Miri...one of my most unexpected travels to Malaysia. I just took advantage of the very cheap roundtrip airfare offered by Air Asia Zest. Good thing I did in March 2014 because the airline has ceased flying to the said city starting June 2014.
I, myself, asked...what will I see in Miri? What will it offer me? I brought along my staff for a much-needed rest and travel to this side of Asean. Miri is considerably small as compared to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu. Still, less sophisticated than Johor Bahru but I was able to appreciate the countryside of eastern Malaysia (Sarawak in Borneo Island). Though already teeming with hotels and malls, Miri cannot still be considered a priority place to visit in Malaysia.
Development in the said city is fast. Roads, villages, business establishments are being built. Personally, I felt Miri is ready for possible influx of tourists and establishment of more businesses. The hotel where we stayed is like a mini-Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Despite its distance to the shopping and other recreation places in the city, it was full-packed because there was an all-woman conference during that time. Miri is another good haven for shopping just like any other city in Malaysia. I found the prices of clothes, food and other stuff cheaper than neighboring Brunei or Singapore.
One thing that I observed, it does not have an efficient taxi system yet. You always have to haggle with the taxi drivers from one point to another. Besides, you just can't flag down a taxi anywhere in the city. We always had to ask the taxi drivers who brought us to shopping places to fetch us after certain number of hours. One time, we forgot to talk to our taxi driver to fetch us...we had to call the hotel reception to send a taxi to where we were. Good thing, our hotel had a shuttle service to and from city center but at specific times only. After the last trip at 9:00 p.m., we had to fend for ourselves in going back to the hotel.
I felt sad when Air Asia Zest discontinued its service to Miri. It is a city uniquely different from Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu but still has the ambience which is truly Malaysia.
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