Indonesia is the biggest country in Southeast Asia and also visitors from all over the world are visiting it. Every year there are several millions, but with the useful information, you don’t really hear a lot. Sim card, money exchange, visa and so on.
Where is Indonesia?
Indonesia is located in SouthEast Asia. They share borders with Timor Leste, on the Island of Timor. Papua New Guinea auf der Insel von Papua. The last border, when not counting maritime borders, is at the island of Borneo, where they share a border with Malaysia.
In Indonesia many dialects are being found but most people are speaking Indonesian, but depending on the region, other languages are spoken primarily. The country is a moslem country, which also is following some strict rules. The rules are not everywhere strictly followed that strictly, it really depends where you are going. Especially in Bali and also in Timor, the rules are not followed that strictly. Bali due to the high numbers of tourists and Timor because it has a majority of christians living there.
What is good to know before visiting?
Visa and money
The visa is going to be 500.000 Indonesian Rupees, which is converted to Euro around 31,5. If you already have Indonesian money, then no problem. There is the option to pay also in Euros for example, it is working but you are not getting the best exchange rate, because they are giving you the money in Rupees back. The exchange rate isn’t the worst, but when paying with a card, it makes you lose less money. They try not to give you this option at first, but it should be able to work in most places.
The visa will be valid for 30 days. When leaving the country you need to pay for a new visa, that is also the case, when your visa isn’t over yet.
When you want to exchange money, there are usually the options of getting ripped off at one of the exchange rate shelters. They do also exist, but all ATM’s which I was using didn’t charge any money, it was the official rate and I didn’t lose any value of my money!
I haven’t used an ATM at an airport, so I can’t guarantee it there, but in the cities it should be the case!
Sim card
Sim Card is a topic, where I also have been ripped off in Indonesia. They will overprice you a lot, when wanting to buy at the airport, 150.000 is “normal” for that. The sim cards are not as expensive though. 50.000-70.000 could be still fine. For that it could be better just driving in the center of the arrival town and trying it there, maybe some official shop even.
The most important thing is, just the sim card alone doesn’t give you access to the internet and access to using the sim card. They need to register your phone, which takes easily one hour. So even when you are willing to pay the higher price, wait until they register your phone, because the sim card is basically useless, when not having your phone registered.
The one which is supposed to work best in Indonesia is Telkomsel.
Transportation
From my experience speaking, you don’t need to get some Taxi or similar services to get around, it just makes it more comfortable and easier of course. Local buses are working fine and are not really that expensive. When wanting to get places inside the city and you don’t want to walk or try to take some local buses, just get yourself Gojek or Grab, they tend to be cheaper than taking a taxi.
When going from city to city there are the options of taking a bus, sometimes even a train, which is more expensive though. Also there are two options of buses. They will try to sell you the premium bus, because tourists tend to use them, but they are more expensive. For the real local experience and saving money, take the local bus. It will take a bit longer, but you save some money.
Also what you can do is hitchhiking, the times I was trying it out, it worked really good, but as usual. Hitchhiking usually takes of course longer and is not possible to predict. Fun and cheap to try it out though, when you have enough time!
Food
The food in Indonesia is quite full with chicken or other meat options. For vegetarians it is no problem though, just ask for the same food without chicken or meat. I used to separate chicken and meat, because in many countries they don’t see chicken as meat. I don’t know how it is in Indonesia to be fair. Due to the fact that I don’t eat meat, I didn’t want to risk it.
The food is also quite spicy, some places more than others, when you don’t want to eat spicy, then say “no spicy, no chili ” . Usually they will understand what you are trying to say, even though English is in non-tourist places not widely spoken.
Nasi Goreng is one of the most, if not the most eaten food in Indonesia, you are finding it everywhere, it is basically fried rice. Usually there is chicken and/or egg and spices in. The price should not be more than 20.000, often also found for 15.000 or slightly cheaper.
I haven’t got food poisoned, but I’m still just checking places. Before eating there, some are just looking a bit shady.
Electricity
Actually it’s quite funny, because actually the plug-ins are the same as in Europe. I was taking an adapter with me, just don’t need it, at least when you are from Europe. Hadn’t expected it, but it is easy, when traveling to other places in Asia, to get an adapter for sure!
Weather
The weather is generally speaking really hot and you for sure need a lot of water and also sunscreen. I am not the biggest user of sunscreen. It is for sure a good thing to have, the sun is actually really strong.
Between November and March the rainy season is happening, which then wasn’t recommended by the locals I was talking to. Usually people say that during the rainy season in their regions. Usually it isn’t as bad, but I can’t talk about this topic in this region out of personal experience yet. So for now we need to listen to the locals for sure!
During June it was quite dry and hot, in both of the regions of the country I was visiting.
People
The people are quite religious, but are really open to foreigners. They smile at you, when you smile, but are really curious, especially in regions where they are not used to many foreigners. I only meet really nice and friendly people, who sadly usually don’t speak English, which makes communication a bit harder.
Also at night it felt quite safe to walk around. Nothing happened to me, but in general keep your things close to you. Even when you feel safe, never feel too safe in general, then things tend to happen.
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