Mulu + Miri Trip 17-21 Jan 2007 (iii)

We woke up later on the last day in Mulu. 9am. Still kinda early for my weekend standards. Sigh.

After washing and packing up, we first went to the office to check out, then slowly made our way to the cafe for our breakfast.

They had Nasi Lemak.

Again.

But then again their Nasi Lemak is one of the best value for money items. Just don't order ice cream. I was presented with 'milkshake' in a bowl when I ordered Ice Cream with fruits on the first night.

We finished our breakie in record time, and proceeded to the office to arrange for transportation to the Airport.

You have to pay them 50 sen for calling and arranging transport for you.

But we managed to save that 50 sen by using KF's HP to call.

HAHAHA!!!

And guess what, the driver was already waiting at the entrance of the Headquarters when we walked out.

We could had saved up whatever sen if we just walked out!

Hehehe...

And it was the same driver who brought us from the Airport to Headquarters 2 days ago.

The smallest Mulu Airport again

We were at the airport around 10+am, but our flight was 11.40am. So we stupidly sat at the non air-conditioned area for an hour when we could had waited in the air-conditioned departure waiting area.

30 minutes after boarding the plane, we are in Miri again.

Took a cab to our accommodation Imperial Hotel. Right smack in the middle of Miri town. Affordable and quite comfortable (if we 3 girls didn't have to squeeze on a king sized bed), but 1 extra bath towel costs RM3.

-_____________-'''

After dumping our stuffs in the hotel, we first went to a coffeeshop opposite the hotel for lunch, then back to the hotel to grab a cab up to Canada Hill - recommended by a foreigner we met in Mulu.

Up in Canada Hill was the Grand Old Lady - Miri Oil Well No.1.

Can see her?


Can see me?


Oldest oil rig

Other than visiting the national monument, there was also the Miri Petroleum Science Museum where you can learn about... Err... The history of oil rig in Miri?

There was the Dino Trek. The kid in us actually paid RM5 for some stupid cheap entertainment.

Roarrrrrr...


We were bored

After collecting some free gifts from the guys at the counter, we went on to explore the rest of the museum.

We had fun rocking and banging our heads in the car with the earthquake effect and also learnt about filtering with pebbles and rocks.

Us experiencing earthquake in a car

The main purpose of going up to the Canada Hill is for the view of Miri Town.

View of Miri Town

We took quite a few pictures and we could see our hotel in almost EVERY picture. That's how centralised our hotel is.

And Miri is so small that you can actually walk the whole town in a day. We realised this fact after the second day.

At around 5+pm, we called for taxi and made our way down for dinner at the place recommended by the taxi driver.

The ride took us only 10 minutes from Canada Hill to the Waterfront. Roamed around the area as it was still too early for dinner.

But after we combed the whole area, we decided that we should just go for our dinner instead of wasting time.

We chose Yi-Hah-Hai Seafood (鱼虾蟹).

鱼虾蟹




Drool factor: 7/10

We ordered everything the restaurant name suggested - 鱼.虾.蟹. =D The Midin vegetable (1st pic), looks scary but tastes great with the sambal chilli. And the rest were forgettable.

After stuffing ourselves silly with all the food (no leftovers AT ALL), we took a walk over to the Miri City Fan. Wanted to catch the water fountain show. But it was pitch dark (with a few couples) when we reached there. Grabbed a guard patrolling the area to ask, but he didn't know the schedule of the show.

-__________________-'''

Bobian lor. Walk back to our Hotel after lurking the park, hoping that the fountain would come alive. Passed by their National Library, but we realised it was closed at 9pm - the time we arrived.

Super sian already. Decided that our day is done.

The next morning, received news from CL that Niah Caves and Lambir Hill are closed due to the flood from the constant rain. I thought our day would be easier, but alas...

Went over to the Visitors' Information Centre to find out if the news of the closure of the caves is real. Not only it was real, we also found out that the Lambir Hill was also closed coz somebody was drowned couple of weeks ago in the waterfalls. *shiver*

Disappointed that our plans were messed up, we looked for alternative places to go.

We were pestered/hounded/followed by the private car drivers, who wanted to drive us to our destinations. At the same time asking if we wanted to go to Niah Caves, Lambir waterfalls, etc.

When we told them that the attractions were closed, they were surprised and asked, "真的么？"

Pengz.

Only Mr Yong appeared more professional and 'informed' us that the cave and waterfall are closed. He also offered some suggestions on where we could go. And we've already been to most of the places he suggested, so he was also declined. But we kept his namecard. (his contact can be found at the end of the post)

We first walked to the Tua Pek Kong temple. Tua Pek Kong is a colourful temple with many interesting murals, carvings and statues. It was only built in 1910 and is a well-established part of the city's character.

The 2 girls went to do some praying(?) while AT and myself roamed around the temple taking pictures.

Tua Pek Kong Temple

Before leaving, KF took some time to explain the drawings of the 24 Filial Pieties seen on the walls of the temple to the 2 not-so-chinese Chinese. So nice hor?

After visiting one temple, they decided to be nice to us Catholics and we walked all the way back to the church (which could be seen from Canada Hill) near the Visitor Information Centre.

While we were crossing the big roundabout to get to the Churches on the hill, another private car driver stalked approached quietly from behind us.

"你们要去哪里？"

Freaked out sia!

He continued to ask the same questions, "where you guys heading?", "wanna go to blah blah blah?", "let me drive you there", etc.

Sian.

Managed to make him give up by taking down his number and told him that we will call him if we need transport.

Some Church on the hill

Walked up the hill, fed a lot of mozzies, and the gates to the church were locked.

-______________________-'''

LL-ly, we left the hill and called up the guy to bring us to San Ching Dian.

莲花山: 三清殿

Lazy to describe our activities in the temple. Only that it was a super funny 'reading' for CL. =D

We were at the temple for slightly more than an hour (only about 11am) before we called up Mr Yong.

We proceeded to Bintang Plaza for lunch and movie - Pathfinder.

The theatre was quite old, seats not inclined enough, and halfway through the movie, the film started jump. about 5 minutes later, AT walked out of the theatre to inform the fellas outside to fix it, only then we could continue the movie.

The movie is quite slow, boring storyline, (only) quite gory and no good looking actors. The only pull factor is that the movie will only be out in the US in April. *yawn*

Walked back to the hotel after the movie. Detoured to Imperial Mall (the lower levels of the hotel) for a haircut and treatment for my hay-like hair. Service is not too bad from the auntie who washed, scrubbed and massaged my head.

Later, we walked to the Waterfront (again) for our dinner. This time we went to Sea Village Seafood Restaurant (海外天).

海外天

Ordered lesser dishes, food's better than 鱼虾蟹, but we were still stuffed.

Took a slow walk back to the hotel and day's ended.

Morning came and finally it was time to go back!

Yay! Back to civilisation!

Back to normal life

Did you notice that I used 'walked' most of the time in the post? Miri is so small that most places we went to are accessible by foot!

Nevertheless, here's our driver's contact in Miri Town: Mr Yong (019-835 1530)
His rates are cheaper than the regular cabs. You might get a cheaper ride if you know how to bargain further. :D

Summary of our expenses:
Bus (SG - KL) - RM62 (S$27)
Flight (KL - Miri - Mulu - Miri - JB) - RM350
Cab (KL Pudu - KL LCCT) - RM16.50 (RM50 per cab)
Cab (Miri Airport - Miri Town) - RM4.60 (RM18.50 per cab)
Cab (Miri Town - Miri Airport) - RM4.60 (RM18.50 per cab)

In Mulu
Transport (Mulu Airport - National Park) - RM5
Accommodation (National Park Longhouse) - RM 60 (RM240 - 4 ppl x 2 nights)
Park entrance fees - RM10
Deer/Lang Caves fees - RM5
Boat to Wind/Clearwater Caves - RM27
Wind/Clearwater Caves fees - RM5
Canopy Walk fees - RM30
Transport (National Park - Mulu Airport) - RM5
Food in National Park - RM50 (avg RM10 per meal)

In Miri
Cab (Miri Airport - Imperial Hotel) - RM4.60 (RM18.50 per cab)
Accommodation (Imperial Hotel) - RM115 (RM260 - 4 ppl x 2 nights)
Lunch - RM5
Cab (to Canada Hill) - RM2.50 (RM10 per cab)
Dino Trek - RM5
Oil Rig Museum - FREE
Cab (Canada Hill - Waterfront) - RM2.50 (RM10 per cab)
Dinner (鱼虾蟹) - RM33 (RM132.90 whole meal)
Miri City Fan - FREE
Breakfast - RM7
Visitor Centre - FREE
Central Market - FREE
Tua Pek Kong Temple - FREE
Evangelist Church - FREE
Pasar Tamu - FREE
Cab (to 莲花山: 三清殿）- RM2 (RM8 per cab)
Cab (莲花山 - Bintang Plaza) - RM2 (RM8 per cab)
Lunch - RM7
Movie - RM8
Dinner (海外天) - RM17.85 (RM71.40 whole meal)
Breakfast - RM5
Cab (Imperial Hotel - Miri Airport) - RM5 (RM15 per cab)
Bus (JB Senai Airport - Kota Raya II) - RM8
Bus (Kota Raya II - Causeway - Queen Street) - RM2.50

Total: RM866.65 (not inclusive of shopping and hair treatment =D)


prev < > next

Click here for full set of pictures of the trip

Note: pictures not linking to FlickR are taken by CL