Oiling The Wheels

Miri, Malaysian Borneo (map)

In this blog: catching up, and hanging out with other travellers in an otherwise boring city

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The river at Miri, the closest we got to local sights

Malaysian Borneo has huge oil and gas reserves, and the city of Miri is a hub for all that sort of thing. That doesn't mean loads of dirty-faced men and tankers filling the streets, just that there's a load of money around and whilst being a clean, tidy and modern place is pretty dull with it with few discernible things to see and do. Everything is centred around a pleasant wide street of shops, malls and restaurants. A good spot then for a couple of days catching up with pictures and writing, sorting out the next leg of the trip, and hanging out with other travellers. This is therefore a bit of a general update without any of the mad stories like you might have got from India - Malaysia is a much calmer and more organised country in comparison.

My travelling gang on-and-off since arriving in Malaysia now comprised Rene, a 24 year old French-Canadian self-confessed computer programmer who's into every sport out there and has been travelling for about the same length of time as me, Christophe from Belgium - a laid-back 30 year old music-obsessed 'computer nerd' with a sense of humour that often has us in stitches, and Max from Germany - a 21 year old traveller in-between college and uni, always organised, thinking ahead and looking for the perfect way to see or do everything. We all have a similar outlook and get on pretty well, so it's been a lot of fun hanging out and travelling as a group for a change.

As soon as we arrived in Miri, we met three young Americans who are in Borneo for a year teaching English in schools and we went for a few drinks with them at the popular Ming Cafe-Bar nearby. It was obviously a popular spot for all the ex-pat oil workers as there were loads of foreign faces who obviously weren't there as tourists, and we had a lazy fun evening there chatting with these high-achieving Americans from the hostel - one of whom was on a year out from studying Stem Cell research and unbelievable clever, very interesting to talk with. The following night we went out for dinner with a different gang, this time three Malaysians on holiday from Peninsula Malaysia (the country is divided into two), who were ultra creative and funny, and with their local knowledge we went to a hidden-away food court where all the locals eat. I had a Chicken Porridge, which despite the odd name isn't what we see as porridge, but instead rice that has been boiled for hours until it has a mushy consistency, and was surprisingly tasty.

First night out in Miri: L-R - Canadian Rene, Belgium
Christophe, American girl, myself, American guy

Second night out in Miri: L-R - The three Malaysians,
German Max, Christophe, Rene

Teh Special C - the local speciality of tea, condensed milk,
and syrup, served with ice and very nice

Talking of food, the food in Malaysia is mostly localised versions of Chinese dishes, since Malaysia has so many Chinese immigrants - with all dishes based around noodles or rice, meat and vegetables, and either served 'dry' on a plate or all together as a soup. It's not often spicy, and the flavours relatively simple. Whilst it's all very tasty it can get a bit repetitive, and I must say I much preferred Indian food with it's mix of spices, greater variety and tasty breads. It's quite common for Malaysians to eat out at the large number of simple local food courts that you find, where £1 (5 ringgit) will buy you a decent meal, and I've done the same the whole time here so far. Beer-wise - being a Muslim country there are no local beers so you only find imported tins such as Tiger from Singapore or Tsingtao from China, and they're pretty pricey with it.

After having rooms to myself the whole time in India, with costs now quite a bit higher in Malaysia unfortunately it's been back to staying in dorm rooms at hostels some of the time to keep the costs down. At Dillenia Guest House though I really didn't mind, as we had a perfect spot run by the delightful Mrs Lee. With a dull city, but digs with free breakfast, aircon, wifi, and computers to use we barely had a reason to leave, turning into a bunch of hermits for most the time we were there. A shopping mall, a couple of food courts, a bar and a look at the river was as adventurous as it got. And do you know what, as great as it is to be out and about seeing the world, sometimes a slice of normality is quite welcome.