Miri Hotels

Miri is a small city in northern Sarawak on the Malaysian island of Borneo. It has a population of about 300,000. By itself, Miri city has much to offer to travellers with spectacular diving paradises, breathtaking national parks, frequent festivals and international events, multiracial and multicultural festive seasons, and plenty of delicious food. It also plays an important role as a transport hub for northern Sarawak, where interconnecting flights to the rural hinterlands of Borneo is crucial and available mainly from Miri. The city is the gateway to the Gunung Mulu National Park, which is a World Heritage Site, and the Kelabit Highlands of the interior of Sarawak. The Niah Cave, where it contains one of the oldest human remains in South East Asia, is located about 100km away. One may also use Miri as a transit point whether coming from or going to Brunei. Malaysia's first oil well was dug here in 1910, and petroleum has continued to drive the city's economy and development ever since. The Sarawak Shell Berhad and Petronas Carigali are headquartered here. As a result, Miri has a cosmopolitan atmosphere as it hosts many expatriates from all over the world. These expats work in many of the multinational oil and gas giants that are headquartered in Miri. Visitors are able to stop for transit here to change planes heading onward to Gunung Mulu National Park or the famous Kelabit Highlands. Miri boasts of a very diversified population, which consists of Chinese, Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Kelabit, Lun Bawang and many other ethnic groups. International students from a foreign university campus based here and expatriates from international corporations add much spice to Miri as well. Language is certainly not a problem here, as almost all locals are able to speak English and Mandarin. The main language is the Bahasa Sarawak which is a local Sarawakian language; it is similiar to Malay but with local slangs. The people are quite helpful when it comes to direction or any help needed. A visitor's information centre located near the public bus stand is available for any further enquiries needed by visitors. Miri celebrated its third city status anniversary from 21st-23rd May 2008. Known as the Northern Gateway to Sarawak, Miri is one of the state's important tourist attractions. It boasts to be surrounded by four world-class national parks, which are Mount Mulu National Park, Niah National Park, Lambir Hills National Park and Loagan Bunut National Park. Besides that, its exotic coral reefs also make it become a more attractive destination ately.Miri is a city in northern Sarawak on the Malaysian island of Borneo and it is home to a population of about 300,000 people. Thus it is the second largest city in Sarawak. At Miri, breathtaking national parks, spectacular diving paradises, frequent festivals and international events, multiracial and multicultural festive seasons, and a lot of delicious food are the things that you can expect to have.Miri serves as a transport hub for northern Sarawak, where interconnecting flights to the rural hinterlands of Borneo is very important and available mainly from Miri. Besides that, it is also the gateway to the Gunung Mulu National Park which is a World Heritage Site, the Kelabit Highlands of the interior of Sarawak and the Niah Cave which contains one of the oldest human remains in South East Asia.As the place of birth of Sarawak's and Malaysia's petroleum industry, Miri remains the major industry of the city. Malaysia's first oil well was dug here in 1910, and is currently a state monument and one of Miri's tourist attractions, namely The Grand Old Lady. It is the Miri Oil Well No.1 situated at Canadian Hill. According to the old folks, there was one Canadian who lived there and his main business was to recruit foreign and local workers to work in the oil fields around this mountain, hence it was called Canadian Hill. The Petroleum Museum, next to the Grand Old Lady, exhibits photographs and information on the petroleum industry. The Grand Old Lady is about 30 meters high. Situated on top of Canada Hill overlooking Miri, it attracts even locals to enjoy the scenery or jog on the well-designed path.Miri has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. It hosts many expatriates from all over the world. There are many ethnic groups of people live in Miri, which consists of Chinese, Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Kelabit, Lun Bawang and others. Almost all the locals are able to speak English or Mandarin but the main language is the Sarawakian language, which is similar to Malay but with local slangs.