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[marlie1929]

Hello,

Me and my partner are planning for 6 months round Asia, with 2 months ideally in Indonesia.

Its all very estimate at the minute as we realistically cant afford it until 2014 - so if you cant help us at this stage I understand.

So far based on flight costs with the countries we want to see we'll fly in to Java from Japan and back out from Java to Vietnam.

So my questions are (and quite vague I apologise):

- How safe is Indonesia in general? Theft/violence/illness etc... We're new to travelling and still quite naive to be honest...

- Whats the accommodation like in general? (We're thinking either cheaper hotels or more expensive hostels, we'd really like private rooms for most of it)

- Does it tend to be cheap like Thailand or expensive like Japan? (Our Japan leg so far is costing a lot!)

- Where to go and where not to go (interested in culture- shrines and temples etc, nature- trekking etc, beaches, scuba diving and shopping. Not big drinkers really, going more for a different way of life than to drink and party! I'm a divemaster in the UK so really interested in what Indonesia has to offer in diving/snorkelling.

- How easy/cheap/comfortable it is to travel within Indonesia

- And how easy/expensive is it to obtain the required visas?

We'll be really out of our comfort zone as we're used to our lovely little flat, nice car, easy life - but we're bored and what adventure! Its going to be a shock....

Any advice or past itineraries/tours you've done that you think may be of interest would be great - I've planned Japan quite well, but I'm struggling with where to start with Indonesia!

Thanks a bunch!

Charlie

P.S. I've kinda put together the below as a rough itinerary based on the cheapest flights. Just so if you see a ridiculous looking itinerary you can tell me
I know I may be going back and forth a bit but getting rough prices (based on this year however) this seems to be the cheapest. See what you think anyway

UK - JAPAN - INDONESIA - VIETNAM - PHILLIPINES - SINGAPORE - MALAYSIA -(Maybe Cambodia?)- THAILAND - UK