Indonesia
 

Hello everybody.
I have plans to travel to Indonesia for a few months. Can anybody tell me if Indonesia is expensive, how are weather conditions in January-April. And in generally what you think about this country.

I think Indonesia isn't an expensive country (e.g. 1l of petrol = about 0.5$), and people there are very friendly :)

Indonesia is a fascinating country, and traveling in Indonesia is relatively inexpensive.

Indonesia is huge, something like 3000 islands. Where in Indonesia are you planning to travel? Do get a good guidebook - the only current guide that covers all of Indonesia is the Lonely Planet. For weather info, look at www.weatherbase.com and look at each place you want to travel to.

We have found it to be quite inexpensive. An example would be the 4 star hotels in Bali are 25% less than in Phuket, Thailand and in March-May you have comparably very nice weather. Central and East Java is lovely in April-June but not surprising all of that area has temps at 90+degrees and humidity at 75-80% but it is worth it. If you want more info let me know. We have been to Bali 3 times, Java twice (returning again in Dec. again) and Sumatra one.

i find it very inexpensive

Thank you all for the replies :). For sure I want to visit Bali and Borneo and I want to find a quiet island with beach without many tourist.
I was already in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong but I think that Indonesia is a bit different.

Yes, Indonesia is different from all of those countries. If you want to visit Borneo, note that Malaysian Borneo (Sabah and Sabah and Sarawak( is more accessible than Indonesian Borneo (called Kalimantin). Lombok is a good option for less-touristed beaches.

Get a guidebook and see what interests you.

Inas
And why are you going to be Indonesia so long? :)

I'm going for internship there :)

Just went to Manado in north Sulawesi - the snorkeling in Bungaken, a marine preserve right off Manado - is really spectacular. We stopped for lunch at a pretty resort, Siladen, which had a lovely beach. Bali is obviously a must see, but just stay away from Kuta, Nusa Dua, etc and head towards Ubud and/or the east coast. Java is full of fascinating places - Borobodur and Prambanan are both UNESCO world heritage sites and should not be missed. January/February will still be rainy season, but not enough to stop you.

@Inas
How did you get internship there? It's my dream to visit Indonesia and i was looking for internships there to lower costs, but i couldn't find one :/ I read somewhere, that it's forbidden to have an internship in Indonesia.

@Inas
so I guess you are a student, aren't you? :)

February is the tail-end of the rainy season if you will be there through the entire month and it does not rain daily so not to worry. The humidity though i up along with the temperature. Hopefully you will have air conditioned accommodations even if not up-scale. Fans just move hot air around most often.

Inas: It would be helpful if you mentioned where in Indonesia you will be, or where you want to go. Indonesia has many different micro-climates. In general, February is right in the middle of the normal rainy season, but again, it depends on where you will be. However, even in the rainy season it's not as if it rains all day every day. You can even go a week without rain sometimes...

She is there Jan. throuhj April so @inas has 50% of quite desirable weather based on our 3 visits in that period and looking at the weather charts of 2008-2011.With changing weather patterns you cannot rely on much before that for averages, in my opinion.

Indonesia is relative inexpensive country for tourist, and more inexpensive for student. The weather would be wet in January and relative dry in April. And yet what areas/ cities you will allocated?