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Miri
The Marriott Hotel swimming pool. To say this is a good place to relax is an understatement. You’re driving to Kuching alone?
-- Australians do that sort of thing.
Why not fly?
-- I want to see what’s on the way.
What’s on the way?
-- I don’t know … Tutong … Mukah … Kanowit … I’ll find out. I could rush from BSB to Mukah in one long day, but I choose to spend four days.
Tutong is Brunei’s well-guarded special secret. I spend my first night just one hour from home, and cross into Malaysian Sarawak the following morning.
Five-star pleasure for ordinary prices: How does the Miri Marriott do it? This hotel is a mecca for Malaysian holidaymakers and a haven for Brunei expatriates. It offers the softest beds in the world, an extravagant pool, a more extravagant breakfast, and the attention of ever-friendly staff: all for absurdly reasonable rates.
From Miri I set out in earnest. I take the high road, the old road, to Bintulu: both a failure to follow directions and a lucky chance! Now that through traffic has a faster, flatter route this rural trip is a delight: even with the Sunday afternoon drivers out and about. The road rolls through picturesque hilly
Sarawak
One end of a longhouse, traditional style, name not recorded. jungle-covered country and past undulating palm oil plantations.
Some of the communities here are very poor. Groups displaced by the Bakun Dam project and logging activities are scattered along the road. I photograph a village called “Penan Muslim Resettlement Village No 10” and think it looks quite prosperous, but next-door is a longhouse that - obviously - no one would live in by choice. The longhouses vary a lot in their apparent affluence and most of them are more attractive than that one. Some are traditional wooden structures with big covered verandahs front and back; they may have vegetable gardens at the side. Increasingly, brick and cement are being used in the construction of comfortable-looking communities. Sometimes nice cars, or maybe trucks or industrial machinery, are parked outside.
A once sparkling-white main street is lodged in my memory from the Bintulu of 1996. In 2008 all I see is graying concrete shophouses with cafes spilling out on the pavements and girlie bars upstairs. I hear Indonesian fishermen calling mild indecencies at me from the wharf, in a language they imagine I can’t understand. I feel it is not really a place to linger.
The highway from Bintulu
Miri
The seahorse is Miri's mascot. There are many in the city, but this one has to be the largest. to the Mukah junction shifts continually from bumpy to bearable. I think they are continuously repairing the worst sections, and are never quite able to keep up with the job. I learn the art of overtaking logging trucks just before the brow of a hill; without the courage to do this I wouldn’t make any progress. The road from the junction to the coast is 50 kilometers of horror. Old asphalt is breaking up horribly, and this narrow obstacle course is crowded with lorries and oil-tankers; thankfully the final 30 kilometers is smooth enough to skate on.
In Mukah I know that I am already half-way to Kuching and that the quiet places of middle Sarawak are waiting for me. I accidentally delete all the photos I’ve taken along the way. As accidents go, this is a small one.
Travel Notes
I advise popping into the Miri Visitors’ Information Centre (beside the bus station) on the way through, to collect an up-to-date road map and check on any current hazards.
The Miri Marriott rates are now about RM300 for bed and breakfast for a double room. That’s approximately US or A $100. Not cheap, but Miri
The Marriott Hotel, from accross its swimming pool. hell - the hotel does have five starts. Tel 085 421121.
Miri-Bintulu: c200k, 3 hrs on the new road, 4 hrs on the old one. Plus photo and lunch stops.
Bintulu city centre has a forest of cheap, upstairs hotels, which are generally designated “inns;” The Lonely Planet guide says they are avoidable. The
Riverfront Inn has great river views, but only the
Regency Plaza Hotel has secure basement parking. They charged me RM195 for a deluxe room and buffet breakfast. Tel 086 335111. There is a street with good open-air restaurants right at the end of the block.
Bintulu-Mukah: c200k, 4-5 hours. Plus stops.
The best hotel in Mukah is the
King Ing Hotel, RM50/- for a standard room (no breakfast). Clean, efficient and friendly: excellent value at less than $20 for the night. I found the hotel on the river bank, opposite the chimney. It has a car park. However the new, huge, Kingwood Hotel will open soon, and there is already a Kingwood Resort twenty kilometers out of town. There are a number of “inns” around the place too.
Cyber-cafe:
Up Shop, open 8am-6pm, but - beware - entry is denied if you
Miri
The Tanjong Seafood Restaurant, accross the road from The Marriott, provides traditional SE Asian Chinese dishes at old-fashioned prices. are wearing school uniform!
How I’ve been
I was fine until I accidentally deleted all my photos from my camera! I’ll make good some of the shots on the way home - and slip in a few from previous trips on the first part of the road.
There’s far too much of interest to feel lonely. I enjoyed taking the pictures; I’m enjoying the driving.
Azam: I’ve decided to present Tutong properly on the way back. I haven’t forgotten. I want to make good the photo damage and collect a little more information so I can pay it it’s full due.
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Alison Packham
non-member comment
My memory of Bintulu
My memory of Bintulu is of the market, with the upstairs eating area. I met a lovely lady named Anna, whose parents cooked me a delicious meal and then precededed to drive me to the airport, via their grandson's daycare.