Blogs from Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, Asia - page 3

I heard a tap in my door early morning and it was Jeff, Hugo's friend who also works for Shell company but in Miri, he is giving me a lift. It was very nice of him to offer since he does not really know me, we just met on the day I arrived in Kuala Belait, Brunei at a cafe when we took lunch. He was on his push bike profusely sweating after a ride from Miri! I found out later this guy is an ironman participant, he looks very fit, this is his main hobby. Anyway in the car we had a very interesting conversation about life as an expat in Brunei(where his wife works) and at Miri, the perks of a Shell employee etc. etc. oh i get to learn how oil is processed ... read more

Direkt nach der Landung in Miri haben wir uns dazu entschieden, einmal ganz auf die typischen Transportmoeglichkeiten eines Rucksacktouristen zu verzichten und sind auf direktem Weg an den Schalter einer Autovermietung spaziert. Nach wenigen Minuten und ohne ueberhaupt einen Fuehrerschein vorlegen zu muessen, gehoerte uns fuer die naechsten zwei Tage ein kleiner Perodua Kancil. Um auch das beste als der kleinen Klapperkiste heraus zu holen, haben wir uns direkt aufgemacht und eine Krokodilfarm an der Kueste besucht. Zunaechst dachten wir mal wieder, dass es wahrscheinlich nur eine kleine Anlage mit ein paar Riesenechsen sei, aber es stellte sich heraus, dass dort ueber 2000 Krokodile aller Art zu Hause waren. Zur Anlage gehoerte sogar noch ein kleiner Zoo, sodass wir den ganzen Nachmittag dort verbrachten. Da zufaelligerweise Sonntag war, konnten wir auch einer Fuetterung zuschauen. ... read more

Prologue With a couple of days to kill between Gold Coast & London (the el cheapo flight schedules didn’t work our way) we headed to Miri (in Sarawak, Borneo). When booking, we’d not a clue about the place. Later, we read up and came to the conclusion it was merely an ’industrial’ town servicing the oil industry. How wrong we were. As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, click it to enlarge. The Journey We left GC early and had a 4 hour layover @ KL before connecting to the Miri flight. We hopped onto the LCCT - KLIA shuttle and had a wander around KLIA, also enjoying aircon, a few beers and a meal. Eventually, after a longish day, we arrived into a pitch black Miri. Our Guest House ... read more

Miri was our next destination after leaving Kuching. It was a 14hr bus journey to get there. A company was recommended to us by our taxi driver and the bus we would be taking was pointed out to us. Of course when it was time to get on the bus it wasn’t the same one, and you could say, a little less comfortable looking. We could only get two separate seats as it is the end of Ramadan here and all buses to Miri were full. When we got on though, the kind bus conductor arranged two seats for us together without us asking. It was at the front and I had no seat in front of me which meant I could stretch my legs to my hearts content. The 14hrs turned out to be long ... read more

First stop in Borneo Malaysia was in the "State" of Sarawak. I grouped this into one blog entry. Sarawak and Sabah Borneo (the two states) are nice because unlike the peninsula part of Malaysia, the rain forests here have not been destroyed. The first night in Sarawak we stayed in the town of Miri. Nice hostel. Day trip the next day out to the Niah caves, which are spectacular. This cave looked familiar to me, as I recall seeing in on t.v. when the Discovery Channel aired it's Planet Earth miniseries, caves episode. The smell of bat "guano" is very pungant. Kindof a sweet ammonia stench. The kind of smell that I will recognize forever...like a skunk! The cave is famous for having the largest mouth opening in the world. The cave was very deep, but ... read more