Between 1975 and 1996, Galang Island housed a UNHCR camp for Vietnamese boat people fleeing the aftermath of the war — at its peak nearly 250,000 refugees passed through. What remains is a quiet, slightly haunting open-air museum: empty barracks, a small hospital, a Catholic chapel, the Quan Am Tu Buddhist temple from 1984, a graveyard, and a memorial to those who didn't survive the journey. Reach it by driving the Barelang Highway south across the bridges.
Vietnamese Refugee Camp, Galang
Haunting open-air memorial to Vietnamese boat people, 1975–1996
A story
The camp was closed by Indonesia in 1996 under international pressure, and most of the remaining refugees were forcibly repatriated to Vietnam. Some former residents and their descendants still return on pilgrimage.