UNIT 8 : CITIES OF THE WORLD....

MIRI, 2nd LARGEST CITY IN SARAWAK

Hello friends...Have you heard about Miri? Or anything about it?...MIRI, is a city in northern Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It is also adjacent to the neighbouring country of Brunei. Miri is home to a population of about 300,000 people and is thus the 2nd largest city in Sarawak. Miri was elevated to city status on May 20, 2005 and it is the 10th city in Malaysia. Miri is the birthplace of Sarawak's and Malaysia's petroleum industry, which remains the major industry of the city. The other major industries include processed timber, oil palm production, and tourism.

The Grand Old Lady is a must see for all visitors to Miri. Historically, Miri is a town founded upon oil and nothing captures this relationship so well than the Miri Oil Well No.1 or fondly known as the "Grand Old Lady". It was situated on top of Bukit Telaga Minyak (Oil Well Hill), and it was formerly called Canada Hill. There was a lookout tower near the monument where the visitors can have a good view of Miri City with the sea as its horizon. On the top of the hill also have Miri Petroleum Science Museum.

From a bustling oil town, Miri is experiencing a development boom into a brand new resort city. There are ambitious plans for Miri. Miri has many great and beautiful places to go. For examples, there are four wolrd-class national parks in Miri, such as Mount Mulu National Park, Niah National Park, Lambir Hills National Park, and Loagan Bunut National Park. The best thing about Miri is about it location. Miri, being geographically close to the sea, boast some spectacular beaches.

Miri has 14 public parks and recreational grounds, such as Miri Bulatan Park (a lake garden), Luak Bay Esplanade (the best place to watch sunset),Taman Selera (family picnic spot), Taman Awam Miri (a theme park), and Miri City Fan (design like a fan) are the most popular parks among residents as well as visitors. Miri is also well known as a shopping paradise among Malaysians and Bruneians. These include the Bintang Plaza, a popular mall and hang out place for most teens; Boulevard Shopping Complex, Imperial Shopping Mall, E-Mart, Miri Plaza and many more.

Miri, being geographically close to the sea, boasts some spectacular beaches. Some of popular beaches include Tanjong Lobang Beach (Taman Selera), Luak Esplanade, Hawaii Beach, Bekenu-Sibuti Beach, Marina Park, Lutong Beach, and many more. The Miri Reef off Miri is one of Malaysia's most recent discovered diving locations. Within this patch of reefs at varying depths, from 7 to 30 meters, there is a variety of coral and marine life that rivals the best anywhere in Borneo. Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus is the first offshore campus of Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. Opened in 1999 in partnership with the Sarawak Government, it serves the educational needs of local and foreign students. Curtin Sarawak is the first foreign university campus to be set up in East Malaysia.

Eventhough Miri is just a small city in a map, but I'm really proud to be a part of Miri....and now, I"m really miss my hometown, MIRI.....(^-^)