An established gateway, particularly to Mulu National
Park which is an exciting and unique centre for visiting amazing
caves, virgin rainforest, rivers and wildlife, Miri is a budding
resort area and flourishing oil town on Sarawak's northwestern
coast. Miri was just a sleepy little trading village at the mouth
of the Miri River until 1910 when the giant Shell Oil company
sank its first oil well on Canada Hill.
It wasn't long until offshore oil rigs turned the
village into a booming headquarters for North Sarawak's big drilling
and oil refining operations. Texas accents mixed with Iban dialects
on increasingly busy streets, all with money and time to spend.
The contrast between the old town with its traditional
shophouses and markets and the modern town's hotels, restaurants,
shopping centres and legendary nightlife (a legacy of oil and
timber workers from around the world) is striking.
It isn't a big city and is
the base for tours to the Mulu and Niah Caves and now has international
hotels. It offers a bit of everything
in the culinary stakes, as its very international community indicates.
There's a wealth of fruits and vegetables, seafood,
game and meats at the Tamu Muhibbah markets, a must for visitors.
Kuching laksa is very popular, along with Malay rice and spicy
meats and vegetables, curries, grilled and steamed seafood. Diners
can even choose between good chicken rice or Southern fried chicken.
Because of Miri's commercial interests and its location just
south of Brunei and roughly half way between Kuching and Kota
Kinabalu the city could take the role of the principal northern
gateway for Sarawak's new "Culture-Adventure- Nature"
tourism theme, the state and city have big plans for Miri, incorporated
in a 10 year program called "Miri Resort City", scheduled
for completion in 2005 and already underway.
More information on Sarawak:
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/malaysia/malaysia_sarawak_miri.htm
