Blogs from Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia

Tuesday, 21st May 2019 Breakfast was spot on as the eating place that we were planning to go was closed this morning. The Grab driver was kind enough to bring us to a private house instead which operated as a daytime eatery within the neighborhood. We probably tasted the best roasted Char Siew, Kolo Mee and Sarawak Laksa at this unassuming place. And it seemed that only the locals knew about this hidden gem. Sitting on top of Canada Hill overlooking the city is the Petroleum Museum which is a short ride away from our hotel. Next to it is the Grand Old Lady where the first oil well was drilled in Malaysia in August 1910. The near-empty indoor gallery contained a lot of information related to the Oil and Gas Industry which we took our ... read more

Sunday, 19th May 2019 Miri have been one destination on my travel bucket list ever since I joined the Oil & Gas Industry some 12 years ago. However, it took me a good decade before stepping foot again to the state of Sarawak in East Malaysia. Handsome and I decided on this trip at the eleventh hour and we were glad that we still managed to score a great deal for a 4D3N vacation in this little oil town. Without a doubt, our stay at Pullman Miri Waterfront was one of the highlights where we were rewarded with fantastic views overlooking the coast of Miri. After checking-in and freshening up a bit in our spacious room, we had lunch at the nearby Nasi Lemak outlet located at the older part of the town. The tri-coloured milk ... read more

From Brunei to Sarawak - Miri and the Niah Caves National Parks Ruth and I locate the Miri bus stop, grab a coffee and set off on our adventures again. We are sorry to miss the eclipse in the UK, but here it is the equinox with the sun directly above the equator at noon. We are about 4 degrees North. It is hot and our shadows are very short. The road from Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, is a super motorway. It is green and leafy with flowers and manicured verges. There are no unsightly sprawling industrial suburbs in this direction. We pass several big stadiums and huge out of town malls and some large houses. The road cuts through maturing secondary rainforest for miles. There are no big lorries or container lorries, ... read more

After the brief sojourn to the Kelabit Highlands, I took the short flight back to Miri, and continued with another 2h bus ride to Batu Niah, the nearest town to the Niah National Park, yet another one of Malaysia' Unesco World Heritage Sites, and home to its famous multi-millenia-year old limestone caves. Of course Batu Niah isn't exactly right at the National Park's doorstep, and so it was a hot and humid 3km hike first to the park entrance, followed by another 3km to the caves proper. Apart from being notable and really quite impressive geological relics, these caves have also been home to millions (yes, millions) of swiftlets and bats for decades, if not centuries. Apparently there is some sort of implicit arrangement between the two species, where the bats inhabit the caves during the ... read more

I only spent one day in Miri due to time constrictions with my travel plan, but upon my arrival I immediately wished I'd allowed a bit more time. My friend and I decided to hire a car and visit the Niah caves an hour outside of town. The caves are considered one of the great wonders of Sarawak and we felt it would be time well spent. We arrived at the caves around 1030am, got a map, and rented head torches for 5 MYR. It's about a 3.8 km hike through the rainforest to the caves. Luckily for us, my friend was a biology major when he was in uni so watching the small wildlife along the way was a lot of fun. He was always able to identify what we were looking at and what ... read more