Life in Indonesia

Ha, I beat you on that front. We moved out of Jakarta while my wife was still pregnant.

Jakarta is fine if you're at a decent hotel, and don't have to go anywhere. Otherwise, spending 2-3 hours to drive 5-6 km at busy times is madness


I get the sense that Jakarta can be quite a fun place to live if you are a young single bule guy. Certainly that's what my younger male friends have told me. I'm guessing that life in a conservative backwater would not be nearly so much fun, if you like nightlife and, uh ... dating.

I have to agree with you both, especially Puspa who basically hit the nail on the head. When I arrived in Jakarta I was in my mid twenties and had a fantastic paying job and a very active "social life". Jakarta at that time was a different place than it is today, there was also the new and shiny factor as it was the first time I had lived in an Asian city. Because it was all new and different it was exciting and dynamic, a constant revelation. However despite the glamourous lifestyle the novelty of living there soon wore off after a few years for me. Fast forward a few years and with the advent of a wife and two kids, as a family we just couldn't do anything without having to sit in traffic for hours. We'd go to the packed mall and push them around in their pushchairs, we would take them to Ragunan zoo for the open spaces, again more horrific traffic and the place would be packed solid, Ancol would be the same. We went for a picnic at Monas one weekend thinking it would be good to let the kids kick a ball around on the grass, again we were driven crazy by persistent beggars who would stand and gawp at you, oblivious of the fact you're trying to have some QT with your family. I got to the stage where I was beginning to feel sorry for my kids growing up in such a shit hole, what sort of quality of life would they have in 5, 10, 15 years time was a question coming to mind more and more. When the opportunity presented itself out of the blue to move to Bali (Surabaya was the actual plan) we jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't ??
 
any thoughts on Bogor / Sentul City? I've heard nice things, but just the thought of 0400 wakeup calls from the local are enough to drive me nuts.
 
any thoughts on Bogor / Sentul City? I've heard nice things, but just the thought of 0400 wakeup calls from the local are enough to drive me nuts.

That's pretty much Jakarta and surrounding areas...Aside from picking a location not too close to a mosque, invest in new windows and sound barrier options, like some of us do.
 
My word of advice.. dont fall into the grass is greener over there... you arent stuck in one place. Find a place that fits your needs and wants and than travel around a bit. First place is fine to be a house till you know where home is.
After the election in the states if i was looking for where to live i would find somewhere where pots legal because i think i would need it. By the way manado is now our home and we love it.
 
That's pretty much Jakarta and surrounding areas...Aside from picking a location not too close to a mosque, invest in new windows and sound barrier options, like some of us do.

:smile: thanks.

My word of advice.. dont fall into the grass is greener over there... you arent stuck in one place. Find a place that fits your needs and wants and than travel around a bit. First place is fine to be a house till you know where home is.

:thumb: ja, I suppose that's sound advice. Get to know the area first.
 
One thing I noticed in Malang were some of the very big houses/mansions in some areas. It is not that big of a city and the contrast really stood out to me. Where do some people get all this money? I drove around a few of the bigger housing complexes. Malang is in some ways a nice city but this stood out to me as a microcosm of the Indonesian problem.
 
One thing I noticed in Malang were some of the very big houses/mansions in some areas. It is not that big of a city and the contrast really stood out to me. Where do some people get all this money? I drove around a few of the bigger housing complexes. Malang is in some ways a nice city but this stood out to me as a microcosm of the Indonesian problem.

Usually business owners or people like doctors have the big houses in my experience.

There is one big mansion about 5 minutes down the road from me (I live in a nice quiet rural area north of Gresik). It is owned by a man who has a driving company. He employs several drivers, and makes pretty good profit from them.

When I visited Malang I was told by my driver that a lot of the people that live in the big houses I saw on the hills there are rich Chinese - with businesses either in Indonesia or China.
 
Quite some of them are of course. (Many houses in PIK and Kelapa Gading are much more impressive than any in Pondok Indah.) And the Chinese always are very ambitious in everything (study, job, business). But DPR members and high ranking officers (which are never Chinese) etc. can have some nice pied-à-terre as well. (Makes you wonder where that is coming from, right?)

But don't forget that nowadays the trend is also, just like in California or so, to build the construction as big as possible on the plot. So the garden area is a stamp, esp. in bigger cities with high sqm prices. And construction is in fact not so expensive, the labor costs are low and materials are often cheaper than in the west as well.
 
Recently in the news an East Java city mayor of Madiun was was implicated in 76 billion misuse over 3 years, under investigation. This is just one smaller city. Apparently, some people have small side businesses and claim this is where the money came from, but probably not. The average salary in Malang could be 2.5 milion or so. I realise there are some people who are wealthy through business but even they need to interact with government to get things done.
 
Recently in the news an East Java city mayor of Madiun was was implicated in 76 billion misuse over 3 years, under investigation. This is just one smaller city. Apparently, some people have small side businesses and claim this is where the money came from, but probably not. The average salary in Malang could be 2.5 milion or so. I realise there are some people who are wealthy through business but even they need to interact with government to get things done.

I think being a city mayor or governed of o province is a license to print money, I believe the last governors son of Banten had 17 high class cars, I believe she is now in prison, could have built a few bridges for the kids to get to school rather than the dodgy cables they use.

I was always gobsmack at the low salaries which I assume must be average salaries, my last job at Balikpapan the salaries were from 8000rp for an office boy and girl, mechanics 3500000rp, engineers 4500000rp, Maintenace manager 8500000rp plus a 4000000 rp bonus, this was monthly so not to be included in the double liberan double salary, I complained about the office boy and girls salary as it was below Balikpapan minimum salary, the company raised their salaries to 1350000 rp, the young girl was married the boy 20 years old wasn't, many of the staff were married with children, I really wondered how they coped, as Balikpapan is considered a very expensive city to reside
 
We have gone over different possibilities of where to live, if we stay in Indonesia, and we have decided Bali. This is after resisting Bali on numerous occasions. Overall, more services and nature. There are quite a few options for food etc.. I know there are various places people live and are relatively happy. If Indonesia, Bali it is.
 
With a little more time to reflect, I still like Malang about the best of the places I have visited. It has a nice laid back feel, nice weather and the people seem pretty respectful. I hope this does not change over time with religious fundamentalism. I have always enjoyed Bali but it does seem hotter whenever I have been there. I do get the attraction if you love the beach, more expats around and lots of services. The larger expat community could be a plus, but we are not big beach people and I like the laid back feel and climate in Malang. We will probably move back to my home country, but for a laid back retirement Malang could work.
 
malang around 7 years ago was a chilled place , now I would not recommend it , crazy traffic , radicals and the people seem to be unfriendly now , maybe because im an infidel!

It used to easy to get beer and pork in the supermarkets , not anymore .

also the weather in rainy season I find oppressive. not my cup of tea.
 
Geez....... you sound like a veteran and it does not sound that positive.
 
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my wifes from malang , so we have a reason to visit the folks , ya there is some nice art deco property around dieng , but unfortunately in our view its taken a turn for the worse, as have many parts of java. sad
 
but unfortunately in our view its taken a turn for the worse, as have many parts of java. sad

Hi scouser59. Thanks for the replies. I know this is what you seem to be saying but do you, and your wife, notice increasing "radicalism" across Java? My wife has a Muslim friend who is renting places. She got a call from a woman, with a family, who identified herself as a Christian. The Christian women indicated, to my wife's friend, that she mentioned it up front as she has been rejected from renting some places because she is not Muslim. My wife's friend felt sad.
 
Hi scouser59. Thanks for the replies. I know this is what you seem to be saying but do you, and your wife, notice increasing "radicalism" across Java? My wife has a Muslim friend who is renting places. She got a call from a woman, with a family, who identified herself as a Christian. The Christian women indicated, to my wife's friend, that she mentioned it up front as she has been rejected from renting some places because she is not Muslim. My wife's friend felt sad.

This has been going on for quite some time all around Indonesia where Islam is prominate. Even if just a neighborhood is predominately Muslim you can find this. We were first interested in a house across from our current house but they said we needed to be Muslim to rent it. Their loss since it went unrented for another 7 months and has had two different occupants in the past 16 months.
 
Hi scouser59. Thanks for the replies. I know this is what you seem to be saying but do you, and your wife, notice increasing "radicalism" across Java? My wife has a Muslim friend who is renting places. She got a call from a woman, with a family, who identified herself as a Christian. The Christian women indicated, to my wife's friend, that she mentioned it up front as she has been rejected from renting some places because she is not Muslim. My wife's friend felt sad.

yap! in a word , its not the indo I used to know , we have been searching for an area we could be comfortable in , its hard to find , most of the cities and towns are very unpleasant, so for the moment we are stuck in bali , we shall see.
 
yap! in a word , its not the indo I used to know , we have been searching for an area we could be comfortable in , its hard to find , most of the cities and towns are very unpleasant, so for the moment we are stuck in bali , we shall see.

What are your thoughts about Bali? Last time we were in Jogja people seemed more intense. I thought maybe because of cumulative trauma from earthquake then Mt. Merapi eruption. However, I have also read about more acts of intolerance there. Solo kind of has a reputation for radicalism.
 

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