Kota Kinabalu Highlights - Museum

Sabah Museum is made up of the Main Building, Science and Technology Centre, Conservation Centre and the Heritage Village.

The main building is where all the historical artefact are on display, including natural history, ceramics, archaeology, history and Islamic civilization. The most striking item you notice when you first enter the building is the skeleton remains of a whale that beached near Kota Kinabalu, a couple of years ago. Wish I could post some photos of it but cameras are not allowed into the building.

As time was pressing I skipped the Sabah Art Gallery. It is said to house over 1,500 pieces of art work in it permanent collection.

Instead the rest of my time at the museum was spent at the Heritage Village. There is also a rope bridge that crosses over a small pond to where there are 11 replicas of the traditional houses of the various indigenous people of Sabah. There is even a Chinese farmhouse with earthen floor.

Though it was a hot day, there was a calm feel of the village and with a slight breeze blowing, it was cool in the traditional houses but I found it was a lot more cooler under the houses.

Of all the traditional houses, the Murut longhouse was most interesting. On one side of the long house are fair sized rooms for a number of families. Outside the rooms is the community area.

This longhouse differs from the others in the village in that it features a built in trampoline, a "lansaran" in the local dialect. I assume its where the children could play and where the adults could keep a watch over them and be kept entertained at the same time.

If you are into antique cars, there are some on display at the museum car park. Not a big collection but it shows some of the popular models of the time, from the 50' to the early 70'. It includes a Rolls Royce and the Mini.