Kinch seems to spend a lot of effort telling Indonesians that they are uncivilised. Respectfully, I don't agree. I have traveled to Bkk, KL and Singapore. I have also lived and worked, at various times and for varying durations in these cities. You will find things to like and thingsto abhor in all 4. 

While I appreciated Singapore's orderliness and modcons, you will find Singaporeans generally blunt and have no time to appreciate culture or natural beauty. I do not equate tall buildings with civilisation.

BKK and Jakarta, as you point out, are ALIVE and kicking, their citizens always adventurous and looking for new experiences. You will also find JKT and BKK more spiritual and caring.. truly.

Malaysians are a more mixed breed. Always coming second best to their Singaporean cousins, they have a chip on their shoulder and strive to be as first world as their Southern neighbours.  They sometimes fail as they try to reconcile their desire for modernity with their Islamic roots.

I accept that these are generalisations, but to characterise Indonesians as uncivilised is just wrong. Have been in a traffic jam in Orchard Rd, Sultan Ismail and Sukhumvit .

Been searched before entering the Hyatt Erawan, Mandarin Hotel, as well as the Ritz Carlton, KL.

What matters are its people. I have found Indonesians to be as caring as KLites, as fun loving as Bangkokians and as intelligent as Singaporeans.

Perhaps K should see more of Indonesia... you might not think it is such a "shithole" after all.  

Sampled 

Just read your excellent reply. Now that you have taken pains to be less subtle and more nuanced, you are right that living in Kl was more pleasant than Jakarta.

Still not quite a shithole though, perhaps you should consider moving to nicer accomodation. 

if you had visited pattaya, you may bump into american army types doing r & r, some three times the size of an average asian.

best place for live music in bangkok will be soi cowboy (something a little bit more exciting tham block M), at the back of the sleazy topless bar filled to the brim with japanese and germans. follow your ears and you may hear Led zep and Lynard skynard. If you buy some beers for the band members, they may ask you to jam along with them.   

its a pity that the thais cannot solve the muslim insurgency problem in the south. hatyai used to be very busy during the weekends with tourist from malaysia and singapore. There used to be direct flights there from KL until an explosion at the airport two years ago. Only way to hatyai today is by road and rail.

bangkok airport is the busiest in asean. not surprising as tourism is a big industry there. It was the Thais who invented visit Thai year way back in the nineties, only to be copied by others.

hotel accomodation cost more in indonesia  than in thailand or malaysia. The tourism sector should split indonesia into areas of speciality instead as indonesian natural beauty is diverse and cover a vast area.

Lake toba/sabang/aceh west coast/niah island could be promoted as an area for tourists coming into malaysia and south thailand could extend their stay, as there are almost eight flights a day between penang and medan, either by jet or turbo-prop, which is also well conected to phuket and hatyai, the largest town in south thailand

There are also numerous ferry services between peninsular malaysia and sumatra.

similarly, manado could be promoted by offering a direct flight from kota kinabalu, which just happens to be malaysia's second busiest airport and second major tourist destination after KL /genting, as kk attracts similar tourist as those who visit manado. from kk, you get direct flights to japan/korea/taiwan/macao/hong kong/ singapore/brunei/shenzhen apart from other malaysian domestic flights.

@cinnamongirl

near Shangrila will be the fabled Pat-pong. Those who are not knowledgable enough may end up booking a girl that is actually a man. And she may beat you up if paid less than what she expects.

Thai youngsters are crazy. They drink whiskey with their steaks.

Songkhkla is just north of the troubled zone. You can get a ferry to the island of Koh Samui where the fabled "moon light party" was invented and copied the world over. That is another island you should visit. Water as good if not better than Phuket due to white sandy beach, simlar to those found in Kudat in the norhern tip of the state of sabah in east Malaysia.

The whole southern thailand economy is wrecked by the insurgency. Those with rubber estate cannot/farms cannot work on their land as they may be killed, whether buddhist or muslims or anyone else. Tourist hotels are targeted for bombings in popular weekend destinations for malaysian like Sungai golok and hatyai and several Malaysian tourist have been caught in the crossfire. With the coming long holidays for the chinese new year, the insurgents have bombed the Thai custom checkpoint at sungai golok just to make a point to Malaysian from enjoying their holiday there.

The aceh province could have ended up this way had it not been for the catastrophic tsunami. Even then, it seems the acehnese have not learnt their lesson and are  promoting God's laws written by humans. 

May I ask what minerals are there in south tapanuli? Just curious.