Sumatra and Borneo accessibility?

[Vidiotic]

From Bali, couto (SP) you can get to Komodo in about 2 days travel. Get the bus from Bali to pedang Bai, if you get the bus early enough you can stop off in Utoo (SP) for a few hours and see the arts and crafts of this area, quite good really and they have a monkey sanctuary. Anyhoo, get the night boat to Lombok, stay overnight here, then get the early bus to the port on the other side, boat to Sumbawa, then bus to the other side, then boat over to Flores, this last part if timed early enough willl take about a day. Dive in the KNP for a few days and visit the volcanoes.. You can get a flight for around $50 back to Bali then fly onto Borneo.

Borneo has an Orangatang sanctuary on it somewhere, not sure here.

In indonesai use Air Guardia (SP) its cheap as chips. Air Asia is also cheap but sure they fly from Bali to Borneo. There is also the Pelini boat that travels all around indonesia which we used extensivley as its cheap and I mean cheap !

 

[Thrillhouse]

Sounds great, guys.

Is it possible to fly to Medan from Phuket? We're looking to do either that or fly from Kuala Lumpur (Phuket would naturally be easier since we'd be able to avoid visas for Malaysia), Spend the night there, up first thing in the morning and out to see the Orangs, spend a night there, back to Medan then fly down to Bali for 7 days.

Again, I'd love to spend months and months in Indonesia. Just reading the guide-books/from what I've heard from my family who've been there many times for scuba it sounds unbelievable. Unfortunately we've got to rush through... If it's as amazing as it sounds though, there'll be no reason not to come back in the near future.

 

[Wisnu]

Very exhausting but not impossible.
There's direct flight from KL to Banda Aceh for diving at Pulau Weh - great diving as reported by Bora Horza. Allocate half day to travel from Banda aceh to Pulau Weh.
Then, you can use executive bus service (w/ air con, TV, and toilet, cost approx. USD 20) leaving Banda Aceh in the afternoon and after 10 - 12 hours trip you'll arrive in medan early morning. From Medan you can reach the Gn. Leuser National Park by bus for 5 - 6 hours; and stay one night there.
I do not recommend to take bus from Medan to Bali, not sure how long, I guess not less than 3 days. To my knowledge no direct flight to bali from medan. But Medan - Jakarta - Bali is easy and lot of choice. If you have transit time more than 6 hours, you can visit Schmutzer Primates Centers http//usat Primata Schmutzer unfortunately not in english.
With only 2 weeks forget it Borneo's Orang Utan.
Good Luck

 

[Bubble Junky]

What about if, when in Peninsular Thailand, we head down through Malasia to Medan, down to Burkit Lawang, then back up to Kuala Lumpur to fly to Bali, fly back from Bali to Bangkok, then home?

I just travelled from Thailand into Sumatra, and did the ferry from Penang accross to Medan - no probs. From there you can go see the 'orange-monkeys' in Bukit Lawang and then head up to dive on Pulau Weh (check out Enjoy your diving with Lumba Lumba Diving Centre, Pulau Weh (Weh Island), Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia - good travel advice on their site too). After your diving you can get pretty cheap flights from Banda Aceh to KL with Air Asia..........

 

[AlanWald]

Bali (DPS) to Kota Kinabalu ( BKI ) in Malaysian Borneo the new direct Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 9022 departing every Sun/Mon/Wed/Fri from Denpasar, Bali at 3:00 PM.
Sector Time Flt No
DPS-BKI 15:00-17:30 QZ9022
BKI-DPS 18:00-20:30 QZ9023

from the air asia web site airasia.com/ fares one way seem to vary from $42 to $100. (before taxes and fees)

 

[Thrillhouse]

Cheers, guys. We just booked a flight on Malaysia airlines from Phuket to Medan via Kuala Lumpur. Spending 6 days there (mostly in Bukit Lawang) then flying down to Bali for 2 weeks of scuba, sun, and komodo dragons.

A big thanks to everyone here that made it clear a trip into Sumatra is possible! We were about ready to dismiss it as too far off the beaten trail, but it sounds absolutely incredible.