Kundasang Town in the year 1976 (photo above) and in 1978 (photo below)
On 1st September 2011, after 33 years I returned to Kundasang locating the location I took the above photos. The landscape has changed so much that I could barely recognize.
The spot I stood 33 years ago is now flatten and occupied by a private house. Tall trees have grown up around the houses that clocked the view for photographs of the same angle 33 years ago.
To get a picture as close as the same angle, I moved further down where an area is cleared with trees being cut down for building a new house (photo above). Here is a clearer unblocked view of Kundasang Town and I snapped a few picture.
Thought tall trees blocked the view, but trees grew up is a good sign of hills and land protection.
This quiet village town is renowned for temperate vegetables. Beside the road at town center a long row of wooden stalls bustling with vegetable whole-sellere.
Pick-up trucks fully laden with vegetables from farms around the valley deliver and unload their goods at the stalls.
Bulk-buyers come from all over Sabah. Passing travelers also stop to purchase.
In 1978 first few rows of concrete shops are being constructed between the road and the memorial gardens. (see the 2nd photo above)
In Kundasang town itself, the vegetable and fruit market is a popular shopping spot.
The Dusun natives inhabit the surrounding villages of wood and stilts, perched randomly on hill slopes and beside roads across the valley. For decades they have sustained a frugal lifestyle through crop farming.
The local people continue to achieve a peaceful existence with humble spirit that astound visitors. Their sincerity and heartfelt warmth are characteristics unique to the local native people of Sabah and else where in this Borneo Island.
Vegetable farming is a major economic activity along with the cultivation of exotic roses that grow well in the cool highland temperatures.
Kundasang is 6 km (4 miles) from the Kinabalu Park HQ. A pleasant village town nestled between lush valleys at the eastern base of Mount Kinabalu. This Cameron Highlands of Borneo retains a charmingly simple yet idyllic environment bereft of major tourist development.
Kundasang remains the most popular highland destination in Sabah, being just 6 km away from Kinabalu Park. By 2000 Kundasang has a range of hotels and resorts to choose for accommodation.
Some of the villagers even organize home stay programmes for interested travelers to experience their culture.
Visitors from major destinations in the state, such as Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and even as far as Brunei, often come up here to escape the heat and shop for choice vegetables and fruits.
The main attraction in Kundasang is of course, Kinabalu Park (6 km away) and within its confines, the highest mountain in Borneo.
War memorial is a tribute to the Australian and British soldiers who died during the Sandakan Death March, is a thought-provoking and touching monument with beautifully landscaped gardens.
"… Kundasang has been facing landslides, open-burnings, uncontrolled clearing of lands and development activities that cause erosion, ……., which can get worse with the climate change going on right now……."
Mr. Wong Tack
President
Monday, April 19, 2011
