Miri Sarawak

This is Gloria Hotel. Not too bad. Its clean and the room is huge. The disadvantages are it has no free bottle water and no hair dryer. Cost us RM107 a night.

This an old hotel which desperately needs refurbishing. Look at this iron burn mark. I think it must have been there for ages!

There is bath in this room. But you wont want to bath in it until you have scrub it with detergent. :)

The view from our 3rd floor window. On the left picture shows Mega hotel in blue. Right below our window were chicken being dried. Later the hotel restaurant will deep fry them. Drying the chicken will give the roast chicken that lovely brown color and crispiness to the skin. Did some shopping in Bintang Plaza which happens to be one of the famous shopping complex here in Miri. The unique thing about this complex is the optical illusion of the floor if seen from the top floor.

When to Miri again for the weekend. This time we stayed at Mega Hotel Bintulu on the 16th floor when the executive suites are located. Hubby booked us into a twin queen size bed executive suite. I wanted a king size. Hubby said too late to change. We also had problem trying to get internet line. They gave us an internet cable to solve this problem but it didn't work anyhow. By then we were going out so we left the line problem as it. When we got back at night there was a rumbling sound in the room. 

Since we were already at the highest floor we can only deduce that the sound must be coming from the roof top. We made a complaint to the receptionist. Later they send a technician up to check. The moment he heard the sound he told us that it is coming from the machine that runs the elevator. There was no choice but to change room.

The next room was also located on the same floor but on the other side of the building. You cannot hear any rumbling sound at all. I was also happy that this room comes with a super king size bed. It also has a newly installed tub which was a double bonus.

Overall despite a few hiccups, my experience with this hotel is great. The staff were very prompt in attending to our needs.

The room came with breakfast. The view from the 16th floor is excellant. You  can see the whole Miri town. Daytime photograph was taken from the twin bed room and the night photograph was taken from the super king bed room. Sorry forgot to take day time pics of that view. 

This hotel has good location. Right in the middle of all action and not too far away from Bintang Mall and Boulevard Shopping center. There is also plenty of eateries around here. The picture below is the main street which was nicely lighted up at night. Hubby and me took a stroll down this street. It was very romantic. There is also a special type of local cuisine called Nasi Lalapan which was created by Mirians. Sadly we had already eaten before spotting this unique dish. 

Stay one night in Everly Hotel Miri...got an amazing room facing the sea. Witness a sunset wedding ceremony being held at the field. So pretty.

Another place to visit in Miri is the Dessert Master Shop. They serve a variety of interesting desserts and cakes.

That jelly thingy was not what I ordered. I asked for almond jelly and longan but they gave me something else...so I got a freebie! It didnt taste so great...more sour than sweet...plum taste.Portugese egg tart and Oreos tart. The Oreos tart taste very nice. Although they called it portugese egg tart BUT THAT IS NOT...it is supposed to be baked using puff pastry and the top custurd should have the burn look. The list of desserts offered in the shop. Total cost RM10.50 

In my next visit to Dessert Master. We ordered another round of Portugese egg tart. This time they got the color right this time round but I think these tarts would taste nicer with puff pastry. We had the Bubur cha cha, Green Bean with sago, Tiramisu Cake and Mango with Pamelo. The pamelo bits were bitter so it spoils the whole taste of the dessert.

The view inside Dessert Master Shop 

Merdeka Mall is the latest Mall in Miri. Many shops are not open yet but their anchor tenant like Ta Kiong seen in the left picture at the far end is already open. By next year, I am sure most shops would be open. While we are here, we had dinner at this fast food japanese outlet. The beef was tender and taste nice but that stuff chicken wings is not so great. The miso soup comes in a big bowl but it does not taste at all like miso...I was disappointed. 

This outlet is located out of Miri...you gotta be a mirian to find the place. LOve the cube grilled lamb...very tasty. Below is their salad and roasted chicken with mushroom sauce.

Yummy drink...kiwi with dragon fruit juice

They have a very scenic and cozy garden type place with water fountain. Very nice place to hang out.

Look at that GIAnt Fan!

Gmart is a huge market cum shopping area in Miri. Lots of cheap stuff but no air conditioning except those huge fans so come in light clothing.

We took a bus ride to Bintulu from Miri. The bus is clean, comfy and comes with TV. All buses going to Bintulu from Miri will make a pit stop at Batu Niah. At Niah you will roosters for sale by the side of the road. At the Batu Niah Food Court will get to see old turtle, white snake and lizards.

By far the best steamed curry fish ever! Super delicious. A must try is you are in Miri. Located at New Tanjung Seafood. Quite close to Everly and Marriot Hotel.

This is Nancy Beef Noodle Restaurant in Miri. Location I dont know but will get it confirm later. I tried the laksa which was not bad. Hubby tried the fish pot which comes with noodles on the side (Kon Low style). The beef also comes with noodles separately. Not bad taste but slightly pricey.

We had our dinner at Celebrities Bar & Restaurant Miri. I have to highlight this salad dish because of its shocking green mayonese. At the cost of RM26 it is the most expensive salad I have ever eaten. It is also served in a huge portion. Those brown stuff is fried onions. It is has salmon slices, fish eggs and green veges. I tasted something else but we were not sure what it was because this eatery is drape in darkness. The walls and seats are all in black. Surprisingly the fried onion gives a nice taste to the salad.

Not a bad resort considering it is local made in Malaysia type. The facilities are well maintained. Its about 30km out of Miri. You will need a car to get here. From the main entrance its another 5km drive thru palm tree farms, coconut and rain forest to get to this resort. The roads are not very good but a kancil will still be able to get you here. Altho you may have to reconsider on rainy days. Can get quite muddy. Only when you get about 1.3k then you will see gravel again.

Never ever go on big holidays coz customer service goes down the drain. Unfortunately we book it on the 2nd day of Hari Raya so lots of people. Barely enough room at the reception area. We arrived at 1pm...no room ready. The reception told us to come back at 2pm. Hubby was not happy with the service. He declared last and first.

There is plenty of outdoor activity to do here. We booked for the whole package...room and board RM387++  for two adult and one child. Remember to asked the reception what the package include because certain activities are not included e.g. flying fox which is payable at RM10 per try. 

We decided to catch the 2pm tour since there is only two resort tour in one day. The 1st one was at 10am. It is also free and included into our package. As you can see in the picture above...our so called train is just a trailer pulled by a tractor. The tour also comes with a tour guide who describe everything along the tour ride. We journey thru the whole farm thru their fruit tree orchard, palm oil, a stop at their highest peak (see photo) and finally ended by this large man made lake which is also the fish pond. You get into the ferry and free bottle of water awaits you here. The ferry will stop close to the entrance of the domestic farm. You cross thru the domestic farm ignoring the poo poo smells. At the end the train is waiting for you. Hop on again and it brings us to the waterfall entrance.

After that a hot tour...those cooolinnnnnnng water looks so tempting. Another 1.5km walk thru the rain forest on wooden bridge will get you to the water park. Ala....another tempting water dip to cool off...

Cross the water park to their activity pond...consist of flying fox and kayaking...up more wooden bridges, pass thru the chalets (wondering which one is ours)...end up at the main building which was 5 floors high. Luckily for elevators...hit the up button and up we go.

Finally back at the reception...and the rooms are still NOT READY!...Hubby quite furious by now. Told the reception if he cannot get his room NOW...we are going to leave the resort. Immediately we got the keys. 

We grab everything from the car and carried our stuff to the chalet. No porter...I hate lugging luggage. This is a big resort so I was pretty worried at first that our chalet is located at the far end. Luckily it was the first one. Sad to say...the housekeeping was still busy cleaning our room so no way for us to enter it. We waited another 15 minutes before we can go in.

After all the walking and waiting...we decided we were too tired to do anything else so we decided to stay in the room. This is a nice big family room. Comes with a queen and king size bed. There is also a balcony attached which faces the jungle so no view here.

NO WIFI...NO TELCO either...poor R was hopelessly bored to death. She swore never to come back. They had HBO on TV but unfortunately that was showing Rambo marathon the whole evening.

Dinner was very uneventful...mass production buffet style. Mostly bland but enough variety to keep you some what interested.

The next day we took a walk back to the waterfall. I was keen to have a dip at the pool. In the end I did not because the water was way way way too cold. There were tiny fishes that nibble at our legs and feet. Nice. 

I did give the water slide a try tho. :)