Miri Stopover

Miri is not a standalone travel hotspot, but more to a transit city which is  always linked to Mulu National Park, Niah Cave, or even Brunei. Our initial plan was to visit Miri together with Mulu National Park. While our Mulu trip pending, we got our chance to visit Miri with a five-hour-stopover on our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu.

First stop, the Grand-Old-Lady. Why? Miri is well-known as the city of oil, where the first oil well in Malaysia was drilled in 1910. The location, right on top of Canada Hill. The Grand-Old-Lady is the name dubbed to that very first oil well. Abandoned in 1972, the well produced a volume of 660,000 barrels of oil. 

Of course, the original structure of the well is long gone. What stands still on the original location of the well is a 30 meters high replica. A petroleum museum was built right beside the well. The museum opens at 9 am - 4:45 pm on Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday, while close on Monday and the first day of public holiday. Confusing, isn't it? That's the price to pay to enter a zero-entrance-fee museum. We didn't manage to enter museum. We were 45 minutes late.

Another attraction on Canada Hill, right beside the Grand Old Lady, is the landscape view on Miri City. We were lucky to catch the breathtaking scenery in haze, so the amazement cut by half. It should be great in a clear day, especially during the sunset. So, by combining all three- the well, the museum, and the city view, it is a must visit place in Miri.

The journey uphill by car is easy. Just take Setia Raja Road (by Miri Pujut Road, 300 meters from Bintang Megamall) towards the hill, start the climb, and keep right at the big junction. You can reach the site in about 5 minutes. By foot, it might take up to 45 minutes to climb the hill. Good information about this place is available at Miriresortcity.com and attractionsinMalaysia.com.

The Grand Old Lady marks the location of the first oil well in Miri. More than 600 wells were drilled after that.

Scenery around the Grand Old Lady.

Petroleum Museum was closed during our visit.

The haze took away the glory of Miri City. In a clear day, South China Sea can be seen clearly from this point.

By the way, the place might be quite crowdy in the late afternoon. Food and beverages were only available at the Hazard Bistro. We didn't step into the bistro due to time constraint, but the view there should be good for the location to overlook the whole Miri City. Please bring along an umbrella if you plan to walk to Grand Old Lady. Taxi and bus services were not available at the place. So, the best way to get a taxi from that place back to Miri City is- go to Grand Old Lady by taxi from Miri City and tell the driver to wait for you while you tour around the place.

Our second stop- Tanjong Beach. It might not be the most beautiful beach in Miri, but it is one of the closest to the city. Parallel to several major resorts such as Parkcity Everly and Miri Marriott, the beach can be easily accessed by car. About the beach, the sand white and fine, with trees and picnic sites well maintained, and a row of clean seafood eateries lined up for the visitors. However, one major down side of this beach- swimming is not allowed due to the strong underwater current. Well, we visited the beach as a part of our friend's arrangement, and we enjoyed the wind from South China Sea very much. We took a city tour afterward.

 Tanjung Beach is one of the favourite places for locals.

Towering condominium was in construction during our visit (upper left), taking advantage on the great sea view at the area. The beach side was clean and well-maintained (upper right). The seafood eateries attracted many to dine by the beach (lower row).

 Older part of Miri City, with modern tower rises behind the old shoplots.

 Sunday is a rest day for many. Many shops were closed on Sunday afternoon (photo was taken at around 5:30 pm).

Bintang Megamall is one of the favourite shopping mall for the youngsters. There are others such as Boulevard and Imperial Mall.

Sea horse is the maskot of Miri City. You can see it everywhere around the city.

Miri International Airport is quite big. The size, a bit smaller than Kota Kinabalu International Airport while twice bigger than Sibu International Airport. There are several eateries, coffee shops, grocery and souvenir shops, that make the few hours of waiting less miserable. For us, we killed most of our time at Starbuck, sipping nice coffee while enjoying high speed internet access, and our time passed before we even realise about it. Regarding the transport from the airport to Miri City, the budget taxi is available with RM25 per trip. Limosine is available with a bit higher price too. A few car rental companies and tourism companies are available as well.

Miri International Airport has a modern outlook (upper left). Taxi is available outside the arrival hall (upper right). There are many shops available in the airport building (lower left), and when a long wait is unavoidable, we like Starbuck in particular.

Overall, our impression, although Miri is a city, it is not exactly like other "real" city i.e. Kuala Lumpur, Penang, or Melaka. It is even far much quieter than Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. However, it is still an important hub, not only to Niah Cave, Mulu National Park, or Brunei, but it is important as a supply point for hundreds of off-shore drilling platforms. 

Are we going to visit Miri again? Most probably yes, because Niah and Mulu are high in our list. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Wei for bringing us around Miri, rushing us here and there just to cover as many places as possible. We are glad that his lighting business is getting better and brighter, and we hope that God will continue to bless him and his family, and we will meet again in near future.

Photo taken with Wei (严生卫) in front of his lighting show house- Sheng Cheng Lighting at Pujut 3.

Our sharing on other places in Sarawak are available at:

[Batang Ai Longhouse Resort] [Attraction in Sibu] [A trip to Kuching]

[Tanjung Manis] [A trip to Mukah] [Food and Accommodation in Sibu]

[All Our Destinations]

Batang Ai Longhouse Resort- A Quiet Resort on an Island within Borneo Island

Lubuk Antu in Sarawak, a place unfamiliar to most Malaysian, even to many Sarawakians, houses a resort- Batang Ai Longhouse Resort. It is unique as it resides on a small island in the middle of Batang Ai lake, which is formed due the crave of hidroelectric power.

Batang Ai Longhouse Resort is located in Lubuk Antu, Sri Aman, approximately 280 km from Kuching, and 225 km from Sibu. We started our trip from Sibu early morning by car and reached the jetty near Batang Ai Dam in around 4 hours 30 minutes (with a stop at Sarikei). The trip was not too bad as the road condition was good. By the way, Batang Ai means Ai River.

 Map shows the location of Batang Ai Dam, and the route we took from Sibu. Instead of 3 h 7 min, we took around 4 h 30 min. We passed by Bintangor, Sarikei, Saratok, and Betong before we reached our destination.

The only way for us to travel through the huge lake formed by the building of the dam was using a boat prepared by the hotel management. As we visited the hotel during weekday in the middle of May, we were the only visitors of the resort, until joined by another group of several foreign visitors at dusk. We stayed there for a night, enjoying a calm, quiet, and full-with-greenery time, while listening to the orchestra played by nature. Ironically, it was at the middle of a man-made lake.

Panoramic view of Batang Ai National Park at the view point nearby the jetty. Click the photo to enlarge.

The transit boat is the only mean to reach the hotel. It operates only a few trips a day. The boat ride takes 20 minutes to reach the resort from jetty.

Nice view at the jetty.

The dam is located nearby the jetty.

Calm and picturesque view on our way to the resort.

Flooded for more than 25 years, the remaining of the trees can still be seen around the lake.

The resort is well-hidden behind the trees (upper left). The first message from the resort- no swimming in the lake (upper right). The resort welcomes its guests with stairs. Luckily, helpful porters were there to help us with our luggage.

The resort was built using woods. So we can see wooden lobby (upper left), wooden balcony with wooden chairs and coffee tables (upper right), and wooden walkway resembles ruai of a longhouse (lower left). There is a nice swimming pool too.

Panoramic view from the higher platform of the jetty. Click the photo to enlarge.

Panoramic view from the resort. Click the photo to enlarge.

We stayed in a very nice wooden-decorated room. The room was spacious.

As there was no other place for us to go for lunch and dinner, the hotel's restaurant was the only choice we had. The average price for a single meal was at least RM30. We tried several dishes at the restaurant, which most of them were delicious. Fried noodle with udang galah (upper left), Kuching Kway Teow (upper right), Sri Aman Mix (lower left) were good. The enormous freshwater prawn, udang galah surprised us. The complementary western breakfast was acceptable as well. However, Tasmanian wild salmon steak (not shown) was not impressive.

Group photo at the restaurant before lunch.

Photo taken on our way back.

The road connecting Batang Ai Dam to other part of Sarawak.

We found that Batang Ai Lake Recreation Park was beautiful. It is located on the another side of the dam. A short walk around the park promises great view, but beware of hungry mosquitoes.

A view on Batang Ai Lake Recreation Park from the entrance.

Two days one night trip to Batang Ai Longhouse Resort is enough. A prolonged afternoon downpour a few hours after our arrival trapped us in the resort for the first day. Else, we might join some of the activities such as jungle trekking, longhouse visit, or fishing. These activities were offered by the resort with fees, and arrangement needed to be made a few hours earlier. The next morning, we walked around to enjoy the beauty of nature and fresh air. We took the opportunity to swim in the nice pool before we left the resort at around 12 pm.

Frankly, that is definitely not a must-visit place in Sarawak. However, if you fancy about spending an extraordinary quiet night in the middle of an island within Borneo Island, you might consider to stay overnight at the resort. But remember, the resort can be full with visitors during weekends, school holidays, and public holidays. Visit the official website of the hotel for more information. The boat schedule is available in the website as well.

More about our experience in Sarawak are available:

[Attractions in Sibu] [Food and Accommodation in Sibu] [Sibu One-Day Trip]

[Kuching City Trip-1] [All Our Destinations]

Sibu Airport is Now Upgraded

We were proud of Sibu airport the moment we walked through the pier. We has been using the airport for many years.  The new facelift- futuristic design and fully air conditioned building is undoubtedly giving warm welcome message to all the visitors. To be frank, it is far better than many major airports in South East Asia region. I is a luxury for a town of 200k population.  The new upgraded airport building was officially operational in 2012. From the tourists' point of view- we like it very very much!

 Spacious check-in area.

Ample seat for visitors, with a few shops available for last minute shopping. Sugar Bun was available to provide meals and snacks.

 Fully air conditioned shopping and waiting area for visitors.

 Departure hall with sufficient seat for everyone.

 Cafe in the departure hall.

 Pick up and drop off area with a few transparent cover to save the lighting cost.

Taxi stand was just outside of the airport gates, with taxis lined up and ready to serve. The fare, RM 35 to Sibu town area. We didn't take bus in Sibu for more than 20 years. However, according to Lonely Planet, bus from Sibu Airport to town was available every 30 minutes, from 6 am to 6 pm. Beside taxi service, car rental service and tour service were available as well.

Sibu Airport is no more a nightmare for air traveller (believe us, it was really a terrible place). Cozy full air conditioned environment, ample of seat, systematic and easy to read signage, eateries and a few shops altogether make Sibu Airport now a comfortable place for a few hours stay. Free public Wifi? Not available yet. (Free Wifi is available in 2018, tested and confirmed by both of us)

Want to read more about our experience in Sibu? Please visit the links below.

[Attractions in Sibu] [A Day Trip in Sibu] 

[Food and Accommodation in Sibu]

[All Our Destinations]

A Great Experience with MASWING

We were so close to it, but yet missed our first chance to fly with MASWING last December. Out of a blue change in our itinerary. However, we grabbed our first experience flying in this twin engines 68 seaters in January 2012, from Sibu to Kota Kinabalu. 90 minutes in the air, we crossed the territory of Bintulu, Miri, Brunei, and Labuan, before we landed at Kota Kinabalu. It was an unexpectedly enjoyable trip.

Far back in 1990s, our experience with twin propellers Forker Friendship was terrible. Rocky, hot and sweaty, narrow and suffocating cabin, and the list went on. Time passed and things changed. Now, the ATR 72-500 aircraft offers a far much better experience. Although it is propeller-powered, the aircraft is nevertheless less noisy, relatively stable (thanks to the good weather), wider cabin, nice and sweet stewardess (as consistence as other Malaysia Airlines services), and above all, very comfy seats, which fit well to our average Asian sitting posture. The air conditioning system worked well and it was cooling in the craft (although it was quite warm in the first five minutes after boarding).

17 thousands above the sea level, we were served with delighting refreshment, followed by a cup of tea. While munching our sandwich, we enjoyed a 30 minutes videos presentation, mostly focused on the tourism and information about Sarawak and Sabah.

Video presentation is the last thing to expect in this twin propellers powered flight.

Our refreshment on the aircraft (upper row). Cannot be considered spacious, but there is definitely enough room to stretch.

Beautiful? Sweet? The definition might be varied. However, the stewardess defined herself with good service.

The scene 17 thousands above the sea level.

Kota Kinabalu can be clearly seen in this steady aerial view.

We were unexpectedly greeted by two cuties a few minutes before the captain announced the descending.

Although it is a domestic airline, providing flights connecting cities and towns within Sabah and Sarawak, with a very humble-looking fleet, MASWING is indeed a world class airline. No doubt, we will fly with the airline again, and again.

For more information about our trip in Sabah and Sarawak, please go to All Our Destinations. More stories about Kota Kinabalu and Sibu are available at:

[A Day Tour Around Sibu] [Sibu Attractions] [Sibu Accomodation and Food]

[Kota Kinabalu] [Labuan] [All Our Destinations] [Our Travephoto]

A Day Tour around Sibu

Thanks to my brother's wedding, we received a band of Perakians in Sibu. They are young, energetic, full of curiosity, adventurous and, that's their first time in Sibu. The town by the River of Goose had plenty to offer. As their tour guide, I had to reveal the hidden gems of Sibu to them.

Sunday, mid of December, 9 am, clear blue sky with merciless blazing sun. We started our journey from Kingwood Hotel to scout for renown dian-bian-hu (鼎边糊) at Sibu Butterfly Garden. Along the way, the story of why the Rejang River is crowned with another name- the River of Swan was told. We stopped at Sibu Express Boat Terminal for a while to visualize the importance of the river to the people in Sarawak.

My original plan- visit Yong-An Ting and the pagoda first before breakfast. But they were really starved. So plan B- the food first.

How good was the dian bian hu? You can tell from their expression. I had to order the food for three rounds to feed their appetite. By the way, they were sitting in Ah Hee Kopi Tian, while ordering dian bian hu from the food stall beside the coffee shop. They tried char mian (fried noodle) and char meehun (fried beehun) as well at the coffee shop.

This is a bowl of the traditional Foochow delight with cuttlefish, home made fish ball, black fungus, blended with Sarawak black pepper. Beware, it is highly addictive!

After the breakfast, they stormed the souvenir shop beside the coffee shop.

Out of a sudden, three samurai appeared in front of Alih Craft (the souvenir shop) ...

Knowing the place of worship is always nearer to heaven, some of them had actually tried to fly right into the heaven...

They did it... for a short while.

Then, I brought them to Sibu Heritage Centre at Central Road. This building used to be the head office of Sibu Municipal Council. We spent nearly one hour in the centre.

Security.... someone is taking photo inside the exhibition hall!!

 12:30 pm, we left the heritage centre to find something to eat (what, eat? Again?).

So I brought them to this very old gom bian shop, Seng Kee at Market Road.

And all of them really "give-face" by eating the gom bian right in front of the shop. Btw, I think the shop owner should give some advertising fee to these ladies to stand a bit longer in front of the shop.

Next stop, Sibu Central Market. I showed them the hand made soo-mee (a special type of local handmade noodle), dried kampua mee (another type of noodle), and some indigenous fruits and vegetables.

This is how the dried kampua mee looks like.

They were lucky. One of the seasonal fruits- Dabai was found in the market. Besides, they found buah Sibau, ikan masin terumbok (Sarawak famous salted fish), and paku (a kind of edible fern). Driven by the tiredness, I couldn't show them many other things, such as tebaloi, the mountain durian, buah terap, sago, mulung, and fresh midin.

Sibu Central Market guarantees no empty hands!

Our tour officially ended at 2 pm, after I successfully brought them back to the hotel. I didn't bring them to Wisma Sanyan, Sibu Town Square and Masland Church at Island Road as all my tour members had visited the places a day before.

A solid five hours tour ended with one conclusion- Sibu is not as small as we thought. Summary of the places that we visited- Rejang Esplanade, Sibu Express Boat Terminal, dian bian hu for breakfast, souvenir shop, Yong An Ting and the pagoda, Sibu Heritage Centre, traditional gom bian for refreshment, and Sibu Central Market.

Finally, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all my tour members- Trass, Vernie, Yi Mei, Yong, Jessie, Tong Yuen, Jiunn Wai, Ken, Kun, Lih Yik, Pook, Kit Ling, and Xing Jiun, for the opportunity and the experience as a tour guide, especially for the tour on my beloved hometown.

Regards, Ling Shing.

More about our sharing on Sarawak are available at:

[Sibu: Attractions] [Sibu: Accommodation and Food] [Sibu Airport is Now Upgraded]
[Kuching][Matu-Daro to Dalat] [Mukah] [Tanjung Manis]
[All Our Destinations]