Monday, July 13, 2009
6:20pm: The initial part of the flight was turbulent, probably cos of the stormy weather. But it was scary enough! IMAGINE hearing SCREAMS within the plane, when there was FREE-FALLING for about 1.5 seconds. No, I did not type out the name of the carrier.
6:50pm: This Australian eye-candy picked us up from the Miri Airport, and drove us into the city, where our hostel was. A part-timer at the hostel, she drove us out for some day trips.
8:15pm: Our first dinner was ALREADY a feast. At first I was thinking, "What if we overspent! It was just the first meal!". But the concern was unfounded. Even though we ate Cereal Prawns / Steamed Fish / Hor Fun / Venison / Kangkong, and risk having 胃下垂, the sumptuous dinner cost us just S$7. "值得！"
9:50pm: If YS did not keep yearning for a full-body massage, we probably would not have come into this 黑店。Jeab/Royce/YS went for the full-body massage, while the rest of us opted for the foot alternative.
Speak about the foot massage first. Personally I wasn't pleased, cos the '1 hour' treatment lasted just 30 mins for me. And I didnt really feel much from it. The RM35 cost was totally 不值得！
The full-body massage was worse. YS had a harrowing experience, which was too much for the 'PG' rating of this blog. Haha!! As for Jeab and Royce, both were talked into extending another hour, and paid a total of RM96.
1:10am: Back at the hostel, they threw a surprise belated celebration! The 太阳饼s were a genuine surprise, but the party hats weren't exactly, cos I sensed their secrecy at the shop where they bought those at, after our dinner. In fact, I totally wasn't suspecting anything, until they hurriedly hid the plastic bag (of party stuff), and gave an excuse that one of them bought back for mum. Ha, if they had 'behaved' normally throughout, I wouldn't have bred any suspicions.
Check out the messages written on the box of 太阳饼s!
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Day 2: 6th July 2009--Lambir Hills National Park/Taman Selera
9:30am: Our first breakfast was so-so wanton mee.
1030am: We were horrified to find out that the bus we're supposed to take, has a frequency of 1hr 30min! But come to think of it, majority of the people drive, don't they? Anyway, we gave up trying to wait, and opted for the Hostel's Transport.
12:25pm: We were finally outside Lambir Hills National Park!
We trekked a bit, passed by this suspension bridge, and 2 small photo-unworthy waterfalls, and finally................................
We reached the highlight of the park: Latak Waterfall.
Admittedly, the waterfall was a little, disappointing? I guess what makes a waterfall shine, is probably the volume of water flow. This, for one, hits low on that. After seeing this waterfall, we continued on another route, as we wanted to see another waterfall. But we couldn't find it. =/. And it began to drizzle, so we hurried back to the park HQ, and ended the trekking. =(
I guess the trekking part didnt resonate well with some, but I did enjoy the trekking! I guess I'm really the nature+environment person. I love the great outdoors =).
And we caught this very comfy coach back to Miri City. Guess what! It cost just RM 5 per head! But the Cantonese movie they played on the bus was a little too loud.=(
Since it was still early, we carried on with the plans to visit Taman Selera, a beach near the city. The sand's very different from Singapore's. And the entire beach was full of mini holes--CRAB holes! Look at those little sand balls--they were thrown out by those small cute little crabs when digging!!
I really loved the openness of the beach--the way it was so bright and unobstructed. And the strong winds and strong waves crashing on the sand. I must say we derived more fun here than at the national park earlier in the day.
We had fun "jumping over the waves", and even brought "tooty tooty" to a higher level--played it in water.
We spent a bit too much time at the playground beside the beach, THAT WE MISSED THE BUS. And had to wait an hour and it STILL DIDNT COME. 
These 2 brought "BaaBaa" to a higher level too--played on a see-saw?!
And we chilled the night away at the bar below our hostel. Also abit of a 黑店 it was! They didn't inform that Ladies' Night ended at 10pm, and the ladies' drinks were chargeable in the end. 
After a very late 
At Niah National Park, you have to take this super-lame RM 1 boat ride across the river, which has banks that you can already see in the photo. THEY COULD HAVE built a bridge across lor. 
The main highlight at Niah National Park, was this Great Cave. This was taken from inside the cave. You really have to be there to understand the sheer size of the Great cave.
This empty house stood inside the cave. 
And we took silhouette shots against the light outside.
Venturing inside, you have to be armed with torchlights. It's totally pitch-dark. Definitely not for people who can't take total darkness. There were countless bats and swiftlets inside. And every sunset, millions of bats will fly out while millions of swiftlets will fly in back to their nests.
I liked this shot, showing the cascading sunlight peering through the hole.
This was still inside the Great cave. Certain parts were low, but some parts were very very very very high up. But generally it was slippery and damp inside, from bat guano and dripping water.. And definitely pitch-dark!
This was another cave, the Painted cave. There were paintings that were thousand-over years old. But mostly faded by now. You can see a woman's painting on the cave wall. 
We ate at an restaurant for our 3rd dinner! It was quite affordable too. 
And we hopped to Secret Recipe immediately after dinner! Cakes were at RM6.50 only!! It was too much of a steal! SO we risked 胃下垂 again!
Our last breakfast was Sarawak KOLO mee @RM2.50 only! It was damn nice too.
And Secret Recipe again! Cos we knew we wouldnt get that kinda price ever again in Singapore.
And then, it was really time to say goodbye. Goodbye, Miri, I'd probably see you again, if I decide to come back for Gunung Mulu National Park.
人生是黑白的.
6:26 PM <3