For most people, Miri, in Sarawak, or better known as the Borneo island is well known as the source of Petroleum. In the past, there were many expats in Miri city as they were working for Shell and Petronas.
Well, just in case if you happen to be in Miri, you probably feel very clueless as to where to go and what to do during your stay here. As someone who was born in Miri, I’ll suggest a few activities that you should try to really feel the experience the local culture.
Some of the activities listed may need you to move around, so you will probably need to look for a reliable car rental service like the one provided by Naiee’s Car Rental as you can’t rely on the public transport here for moving to locations beyond the city center.
1. Try the midin fern.
It’s available in most chinese and some malay restaurants. It’s a fern that is only available in Sarawak and you should try it if you’re into organic food as they grow naturally on jungle and forest throughout Sarawak. The next time you’re ordering your dinner, you should get yourself a plate of midin with shrimp paste.
2. Buy some handicraft
You may want to prepare some money to buy some of the beautiful handmade beadworks and wood carvings done by the orang ulu such as the Penans and the locals here. Each of them have unique design for their artwork depending on its ethnic group origin. Some of the most popular weaving from the Ibans is known as the pua kumbu (covering blanket). This weaving is considered sacred and is believed to be able to connect men with the spiritual world.
3. Picnic at Piasau Camp beach
Miri has a very long shoreline and for the most part of the beach, it is not commercialized. You can spend a few hours strolling around the beach, or even set up a camp and picnic here if you’re an outdoor person. Piasau camp is a gazetted natural reserve to protect the hornbills and various rare birds and mammals species.
4. Visit the night market in Saberkas
You should come here and try some of the food sold in the night market. They are open from Wednesday to Saturday and sell varieties of local cuisines and smoked chicken and fish.
(Updated on 16 November 2015)
5. Visit the Tusan Cliff
This is a relatively new places of Interest in Miri. It was featured in Borneo Post for its “Blue tears” phenomenon. I was there last weekend but unfortunately I didn’t have the right camera to capture the image. You have climb down a small hill to reach the beach.
These are just some of the activities that you can try here to have an actual experience of being in Miri.
Khusairy Chen 