If you happen to be in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu on a Sunday, there is something you Must do first..and I have to emphasize the must, because everyone..I mean literally everyone we met in Sabah recommended us to pay this huge flea market a visit, the famous Gaya Sunday Market.

Malaysia Monument, you can start off your Sunday Market experience from here

As I love shopping and all the flea markets in the world anyway, it was definitely a sure thing for me to do. How much more if you find out that Gaya Street Market is just actually 5-10 minutes away from Hotel Grandis by foot.  But no- we didn't want to get roasted under the scorching heat of the sun. Grab comes in handy when we were lazy and didn't want to sweat.

Red-Magnet anyone?

Basically, we were here just for one thing, the souvenirs, and that's mostly ref-magnets that we give away to our friends back in the Philippines. So if you happen to have some Filipino friends, give them ref-magnets and they will love you forever. LOL

Picking the right hats for me and Aylin.

Oh and how can I forget, it's a girl thing! We needed new hats to compliment our daily outfits here in Kota.

Such a cute ice-cream truck!

Didn't I mention that it was scorching hot on that day? Me and my friends were actually debating whether it was hotter in the Philippines or in Kota. Nevertheless, we all needed a good ice cream to cool down.

Photoshoot in the middle of Gaya Market

To be honest, we stayed just about one hour here. Simply because we couldn't stand the heat under the sun. It was good enough for me as I already bought two rattan bags, ref-magnets as well as the hat that I was wearing here.

Bought from the Gaya Market, matchy-matchy hat and rattan bags

My conclusion

The Gaya Market has got a lot of things to offer : from local foods, clothes, fruits, souvenirs, toys, beauty stuff, bed sheets , home decor especially those boho stuff and so much more. It is indeed an interesting market and I would love to come back when it's not so hot. 
In terms of the pricing, don't forget to haggle a bit. Even though, I always find everything cheaper here in Kota than in the Philippines. In terms of the sellers, locals here are really friendly and not pushy at all which I really love! I can't stand sellers who are so pushy, reminds me of my bad experience in Bali, but that's a different story now. 
Shops open here as early as 6am and close at 4 pm, so try to come as early as you can and try their authentic local food for breakfast. Coffee tastes great in Kota by the way. I found it really yummy even though I am not a coffee lover at all.