Last day of of 2013. I figured I should update something. Better continue with the road trip post. The longer it is, the more details I forget.
It’s already evening when we arrived Bintulu. It is 650 kilometers from Kuching and the fourth largest town in Sarawak. You can fly or drive here.
Since no hotel was booked in advance, we later found out that all the hotels with star rating were fully booked! We ended up at a very old 3-star hotel, the only hotel with still many rooms available. I won’t tell you where, it was a rather scary experience to some of us even before we check-in into the room. I had deleted all the photos related to this hotel and I didn’t even dare to view the actual size of the photos. My roommate and I had to request for change of room some more. We’re the lucky one to get the “jackpot” room. The story will come some other day. One very unforgettable experience indeed.
After check-in, we went to had dinner. I have no idea of the shop’s name, totally don’t remember. However, it’s located in one of the commercial area where Tune Hotel is located. First time I heard of kambing penyet (left). Our friend recommended it, so I ordered it. Not bad really but too bad didn’t have a very good appetite. While another travel mate of mine ordered ayam penyet (right). Was really tired that night, didn’t really bother much, all we wanted was to get our rest as soon as we could. Love the sambal belacan (the condiment that came with the dish)! It’s good and very spicy! Well… Bintulu is known for its belacan, it should be good!
The next morning, we packed our stuff to prepare to move to a new hotel. No choice, had to check-out by hook or by crook due to various things happened that night to some of our travel mates. While waiting for the rest to tell us where to move, we went to the town center for a walk.
You definitely will not miss this Tua Pek Kong Temple in the middle of the town.
The market at Bintulu Esplanade. You can find many local handicrafts there.
The fish and vegetable market (Pasar Utama Bintulu) is just around the corner.
We went up to the food court for brunch. While looking out to the river, we saw eagle! First time! I’ve never seen one in Malaysia.
TADA! The umai from Mukah. Brought it all the way to Bintulu. Was too tired to eat last night. My second time eating this. Now… Looking at it just makes me salivate. It’s raw fish meat and it’s “cooked” using lots of salt and lime juice. Means, you’re not eating raw fish. This whole thing cost RM12 if I’m not mistaken.
After that, we decided to go to Tanjong Batu.
Left: This is another landmark of Bintulu called the Council Negeri Monument. Bintulu is where the first Sarawak Legislative Council took place on 8th September 1867.
Right: New World Suites where you can stay when you are here but it was fully booked when we were there. Else we would be staying here rather than the haunted one hahaha… The shopping centre is there too. If only we stayed here…
This is the view we all looked forward to.
We went to Pantai Temasya Bintulu.
Bintulu is a major industrial centre. Faraway out in the distant, that’s one of the LNG plants.
After that, it was time for us to check-in our new hotel. We stayed at Parkcity Everly Hotel. Way better than the hotel we stayed on the first night!
I love the shower gel. So sweet, the smell of raspberry. Love the packaging of the toiletries too. Too bad, because of fully booked hotels in Bintulu and this hotel was packed too, we ended up in smoking room. This is when my nightmare began, not because of the supernatural thing but because of thirdhand smoke.
After check-in, we headed to Bintulu Resident Office for the flag off of Cats Rangers and to create awareness of Visit Sarawak Year 2014.
Done with the event, we went back to our hotel and strolled the Bintulu Waterfront Promenade (the convergence of Kemena River and the South China Sea) just behind the Parkcity Everly Hotel waiting for sunset. This hotel isn’t bad just too bad no place to easily get food or do some shopping.
Since Bintulu is an industrial centre, there’s a lot of vessels going through the area. You’ll meet many expats there too. Lots of Koreans and I was surprised to hear Bahasa Malaysia spoken by Koreans to their Malaysian friends. I’m impressed!
A very relaxing place to be but we didn’t bother to wait for the sunset anymore. Too tired, started to feel weak also.
For your information, SuperStar Aquarius is now stopping in Bintulu. Bintulu is one of the three stops for Star Cruises’ first ever 4D/3N cruise off the western coastline of Borneo.
The rest of the evening, my room mate and I just spent it in the room. No appetite to eat. Wasted our final night in Bintulu just like that…
Check-out the next morning and went for breakfast before going to Miri. Sorry again… I’m such a bad travel blogger hahaha… Was feeling so unwell and didn’t bother where we went for breakfast. I ordered mee jawa(right), it tasted like sweet mee curry -.-” Don’t remember the price anymore. Brain was too weak to remember anything. One of my travel mates ordered nasi goreng pattaya (left).
Goodbye to Bintulu… Off to Miri…
Happy 2014!
Interesting story Irene. I haven’t tried staying in any hotels in Bintulu.
Willie, one day you will hehehe…
Wah I can’t wait to see your Brunei section! Too bad you not yet know me that time 🙁
Thanis, Brunei section not much, we just passed by, had brief stops at few places and left. Even if know you by then, there is no chance for us to meet up.