Miri/Labuan/Brunei (Day 2)

Day 2 started really early. We began our day with a feast on Sarawak Laksa. Being a fan of Laksa recently, I'm starting to miss the Laksa at the time I'm typing this.

Barley Ice Sarawak Laksa

The flavour of Sarawak Laksa is not as strong as Nyonya Laksa. The gravy is more diluted but that's fine to me as it is really appetizing. I think Sarawak Laksa really special in its own way. Sorry for the lack of detailed explanation. I'm never a good food commentator. LOL. Let the pictures do the talking. After the satisfying breakfast, we went for a short walk at Boulevard Mall. It is one of the few malls in Miri. There was nothing much for us to shop there so we ended up walking around and taking photographs. There was this huge DVD shop that offered a huge variety of DVDs though but we ended up buying nothing although we spent quite some time there, feeling amazed at the amount of choices.

Ais Kacang Sagu

Next, it was the time for food again. As we were quite bloated, we didn't really have main course for lunch.

Sotong Kangkung Kuih Udang, Ubi, Tauhu & Keladi

There is this shop Miri that offers really fantastic snacks. I especially love the sauce provided. At the point of typing, I fail to recall the name of the shop. The shop is known as Sin Wan Delight Rojak & Cold Drinks Centre. Locating opposite the Petronas petrol station, it would not be hard to find the shop. On a side note, the shop do sell cendols as well and the cendol in Miri is different than our very own Malacca cendol. The cendol in East Malaysia is more chewy, much like chewing gum. =)Nevertheless, our main agenda of the day is none other than visiting the mighty Gua Niah. I was actually really curious and anticipated it as the only time I had seen a cave was in my history textbook. It really makes me wonder how a real cave looks like. The journey from Miri to Niah National Park was approximately one hour. Alright. It was actually quite different from what I imagined as I didn't know that we had to trek through a jungle in order to reach the cave. I thought it was reachable by car. Naive me. Just as a reminder, do remember to bring along your Student ID if you plan to visit the Niah National Park for special discounts. From the main entrance, we took a short walk before we were required to cross the river to the opposite side. Then, the real journey began where we had to trek through a thick jungle in order to reach the cave. There are special walkways provided for travellers. However, slippery shoes are definitely a no-no as you wouldn't want to end up slipping into the jungle or river underneath. It took us another 50 minutes to finally reach the cave. I was amazed by the view. The whole feeling was really unbelievable. Imagine something that you had seen so long in your History textbook finally came to live. The whole structure of the cave made me realised even more that how great Motehr Nature can be. For a moment, I was feeling a little like the characters in Avatar, inhabiting the land of Pandora. It was nature all around me and nothing more than that. As we explore deeper, we could see some bats and swiftlets flying around the cave ceiling. We did not explore deep into the cave as it was quite dangerous. It was quite slippery and dark in the deeper part of the cave. A powerful torchlight and a pair of good shoes are compulsory for anyone who would like to explore further.

This is so Pandora

As it was getting darker, we decided to leave Gua Niah as the journey out would consume another 50 minutes to 1 hour. One of the most important lesson I learnt from my adventure in Gua Niah is that I'm seriously aging and my stamina is really horrible. I was basically struggling to go through the thick jungle to the cave and I was exhausted the moment I reached there. The journey out was another issue. LOL. Guess it's time to hit the gym again. At night, we went for seafood dinner at the beach. The place seems like the Portuguese Settlement of Malacca, located beside the beaches and offering a wide array of seafood. Not forgetting, we did experience the night life of Miri later that night. That area was quite lively at night I would say, giving us another sight of Miri.

Miri/Labuan/Brunei (Day 1)

It was my first time travelling to East Malaysia. My cousin and I took the 7.20 a.m. flight on 21st May 2010 to Miri. It was all quite unbelievable for me as it was a last minute decision. I took a really long time to decide over this trip.
I have always enjoyed window seat as it's more comfortable to me and I can take tonnes of cloud pictures. Fortunately, I got window seat this time and I was free to test fulfill my desire (for more cloud pictures). =P Upon seeing East Malaysia from above, I got really excited. It was my first time to this side of Malaysia and I was really wondering what kind of experience I would gain. A lot of questions were generated in my mind. How would the environment there be? How different is East Malaysia from West Malaysia? And tonnes of other silly questions that were as if I was someone who was freshly out from the jungle. From the Miri Airport, we took a taxi to the Bintang Plaza. Frankly speaking, we were quite shocked at first as our first impression on the mall that it was not that appealing. Its design looks quite like Ocean in Melaka, but the things they sell are definitely different because they have Starbucks and Coffee Bean in Bintang Plaza. =) As we walked around pointlessly, we realised that the mall has a newer portion, which I supposed was the New Wing. We decided to go for lunch while waiting for my cousin's friend who will be our host throughout the trip. To our horror, my cousin's wallet had gone missing. We tried to look all over the place but to no avail. We ended up with a taxi ride all the way back to Miri Airport in hoping to look for the wallet but the effort was fruitless. Then, the other taxi drivers around there tried to call the taxi which we took earlier with hope that my cousin might have dropped his wallet in the taxi. Again, the effort proved to be a failure as we failed to find the wallet in the end. Feeling disappointed, we took a taxi back to Bintang Plaza to look for a place to have lunch and rest as we did not sleep much the night before. We chose Sugar Bun as it was a famous fast food chain store in Sarawak (which is not available in East Malaysia), much like KFC and McDonald's here but Sugar Bun provides a variety of local food at the same time. The Nasi Lemak there is definitely different from what we have back home. The sambal is sweeter and the rice is much like glutinous rice. However, overall, it was acceptable to me. Then, we spent the whole afternoon at Coffee Bean to rest. At some point of time, I even fell asleep, woke up and went back into dreamland again. In the evening, my cousin friend was finally done with his working routine came to pick us. We went to the police station to lodge a report for the missing wallet before going back to his place to settle down and get ready for dinner. At night, we went to Miri Central Market for dinner. Our main course was the special Sarawak kolo mee that must be eaten with their very own "pak cham gai" (steamed white chicken). The noodles in Miri is definitely different than what we have here in Melaka. It is slightly more chewy and you can feel the rounder texture (abstract explanation) in your mouth. As for their kolo mee, their kolo mee is really dry as in it has totally no gravy at all. We also had their fried noodles as our side dishes. Other than the noodles itself, the flavour of the fried noodles is quite similar with what we have in Malacca.

Kolo Mee Steamed White Chicken Fried Noodles

One thing that fascinated me is the way the barley drink being served. Normally, our barley drink will be in the form of glass in Malacca. However, in Miri, the barley drink is served in the form of bottle. Each bottle is be able to cater for approximately 3-4 glasses and the bottle comes with a really special cover. Aside from barley, the soya bean drink there is served in similar form too.

Barley

Miri Central Market

After our dinner, we went for a drive around Miri before heading back to rest. It was definitely a tiring day due to our lack of sleep the night before.

Brand New Blog

Ever since I took a hiatus from blogging, I'd always gotten the itch to blog again once in a while. Unconsciously, blogging has become an interest to me. It's like a diary for me to remind me of all the ups and downs in my life. It has been nearly a year since I last blogged. Well, part of the reason was due to privacy issues. It's really scary when people start to use blog as a medium of their negative intention. The thought of my privacy being intruded is disturbing. However, throughout the period of hiatus, I felt a little lost. I was wondering all the events that happened throughout the period. It took me some time to slowly recall the memories. I didn't have any blog or posts to refer to. Now, I finally had enough determination and courage to continue blogging again. What I would say is stalkers and spies should stay away from here. Constructive comments from sincere readers are definitely welcomed. It will be different from my previous blog I suppose. I'm hoping it will be a more interesting blog - less rantings, more beneficial thoughts. At the same time, I certainly hope that I'll be more consistent in my blog updates, and have enough determination to blog. Happy reading, folks!

P.S. As for the name of the blog, it's just a random name that I randomly thought of in my attempt to start a brand new blog. =P