Two Nights in Malacca

The more I travel, the more I enjoy exploring the “off the beaten path” places. Sometimes, the tourist hotspots are disappointing, like Bali and Bora Bora, and often too crowded. So when we visited Malacca, Malaysia, a place we knew next to nothing about, we were pleasantly surprised. We spent two nights in Malacca, admiring the historic buildings and eating excellent food.

Why Two Nights in Malacca

From Puteri Harbour, we made plans to visit Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s modern capital inland city. Since the best way to travel was via bus or train, we decided to break up the trip with a stop in Malacca (also spelt Melaka) on the way. (Since I am writing this in English, I am using the English spelling. I have been told that either is correct and they are interchangeable.) We saw a lot but two nights in Malacca may not have been enough.

Chinatown in Malacca
Entrance to Malacca’s Chinatown

About Malacca

Malacca City is part of a World Heritage Site, combined with Penang to the north, and has a rich history as a maritime port. The charming city is intersected by the narrow Malacca river which is lined with pathways for use by cyclists and pedestrians.

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Puteri Harbour, Malaysia

Malaysia is it’s own unique country, and what we’ve seen so far we like. Our first stop after Indonesia was Puteri Harbour, Malaysia. A bay carved out of the mangrove jungle just across the narrow channel from Singapore, Puteri Harbour offers a marina, restaurants, and some good provisioning nearby.

Checking In to Malaysia

Checking in was so easy because of the proximity to the ferry terminal, which brings visitors from Batam, Indonesia daily. Once we docked, we sat on our boat until the Pine Tree marina team retrieved us in their golf cart for the short drive to the ferry terminal. At the terminal we had a very brief meeting with a government agent representing customs and immigration. We gave him our paperwork and he briskly stamped us into the country. Welcome to Malaysia in a few minutes. One of the easiest check-ins to a country ever!

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Highlights of Western Indonesia

After beloved Banyuwangi, from the east coast of Java we continued our travels through Western Indonesia. Of course Kalimantan is one of our highlights of Western Indonesia, and there are others! We stopped in cool anchorages and met some amazing people.

Go was in Indonesia for over 5 months, and between our fun visa runs we spent almost 4 months travelling the country. Despite the heat and heavy rains, lack of wind, and pollution, we liked Indonesia. Every person we encountered was friendly and kind, from east to west. In fact, one of our favorite places was also the friendliest.

Highlights of Western Indonesia: Bawean

An isolated island between Java and Kalimantan, Bawean was an oasis of calm and fun. Bawean is 150km north of Surabaya, Java. There is a ferry that sometimes goes between the two and takes about 4 hours. Bawean is a natural stopping off point for sailors heading from Java to Kalimantan, so we followed our nature and anchored there for a couple of nights.

Bawean waterfall, Western Indonesia
The small waterfall near the crater lake in Bawean
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