The trip was planned earlier in April. For me this is the first time I travel to East Malaysia and the target of this trip are Batu Niah and Lambir Hill National Park. It is a short trip which is only 3 days stay.
We reached there quite late in the afternoon. It is about 7km distance from the airport to the Miri town. Of course taking taxi is expensive and we decided to go by bus.
RM2 from Airport to Miri town
Th first thing to do in the town is to fill up our stomach.
The guest house is in a walking distance from the bus station
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One of the things that impressed me most about Miri was the public parks, Miri City Fan. It is located within easy walking distance of the city centre, many people take advantage of the paths to jog or walk in the evening. There are few gardens with different style of design.
Adjacent to the Miri City Fan is the public library and a public swimming pool. Unfortunately it is closed after 5pm due to fasting months.
For those who like to take seafood, the price is cheap and there plenty of restaurant for you to choose.We order a fish (Nam Ko) which weighed 800g, prawns and vege, it only cost about RM110.
Beside the City Wet market, there is a Tua Pek Kong temple which is crowded on 1st & 15th of Lunar calender and is opened from 5am to 9pm on these 2 days. For normal day, it is opened from 6.00am to 5.00pm.
Miri City is well organised and clean. A lot of road signs are labelled with Chinese language. Here are the morning views of the city, the place where the guesthouse is located.
The purpose of the trip is actually to visit the main attractions of Miri - Lambir Hill and Batu Niah National park. To go there we need a car. We rented a car with RM140 - a Myvi.
We started the journey at about 8.00am, the 2nd day in Miri. The first destination we targeted was Lambir Hill National Park, it is 30 km away from the town. Before entering into the rain forest, visitor are required to register at the counter and pay a fee of RM10 (For senior citizen is RM5)
There are more than 10 trails in the park, considering the time we have, we took the shortest trail - Lantak Waterfall. It took us about 1/2 hour for one way. This is an interesting forest walk and we enjoyed the wonderful flora and fauna in the forest. At the end of the trail, there is a waterfall which the water fall down from 50m height.
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From Lambir Hill, the next destination is Batu Niah which is located 110km from Miri. It is situated between lambir Hill and Bitulu.
On the way to Niah Cave, we filled up some fuel for the car and bought some food from a market as simple dinner..
Same as Lambir Hill, visitors are required to register at the front counter of Niah Cave National Park and pay an amount of RM10 (RM5 for senior citizen)
We need to cross a small river by boat before entering the forest, it costs RM1 per person.
There is a 40 min rain forest walk before we reached the Great Cave, we enjoyed the majestic rain forest with various kind of plants. The national park is formed by a 3000 hectares of surrounding rain forest and limestone hill which is believed was a major human settlement 40,000 years ago.Wow!!! Visitors are asked to bring torch light in order to enter the Great Cave.
On the way back to the city, we took a chance to drop by at the Taman Awan Miri. It is a public park which is equipped with children playground, water park, suspension bridge, jogging track and canteen. A nice place for the family to spend their time during weekend or after work.
The Grand Old Lady on Canadian Hill is Malaysia’s first inland oil drilling platform and one of Sarawak’s most important historical monuments. This landmark is about 30 meters high and just beside the Grand Old Lady is the Petroleum Museum.
The second dinner in Miri, we have it at another seafood restaurant, we tried 刺壳 fish that night, nothing special the fish, not worth with the price RM90 per kg.
On the third day, before we took the flight back to Penang, we paid a visit to the wet market and bought some local produces. We had our breakfast there too in order for us to catch the 9.00am flight.
It is time to say goodbye to oil town and hopefully will see you again in the future. Selamat tinggal Miri.
