On the last week of November, Marcus and I went on a short trip to Miri to visit Mae because it was already the school holidays. When Marcus told me about it, it felt kinda spontaneous. It wasn't very well planned and when he told her that we'd be visiting, she informed us that she'll be going for a run on the last day we'd be there. One thing lead to another and she registered us for the run as well and that meant that there was no turning back. After a few days we bought our flight tickets to Miri.
I was lucky that I had a replacement off day at work so the Friday of our flight, I got to sleep in and take my time packing my bag. I still woke up pretty early and I double checked my inventory before heading out. My dad dropped me at Kelana Jaya where to took the LRT to KL Sentral and because Marcus was working half the day, he wasn't there yet. It was still early so took a walk around Nu Sentral.
When Marcus arrived, we took a bus to KLIA2. I was kinda sleepy so I slept on the journey there. We got to the airport and went into the boarding hall but then we found out that our flight was delayed so we reached Miri about an hour later than planned. Mae was waiting for us at the arrival gates at the Miri Airport. With the way she was dressed, she looked like when we were still in secondary school, in a shorts shirt and track pants, carrying a backpack, I almost didn't notice it was her until she greeted us (also because my astigmatism kicks in at night). We proceeded to have supper at McDonald's because Marcus and I missed dinner thanks to the flight delay. After supper, Mae took us through the town and headed towards our chalet. Mae had booked us a longhouse to stay for the two day trip. To our shock, the gate was closed when we arrived. Maybe it was because it was so late already, so we tried to call the number provided on their website. A guy answered my call and after waiting for a while, someone opened the gate for us and we went in. The person who opened for us was a worker there and it seemed like everyone has gone to sleep. Because it was so late already, the guy just gave us a key and told us that they'll settle the room tomorrow, so our room was temporary. Frankly I was surprised because the guys was so trusting of us as to just give us a random room before properly checking us in. After bathing, we all went to sleep.
Mae had class in the morning so when Marcus and I woke up, she was already gone. Mae's class was something about self reflection or something like that so she was hoping that her class would end earlier than expected. After getting dressed and ready, Marcus and I went to the canteen to settle our room. There was a lady there who we assumed is the lady boss of the chalet. We informed her of the situation last night and she offered us a better offer for our accommodation and somehow we got back RM3. The worker who attended to us last night came and the lady boss and him talked. Then they approached us because there was a misunderstanding. The worker thought we didn't have a booking and the lady boss thought we paid for the room last night. After showing the lady boss our Agoda booking number, she informed us that we actually had booked for the more modern longhouse with fan room but because of the misunderstanding they decided to let us keep the discounted air conditioned room. After the confusing episode, we ordered breakfast (Maggi mee) and after that we walked around the compound to look-see. The place was very close to nature, there were a lot of chickens running around, huge lakes and a jungle around the place. A longhouse in the middle of construction stood beside the one we were staying in and a modern looking longhouse, which was where our supposed room is on the other side.
After sitting in our room for a bit, Marcus and I decided to walk out and see what there is to do. Near the entrance, we asked the worker what there is to see and he told us that there is a beach on the opposite side of the road. So Marcus and I walked out and sure enough, there was a beautiful, empty wide beach accompanied by the beautiful bright sky. There wasn't another one else besides us on the beach. The beach stretched out endlessly on both sides and the sea goes out into the horizon, with one or two oil rigs far off into the distance. There were tens of thousands of holes in the sand, made by tiny little crabs which skitter away swiftly like they're carried away by the wind when we approach them. We came across three jellyfish that got washed up onto the beach. One of them was massive. As an obligatory act, I picked up a stick and poked one of the jellyfish with it. It was harder than I thought, like a thick gelatinous blob, it felt icky. We spent some time walking around on the beach under the hot sun and then soon decided to go back when Mae messaged us, telling us that her class has ended early and that she will be with us soon. We walked back to the chalet and turned on the television in our room. After flicking around the channels, we came across this show about the police force but it seemed more like a love drama than a police drama.
Mae finally arrived with her change of clothes for the next day and we headed out after she changed out of her baju kurung that she wears to class. Mae took us to eat Dayak food at a zhapfan shop. The cooking style is similar to Chinese food but it has a different taste to it. I enjoyed the dishes I picked but I had close to no idea what I was eating. After lunch, Mae took us to Canada Hill to see the Grand Old Lady. She was really old, at 105 years old, standing tall in front of the Petroleum Museum. If you're not catching my drift, the Grand Old Lady is the first rig for the first oil well in Malaysia. Canada Hill seemed to me like the vantage point of Miri, you could see miles and miles into the distance beyond the city, and the amount of sky you get to see from up there was stunningly beautiful. After walking around the Petroleum Museum, Mae showed us the hiking trail she occasionally takes which was just opposite the museum.
After that we got back into the car and we headed to the Imperial Mall, next to the Imperial Hotel so that Mae can show us how lousy the malls in Miri are compared to the ones we have in KL. The mall wasn't as bad as described, but Mae was right when she said that half of the mall is like 1Utama and the other half is like Sungei Wang Plaza. We walked around and we went to Super Save, it's this shop that's like the combination of Tesco, Econsave and Fun and Cheer. You could find just about anything there and buy it cheap. We bought some bottles of water and I saw a guy buy an electric drill there. I guess that tells enough about what the shop is like. We went out with our water and as we walked by a similar shop, Marcus pointed out that he saw baseball gloves in the store, I quickly turned around and went in to inspect. Sure enough, there were an assortment of sport equipment in there, and I found baseball gloves, balls and bats and they were really cheap too! But the same can be said for the quality. We then walked around the store and looked around. Mae had a good laugh when we were trying to lift some weights and I hurt my back doing so. Before we left, I thought of looking for the phone pouch that runner wear when running and when I told Marcus and Mae about it, Mae mentioned that Super Save has them, so we went back in and I bought one. Before we left the mall for good, we passed by a bag shop and I remembered about the flat pouch that can expand, it was useful for runs so we went in to look for it but unfortunately they didn't have it. Mae said that she remembered seeing it at Super Save so we'll try and find it the next time we go there.
I was evening already so we were getting ready to go for dinner but before that, Mae needed to exchange cars with her friend because Mae's car can't travel long distances. We needed her friend's car so that we can go to Gua Niah the next day. It was raining by the time we got to her friend's house (the house her friends' are renting) so we had to do the exchange in the rain. It was a peculiar and funny feeling meeting new people while getting soaked in the rain. After the exchange, Mae went to her house first (the house she's renting) to grab some stuff. After that we went to this place called Rumah Asap (which translates to Smoke House). The reason it's called Rumah Asap is because the place is like a hawker centre but every stall is selling barbecued or grilled food, so there's all the smoke, hence the name. We sat down in front of one of the stalls that Mae said is her favourite and then she went and order the food for us. The dishes that came were delicious, first came grilled fish, it was crispy on the outside and deliciously soft on the inside. Together with the sauce provided, it was so delicious. The second dish that came was the grilled pork, like siew yok. It was really damn good too! The skin was beautifully crispy, the meat was tender and the fatty layer was easy to chew. What's more was that the fish and the pork both has this exquisite smell and flavour to them, it was a beautiful glaze of sour over the juicy meat that seemed to melt in my mouth, just remembering it as I type this out is making me salivate, just like how I did when I absorbed their aroma into my nasal cavity. Not the best way to describe that but damn it was too damn palatable to resist.
After the mouthwatering dinner, we went to the Super Save opposite because Marcus said he wanted to buy the phone pouch I got as well. While Marcus went ahead, Mae went to ask one of the staff at the restaurant where we can buy tuak. Mae said that because we're in Sarawak, we had to get tuak. After getting advice to find it at the night market, we headed to Super Save to catch up with Marcus. We walked round and round the shop but we couldn't find the phone pouch but before we gave up, Marcus suddenly found it and Mae also spotted the expandable pouch I was looking for. So we made our purchase and headed to the night market. The night market was just nearby so we walked over and Mae started scanning from stall to stall looking for the bottles of alcohol. We finally found a stall that sold them and she had a taste before buying one. She mentioned that it had a masculine taste to it and that we should like it so she bought one and I got a comb of bananas. After that we headed into the complex right next to the night market because Mae wanted to find some cups for us to pour our tuak into. While we waited for her outside the supermarket, Marcus and I watched this disgusting cannibal themed clip of a movie being played on one of the DVD shops. A guy was getting revoltingly dismembered limb from limb and head after having his tongue and eyes gorged out by some generically portrayed native people lead by a witchdoctor type, all while his caucasian friends watch in horror. This brought upon some memories from the depths of my head from my childhood where I remember watching gory B-type horror movies outside DVD shops. This terrible trend has stopped in KL but I guess it hasn't in lesser areas. I wonder why DVD vendors find it fine to play such sickening films for people to see, what sparked them to do it. When the clip replayed, Marcus and I turned away to not see the stomach churning scene again. Thankfully shortly after that, Mae returned with some small paper cups and we made our way out back to the car.
Before we made our way back to the chalet, we dropped by a shop that sold tau fu far to have some dessert. The shop was run by the parents of one of Mae's students, who was at the counter. The place was like a cafe, it had coffee tables, cakes on display and soft music playing. The atmosphere was really nice. Mae helped us ordered the tau fu far, including one black sesame flavoured tau fu far. The tau fu far was different from the one we know in a way that it was prepared and served. Marcus got a slice of cake and he let us have a taste, it was pretty good. After the dessert, we went back to chalet and we played the card games I brought with me. We played Coup and Saboteur while drinking the tuak. After a few rounds we went to sleep because we had to wake up early for the run in the morning.
The next morning, we went to Beach Republic for the Miri Beach Run. It was a 10km run along the beach. After we parked the car, we met up with Mae's friends who are also in Teach For Malaysia. We did warm ups and then headed down to the beach to get ready to run. The run was absolutely scenic but it got boring and bland fast because it was just a straight run and the way and back. There was nothing to see but trees, the sea and the sky. It was beautiful but while running, it wasn't very motivating. Also, running on the sand is different from running on the road, pavement or grass. After the run, we met with more of Mae's friends from TFM. We all went to take a group photo and then headed for lunch. Mae recommended that we try the Sarawakian laksa at this restaurant called Lolita which was located in a housing area. Sarawakian laksa is like Hokkien mee, a lot of prawn taste but in a curry based soup or something like that. While we ate, the others were chatting and from that Marcus and I could learn about them. Mae sure has got some good company with her. I can tell that everyone there were friendly and welcoming.
After lunch, we headed back to the chalet and we showered a bit and changed into fresh clothes for our next agenda. Marcus took the wheel this time to let Mae rest and we headed to Gua Niah. The journey to the cave was long and when surprisingly to me, there wasn't a lot of people there for a Sunday. There were like only two groups of us there to see the cave. After we got our tickets, we took an extremely short boat ride across a moat (was it a moat?) to get into the forest areas outside the cave. The three of us walked in as Mae told us about her experience going there for the first time. The walk towards the cave was a beautiful exhibition of greenery that seemed to stretched out endlessly into hills and swamps. The journey took about half and hour before we reached the cave entrance. There we could see what remained of the settlement of the families of bird nest collectors. We continued inward until we reached a huge opening, there we could see what remained of an archeological site and also the place where bird nest collectors climbed tall poles connected to the cave ceiling to reach the bird nests. It was such a marvel that only we could wonder and imagine how bird nest collectors could climb up such tall vertical poles without tire or fear. I was in constant state of fear just looking up at the cave ceiling and also the tall poles that hang motionlessly. We proceeded deeper into the path of the cave following the railing into the dark depths of the cave. Mae and Marcus had brought torchlights and I got my headlamp. Through the darkness, you could still make out the cave interior and also with various openings of the cave, the place was really scenic. Water fell from places I couldn't see, bats squeaked overhead and the smell of guano and limestone mixed in the air, the whole experience made me feel so close to nature despite the manmade structures for easier access into the cave. We made it to the exit of the cave and we continued our journey through more greenery towards the Painted Cave. The Painted Cave wasn't very big. It was like the side of a hill where sunlight touched almost every section of it. A section of the cave had a huge fence with a lock on the gate preventing people from entering it, along the gate were images and a information regarding the cavemen paintings that were present on the walls behind the fence. Mae pointed out that the cavemen paintings inside were the ones we had seen in a history textbook during secondary school, thought neither of us could remember it. However, what we could see on the wall was barely anything, only little smudges of what had been the cavemen paintings. Mae said it could be because people trespassed it to touch the paintings. Tired from out long walk, we sat down on some makeshift benches and ate some of the snakes we brought with us. While she took a rest, Mae told us that further into the cave was a dead end because the location is still under archeological excavation but we'd get to see a small portion of the archeological site where archeologists found a corpse in a boat coffin, the burial methods of the cavemen there. Some boat coffins were left on the cave floor near the other exit which was blocked off by greenery. Made went back shortly after looking around to find Mae had fallen asleep on the makeshift bench. It's no wonder because we had a tiring run in the morning and the cooling breeze blowing from the outside was so calming. We sat around for a while absorbing the tranquil atmosphere. After a while, Mae got up and we headed back out. The journey back felt shorter and faster.
Mae took the wheel again and we headed back to the chalet. Marcus fell asleep at the back and I felt that since I was in the passenger's seat I felt obligated to stay awake and keep Mae company, so we talked about various stuff. I think it was the first time I've had such a long conversation with Mae. We usually had other people around so conversations were shared, also even though we were in secondary school together, we were only in the same class for a year, and I used to be so shy and nervous around her, so it felt good that we could finally hold a proper conversation together. We got back to the chalet and we took a bath and packed our stuff up. After checking out, we went to have dinner at a place Mae had recommended from the day before, the highlight was this vegetable which were leaves like the one from the soup of of a bowl of pan mee, I forgot what it was called again. We also had curry fish head. After that we headed to 7-11 to grab some ice-cream for dessert.
Mae dropped us off at the Miri airport and we exchanged farewells and hugs. Marcus and I headed to the boarding gate and waited for our flight but then we were informed that our flight was delayed by two hours, as an apology by AirAsia, we got ourselves a free meal from Marrybrown. Marcus and I got our meals and we rested until our flight arrived. That night we returned to KL at 3am and so we waited for the first bus back to KL Sentral which was at 4:30am. I went to sleep at Marcus' place before he dropped me off at work. It sure was a tiring morning but the whole experience and journey was totally worth it.
I'd love to go back to Miri again, it's beautiful skies full of clouds is something I love to see everyday. When I checked the photos I had taken in Miri, most of them are of the sky. I think it's not enough thanks to say to Mae who planned out the whole itinerary, hosted and guided us through Miri. Her hospitality is really good. I enjoyed myself a lot and it was great first experience in East Malaysia.
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