Tag: Sights

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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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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One Night in Jakarta

The world’s biggest city, Jakarta, Indonesia is home to over 41 million people. When we had a layover there on both ends of our Vietnam trip from Lombok, we really wanted to explore. While we didn’t have much time, we saw a little of the city, which sparked our desire to see more one day. Here’s how we spent our one night in Jakarta.

About Jakarta

We obviously would have liked a longer layover than one night in Jakarta, because there’s a lot to do.

Jakarta is Indonesia’s capital, and is located in the northwest of the island of Java, west of Bali. It was founded as a city in the 1600s and was occupied in turns by the Portuguese, Sudanese, the Dutch, British, and Japanese before Indonesian independence in 1945.

Jakarta is smaller than New York City, covering 664 square kilometers. But with so many people, it’s overwhelming, and it takes a long time to get anywhere. Trips from the airport to downtown, a distance of 20 kilometers, average 90 minutes, but can often take more than 2 hours due to traffic. They are working on mass transit, and there is a train from the airport that is an option.

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