Miri in Sarawak State of Malaysia and Country of Brunei

My flight from Sandakan via Kota Kinabalu in Sabah State to Miri in Sarawak State was in the late evening and I did not arrive in Miri until 9:30ish. I tried to make hotel reservation while waiting for my connection, but the couple places I checked were full, so I was kind worried about finding a place to stay late in the night. But on the flight from KK to Miri, I met couple Malaysian of Chinese origin. One is an architech from country of Brunei and the other is a whole merchant living in Sibu. They both also own houses in Miri. The guy offered me a night to stay at Miri.

So begin the journey of the hospitality by these two people. I visited his family in Brunei. He paid all my expense (room, meals) and took me to see few sights in Brunei. I am really grateful to both of them. The guy from Sibu invited me to visit his family when I travel through there later on.

Brunei itself has nothing much to offer, the royal palace is closed to public except during Ramadan. And only interesting things are the magnificient mosques that were build by country rich oil wealth. the sultan was once the richest man in the world before Bill Gates's stock boom and sultan's playboy brother who wasted billions.

The guy told me the Brunei is very strict about immigration, even though he has been living and working in Brunei for many years, he is not allowed to own a house, even though he build houses for them. he rent from the local.

As for Miri, the town wasn't much to see either. I did see a Christmas parade. Christianity is big in Sarawak.

After saying good bye to both men and got clean laundry (paid by the guy from Sibu), I am off to Mulu caving and trekking adventure.

O, for strange reason, Sarawak state in Malaysia is consider a separate country, one gets an exit stamp for Malaysia and an entry stamp for Sarawak when entering!