14 Apr 2015 – And A Grandmother!

Sat: emptying garbage at the dumpster and saw this man taking pix near by. Decided to ask what he was taking pix of was blessed to meet an ex-teacher who showed me where these amazing wild pitcher plants are growing. The one by the flower is Gracilis. The others from left: Rafflesiana, Nepenthes gracilis, Nepenthes rafflesiana and Nepenthes hookeriana. Tkx to YZ Siaw for the names.

Grocery shopping in Tutong. There is this fantastic market/function center before you get into Tutong when we were and only a few stalls were open. Justin had a bowl of mee soto – nothing to really write home about! We were hoping for some kind of farmers’ market so that we do not have to go into Tutong – but no such luck. Was later told by the locals that this is a Thu market!!!

Still had to go into the grocery stalls for our produce passing by the bus which was making a toilet-stop from Brunei’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan heading to Miri. Took a pix of this guy trying out some exercise chair store, and no, the general population do not usually dress like him 🙂

Delightful alfresco dinning to welcome the principal of the school Zai who sent the 2 attachments and to NurAnne who is involved in the agricultural and fishery department in Brunei. Appreciations to Leonard for the yummy sea-bass and to NurAnne and Zai&family for prawns, fish balls, cheese cake and satay. A great time was had by all.

Sun: on the road bright and early back to Miri for Justin to catch his flight in time. Justin’s mom has a green fingers. Custard apples, passion fruits, buah dongdong, chillies and longans. Tkx to TingTing for some of the names to these.

An early breakfast of Kolo mee at Merryland cafe again. The Sunday market was quite something where one could almost find all kind of wild produce and meat! Being me, I could not resist the hand-made basket.

The ginger were attractively presented that I had to take a pix, even when it is common to most of us! My favourite fern, midin and bought some rosette to make tea. The red colour is bright and beautiful and I like the refreshing sour and tart taste. Made 1litre and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Drank the whole bottle and had to make toilet-calls twice, but thank goodness I fall back to sleep easily. The locals use rosette to make jelly and jam but add tons of sugar!

Amazing bougainvillea up the tree at the Vistors’ Information Centre. First sighting with such an elaborate round-about! Miri Handicraft Centre with horn bill wall mural.

Situated on top of Canada Hill, the Grand Old Lady is the first oil well in Malaysia with a good view of Miri

http://www.miriresortcity.com/grandoldlady

The Petroleum Museum with no AC and it was way too stuffy to be inside, especially when there was such a lovely breeze outside on Canada Hill.

Miri City Fan, a unique fan-shaped (when viewed from the air) 10.4-hectare (26-acre) park in the heart of the city.

The Lian Hua San Temple is one of the more worthwhile places to visit which is reputedly the largest Taoist temple in SE Asia. The newly-not quite completed Buddhist temple has 2 giant dragons at the entrance – 海龙寺 literally means ‘Sea Dragon Temple’ costing RM1.6 million in the making; with the pair of majestic dragons (108 ft long x 30 ft in height) costing RM500K. Upon completion in July 2015, they will be the most expensive and biggest ‘dragons’ in Malaysia!! Tkx to LuLu for the info.

The Miri laksa is good but my favourite is still the KCH laksa. Tkx to Lulu for being such an excellent tourist guide. Would not have seen much of Miri if not for her.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/food/article/best-sarawak-laksa-in-kuching

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends – Maya Angelou