Sarawak en Sabah

© Dirk Deckx (1995)

3. MIRI

...is a quiet degenerated city living on the riches of oil industry. Everything is accessible on foot. We rashly check in in "The New South East Asian Lodging House" following the advice of our loyal Lonely Planet Survival Kit. We receive a much too small, windowless and smelly room for which we have to pay 25 RM for one night. The owners are unfriendly, grumbling and are not very willing to answer questions. There's something wrong here, this is not the style of Lonely Planet. Later that night a couple of streets away we find out the existence of "The South East Asian Lodging House" (watch the slight difference in the name). Obviously this smells like deception of unsuspecting foreigners who don't notice the slight difference in the name and it looks as if the worldwide popularity of the Lonely Planet guidebooks is abused here.

Every hotel has its own aircon-system, wanted or not, there's no way out of it. We don't want to disturb our acclimatisationproces, so in spite of the broiling heat, we decide to turn it off.
First thing to do next morning is finding a better place to sleep and we find it in the "Fairland Inn". For 38 RM we get a much bigger room with daylight, a nice bathroom and even hot water. Much cheaper rooms are not available in Miri.

Permits :

The only reason to make a stop in Miri is because it's one of the few places where one can arrange necessary permits and accommodation for Gunung Mulu National Park, Niah and some trekking in the interior.
Place to be is the National Parks Office. The Staff is accommodating en willing to help, all bookings are arranged immediately and confirmed on paper. We arrange a two nights stay in the Visitor's Hostel, a brand new bungalow-complex in the Niah Caves area. Payments should be settled at arrival.
For trekking around Bario in the Kelabit Highlands one also need a permit. This can be arranged in the Resident's Office, but it takes some administrative fuss.
We try to achieve permission for a three day trekking from Bario to Ba Kelalan, a village close to Kalimantan (Indonesia). From Ba Kelalan we planned to take a plane to Lawas.
First we have to fill out an application form. With this piece of paper, together with 2 copies of passport and immigration document and an extra photo we have to present ourselves at the police station for approval.
Only after this procedure we can collect the official permit at the Resident's Office.
Again the staff is friendly and helpful but one problem occurs. They cannot give us an official permit to travel above Bario. A permit for Ba Kelalan can only be given in Lawas they tell us. Nothing can be done about this, but nevertheless, in a peculiar way it seems that the lady behind the counter wants to tell us that it's possible to do this trek without a permit and that's exactly what we are going to do.
The paper procedure can be handled in one morning.

As told before, Miri has not much to offer. It's a paradise for migrants (legal and illegal) and the oil business dominates the city, which is only about 65 miles away from the Brunei border. The pocket telephone is very common in the streets, almost everybody has one.
During weekends at about 10 PM the city wakes up. Pubs, bars and karaoke's open their doors and on many dark street corners prostitutes and transvestites show themselves. Pseudo Chinese-Malaysian rock groups perform in several pubs and cover Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, etc... For a beer you have to pay 9 RM.

Curiosities :

The Indoor Market is worth a visit. Here you can try several Chinese dishes in the food stalls.

Canadian Hill offers a beautiful and quiet overview of the city situated at the Chinese Sea. The other side of the hill shows the green beauty of the forest. A taxi can bring you to the hill.

The Bilal Restaurant is a real Indian culinary attraction and you should not leave Miri without trying it first. Chicken Tandoori with garlic nan is supernatural delicious and cheap.

Busses to Batu Niah :

The bus terminal is situated behind the "Park Hotel" and busses leave every hour, first one at 6.30 AM. Tickets can be bought on the bus and cost 8.50 RM. Usually there are enough places and comfort is quite high, close to international standard. The drive takes about 90 minutes on well kept roads.