Saturday, January 10, 2009

Canada Hill, Miri

This is where it all began for Miri. Canada Hill is where the first oil well was drilled and become the birthplace of Sarawak's and Malaysia's petroleum industry until this very day.

There used to be a Canadian who lived here and his main business was to recruit foreign and local workers to work in the oil fields around this hill (sound like a broker to me). Hence, it is believed that is how Canada Hill got its name.

Canada Hill is accessible from Miri city itself (east of the city) if one fancy the narrow steep walk to the hill. One can drive there but walking would be my preference as the surrounding view is just spectacular.

Miri Oil Well No.1 also known as "Grand Old Lady" and Miri Petroleum Science Museum are located here . I was there on Sunday and the museum was close then.


Grand Old Lady is an iconic structure for Miri city and is the first well in Malaysia to be drilled by Shell company in 1910. It was eventually shut down in 1972 and declared a national monument

There were figures at the base of the Grand Old Lady, depicting the drilling process by the workers those day

Murals and chronicles of events from the discovery of the petroleum to the closure of the Grand Old Lady. Also shown here are the development of the petroleum industry until this very day

There is a time capsule outside the museum which contain commemorative books, local newspaper and printed documents which will be opened on the 20th May 2105. That is an awful long time to wait.

Also can be found here are the equipment to drill oil from landfield. One can see a lot of this equipment still working in Brunei

There is also a mini park nearby the museum

Canada Hill offers a good view of Miri city with South China Sea as its horizon. It is such a spectacular view and I was practically mesmerized by it.

There are only 2 major hotels at Miri City Centre, Mega and Imperial Hotel as can be seen here. The city had a lot medium, small and budget hotels scatter around the city centre.

There are a few more major hotels at the beach side, quite a distance away from the city centre.

For another aerial view, go behind the Petroleum Museum and climb the stairs up to the highest rooftop balcony.

Marina Bay and the sea horse statue/lighthouse can be seen from here.

Canada Hill is also a favourite place for jungle trekking to the Miri folks. Most of the treks were created by the locals here. There are a few trails but I had to say most of the trails don't have safety features like railing, proper steps and etc. I think Canada Hill has the potential as an interesting jungle trekking venue and hope the concerned authority could look into it and turning it into a tourist attraction.

14 comments:

Johnny Ong said...

this is one piece of malaysian history that i have forgotten or was i taught abt it

Anonymous said...

I never been to Miri..
hope to visit it this summer!

TNH said...

This is a very interesting place..never see how they drill for oil..

Anonymous said...

the reason why i LOVE Miri so much!! Nice review of Miri!

Nanaybelen said...

nice photos

lifesignx said...

Greetings Borneo tippers. On 14 January be sure to visit Lifesigns Life Quotes for some exclusive behind the scenes coverage of Borneo Falcon in the making of all his Miri posts.

xinying said...

the sunset view from thr was nice too!! Yeah to Miri~

pusangkalye said...

oh---I thought you went to Cnada---now I know that Canada Hill is part of Malaysia and that it is a very significant place indeed.....

thanks for it's oil. Malaysia is as we know now a wealthy country. you are lucky to have this place>>>>>

Khin Hooi said...

oh, there is a mini park there yeah? didn't visit there since long time.

William said...

Nice photos!

Unknown said...

cool pics.. :).. do u often travel around? coz u hav a lot of pics any where.. hehe

escape said...

hahaha... i like your shot with the statues. they look so tired working while you were just standing by between them.

Keith said...

LOL... Saya orang Amerika. I was lkaughing, because I have an Indonesian map in my bag.... and could not find Borneo. That ois because I did not know Borneo has different names to different peoples.

Blogging is quite an education for me,tho, seeing all these places makes me want to visit them. Your pictures, sir, are incredible.

When I get to that side of the world, I will tellmy host to go with me to Borneo! Terima kasih

Keith said...

It is wild to see the history portrayed as such, where you can almost watch the sculptures come to life, and get into a moment where decades are transformed before your eyes.