gobbledonk Posted January 5, 2004 Report Share Posted January 5, 2004 Getting There After a brief domestic flight, I left Brisbane aboard a GIA Airbus for Denpasar. I found the International flightcrew excellent on both flights, whilst the standard definitely slips when you board the DPS-JKT flight, despite the fact that I was in 'Executive Class' on both flights. Nothing major, they just seem less interested in serving the passengers. BNE-DPS was about 5.5 hours and DPS-JKT about 1.5 hours, which puts the total trip time on a par with a flight to Singapore : add in the stuffing around in transit at DPS and its worse. So much for saving time by visiting a country which is closer .... Sadly, Garuda and other airlines dropped their direct flights to Jakarta several years ago, and I'm not sure that the demand will ever justify their return. Arrival Soekarno-Hatta is a reasonably modern, easy to navigate airport, and I was soon on my way to my hotel. To my suprise, the traffic was quite reasonable, but I knew from my experience in Bangkok that this was subject to change the following morning. Hotel staff seemed happy to see me, and I went to bed in a remarkably upbeat frame of mind. End of day one. Lets Go Shopping Meeting my GIG the following morning, I asked her where we should go. Why, to the mall, of course ! A short cabride later, and I found myself in a McDonalds at Plaza Sarinah (or was it Plaza Indonesia, or Plaza BoreYa ?). Yes, folks, among my many shortcomings, I dislike shopping *for its own sake* with a passion. I can understand the attraction for many Indonesians - modern and well-lit shops in air-conditioned comfort etc, but it left me cold. No suprise to find a Maccas in a mall, so I just surrendered to mediocrity for the sake of convenience. On the upside, the Indonesian kids running around in Maccas were unbearably cute, and everyone seemed to be in a smiling happy mood. I even managed to turn up the corners of my mouth in something approximating a smile myself, and parents didnt bundle their kids into the 4WD and speed off, so I may have pulled it off. Taman Mini Indonesia If you go to Jakarta, I can recommend that you make this 'Indonesia in Miniature'. I particularly enjoyed the cable-car ride over the top of it all, and the Imax movie was a joy purely for the reactions of the Indonesians to the action on the screen. As I said, the kids are pretty cute. On the way back, we went to see some of the bizarre 'theme park' style developments aimed at upper middle-class Indonesians. Here in Oz, most people with this kind of money want to get away from the riff-raff, but these places seem designed to have every curious Jakartan drive past your home on the way to the shops and other attractions thoughtfully provided by the same developer who erected the statues of Greek Gods at the front gate. Kiwis will be horrified to note that these guys seem to believe that the Maori and the Australian Aboriginal are one and the same, if the combination of artefacts in one 'Aussie' display is any indication. Bandung I can see why Bandung is Carltons favourite town - very leafy and cooler than JKT - but I have one recommendation : if you go, go by train from Jakarta and catch the train back. The goat track which masquerades as the highway is frightening, particularly at night as T pushed the Kijang around lumbering lorries, overtaking on blind corners and missing oncoming traffic by metres. I have never seen this many trucks on such a crap road, and I am told that the entire length of Java is serviced by this winding, mountainous track. My 'Rough Guide' advises backpackers to take the 16 hour busride to Surabaya - fuck that, Jimmy. If you need to go, plane or train is the only sane option, IMO. None of my hosts had ever been to Surabaya, and I can see why. When I closed my eyes after the four hour marathon return trip (2.5 on the train ..), I could still see the lights of oncoming trucks. Dont say I didnt warn you. The other thing I would say of Bandung is that they will never have enough factory outlets to satisfy the shoppers from Jakarta. If you enjoy buying cheap knockoffs and seconds (i think the shoes are genuine, as most of the biggies have factories in Indonesia), this is your town. Shop till ya puke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted January 7, 2004 Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Sorry Artiew, Prosal and Posessed Seoul are bigger Fans of Bandung than I am. In fact I was there only once on my second trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted January 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2004 Hi Carlton ! Apologies to all concerned - I scanned a mountain of posts in the Jakarta thread, and have mistakenly attributed that one to your good self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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