Malaysia (Indonesia) and first time to Asia

My girlfriend and I were planning to go to Malaysia (peninsular) in July/August, but it looks like the air fares are not going down any time soon for that time frame.

Now I have two questions:

1) Should we go to Malaysia in September (lets say 10. September - 5. October)? My concern is the weather. First hand info would be appreciated.

2) Should we switch to Indonesia? I am not worried about traveling Bali and Lombok, but Java looks like a lot to manage for a first timers to Asia (but we have traveled a nice piece of Europe).

Thank you for your help.

hey mate, since I live in Indonesia, then i can only give you some advice about indonesia.
it all will depends on what do you looking for in your travel.
if you want to experience sea and marine park, you will hit Bali and Lombok.
if you want cultural and natural experience, Java is the just right for you.

ask me for more info about Indonesia.

Regards

Patota

Hello Tines,

What are your concerns on Bali & Lombok?

I'm sure that you have done your research for your trip to Malaysia & I think u should stick with it.
Which part of Malaysia are you planning to go to?

Yes, it has been raining quite a fair bit lately but not all the time.
And the rain is not all that bad... I just need to know where are the places that u plan to visit..

Tell me more of your plans and if I can give u advise, I would most definitely will...
Happy travels...
cheers.. Yatina

@Yatina

I was thinking of Peninsular Malaysia. In a month I think we should be able to cover a fair bit of it:

KL, Penang, Taman Negara, Kenang Rimba, Melaka, (Singapore), Cameron highlands,...

Like I said its the weather that I am worried about - 400mm of rain sounds scary.

@ktu-phatz

I have no concerns regarding Bali and Lombok.

Java is what concerns me. Judging from reading a few blogs this place could be quite a culture shock. I am just wondering if Indonesia is a suitable destination for first-timers Asia.

Tnx a lot.

Hi,

I have been to Malaysia and to Indonesia and I found both countries very easy to travel around. Why don't you first fly in to Malaysia as planned as it is a nice stepping stone and spend a bit of time there. Then you can fly with www.airasia.com (stupidly cheap flights in and around asia) to Indonesia and wean yourselves in with Bali and Lombok before heading to Java, and by that point you will feel a lot more confident.

Thats how i would do it, hope this helps!

Sofia!

I was thinking along those lines. Probably the best thing for us would be to land in Jakarta (since tickets to Bali are insanely expensive) and then fly Air Asia (or something like that) to Bali. Enjoy Bali and Lombok and then work our way through Java to Jakarta and back home.

Regards. Tine

Where are you flying from? I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Bali recently for about £15 including taxes. I would suggest going to Malaysia first as it is a lot more 'western' than Indonesia and maybe not so much of a culture shock?

I do not know where I am flying from - Venice, Vienna and Munich are the most convenient options.

I am still hoping that in two weeks there will be some special offers to KL

But with stuff going on in Thailand and with this volcano on Iceland, i doubt it.

From europe it is so much cheaper to fly to malaysia than to indonesia. I would suggest flying to Bangkok and then getting a flight with air asia to Kuala Lumpar or you can jump on a sleeper bus from bangkok to kuala lumpar. This will save u so much money!

Thanks for your help Sofia.

So far i found cheaper flights to Jakarta than to KL or Singapore.

570eu from Munich to Jakarta or 600eu from Venice to Jakarta. 620eu from Venice to Singapore. (~10th of September, for a month).

With what is going on in Thailand at the moment i am afraid, its just not worth the hassle to fly to Bangkok.

I am not going travel just for sake of traveling - its either Malaysia or Indonesia. I just have to figure things out.