Miri (April 30 - May 1)

Last night I had to sleep in an 8-bed dorm room. There were no other options in the guest house we went to and other places in town were overpriced and low-standard. At the end it wasn’t that bad but I normally hate sleeping in a room without space to put your things, squeaking bunk beds and noisy roommates. Men and women here are separated on different floors which I think is pretty ridiculous because the travellers are not 12 years old. Thankfully we got an own room today.

We spent 2 hours discussing yesterday evening with other travellers what would be the best option to get to Niah Caves National Park, if it is worth spending a night there and so on. At the end there was no minibus available for today because of the bank holiday (yes they also celebrate Labour Day). Instead of trying to go there by public transport, we decided to stay one more day in Miri. The problem is that there is really nothing to see or do here. This town was mainly built because of the oil boom in this region (it’s also very close to Brunei) but tourists only use it as a gateway to the national parks around. We went to the only sight which was recommended in the guidebook – a really nice Taoist temple – but it took not more than 30 minutes to visit it. At least we had a fantastic sea food dinner today with other travellers!

I hope that the Niah Caves National Park will fulfil our expectations because the park is the main reason why we flew here. We already heard some negative things but we will have to see it with own eyes.