Dear Tomkat and Lazlo,
Finally back to France, huuuu - it is cold here, once the sun is behind a cloud, my body does not like it !
Bali was great fun and Lombok even more so because in Lombok, apart from Gilli islands and Kuta beach that are great places to hang out for a few days, Kuta beach in Lombok is an amazing place, we met some really nice people in towns and cities that I do not even recall the names of today. People are really very very friendly and helpful. For exemple, as we waited for the local buses people often informed us about the local price, worrying about the we should not pay more than this, and this without us asking for it. How nice. Of course, there is always the exception of the VERY religious guy ! who changed the prices of his menu before we paid next morning but this was the only exception to all the friendly and helpful people we found on our trip in Lombok and Bali as well.
The problem is that now we do not want to go anywhere else. The next island, Sumbawe, seems very interesting and Suwalesi as well. And then there is no end to all the islands. But what about the Philipines, Brazil, ohh well, life is a blast !
Now I feel like learning the language since it seems that also malaysia and even the philipines is very similar.
Next time we go to Indonesia I feel like staying in a city for a few weeks, any tips on where to go, a medium sized city in Indonesia not so far away from the ocean.
Thanks for all the feedback on our trip.
Olga and Raymond, France.
Sounds like you were REALLY impressed! ;-)
Well, the language in Malaysia is indeed very similar to Indonesian, in the Philippines much, much less so.
But English is widely spoken in both of those countries anyway.
Sulawesi and Sumbawa are both nice islands in a different way.
Sulawesi has more tourist attractions and is more developed.
Sumbawa gets very few tourists apart from 2 relatively isolated beach areas frequented by surfers.
Other tourists tend to simply pass through on the way between Lombok and Flores as quickly as possible.
Consequently, it's largely unspoilt by tourism and a good place to practice your Indonesian.
Medium-sized city near the sea for a longer stay?
Bima in Sumbawa or Pare-pare in South Sulawesi come to mind first, though neither are beach type of places.
Of course there are many, many others.
Toli-toli in Sulawesi is another VERY untouristed town by the sea in very scenic surroundings. Or Bau-bau.
For somewhere more touristy/developed, you could try Manado - that's more of a big city than a middle-sized one though.
I must admit though that my favourite Sulawesi towns are inland, rather than by the sea.
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