Blogs from Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia
April 15th 2012
The acommodations in Brunei were a little on the pricey side for not so nice rooms, so we decided to splurge a little and stay at the Empire Hotel and Country Club. This establishment was apparently built by the sultan of Brunei in the event that royalty visited and needed a place to stay (considering the size of his palace I'm not sure why this was a concern, but anyways). Needless to say it was high class and we looked pretty damn spiffy walking in there with our backpacks. It was so lovely to have a really nice place for a change. It's not that we stay in dives, per se, it's just that the bathrooms aren't typically made of 20mm slabs of marble and have motion sensored lights. We spent the first day eating expensive ... read more
November 6th 2011
When the gates of Bakun Dam closed and water levels on Rajang River fell dramatically, panic set in up and down the river and even spread to the Sarawak Tourism Department. Was the Rajang finished as a tourism attraction, is there another river to direct tourists, will there be no more access through Pelagus Rapids, will schools need to close because students cant get to them. All this on top of the unmitigated man made disaster of the recent logjam - due to uncontrolled logging - which only served to highlight the plundering of the river If there is an alternative river to put a tourist boat on in Sarawak other than the Rajang, it can only be the Baram, near border with Brunei. So it was to Miri I headed to check out what the ... read more
September 22nd 2011
Up, breakfast (FREE self-service toast) and make plans for the day. 40 push-ups, 50 sit-ups. Message from Mulu park asking if we want to book accommodation, I ask what the availability is and they say they have only one of the most expensive rooms left. We'll try our luck outside the park. People want to go out and see/do stuff, but everyone is feeling lazy so it's gone noon before Netta and I leave everyone else still chatting to go wander. I buy a toothbrush and Netta gets a bag for hiking - my shopping is much quicker. Lunch and back to the GH. Back to the guest house to veg. We miss out on visiting Canada Hill, site of Malaysia's first oil well and the Petroleum Museum. The Canadian and Australian go to both and ... read more
September 21st 2011
My nose is freezing but I manage to get some sleep before the bus arrives in Miri about twenty past six. I get to see my first sunrise in a while. I ask about a bus into town (20km away) and am told there's one leaving in a couple of minutes. Nine o'clock and we're still waiting at the bus stop. Bored we ask the Polish couple if they want to share a taxi. All my stuff smells vaguely of dorian. Everything that was on the bus does. We find dorm beds for RM20 each, a hotel that charges by the hour and a hotel with condoms on the pavement outside. We take the non-mixed dorm rooms. Tourist information in the rain for details about Gunung Mulu National Park. It rains. New SD card for Netta. ... read more
July 2nd 2011
A quick update. Flights to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and onwards to Miri went well. It's rather amazing that an airline (AirAsia) has its own airport (a large one in the capital city no less). They are truly a dominant force in the region. I am currently in a hostel in Miri and so far I have the room to myself. Today I was unable to go to Niah caves as planned because of a lack of time, so I public bused it down to a much closer (and less interesting) national park called Lambir. Hiked around the jungle in ~38 degrees. My clothes were drenched in sweat by the end. They are currently hanging up to dry overnight (after being cleaned in a bathroom sink: how I will be doing laundry on this trip). I only ... read more
June 1st 2011
Yesterday was pretty straightforward, got the 1.00 pm air-con bus to Miri (Sarawak) from Brunei, all mod cons, comfy and easy going through two lots of immigration. We arrived in Miri about 20 past 5 at some sort of bus station - not the local one, not the long distance one either, certainly not a bus station on the map we had! So we paired up with a Dutch couple who are travelling Asia for a year and got a pick-up to the centre of Miri, not too far away and only 10 ringgit between the 4 of us (about 2 quid). Not wishing to walk for hours in the still searing heat, we checked into the first hotel that seemed OK, "Gloria"- they certainly like to use female names here! It smelled very damp in ... read more
May 31st 2011
Kuching We were already landing at Kuching airport and we just made ourselves comfortable. We hadn't booked anything in advance and we had to tell the taxi driver where to take us, so I was, as always, impulsive and said the name of the first hostel that came to my mind, after browsing the web that morning, that was Lodge 121. The taxi dropped us of at what so obviously was not the water front where we thought the hostel will be, but as we entered the hostel, there was no reason to complain. The hostel was amazing, clean and cosy and would beat the crap out of loads of European hostels. The rooms were too expensive for us, being on a budget, so we took the "dorms", which ended up to be a nice 3 ... read more
May 24th 2011
Having booked a private tour with Joanne the night before to depart about 8 we got in trouble for not been ready until 815 from her then our TAXI driver only said your late to us on the one and half trip to Niah Caves. Surprised by the taxi driver we at least later found out we had a good price. Arriving at Niah Caves we paid our entry to the park fee, collected our map and headed down the board walk for our 8.4 km return walk. Luckily the walk is mostly in the shade as the heat and humidity make it hard work but its a plesent easy walk through to the 1st cave. Putting on our head torches we quickly attracted hundreds of flies to later realise if we carried the torches the ... read more
May 23rd 2011
This morning I had to catch a bus that departed somewhere between 645 and 815 no one was really sure what time or if it had a fixed time or if you had to change buses over the border but it left on the dot 7am and took is straight through. The long distance bus station in Miri is about 4km outside the city. So after waiting for about an hour for the public bus with Charlie and Chris that should have been coming after 10mins but no one really knew we decided to take a taxi to a hostel called Highlands recommended in LP. Checked the rooms, all good, looked clean and price ok so we decided to stay. Wondering why we were the only guests we soon found out why, the hostel manager is ... read more
December 21st 2010
From Brunei, we got the bus down to Miri, a border town in Sarawak, West Borneo. Miri was mainly going to be used as a stopover before heading on to the famous Niah Caves but we decided to spend a full day looking around the town. It is pleasant enough with various gardens to walk around, a mosque and a Taoist temple. The Taoist temple impressed us the most. From outside, we didn't think that it was going to be so beautiful because of the urban surroundings but once we went into the courtyard, we were stunned by how exquisitely decorated it was. There were clusters of huge red lanterns hanging, dragon pillars, intricately-carved doors and religious icons. Adam particularly liked the sequence of large paintings which all seemed to tell their own humorous, poignant or ... read more
