The Desaru wreck
Chinese ceramics from a sunken ship.
A museum on the beach at Tanjung Balau, near the site of an old fishing village, opened in 1992 to preserve the heritage of the fishermen who lived along Malaysia's coasts for centuries before the resorts arrived. It is run by the South-East Johor Development Authority and looks straight out to sea. Its main hall holds boat-building tools, nets and fishing gear, with dioramas of fishing life in the peninsula and in Sabah and Sarawak. Other sections include a geology gallery with more than two hundred kinds of rock, a gallery on safety at sea with models of lighthouses and modern vessels, and a yard of traditional wooden boats. The most intriguing section is the Desaru Shipwreck gallery: Chinese jars, plates and bowls recovered from a ship that sank in Desaru's waters in the nineteenth century, a glimpse of the trade routes that passed this coast. Fees are token: the authority lists two ringgit for Malaysian adults, and foreigners pay about ten. It opens daily from nine in the morning with a lunch break, which is longer on Fridays for the midday prayer. Pair it with the quiet Tanjung Balau beach in front and Desaru Beach to the south.
Chinese ceramics from a sunken ship.
Nets, boats and dioramas.
The museum faces the sea.
On Tanjung Balau beach, about 8 km north of Desaru Coast
An hour is usually enough for all the sections, longer if you want a walk on Tanjung Balau beach afterwards. Mind the lunch break: the doors close for about an hour at midday.