5 Hipsterrific Things To Do In Miri, Sarawak

This annual mid-year bash takes place at different spots in Miri, and this year it was at the uber-cool Coco Cabana, a traditional wooden two-storey structure by the sea that recently underwent a RM1mil ($336K) facelift. Over three days, we shimmied to the rousing performances by 18 jazz acts such as the Cuban-Latin American ensemble Havana Social Club (pictured). If you’re the type who can only bop when there’s booze involved, the organisers got you covered: other than a cute Sunset Bar right behind the audience seating which sells wallet-friendly tipples (so you don’t even need to miss the show while you top up), there’s a Starbucks booth that can hit you up with a much-needed frappuccino — and till the wee hours too. We also spotted our very own local jazz maestro Jeremy Monteiro performing with the Jazz Association of Singapore Orchestra (JASSO), who told us about his surprising link to Borneo: “I lived there for five formative years, from when I was seven to 11. My father ran an air chartering company there called Borneo Skyways.”

And you can do both at the same time, if you please. While the jazz festival is in full swing, there are also vendors hawking street food from Insta-worthy huts and stalls. They offer everything from potent Sarawak laksa to halal yong tau foo, which you can tapow and find a random scenic spot by the sea to sit down and savour your spoils. Our favourite Instagram spot? The swings right beside Coco Cabana. It’s nothing like the famed Bali swing, but you can admire the gorgeous sunset while spamming your social media feed anyway. Also pretty cool: the gigantic seahorse-shaped copper lighthouse that was — and this is the keyword here — inspired by the Statue of Liberty.

Did you know that Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding is half-Iban, the Sarawakian warrior tribe that’s notorious for practising head-hunting? (Fun fact: Iban tribal members used to exchange hard-won shrunken heads as bridal dowry. And you thought coughing out money for your in-laws was painful). Okay, the Iban people don’t head-hunt anymore in modern times, but you can still buy T-shirts emblazoned with ‘Sarawak Headhunters’ on them at touristy souvenir shops in Miri. But if you want an authentic peek at Iban life, head to Entulang Longhouse, about half an hour’s drive from central Miri. The tribefolk traditionally stay in long, double-storey wooden houses divided into HDB-like apartments. As more families grow, the tribe simply adds more ‘apartments’ to either end of the longhouse. This particular longhouse is almost a street-long; arrange for a private tour through travel agency Brighton Travel & Tour (www.brightontt.com; minimum two pax) and you can even drop by an Iban family’s home. We tiptoed through their living room, where the entire clan was nonchalantly watching Saving Private Ryan on a flatscreen TV (yes, it’s that authentic) to their spacious kitchen, where there were half-woven traditional baskets and ceramic vats of fermenting rice wine resting against a wall. Fascinating.

Penang has its prawn mee, Malacca has its chicken rice balls and Miri has… rice wine called tuak. Cooked glutinous rice is fermented with yeast till it becomes alcohol with an average ABV level of 16 per cent. “If you have never tried it, you might think it’s disgusting,” our guide tells us. Okay, it ain’t fancy like Laurent Perrier champagne and tastes like less-smooth sake, but if you’re feeling adventurous, this is good for the ’gram and your street cred. You can find tuak at the wet market-cum-shopping mall EMart (www.emart.my), where the wine is sold in, er, recycled mineral water bottles (RM10, or S$3.30 for a 300ml bottle).

Gym rat or not, you ought to pack your sneakers for this very manageable 1km hike at one of Sarawak’s treasures, the Lambir Hill National Park. Called the Latak Waterfall Trail, this 20-minute light stroll through the jungle takes you to three waterfalls, including the eponymous 25m-high Latak Waterfall. Remember the gorgeous waterfall fight scene in Black Panther? Well, with a touch of imagination, this spot kinda looks like a tamer version of it, with lush floral and fauna closing around the waterfall in an ethereal arch that’s best experienced in person rather than armchair-travelling. You can splash around like T’challa in the water too: the shallow pool at the bottom of the waterfall is open to swimmers. But don’t go beyond the safety ropes, where the pool dips suddenly to a scary depth of 30m — unless you wanna stay in 'Wakanda' forever.

This trip was made possible by AirAsia and the Sarawak Tourism Board. For more info on flights to Miri, go to www.airasia.com.