Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia 2014
Table of Contents
General

What should I write about the trip? I slept too little, spent too much, sweated a lot – stinky and dirty, battered from all corners, ultra tired, straight for the pool. But nevertheless, one lives for such trips. Stayed in diverse corners of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (Venice and Doha Airports, KL, Singapore, Yogya, Borobudur, Prambanan, Ubud, Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Komodo and a whole bunch of islands, Flores Skor, Kuta, Jakarta). The adventures were also not boring (classic beach party, comodo dragons, snorkeling, temples, volcanic lakes, …). It was the first trip outside Europe in 4 years. Thank you to everyone who participated in this journey in any way. Of course, special thanks to Andrea and Luka for sharing these moments with me.
Recommendation
When I plan my travels I use those pages below to help me find the right transport, accommodation, ticket, …
- Flights: Skyscanner
- Bus or Train; Flixbus, Trainline, Omio, Deutche Bahn
- Rent a car: Rentalcars
- Accommodation; Booking, Agoda, HostelWorld, AirBnB
- Tours and Activities: GetYourGuide, Viator, Klook
If you use these links to buy some of their services in some cases I would get commission
Food and drink

Typical Southeast Asian food, rice, or rice noodles, with chicken, or fish in a vegetable sauce. Prices are a few Euros if you do not go to eat some European food or to a prestigious restaurant. We ate very monotonous food on the ship for 3 days. Occasionally we tried some like burger. Breakfast is usually with eggs. Beer in Indonesia is Bintang, and it is quite expensive compared to other goods (2 €). We also had home-made brandy for medical purposes. Since evening outings were frequent, this significantly affected our budget.
Transport

In 21 days we had 9 flights (international with Qatar Airlines 21,000 km; local 3,000 km with Lion Air, Air Asia, Garuda, propeller/jet), water transport (3-day cruise, speed boat, 500 km), road transport (rickshaw, carriage, walking and tracking, cars such and different, vans, buses), on tracks (sleeping and subways, 500 km). The biggest cost was a plane ticket to Asia and back, € 508. Local flights are cheap, $ 57 or less. In the big cities, we moved by metro or taxi for a couple of euros. 3-4 days onboard meant transport, sleeping, and food for a bit over € 100 is not just a good investment but also an unforgettable experience, sadly no comfort. A 2 day van from Flores is also a good experience for € 40 per person.
Sleep

We slept several times on vehicles (plane, train-sleeper). Mostly in lower quality rooms, where prices were € 10 per person per night or even less. The highlight, however, was the 5-star hotel, Marina Bay Sands. The experience with the longest infinity pool is worth 70 € (Andreja arranged a discount).
Money

In total, I spent around € 1,800 (everything included, airline tickets and other transportation, accommodations, food, drinks, entrance fees, insurance, visas, camera), but still too much. As with other travels, pay hotels and airline tickets with a credit card, withdraw cash at an ATM with a debit card (cost just over € 2). You need some cash so you can immediately exchange or pay for it. In particular, $ is useful for various visas and fees.
In Malaysia, the rate for the card was 4.5 MYR and for cash 4.2-4.3MYR for 1EUR. We spent less than € 50 a day there.
In Singapore, the exchange rate was SGD 1.7 for 1EUR everywhere. we put in a lot for the hotel there, but still cheap and an experience worth it. Even Rado worshiped us tremendously that night.
In Indonesia, the exchange rate was between IDR 15,000 and IDR 16,000 for 1 EUR
Daily review
- 22/02/2014 Venice-Doha
- 23/02/2014 Doha-Kuala Lumpur
- 24/02/2014 Kuala Lumpur
- 25/02/2014 Singapur
- 26/02/2014 Singapur-Yogyakarta
- 27/02/2014 Yogyakarta
- 28/02/2014 Yogyakarta-Bali
- 01/03/2014 Bali
- 02/03/2014 Bali-Gili
- 03/03/2014 Gili
- 04/03/2014 Gili 2
- 05/03/2014 Gili 3
- 06/03/2014 Gili-Lombok
- 07/03/2014 Cruise
- 08/03/2014 Cruise 2
- 09/03/2014 Cruise 3
- 10/03/2014 Labuan Bajo-Ende
- 11/03/2014 Flores
- 12/03/2014 Flores-Bali
- 13/03/2014 Bali-Jakarta
- 14/03/2014 Jakarta-Doha-Venice