15M tall so doesn’t stand up well to the modern buildings of today, but I’m glad it has still been kept as it is though (it has had a restoration at one point), it has certainly stood the test of time in terms of engineering anyhow.
Following up the road behind the clock tower got me to the observation deck over Kota Kinabalu, whilst not a spectacular sight, it certainly rewards the climb.
You can notice on the left in the picture below the Atkinson Clock Tower and the road that about 7 hostels are lined along, in case you plan on going to Kinabalu and need somewhere to stay.
I noticed some stairs as I walked up though. After the 30minute walk up I decided to attempt these stairs and see where they led me, what could go wrong, right? Well this time nothing went wrong. In fact I ended up about 10M away from my hostel, still not annoyed on any level though as the walk up was a bit of brief preparation for the Mount Kinabalu coming up.

View of Kota Kinabalu

View of Kota Kinabalu

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Nancy September 28, 2009 at 4:52 AM

Wow. I’m amazed at all your travels. I think I shall live vicariously through your passport for a while. :)

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Alex October 16, 2009 at 4:34 PM

Nice interesting post bro, lots of information.

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Pia Belo May 3, 2010 at 4:59 AM

wow!…how much will you spend in an overnight stay?

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ron July 16, 2010 at 11:51 AM

The high rise post office shown in your photograph is in fact a recently constructed building (not pre-war). The old post office which survived the bombing is now occupied by the Sabah Tourism Office.

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AdventureRob July 18, 2010 at 12:30 PM

So I photographed a new post office building then, haha that’s quite funny really.
AdventureRob´s latest blogpost – 8 Free Things to do in London

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courier birmingham August 18, 2010 at 3:35 PM

I love the look of Kota Kinabalu, from an architect’s perspective you can see that there does seem to be a lot of similarities in the way the buildings are designed and constructed. That’s interesting but I love to see that because it can give a town a bit of identity.

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