THE RETURN

It was my daughter, Nurul, who proposed to me to go for a trip during school holiday. She wanted to write an essay about her trip. I, for one, definitely love the idea of driving through the pan-Sarawak highway. And, so, on monday, 10th Mac 2008, we started our journey. My intention is to visit Miri, a return to the city I once stayed and lived for more than 8 years.
Coming along with me is my wife and Nurul. We started our journey at around eleven in the morning. My first stop at Serian where we have our lunch and stayed on for one hour before we proceeded.
After Serian, me next stop is at Sungai Tenggang, one of the many bazaars situated between Serian and Sri Aman. In Sungai Tenggang I stayed for half an hour and than proceeded to my next stop at Pantu. Pantu was quite. To me the bazaar looked sleepy and lazy. I do not know for how long could it last.
From Pantu we went to Betong and stayed overnight in one of the avalaible hotel. I have been in Betong quite a few times either during my official trip when still in service or during the time we visited my future daughter- in -law who is a teacher at SMK St Augustine.
The next day, ie tuesday we proceeded to Miri. It was a long journey and a very tiring one. That doest not weaken my heart. We reached Miri at around 9.00 pm. My daughter -in-law to be waited for us and guided us to her kampung somewhere near Lutong. It was late and we could not go anywhere but just enjoy our dinner and a long sleep.
Returning to Miri brought back the sweet memories that I once have. Miri has and will always remain as my favourite place, a memorable one. To many good things happened to me in Miri. I became a grand father in Miri when my daughter gave birth to my grandson, Faiz Sanim.
The first place we visited , the house of my friend Bong and his wife Sayu. But they were not at home. We met their son, Khairul, a nice boy and a good friend of my son, Fadli. In fact the friendship built by this two kids that has led to our friendship with Encik Bong.
After that we went to Treasury Department. My wife wanted to see one of my former staf, a good friend of my wife, just to say hello and to deliver our heartfelt condolence to her and family during their recent bereavement.
In the evening we went to the beache at Tanjung Lobang. I have not been to the beach for quite some time. A lot of changes took place. A change for good.
We stayed in Miri for two night. In the morning of Thursday we left Miri and proceeded to Sibu. We stayed overninght in Sibu before returning to Kuching the next day, ie on Friday. On the way to Kuching we stopped at various places such as Kabong, Saratok, Betong, Spaoh, Engkilili and Sri Aman.
It was a very interesting trip but few places that I wanted to visit, I did not go due to road condition, such as Mukah and other towns along the way. Ah ! may be the next trip in May.