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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 the reception area (there was a sign that said 'no durian allowed' but personally I think that would only have enhanced the interior). The room was actually not too bad, clean, mould-free and no damp smells, all for 101 ringitt.
Off we went to find food and after discarding many places we found 'Restoran Islam'not too far away. I had a vegetable
murtaba (like a roti-filled with veg plus dahl) and Mac had nasi goreng Indian (bit spicier); we had 3 mango lassis between us and the whole lot came in at under NZ$8 - it was delicious!
Back in the room I spent hours on the net trying to seek out a trip to Gunung Mulu, one of the best national parks here for as soon as possible - found a trip eventually leaving on Thursday and booked it, fingers crossed it's still on.
Today we got up early (this is worse than working, all these early starts!!!) and went to Borneo Tropical Adventure company to ensure the trip was booked. The lady there told us she didn't have a booking, even after I said I'd received a confirmation email from them. She said it could have been a copy site, they had no booking. Eventually she told us we could do the trip tomorrow but it would cost around 1450 ringgit each, not the 894 each that the website indicated. When we raised this point she said she had the trips mixed up and dropped the price to 970 each, still more than we'd expected so we siad
we'd go and have breakfast and think about it.
We returned to Restoran Islam and had breakfast, again delicious - mango lassi, roto canai, dahl, lamb murtaba and coffee. We then walked to the tourism office and were given a better map; the guy there marked it with the locations of the other tour operators in Miri. We set off to suss them out, the first two were closed (it's Harvest Festival time here so a long holiday). I'd already checked the airlines for flights to Mulu and couldn't get anything soon, so we popped back to the hotel to use the internet again, only to find another email from Borneo Tropical Adventure - we had been to the right place previously, it was not a dodgy copy site I'd used.
So we went back to the office and asked who a Mr Hee was (the boss). I said I'd had another email from him, suddenly our booking was found at the correct price and flights were available! We added on the canopy walk so we're happy that we get to do just as we hoped to (we may live to regret this)!
Today we also checked
into the very nice Dynasty Hotel, great room, not far from the last place, we'll come back here after the national park. We've also booked a flight to Kuching and a very swish looking hotel there so fingers crossed it'll be plain sailing from here until Hong Kong (who'm I kidding!!??)
On the advice of the tour company we went shopping for some gardening gloves, a sheet and 4 large bottles of water. It was surprisingly easy, we got them all at the supermarket, NZ$0.40 for the gloves, NZ$6 for the bed sheet. I'll explain why:
Our trip into the jungle will (or shall I say should) be as follows:
Tomorrow - fly to Mulu (30 mins), visit two of the 'show caves', 3-hour trek to camp in the jungle (this is where Mac needs a sheet, I have one, cheaper to buy than hire).
Day 2 - climb the Pinnacles, not for the faint-hearted - so steep almost vertical in places, hence the gloves to ease the rope burn. Climb back down in same day. Camp.
Day 3 - trek back to start, visit the other 2 show caves plus see mass exodus of
bats at sunset, stay at a lodge.
Day 4 - canopy walk then fly back to Miri.
Should be fun in this heat! Will fill in the gaps once we return to Miri, we'll have no internet now until 5th June, wifi is fab but doesn't extend to the jungle. And I know we've got some riverboat trips in there too, just not certain when.....
So, until the next time - here's some photos of more paper offerings we found in the old town of Miri this afternoon, plus a few shots from a Chinese temple there and our latest hotel.
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