Chapter 2: Miri and Murder

No, nobody died. I just couldn't come up with a more interesting word that starts with m.
As you would expect thought, we managed to patch up the water pump, if only temporarily and resumed our journey. The going was slow, as we had to stop in the middle of nowhere to let the engine cool down every couple of hours, and as night spread its cloak things got downright creepy out there. There's all kinds of sounds you cant put a name to, and the mist lets you see about as far as your outstretched arm.
And the condition of the road was unbelievable. Here was the only road between Bintulu and Miri on the map and it was shot with more holes than a sponge. We had to drive slow and very, very carefully. Without street lights or road signs, it became a total nightmare.
All that time, I was envisioning the moment we would arrive at Miri. After all this trouble, it had to be something really dramatic, something to alleviate all the suffering we went through to get here- the roads, the cramps, the anxiety, the danger of driving of the road and headlong into a ravine - it had to be one of those experiences that you recall sometime in the future and remark "...but it was worth it."
Well, it was and it wasn't.
We came in to Miri through a satellite town that had grown around it, and we were happily stunned by how well organised the town was, ready to cater to every need of its citizens. After spending most of my life in towns and cities that had a feeling of compensating for the lack of space, the lack of proper irrigation, poor planning and what not, this was a city that felt honest in its presentation. This is what we are, nothing more, nothing less.
Miri city itself is small, no bigger than Kulim ( to those of you who've been there ). But it's a good kind of small, where everything you want is just a five minute walk away. The malls, the restaurants, the park, the ( very, very well equipped ) library, the drinking holes. If i had seen a decent char koay teow stall anywhere in that city, i would not have come back.
And all this i got just from the first few hours i was there, at 2 am, while hunting for a place to crash. And we did find one, a small motel near the heart of the city. We booked ourselves rooms, showered and promptly did not fall asleep. After all, we're nocturnal. We went to kena nasi lemak instead.