The Hunger Games Guide to Indonesia

Disclaimer:
The Hunger Games Guide to Indonesia – First, to make it clear, I am Indonesian. This first post is just for your info only, but a few advice are still correct as per this post writing. So, enjoy your time. 🙂

Preface

It is already two years plus since the first time I started working abroad, out of my beloved country, Indonesia. Over twenty-two years I grew up and living in that nice place, with a lot of cultures, nice food, families and relatives; and now I need to stand in my own way for my future life and gain more experiences in my life.

I started working as an employee in one of the consulting firm in Malaysia. Although it never comes to my mind to settle here in Malaysia, I still believe there are a lot of new opportunities that I can learn for the next few years.

All my colleagues in my office always ask the same question again and again. What is your advice to travel to Indonesia, Randy? Can you give me a guide to Indonesia?

I will simply tell them few hunger games guide when going to Indonesia… 

Fact, Advise and Guide to Indonesia

Fact #1. Going to Indonesia is relatively cheaper.

Yes, going to Indonesia is relatively cheaper to the other ASEAN country. Comparing to Malaysia and Singapore (it’s the nearest country), Indonesia is affordable if you are a foreigner.

One meal for lunch is around 50,000 rupiah which equals to be around 5 Singapore dollar or around 3.7 USD (at this time of writing). If you are patience and determined enough to check cheaper small restaurant, you can get around 20,000 – 30,000 rupiahs/meal. Moreover, some small restaurant serve better food compares to the big one.

This is sample of nice local food from Indonesia (and also my favourite)

Fact #2. BALI is in Indonesia. BALI is not a country.

Yes, indeed. Sometimes people don’t know that BALI is in Indonesia. They though Bali is a country. This is the real story – I met some tourist in Changi (Singapore) Airport when exchanging my money.

Tourist Lady: “I want to exchange to BALI’s money.”
Money Exchange Lady: “Oh, you mean Indonesian Rupiah?”
Tourist Lady: “No, it is BALI’s currency”
Money Exchange Lady: “Really?, Let me check that.”

After a while, Money Exchange Lady said to that tourist, “Sorry, how much you want to change?”

Tourist Lady: “It is 500 SGD”
Money Exchange Lady: “Oh ok gimme, I will exchange this to BALI’s”

Me: WHAT THE ?!?&^q#?!>

Advise #1. Avoid to go in Peak Season.

Seriously, if you want to go, avoid peak season. Let me give you some shocking facts.

Population: 249.9 million (2013) by World Bank
Most crowded areas:

• Special Capital Region of Jakarta^* (Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta) – Jakarta.
• Banten – Serang.
• West Java (Jawa Barat) – Bandung.
• Central Java (Jawa Tengah) – Semarang.
• Yogyakarta Special Region^* (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) – Yogyakarta (city)
• East Java (Jawa Timur) – Surabaya.

If you go there in peak season, you can imagine that all people going to the same place around the city. Surely it will be crowded.

One more thing, if it is a peak season the price surely going up. And moreover, in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, a lot of public attractions are in the malls. People going to malls to spend their time.

Advise #2. Check your travel time with political time in Indonesia.

One of my biggest concern to my foreigner friends is their travel time when it is a coincidence with Indonesian political time. Do you remember demonstration about Ahok around November in Jakarta?

Advise #3. Check your travel time with raining season if you planning to go to Bandung and Jakarta.

Yes, this is one of the important things to remember. In addition to it, avoid going to Bandung when it is in the raining season. This is a picture of Bandung in raining season when I was in middle of writing this guide to Indonesia.

Also nice to read - Travel Guide to Indonesia Part Two (Continued)

Summary

This is the first from two posts of Guide to Indonesia. I will update the post again with more informative advice and practical info if you are going to Indonesia. There are more practical guide such as never drink tap water in Indonesia, bring extra clothes, but I think people already know that.

My biggest concern about travel to Indonesia is political time and some “flooded” area when raining season. The rest is up to you guys!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy my guide to Indonesia. Comments are open in the section below.