hey I return... I am still going to be looking to meet some actors such as harry Capri. We have made progress in meeting our heroes.

On our visit we have some questions

1) is there something that is a must see in Indonesia that isn't too far from Jakarta? We are interested in wildlife etc

2) is it wise for us to get a guide?

3) how easy and cheap is it to island hop?

4) what jabs are needed for westerners?

You are all stars! In advance!

Rambu,

1)
Although it is a bit cheesy, Tamam Safari in Ciawi is near Jakarta and being in the mountains makes it quite pleasant. More like a European Safari Park than an Indonesian themed park, it is still not bad. A good day out. Your Hotel can probably make arrangements.

2 & 3)
Guide, depends on what you want to do. Send a PM to one of our members "Just" who may be able to help with tours and island hopping.

4)
No jabs required, but, be aware that tap water is not drinkable, basic hygiene practises should be observed and bring Immodium (or whatever alternative you prefer) for the inevitable shits!

thanks Dilli,

im suprised there are no jabs to be had, is there no malaria in that part of the world? I guess not really.

What would we expect to see on the Tamam Safari?

The shits i can deal with.... just about!

I guess we want to experience the wildlife, maybe see some nice beaches and maybe an orang pendec!

LMAO, I'm a bit offended, I'm only 4'11".

do you live in the jungle and make monkey noises?

Claws in Kuku........

Well having just come back from a weekend in Pelabuhan Ratu I can recommend that if you have a spare couple of nights. It's about a 4 hour drive from Jakarta (less if you have light traffic) and is a good break from the smog of Jakarta. There are a few nice places up that way ..I will dig out the numbers for them and post them here later. In terms of wild life you have a bat cave where you can watch thousands of bats fly out at sunset and if you drive about 40 mins then you can see turtles. There is a great seafood market there where you can buy whatever you fancy and then take the seafood to any of the restaurants and get them to cook it for you (usual price is 15.000 per kilo)

or if you are into scuba diving, try nad-lembeh dive resort. special prices for jakchatters.

website: www.nad-lembeh.com

there are some pictures of the resort in the JakChat photo gallery: http://jakchat.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/galleries/81544/NAD_Lembeh_North_Sulawesi#comments

how do you get there kuku ???

Nice beach trip ay Chew?? Lovely, Now I have wheels again I can burn back down to PR again of a weekend.

Yup -- very relaxing weekend indeed. I shall get a few pics of the new hotel thats going up. Great outside bar / restaurant area and rooms right on the beach. 350K for a normal room and 750K for a suit room. While the suit wasn't finished it should make for a nice experience as it will have a big private terrace with a hot tub overlooking the beach.

Merc + beach + hot-tub = knicker dropper

You forgot the Rophonyl which would be essential in RH's case!

Nice equation Chewton. A sure fire winner.

GHB actually, slipped into a Teh Botol, Bob's yer Uncle

The Cave of Bats sounds amazing, this is something i would really like to see. Is that near Pelabuhan Ratu? Or near Jakarta? Also the Turtles would be great to see too. If you could let me know how we could get there that would be fantastic, thanks chewwy.

We have 7 nights, so 3 nights of sightseeing and 4 nights of trying to find locations in the movie Pemalasan Rambu.

How about hotels in Jakarta? What would you guys reccomend, english speaking ones only i guess.

plane takes 3.5 hours. ferry takes a few weeks.

The first thing they do on leaving the cave is take a shit. Bring an umbrella.

So which one are you?

Again, sorry.

You wanna piece of me? Huh? huh?

I make monkey noises sometimes.

Am jealous, I wanna go to Pelabuhan Ratu like Chewwy.. :-S

To get there you can either hire a car or there is a guy who runs a free shuttle service from Jakarta if you stay at his place else or pay him about 150K - Not sure if anybody has Leos number ??? if you do can you post it for him?

The bats and the turtles all in Pelabuhan Ratu

Hotels ... what budget do you have?

150k for a 4 hour shuttle trip sounds pretty good.

As for budget, well after flights we have about £800-900 for a week to give us hotels, food and trips. Is that enough?

what bars should we go to?
which hotel would you reccomend?

Hotels: I usually stay in shitty places, nothing to recommend.

Bars: Depends on what person you are. Myself, I enjoy to have good fun, so when I am in Jakarta I always go to Stadium in Kota. They got (among other things), a bar and a night club across several floors.

I thought they only sold Aqua at the Stadium.

What sort of bars do you want? What area of Jakarta are you wanting your hotel to be?

chewwy we don't really know anything about Jakarta we just want somewhere safe cheapish and lively.

For both hotels and bars really

jaksa.

Well Jaksa is Central and does have a good few bars. Although the quality of the accommodation may lack a little. Kuku can probably let you know the best of the bad bunch.

The other area that has a large number of restaurants and bars is kemang. It's south jakarta and if you are doing a lot of travel then traffic may be in issue. Hotels - at the cheap end you have prapanca hotel and if you can afford 450,000 a night then Grand Flora hotel is good value - nice rooms, great staff and has the luxury of a pool to cool down in.


Areas to try for nights out would be Jaksa, Kemang, Kota and Blok M. While I am not a big fan of the blok there are some good "non-ayam" bars (One Tree, Sportsman and Everest) and the other bars in the street will also provide you with a few stories to tell when you get back home.

Itinerary example: Start the evening at Jaksa, then move on to Red Square at Senayan, and finish the night off in Kota.

Chewwy, 140,000 is about £30 per night right? Is that price if you turn up plenty in advance or just on the day?

How much would a night in the prapanca hotel be?

Is is best for us to just turn up in jakarta and then find our ways to the hotel and pay there and then? or will it be busy in March?

Also what kind of temperature will it be in jakarta in march?

140,000 is 8 quid a night more like Rambo..
prapanca is about 300/night or 17 a night
jakarta is always between 29-32 degrees

sorry i'm not chewwy

Melt in the mouth?

^^^^Not in the hand..........