Heya,

I am a big fan of Sumatra, but I wouldn’t recommend Medan as a spot to stay for more than a couple of days. The Muslim areas of Indonesia tend to be the friendliest to foreigners- in my opinion- but Medan is an exception to that rule. Sumatra lost a LOT of tourism after the tsunami ten years ago and hasn’t quite recovered. There is an abundance of guesthouses and tour guides, but very few tourists meaning there is a lot of attention on you.

If you can handle not great internet speeds, I would spend most of my time in chill Lake Toba and make my way up to Pulau Weh (passing through Bukit Lawang for orangutan trekking- truly incredible, check out Thomas’ treks- and Banda Aceh for the tsunami museum). Spend the rest of your time chilling and diving on Pulau Weh.

Let me know if you have any other questions about Sumatra. I loved it, but Medan wasn’t what I was looking for. There are far friendlier cities for that big, not too developed, bustling city feel if that is what you are craving!

There is a reason why Indonesian cities (outside Jakarta and Bali) aren’t nomad hotspots - Indonesian cities are traffic-clogged town-planning disasters.

Medan is the gateway city for Lake Toba, which is a cool place to hang out. I spent a month by the lake to write and get away from city distractions. Lakeside guesthouses can be found for $10 a night. The internet is not the best so it’s not a place to be if you need speedy internet.

Having said that I still recommend travelling around to these provincial cities to see Southeast Asia outside the capitals. I’ve taken several flights on AirAsia to random places whenever there is a sale on.

If you are looking at flights now I would avoid Sumatra as half of the island is on fire, creating the worst haze on record in Southeast Asia.

Best to book an Airbnb for first 2/3 nights, then drive around and find a place yourself. Many apartments have a VACANT sign. Although renting 3 weeks is quite short.

I’d say Hep A & B and tetanus were essential anywhere in Asia. There is now a vaccine for Dengue fever, available in Indonesia & worth considering.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Dengue_fever#Vaccine

I lived in Ubud for over a year and got no vaccines except Hep A and tetanus.
I got bitten by a dog there, very severe bite. It was my friend’s dog, so I knew it wasn’t rabid, however, no hospital would admit me for treatment until I got a rabies vaccine.
They run out of rabies vaccines on the island at times, but luckily they had it. I needed 3-4 in a row for possible post-exposure. I didn’t want to get it, but i had to.

Really depends on when and where you’re planning to go in Indonesia.

IMHO, the CDC and Travel Health clinic suggestions tend to be over cautious for most travelers. I think they’re written as if everyone is going to do aid work in some far off jungle village.

Routine + Hepatitis A & B + Typhoid and you’re good almost everywhere globally…

Note: the reason to get Hep B, is because if you end up in a local hospital (this is a a risk globally), plus it’s cheap and free of major side effects.

Japanese Encephalitis - Not unless you’re going somewhere rural where to JE is actively prevalent (ie. somewhere very rural…) .

Regardless of JE, take precautions against mosquitos… because there is also Dengue & Malaria…

However personally… forums are the last source I would trust on this topic… go talk to an actual doctor

If you’re thinking about heading to Bali, definitely get the rabies vaccine. The island has a rabies problem, there are a lot of aggressive stray dogs, and the island isn’t well equipped to deal with it.

No experience with adobe connect, but I ran the test from the UK server, these are the results

it says LAN speed and:
BW Test Results: up=2382.9 kbit/s, latency=28 msec, down=605.2 kbit/s

This is from Canggu btw.

Around $60-$70 / month

Hi,
Between 40’000 and 50’000 IDR per day, depending on how long you rent it for.

Luigi

Would exercise caution about driving without a license. Paying police here and there is one thing. But if you end up in hospital, it’d be highly unlikely that your travel insurance would cover you. I’ve had a friend need to pay $50k out of pocket - sure could be worse too.

You can get an Indonesian driving license whilst in Bali but it’ll only be valid for a month (unless you have a KITAS; then it’s a year).

I’d echo @jodie_taylor – the best of Ubud is outside of the centre. There’s so much tourism in the centre that it almost has a theme park quality. To the credit of the Balinese, it retains culture and the people are very warm.

But for authenticity and peace, you need to be outside of the town, ducking in when hungry etc. – which then requires a scooter. Having a scooter takes some courage and there’s no shame in opting to skip it if you don’t feel up for it. But it is liberating.

Canggu is quieter, but more spread out – potentially viable on a push bike. There’s also an ebike firm in Ubud, not sure about in South, which could be another option.

I lived in Ubud for 18 years. Currently travelling (and working) again through Sri Lanka and India so far.
The Ubud town centre now is pretty much gridlocked from early afternoon on to early evening. So cars getting around are out of the question. Plus there is no parking available.
To get best use of the place, if you don’t want to ride a bike yourself, hire a local to be on call so you can get bike lifts wherever you want to go. You could be some distance beween where you are living and using internet Hubs, and using the three main supermarkets.
BTW, much of central Ubud now has cable up to 100Mbits, with owners taking it at 10, 20, 50 or 100 Mbits. Nearly all cafes and restaurants have free wifi.
Walking is possible, plenty of tourists do it, but it can be exhausting. There are no real footpaths, but drain covers that rise and fall with access ways. They require your constant attention to avoid tripping and fallling. Much of Bali slopes upwards to the north, and so your walks in Ubud are either challenging going north or easy going south.

If you stay in the town centre its walkable, but I wouldnt advise that as the exterior of Ubud is what makes it special. Stay a 5 mins scooter drive outside of town in the rice fields. The town centre is very busy with traffic and tourists. Personally I prefer Canggu in the South as I think its more liveable, but Ubud is very beautiful.

I’m also in Chiang Mai trying to figure out where to go in February when the burn season starts. I was here last year, and it was terrible.

It is not easy to find a place that compares to Chiang Mai’s infrastructure and value.

In Ubud now, it is definitely walkable however there’s a huge caveat to that statement - it all depends where in Ubud you are and what your expectations are.

If you’re accustomed to large grocery stores and whatnot, you’ll need a vehicle (cheap and easy to get). If you’re happy with small shops and living near the busy tourist strip, you can walk everywhere.

You probably won’t though. Unless it’s for short trips.

(this is all based in you being used to Chiang Mai, others who haven’t lived in a SEA City would probably say it’s definitely not walkable)

Yeah, not advisable. (I lived there for a few months)

It’s not the distance, it’s the elevation changes, they humidity, the sun, the temperature, the exhaust fumes. It doesn’t make for a pleasant walk.

You can’t do bikes either (I tried). And dealing with cabs and motorbike taxis (gojek, grabcar, uber) gets old real quick.

So in that regard its nothing like CM. CM is doable on foot, especially if you stay in the centre. Ubud, not so much.