Saturday, August 15, 2009

Traveling to Jakarta

In case you are traveling to Jakarta, I have some experience to share...

When you arrive in Jakarta, you need to apply for Visa On Arrival (VOA). There are list of countries that could apply for VOA. It costs $25/person if you stay in Indonesia longer than 7 days. Don't get overwhelmed to see long lines. I think they work pretty fast. It took us about 1 hour.

There are a lot of porter offering their service. Usually, they ask for Rp 10,000/luggage (currently about $1). I would recommend that you hire a cab ( Blue bird or Silver bird ) or have friends pick you up. It's so different driving in Jakarta.

Food you should not miss is local food. Try Satay House Senayan or Pondok Laguna. A few of my favorite food including satay, soto kudus, tahu telur, tahu kipas.
Other than those two restaurants, you can go to Urban Kitchen in Senayan where they also sell local foods. Some food are naturally spicy. Like Gudek, they have "krecek" that is spicy. If you don't like hot spicy food, you should ask to put it on the side.

You should also try the tropical fruits like rambutan, jambu, manggis or perhaps durian. I had the best, sweetest mango in Jakarta.

Bathrooms are different too... Unless you live in a hotel, you won't find shower. It's a good idea to bring your own toilet paper for public restrooms and hand sanitizer.

Other than that, enjoy the trip...

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