Honest and Objective Notes from My 8 Days Indonesia Trip
Some of my followers known that I’ve been working for International company as a Project Manager so I always have opportunity to travel all over the world according to the location of my projects. I always try to create First Time Visitor Guide for my visits to another country.
I have a couple of projects in Indonesia and before beginning of 2023, I wanted to visit Indonesia for talking with customers and my colleagues in there. I stayed 8 nights in Indonesia 4 Nights in Jakarta, 2 Night in Lampung, 2 Nights in Garut.
I had an opportunity to use a domestic flight to visit Lampung and I have another long road trip to go to Garut. It was really good opportunity for me to see all details about the country. As usual, I have taken some notes while travelling there. Here below you can find my notes about Indonesia.
I think that this I really helpful for first time visitors guide to Indonesia.
- Visa on arrival is easy and just need to pay 35 USD
- Traffic is left-handed and hard to drive for foreigners. Because motorbikes are everywhere and they are fearless in traffic.
- People are helpful and respectful in general. In the supermarkets, they usually show they’re respect to me with their hands.
- Traffic jam is common and normal. Add around 30 min. backup time for your travels and target times
- They have 2 seasons dry and wet climates. there is a really High humidity around 70–80 % and a temperature of around 20–30 C
- Bluebird taxi is the cheapest and most popular one. Download BlueBird App first. But be careful with payment if you don’t order taxis via the App, because some drivers try to get higher payment, not all and they tell that they don’t have enough cash for payment back to get higher.
- Islamic country but they are not strict and respect others. so you may find alcohol and pork easily in some of the restaurants in city center of Jakarta. But In some small towns and villages, even people don’t like to speak Alcohol like tabu.
- For domestic flights, I used Batik Air to go to the Lumpang. Flight and crew were ok. Meals are water and small bread. Don’t try to open water bottle like me. find a pipette in the paper bag and use it.
- Most of the people wear slippers in daily life and women don’t nail polish on foots and hands.
- Together with your hands and leaning forward is an indication of respect.
- My Indonesian friend told me that Bali is not a place as described and shown in media and it is very inflated. After visiting many tourists, they said they cannot see what they are waiting for.
- While driving in Bandung, Garut, Lampung you can often see people on the road whistling and directing the cars. Those people help drivers with like traffic lamps. I guess that they wait for some small money from drivers.
- Local people don’t like waiting in line and they don’t follow the rules. They can suddenly get ahead of the one who asks. If the officer sees this, he can warn them and send them back.
- breakfasts can be a disaster for those not used to Asian style food. if you can have rice and meat for breakfast it’s ok.
- While shopping in the markets, collect the prices of what you buy in your head or on your phone and make sure you get the change correctly.
- If they do not have one of the different cultures with them, they eat the meals directly with their hands without using forks.
- They call soy sauce ketchup. If you want ketchup at the restaurant, don’t be surprised when soy sauce arrives.
- They sell sweet potatoes at rest areas on the roads. It’s worth a try and you can see it as a healthy alternative.
- they like to gossip and can talk nonstop about their life for a long time
- They use the Latin alphabet, but their language is somewhat reminiscent of Chinese and Japanese. I haven’t visited yet but it may be similar to Malaysia or Vietnam.
- They don’t prefer to use a knife while eating some thing. Included 5-star hotels, I couldn’t see a knife on the desk. I did not try but most probably if you request fork from waiters before starting the meal they can help and bring one for you.
- In meals, they usually have 3 popular products. these are chicken eggs and rice.
I hope that those experiences will be helpful for those who need them before and during their trip to Indonesia.
See you on my another trip to somewhere in the world.
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