Views of Miri

Continued from The town of Seria.

OK. The reason we had to stop at Seria was to sort out papers regarding our Brunei registered car.

We have to get the papers in order as we wanted to cross the national border to get to Sarawak.

For the record the border entry point to Sarawak is only about 31 km from Seria. Travel another 34 km or so and you can reach Miri, the second biggest urbanised area in Sarawak.



Being a city of fair size with all sort of facilities it is a sort of haven for Bruneians who tend to cross the border to shop and get things not available in Brunei.

Information from Wikipedia...

Miri (pronounced /ˈmɪəriː/) is a city in northern Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. Miri is the second largest city in Sarawak. It serves as the government administrative centre of Miri District (4,707.1 square kilometers) in Miri Division of Sarawak; the District has a population of about 269,000 (2008). Miri was elevated to city status on May 20, 2005 and it is the 9th city in Malaysia and its local authority i.e. Miri City Council is the 10th city council in Malaysia.[1]

Miri is the birthplace of Sarawak's and Malaysia's petroleum industry, which remains the major industry of the city. The first oil well was drilled by Shell in 1910 (the Grand Old Lady), and is now a state monument and one of Miri's tourist attractions. Shell also built Malaysia's first oil refinery in Lutong, a suburb of Miri in 1914. Recently, vast oil reserves were discovered just offshore northeast of the city. Miri has grown phenomenally since oil was first discovered in the early 1900s, burgeoning into the business, commercial and educational centre it is today.[2]

The city's other major industries include processed timber, oil palm production, and tourism. The world famous Gunung Mulu National Park with the Sarawak Chamber, a half an hour flight from the city, is one of the favourite eco-tourism destinations. Miri is also the main tourist gateway for the Loagan Bunut National Park, Lambir National Park, and the Niah Caves. Miri is lately known for its exotic coral reefs as well.

Now let me tell you. All these pictures are of the city of Miri taken from one of the floors of the building seen in the first picture.