Today is Hari Merdeka or Merdeka Day (Independence Day). And today also marks the soft opening of Merdeka Mall in Miri. After much delay, the new mall situated opposite Morsjaya Commercial Centre along Miri Airport Road finally opened its door to the public.

Merdeka Mall as seen from Morsjaya Commercial Center on the opposite side of the road

Signboard of Merdeka Mall

And what a letdown!

MERDEKA MALL MIRI has been touted as incorporating a new modern shopping design to provide shoppers with new shopping experience with fully air-con interior, retail shops, specialty stores, fashion outlets, food and restaurants, entertainment, supermarket, departmental store, education centre and space for exhibition and function. Its total build-up area is about 500, 000 sq.ft. It has over 500 car-parking bays located on lower ground floor, level 1 (ground floor) and level 4.

A view inside the mall

Another view inside the mall

Car parks on the top floor of the mall

The soft opening today was truly a major letdown. Only a few stores are open for business. Even the anchor tenant Ta Kiong Supermarket did not open for business today.

The whole mall looks deserted with so few stores open

As you can see, only a few stores are open for business.

The crowds were visibly disappointed. After waiting for so long for the mall to open, it is so disheartening to see the mediocre standard of the mall.

The only big store that opens for business today is the APEX Department Store. A walk through this store soon reveals that it is far inferior to Parkson at Bintang Megamall. The design and layout of the store and the quality of the items sold leave a lot to be desired.

The APEX Department Store

Ladies' clothing section of APEX Department Store

As today is the soft opening, there was huge traffic jams in the vicinity of the mall with cars queuing up on the Miri Airport road for their turns to enter the mall’s parking area. But I have an inkling that this mall may turn out to be a massive failure unless Ta Kiong Supermarket can help pull in the crowds when it opens.

See the traffic jams on the top left hand corner of the photo as cars waited for their turns to enter the mall's parking area.

I hope the two other shopping malls in the pipeline will be of a much higher standard than Merdeka Mall.� Miri deserves some classy shopping malls!

Over breakfast this morning, I heard from my brother-in-law that the durians sold by Kai Nguong Nursery near Morsjaya Commercial Centre Miri are really good. I have seen Kai Nguong Nursery’s durian advertisements in the local Chinese dailies and have been thinking of dropping by to buy some of their durians. Durian season has started quite a while back but so far I have not bought any durians.

After breakfast, I made a trip to the nursery. From the road, the nursery looks small but if you go in, it is actually quite a nice big place.� The nursery sells a wide assortment of flowers and plants including bonsai. The mosquito repellent plants caught my attention but I wonder whether they are truly effective in repelling mosquitoes. There were quite a lot of people buying durians, some of whom ate the durians on the spot.

Kai Nguong Nursery near Morsjaya Commercial Centre, Miri

D93 Durians at RM15 per kilo

D96 Durians at RM8 per kilo

Dragon fruits

Mosquito repellent plants

Workers tidying up the durians....soil, leaves, etc are often embedded on the spikes of the durians when they drop from the durian trees

There were a few types of durians but I settled for two� D96 durians costing RM8 per kilo and one D93 durian costing RM15 per kilo. The two D96 cost a total of RM24 while the D93 cost RM16.

The two D96 durians that I bought

The D93 durian that I bought

On the way back to town, I dropped by Morsjaya Commercial Centre to take a quick walk around this busy commercial area. Servay Supermarket is undeniably the most successful business outlet in this commercial centre.� There are quite a lot of hawkers especially in the evenings. I bought some rambutans from a very friendly hawker who thought I was a tourist when she saw me taking photos.

Servay at Morsjaya Commercial Centre Miri

A hawker selling fruits at Morsjaya

Rambutans....another "heaty" fruit

On the opposite side of the road, the Merdeka Mall is nearing completion. This will be the first big shopping complex in this part of Miri city. The opening of the shopping mall has been delayed many times and it is expected to open next month with Ta Kiong Supermarket as the anchor tenant.

Merdeka Mall nearing completion

Upon reaching home, I opened up the durians…..oh yes, they are yummy! For those who have never tasted durians, you are really missing out something incredible. Durians has been aptly called King of Fruits.It has been said that durians smell like hell but tasted like heaven! And I am right now tasting heaven as I write this blog article.

One of the D96 durian that I bought....note its yellowish flesh....yummy!

The D93 durian that I bought.....thick delicious flesh!

If you are trying out durians for the first time, be warned about two things. Durians have sharp spikes that can easily draw blood if you are not careful when opening them.� When opening durians, inspect the durian’s husk for natural “seams”. This is where you will want focus your cutting and pulling efforts. And durians are “heaty” (a Malaysian way of saying something that will cause body temperature to rise)……do drink a cup of salt water after taking them or else you may end up with a sore throat. Actually a lot of people believe that if you drink water from the durian husks, you will� not get sore throat.� But I won’t vouch for that, haha! A more scientific way is to eat mangosteen after taking durians as mangosteen is a fruit with a cooling effect.

Mangosteens

Ouch! I told you to be careful when opening durians. This was what happened to me when I opened the durians just now.� Must be the revenge of the durians!

My bleeding thumb courtesy of the durian spikes

I wonder whether those sporting spiky hair got their inspiration from durians.� It sure seems that way to me!

Spiky hair style.....durian inspired?