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Part 1: Introduction
8.8: Singapore -> Bandung
9.8: Bandung -> Kawah Putih -> Bandung
10.8: Bandung -> Jakarta
14.8: Jakarta -> Kuala Lumpur
Overview
and
overall impression
This was a brief trip to Indonesia consisting of a weekend spent in
Bandung followed by four days in Jakarta. I chose Bandung because it
has a direct rail link to Jakarta and the city and environment sounded
sort of interesting. Bandung itself, if you restrict yourself to the
city centre, is a pleasant place with a couple of things to see. The
region to the south with the lakes and volcanoes is pretty and well
worth a daytrip.
Costs
Costs were overall relatively moderate, if compared to Malaysia and
Singapore.
Food
Here I relied on a mix of standard restaurants and fast food
restaurants. One supposedly good restaurant, the Sindang Reret, was a
disappointment
Accommodation
I stayed in two high quality hotels, of which one (the Gatot Subroto)
is part of a "business low cost" hotel chain, offering high quality
accomodation for business travel at moderate prices.
Money
/
Exchange rate (August 2014)
1 Euro = 15600 IDR
1 Euro = 1.32 USD
For current exchange rates check the Universal
Currency Converter.
ATMs are everywhere, so that you can easily get cash with a
Cirrus/Maestro ATM card.
Mobile
phones and prepaid cards
I bought a Telkomsel/SimPATI SIM card, paying 152000 IDR. This
contained a
50000 IDR mobile data package with 1.5GB of data and about 100000 IDR
of airtime. With the 01017 prefix international calls are quite
inexpensive.
Internet
access
Here I relied on the smartphone (which I used as a modem for the
computer) to access the
Internet.
Weather
Mostly sunny with a blue sky, with little clouds and rain.
Health /
Vaccinations
The usual set of tropical vaccinations. I didn't refresh any
immunisations for this trip.
VISA
/ Entry
requirements
A visa on arrival costing 35 USD is available for
tourists of most western and developed countries.
Security
No issues here.
Recommended
things
- The daytrip to the lakes and volcano south of
Bandung.
- The train ride from Bandung to Jakarta is very
scenic, as it passes through mountains and valleys with rice farming
Things
to avoid
I had no bad experiences on this short trip. It's a good idea to avoid
driving from Bandung to Jakarta, as the road can be congested.
Getting
around
I chartered a taxi for the daytrip to Kawah Putih, which was necessary
as public transportation is not available. Then I used the train to get
from Bandung to Jakarta. Although not too fast, the train is a
comfortable way to travel between these two cities, because you avoid
traffic jams on the road.
Copyright
2014
Alfred Molon
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