I agree, Malaysians are more used to western tourists, which - in my opinion - makes them more withdrawn than Indonesians. I dunno, maybe it's the fact that we're on bicycles that triggers the hospitably in Indonesians. Maybe it's me being a bule. Either way, we are often invited in for coffee, have been given free food on top of mountains and half of the time when we fill up our water bladders at Depots Air Minum, we get it for free. We have friendly conversations every day and Indonesians always have smile for us. The warmest welcome we received in Borneo, was by an Indonesian gate keeper to a palm oil plantation and his wife.
One thing that irked me in Borneo was, that people would simply not listen to us, when we spoke Bahasa. They always dismissed it and waited for us to speak English - although most of the time that resulted in them saying that they didn't speak English. I know, it's a small thing...but it's one of many that made Borneo a very frustrating experience for us, especially after having spent three months in Indonesia before.
I need to point out, that things are a bit different here in Western Aceh. Sharia Law has its obvious effect on what people think of us, especially because everybody thinks that my wife is Indonesian. She gets a lot of leering and/or frowning. At me they still all smile.
Getting into hotels seems to be a bit of a problem. Good thing we brought our marriage certificate. (We had to show it before, in South-Eastern Sulawesi).
It's all always subjective. These are the experiences we have made over the past 7 months.
You're definitely correct on the cheapness subject. It's cheap once you're in the country - and if you stay away from the tourist hotspots like Bali.
