Hello. What are some things I should know before coming to Jakarta?

[Jaime C]

My wife just flew in last night from the US. I was able to change her award ticket on the way back, and get my favorite luggage allowance, 3 bags at 32kg each.

30kg of cold items, ham, cheese, carnitas, butter, Philly cream cheese, and lots more.

I was a bit concerned that imigrasi had marked one bag, on its luggage tag, at CGK. It just meant it needed to be X-rayed again. We rarely bring liquor, so it’s usually just a mix of items to make Mexican food, corn tortillas, salsa, hot sauce, plus some real bagels, lox, salami, mozzarella, pulled pork, and a box or two of my favorite chocolates, See’s.

 

[jstar]

Yeah, people flying from/to the US are lucky with the bagage allowance. We only get 20/23 or 40 kilo, depending on the class. Prices per extra kg are absurd. The whole thing gets better if you’re loyal for the mileage of course.

 

[Saudade]

My wife just flew in last night from the US. I was able to change her award ticket on the way back, and get my favorite luggage allowance, 3 bags at 32kg each.

30kg of cold items, ham, cheese, carnitas, butter, Philly cream cheese, and lots more.

I was a bit concerned that imigrasi had marked one bag, on its luggage tag, at CGK. It just meant it needed to be X-rayed again. We rarely bring liquor, so it’s usually just a mix of items to make Mexican food, corn tortillas, salsa, hot sauce, plus some real bagels, lox, salami, mozzarella, pulled pork, and a box or two of my favorite chocolates, See’s.

just out of curiosity, do you declare it? sorry maybe is a stupid question, probably no

 

[Saudade]

It will probably be another decade or two before Bali suffers the same fate, but it will happen eventually.

I am surprise how many warung makan padang there is all over Bali lately, even in the same street or around less than 500 meters can be two warung makan padang and even three.................it has been happening for the last few years

 

[El_Goretto]

just out of curiosity, do you declare it? sorry maybe is a stupid question, probably no

A pastrami sandwich or two is enough to buy my silence, just saying...

 

[Shadrach]

I am surprise how many warung makan padang there is all over Bali lately, even in the same street or around less than 500 meters can be two warung makan padang and even three.................it has been happening for the last few years

At least they have some vegetables to eat! If you look at a Bali stand, it is All Old, Dead, deep fried something or another. Absolutely nothing nutritional at all! Just enough grease to float a boat on!
What's with so much heavy Deep fried food in Old Palm Oil! Yuk! It's such a shame the cuisine from Korea, Thailand, And Vietnam didn't come South!

 

[Helpful Herbert]

Yes, Indonesian cuisine is the most disappointing in SEA other than Philippines

 

[Jaime C]

just out of curiosity, do you declare it? sorry maybe is a stupid question, probably no

Sure, it gets declared. Food, $400 or whatever.

I just had a delicious everything bagel, with Philly cream cheese, smoked salmon and very thin sliced onion. So delicious!

 

[Jaime C]

Yeah, people flying from/to the US are lucky with the bagage allowance. We only get 20/23 or 40 kilo, depending on the class. Prices per extra kg are absurd. The whole thing gets better if you’re loyal for the mileage of course.

It’s not really a US thing, but airline specific. Some economy tickets only get one free 23kg bag. Second bag is $200, which is a killer.

JAL business class gets 3 bags at 32kg each. ANA, EVA and QR, 2 bags at 32kg. Many economy flights are 2 bags at 23kg each. QR Economy light, and some AA flights just a single 23kg bag.

 

[jstar]

Generally speaking the OneWorld airlines kind of suck in their allowance but with the others you can have great deals. Not to Europe though.

I really stopped with taking all these things like ham, mozzarella, butter,…. they are readily available over here, online even not that expensive, and switched to only speciality items that are uniquely available in Europe.

 

[Saudade]

Sure, it gets declared. Food, $400 or whatever.

I just had a delicious everything bagel, with Philly cream cheese, smoked salmon and very thin sliced onion. So delicious!

Buen apetito! Jaime, I am curious about the smoked salmon, where did you buy it?

 

[pantaiema]

.... I am curious about the smoked salmon, where did you buy it?

Waiting for Jaime to answer this specific question. But for general answer, people who want to find this sort of item in Indonesia, they can easily purchase them from online marketplaces like Tokopedia.com or Shopee.co.id. The price difference compared to similar products from Western countries isn't very significant, especially when it comes to non-perishable or preserved foods and you are not very picky about a particular brand.

If you are living in Bali and you want to buy them from the shops, you could find them in Pepito Supermaket, Grand Lucky, Bintang supermarket, etc

Just an example 900g Smoked Salmon from Tokopedia.

 

[pantaiema]

My wife just flew in last night from the US. I was able to change her award ticket on the way back, and get my favorite luggage allowance, 3 bags at 32kg each.

30kg of cold items, ham, cheese, carnitas, butter, Philly cream cheese, and lots more.

I was a bit concerned that imigrasi had marked one bag, on its luggage tag, at CGK. It just meant it needed to be X-rayed again. We rarely bring liquor, so it’s usually just a mix of items to make Mexican food, corn tortillas, salsa, hot sauce, plus some real bagels, lox, salami, mozzarella, pulled pork, and a box or two of my favorite chocolates, See’s.

I'm curious about the need to bring these kinds of items, especially non-perishable, preserved foods when they’re quite easy to find in Indonesia, particularly if you're not too specific about the brand. The price difference isn’t that substantial either. The cost could end up being even higher when you factor in your time, the stress, the hassle of dealing with customs, hauling a 32kg suitcase through both airports, and the possibility of your luggage being inspected.

I don’t mean this as a criticism I'm genuinely trying to understand, as I and probably other people might be able to learn something about the benefit of doing this.

 

[Helpful Herbert]

I don't think he lives in a place like Jakarta or Bali where these things can be easily found. And ordering food online seems like it could be a bit risky.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm curious about the need to bring these kinds of items, especially non-perishable, preserved foods when they’re quite easy to find in Indonesia, particularly if you're not too specific about the brand. The price difference isn’t that substantial either. The cost could end up being even higher when you factor in your time, the stress, the hassle of dealing with customs, hauling a 32kg suitcase through both airports, and the possibility of your luggage being inspected.

I don’t mean this as a criticism I'm genuinely trying to understand, as I and probably other people might be able to learn something about the benefit of doing this.

one reason I could think is the quality and taste could be so much better!

 

[jstar]

I don't think he lives in a place like Jakarta or Bali where these things can be easily found. And ordering food online seems like it could be a bit risky.

Bandung is huge. And we have very good experience with online orders, even chilled or frozen.

Grand Lucky or so is not bad, but very expensive for select items as charcuterie.

 

[Balifrog]

Grand Lucky or so is not bad, but very expensive for select items as charcuterie.

Charcuterie is expensive indeed, and cheese is even worse....
Last time I wanted to buy a portion of Port Salut, 150k a small portion... forget it.

 

[Jaime C]

Well, we often buy at Costco in the US, which has larger sizes at pretty good pricing.

I‘m confident in the quality of food, and it’s often taste that is the driving force. We bought a jumbo size pack of corn tortillas last year, and are only now almost done with them.

Pork items are often pricier here. I can get a 2.5 pound package of packaged carnitas for $12 at Costco. Nice cheeses, sliced ham, individual servings of Philly cream cheese.

Most brand specific items are just not available here. I‘ve seen some small Kettle brand chips here for 120k a bag. I can get the Costco size for 40% less, and it’s 8-10 times bigger.

When we came to Indonesia at the beginning of Covid, we brought over 500 pounds of checked luggage. We generally are using our “free” luggage allowance. My wife brought about 210 pounds of checked bags this month.

I do try not to bring stuff in luggage that can be sourced locally at a fair price. I love green olives, and used to bring 3-4 bigger glass bottles with garlic filled, or jalapeño stuffed varieties. These were quite heavy, and just ate my luggage allowance up pretty quickly. I now find huge cans of average size, Spanish olives for 150k each. Not fancy, but the price is right.

For identical items that are available in Indonesia, I find they are 2-3 more expensive here. I also shop sales, and have my older daughter get me sale items, in the US and hold the items.

 

[jstar]

Very often there are alternatives that are satisfactory.

If you insist in buying Milka instead of Van Houten or so, you’re gonna pay dearly. So I discovered Whittaker’s in Indonesia in fact, I didn’t know that New Zealand brand at all from Europe or the America’s. It’s very good and often in promotion so I don’t have to bring all these bars of Milka and Côte d’Or with hazelnut or almonds anymore. And now more and more Indonesian chocolate brands are available too. If you like extremely sweetened crap from See’s then it’s very easy to find much better alternatives here.

Other example; Some friends like nice espresso but don’t want a manual system, too much hassles. So they brought a Dolce Gusto machine. Those capsules are available but 120.000 rupiah per box and they cost only half of that in Europe. But they’re very inefficient to take in the suitcase and it expires. So now they replaced it with a Nespresso machine instead. And the capsules they buy are local, not the 13.000 rupiah original in the Nespresso boutique or even the Starbucks version. Also in aluminium with different flavors and they cost no more than 6.000 rupiah per capsule.

Can go on and on…

 

[Helpful Herbert]

Here are some things that I haven't been able to find here so I always bring them over from the UK:
Alpen breakfast cereal
Pickled sliced beetroot
Jamaican ginger cake
Fry's chocolate cream
Christmas crackers
Christmas pudding
Yorkshire pudding mix