i haven't read through this thread yet. gonna read it affter i post this

my travel date is 6/01 to 11/01

absolutely no plan, no hotels, no nothing

only came to jakarta for weezer concert at stadium senayan on 08/01

- 6/1 arrived at 4pm jakarta, and 11/1 leaves at 1pm jakarta

- wanna visit borobodur, dun mind paying air tickets from jakarta-yogya, but do i have the time? (train is 7 hours!!)

- either that or visit krakatoa - how expensive and dangerous will it be? 1 day just to travel there by sea?

- what can i do with this limited time? jakarta? around jakarta? bandung?

- place to stay, cheap (since i'm not gonna stay whole day in hotel anyway, just to sleep at nigth) - but no hostels - can't stand smelly mat salleh (yeah, staed a couple time b4 with them, yuck!) - nice, clean, and SAFE hotel

- no budget (read: unlimited, but i'm a cheapskate ), backpack only, so i can walk anywhere

- 2 of us, both gays guys

- needs indo sim kad, so gonna choose either telkomsat simpati or xl. which is better for 3g 1 week? not heavy user, just whatsapp (important to keep communication cost down)

suggestion guys!!!

This post has been edited by lucifah: Dec 23 2012, 10:45 AM

hi cakur

any recommendations on budget hotels near senayan, or jakarta tengah, specifically around stadion gelora bung karno?

7 & 8 / jan will be in jakarta, but with no plans. any recommendation on places nearby?

edit: monas = muzeum nasional right? what is tmii -?

i will definitely go to borobodur, fly from jakarta -joga on the 9th, overnight at manohara (pricey!), and join the sunrise borobodur tour on 10th morning. maybe can catch prabanam temple in the afternoon or the next morning

This post has been edited by lucifah: Dec 30 2012, 08:53 AM

batavia is a wayy above my budget. i'm looking for around 300k - 400k IDR rooms...

how far is prambanan from jogya?

whoa... nice places, esp the borobodur

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Added on December 31, 2012, 9:23 amonyxresident looks promising. thanks...

hopefully it's a sunny day in borobodur. spent a lot of money just to get there, since i'm on a very tight schedule...

This post has been edited by lucifah: Dec 31 2012, 09:23 AM

just came back from jakarta. awesomee!!!

places visited:
MONAS (unfortunately, the tower top was closed due to strong wind)

Kelapa Sunda - get a guide! this is a must. we met Pak Dedi (150k rupiah) and he brought us up the ships, explained the different type of ships, went on a simple sampan ride, and most importantly showed us the real jakarta slums (although just a part of it) + the 400 yr old buildings and bridges (pasar ikan, dutch godowns, VOC restaurant with the house brought from jeparak, the disused bridge, etc etc), real eye oppener is how the slum dwellers trid to make ends meet, but can still enjoy the small things in life + the kota lama jogyakarta. he was so helpful and accomodating that we gave him an extra 50k rupiah for his personal tour guide.

Museum Bank Indonesia - informative place to learn why the IDR value is it now

Plaza Senayan - a high class shopping complex, which gives a stark contrast to Sunda Kelapa slums

Stadion GBK - this is where Weezer performed, so we get to be here



then we flew off to jogya and straight into the foot of borobodur, at Manohara (expensive and old facility, but great service), literally just across the borobodur

Borobodur sunrise is awesome, but the whole Borobodur is overhyped. preferred Prambanan. of course the usual trio suspects, the Pawon and Mendut to complete the pilgrimmage. i strongly suggest anyone to pay for sunrise tour, which start at 4.30am. u beat the heat, and most importantly beat the crowd. u literally had the place for yourself, esp for photo freaks. mind you, the officials say there's about 40 - 42,000 visitors a day on average

Then headed off to Merapi for a serious 4x4 experience up to the observation plateaue, and witness the devastation of merapi explosion in 2010.

Prambanan is a gem! the candi are HUGE, individual towers. it's a bit dissapointing to see the many damages dones by the 2007 earthquake.

end the tour with a visit to one of the private kopi luwak producer, and had gratis cups of espresso

There's many more places to go in Jogya that we missed - Kraton, the willow tree, the street art graffitti, - jogya is a colorful city

wall of text, i know. took some photos, but never serious ones. preferred to enjoy the real things...

edit:
must try food in jakarta - satay senayan + all the street foods (bring lots of diarhoea pills)
must try food in jogya - tong seng, satay (very unique), nasi gudeg

edit2: Borobodhur and Prambanan are expensive place to go. Tix for Borbodur is around RM60 while Prambanan is RM 51. Managed to spend IDR3 million in just two days in borobodur & prambanan (for accomodation and tickets and transport - not including food, souvenirs & tips)

This post has been edited by lucifah: Jan 12 2013, 06:49 PM

All pictures taken from phone. Me no DSLR... Photos in no particular order


Sunrise at Borobodur: (sun rise - same day)





Candi at Prambanan: (sunset - same day)






edit: i guess my jogya post is a bit off topic. sorry bro stimix.

This post has been edited by lucifah: Jan 12 2013, 07:10 PM

west java has the krakatoa - which was in my top list, but it'd take you1 day boat ride just to reach the island, and another 1-2 days to climb the mountain, not to mention the risk of explosion is still real

can't wait to see the fully restored candi at Prambanan. Most of the stone block are still in piles, and they are still at risk of future quakes... very sad

as for malaysia, lembah bujang...

i used SIMpati

the starter pack sim card is 5,000 rupiah

u reload it for another 100,000 rupiah and buy a data package suitable for you

as for me, i bought a IDR60,000 data package, which is 500mb for 2 weeks. is u use more than that, your speed will be throttled. the 500mb is plenty enough for me to wasap, fb, gmails and a lots of google maps.

most of the budget hotels offer free wifi, so u can surf prawns in the hotel to save your data


please be prepared to cut your own sim card to micro sim. most of the phones here are BB, so the sim cards are the standard mini size. bring your own iphone sim card tray pin too


edit: refer to this page for more info

http://www.telkomsel.com/internet/paket-te...sh-simPATI.html


the 3g HSDPA service is excellent in indonesia. even on the remote mount merapi i canstill get H+ signal. unlike in malaysia, on PLUS highway oso very difficult to get EDGE or GPRS



This post has been edited by lucifah: Feb 13 2013, 03:30 PM

no need. u du nhave to pay and u dun need any visa for malaysian

just queue up with other indonesians at the iimigration check pont