Bandung or Malang (Primary Retirement Home and / or Rental Property)?

[Pak Asam Manis]

Which city offers the "coolest" environment? (I'm not talking hepcats here: "darajat" or is it "dajarat"; I always get them confused, like "kepala" and "kelapa")

I know that Malang has the advantages (for me anyway) of being a smaller city and not having influxes of hundreds of thousand Jakartans on weekends or holidays. A few expat amenities (a supermarket or two with imported foods and maybe a Western fast food resto or two) would do me.

Housing: any chance of buying a small villa or rumah, (older / second), with at least a small patch of luas tanah or taman ( a few trees and a bit of grass to walk the dog on, not Sherwood Forest) for between 250 - 350 juta, near either city?

We can buy a small house in town for 200 juta or under as I see by the listings online. However there is little to no luas tanah as I can see ... would give up the convenience of living "in town" for a bit more privacy and serenity out in desa-land (as long as not too far, maybe 30-40 km max).

Also has there been any progress on the laws re non-WNI / orang asing being able to buy homes? (Yes, I've been out of the loop ... some think this is a permanent condition for me ;o) )

 

[Bad_azz]

There are parts of Bandung that are actually really accessible yet away from the madness of city living.
We are in a rural village in a reasonably cold area due to the height, halfway up a mountain & a few degrees cooler than the city (our temp is around 25-27 C day & evening inside the house- no A/C, nighttime drops to around 21c).
We are 15 mins away from KanIm & easy enough access to 3 decent supermarkets with a wide variety of clean, fresh & colourful produce, decent fresh meat/ department .
A traditional meat/veg market.
Cinemas.
Import supermarket & a couple of really good places to get pork- a bit further away from where I live- about 40 minutes.
2 or 3 decent hospitals (English widely spoken amongst the medical staff)- Advent, St Boromeus & RSHS spring to mind.
I know of a couple of decent dentists & a great vet if you have any pets.
The advantage now of being able to get to Jakarta in around 2/2&half hours for any bureaucratic stuff that needs to be done there.

I cannot compare anything to Malang as I haven't visited.
IF you have a car or will have a car then I can suggest a Kab Bandung place that is actually on my wish list IF we end up selling this place & moving- will let you know about that if you message me as I would hate to flood the area & push prices up unfairly (hehe).

 

[Bad_azz]

I just found a place for 180jt but needs finishing off, small house but with outside land 50m/155m
I guess it would depend on whether you want to get involved in a project- but the one sure thing is when owning a house here, it is ALWAYS a project because there is always something to fix or change haha.
Or a new place in a complex with a pocket hanky sized front patch of grass 36m/100m- BUT in a corner plot with a paved turning area so it seems more spacious outside. 125jt

 

[Pak Asam Manis]

B/a: Thanks muchly for your knowledgable and thorough replies, as always. Sorry for the delay in response from my side, I will DM you directly.

I would definitely prefer at minimum 50m "luas tanah"but would take an hectare or more if I could get it (but that much dirt is probably out of my budgie, er, budget).

< 21 - 27 C > That's not quite "reasonably cold" to me, but in Indonesia beggars most definitely can't be choosers, so it would have to do. I'll compare daerah Malang temps online.

It beats 28 -33 C, by any means. Of the three cities I've lived in (Jakarta, Medan, Balikpapan), they all fit that pattern and are too warm / wet / sticky, in slightly different combos, for me. Humidity is a major factor. But in or near the mountains seems like the place for me.

 

[scouser59]

Honestly malang 16 years ago was a desirable location to live , quiet ,relaxed muslim population , availability of western foods in many supermarkets , now imho, it is overcrowded , more radicalism difficult to get western foods and alcohol , not a welcoming place at all .

That is why I live in Bali .

 

[HappyMan]

I'm not sure how much driving you did while you were here, but you might want to revise your accepted distance down from 30 km. It takes me an hour or so to go 25km from outside town to the area where the city starts, all on the major roads.

If you are serious about that distance, and will be happy living off a dirt road or far from a mini-market, you can get a hectare (of mostly hill) around here for 60 jt. It's not in your coolness range, though. I was sleeping on the tile floor 'till I got the AC installed because it was cooler than the matress.

That said, I'm fairly sure there are still cheap areas closer to town with cooler weather. On the way out to here, Cicadas comes to mind, closer to 40 minutes from town, elevation goes up to 1000m (google) single lane asphalt roads where the land has got to be cheap. 15 minutes from the Ciater hot springs. Also, you can come by and watch me drink beer (you bring the beer).

 

[waarmstrong]

God help me, I like my place not far beyond the outer ring road in Jaktim.