Borneo may not be the first choice for most travelers. However a road trip with not much planning can be quite exciting, too. Without exceptionally high expectation, we took our first road trip in Borneo.
Before our AK flight, we enjoyed the complimentary lounge service at Changi T1. Courtesy of Krisflyer Amex and SATS. There are lots of food and lots of magazines to kill our time.
Touched down in Miri on a weekday after a 2-hour flight. Got our rented car from the workshop and there began our journey to find kolok Mee, dry curly noodles with little oil and some minced meat.
A simple yet delicious noodle dish that Singaporean entrepreneur tried hard to penetrate the foodies' stomach but hardly succeeded. The best is still to be found only in the original place, Sarawak!
We drove around Miri city to familiarize ourselves with the road signs, road condition and drivers behavior etc. Generally they are courteous and not in a hurry. At night, dinner is settled in Bintang Plaza adjacent to Meritz Hotel. This stay-and-shop concept is quite common here. I got my hubby a small gift and he was thrilled.
Day 2 (Miri - BSB)
Buffet breakfast fueled us up and our 150km drive to Bandar Seri Begawan began. We reached the Sarawak-Brunei connecting bridge at Sungai Tujoh and paid a whopping RM10 toll. At Rasau, the toll is only B$3.
Sarawak ICQ is not far from the toll and we cleared Malaysia check point quite smoothly. But after that we were stuck inside a "ruin" and don't know where to go.
A few cars came from the opposite direction shed lights on our way forward. That ruin is the old checkpoint, which is no longer operational.
That explained the extremely rundown state. We drove through a police post and then got our first ever Brunei stamp on our passport.
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: First Road Trip in Borneo (Brunei and Miri)
..
