Escaping the Jakarta rat race, Bandung it is!

[Jaime C]

Part one

I thought I'd start a new thread to talk about our move to Bandung from Jakarta this month.

A bit of background on myself: I'm a mid 40's American who has been coming to Indonesia for almost a decade. I'd usually come for 2-4 weeks a year, and visit friends here, hang out in Bali or Jakarta, and generally try not to be stuck in traffic.

A couple of years ago, I decided to seriously look for a girlfriend here, after some recommendations from a friend. Did the whole online thing. It was mostly scary, but managed to meet my wife, so it was worth it.

Fast forward a bit, we get a small apartment in Jakarta. It's pretty basic, but is fine for the moment. Jakarta is too hot, crowded, polluted and of course the traffic. Although from the US, I've been to 55 countries, so I've seen about everything.

There is no reason to stay in Jakarta, really. My wife's family mostly live in Bekasi, but are understanding and quite helpful.

We looked in Bogor a little, and in Bali a little. Since I still have house payments and such in the US, and return every 2-3 months to work some, I don't have a huge amount to spend. So, no $3000 a month expat mansions for me.

We spent a few weeks in Bali in February, and while I did contact a forum member there with a few basic questions, I never got a response. We did see one nice place in Tuban that was too big, but I was impressed with the value. We contacted a realtor there, but he seemed uninterested with rentals. Only wanted to sell me properties.

I bought tickets to go there after Ramadhan, so we could search more thoroughly.

Fast forward a couple of months, and it seems we brought more back from Bali than normal souvenirs. It's going to be baby time! Should we move before or after? Decisions, decisions.

I had booked Air Asia tickets a year before for us to go to Thailand, Hong Kong, and then to Medan and Bandung. The morning sickness had finally died down, so we took the trip as planned.

Thailand was ok, Hong Kong was glorious, Medan was ok, and then we come to Bandung. I had been here once before with friends 5-6 years ago. All I remembered was brownies.

Bandung in June. The first thing I noticed was the pleasant weather. Traffic not as bad as Jakarta. I thought to my self, I could live here. I hadn't even considered living in Bandung before. I recalled that a frequent poster often extolled the virtues of Bandung.

I pmed B_A and asked if she had any tips. She was very gracious, and helped us out with a big list of houses. Most weren't right for us, but we saw a couple that looked promising. We scheduled an appointment, and B_A and her friend came along to check it out.

It was a medium sized house, with two bedrooms in the main house, a maids room, and an add on room upstairs in the back, as well as a penthouse view patio. Not fancy, but pretty nice. The neighborhood looked sedate, too.

With B_A's friend helping, we negotiated the price down a little, but agreed to fix a couple small things, and add a railing for the outside stairwell. Price for a year was 45jt, including the work. This was early June, but we would move here in early August.

The house was semi furnished, but we still needed a lot of stuff. How to do it on a budget?

Up next: Part 2, getting ready for the move.

[MadCat]

Hey Jaime, congrats. Moving out of Jakarta was one of the better things I did, although me and mine are slumming it halfway between Bandung and Jakarta. I assume there will be some sort of house warming party?

(always on the lookout for opportunities for free food :P)

[deviray50]

Well done on your move Jaime. I have never been to Bandung but my wife lived there for a while and told me it is really nice. I have only ever heard of nice things about it. Good luck with the move and the baby
MadCat, we will be living close to you. We will be living beside Lake Jatiluhur. Can I ask how you find living in Purwakarta? As for free food, I love the BBQ so I'm sure there will be some free food from time to time You'll have to be patient

Ray

[ricky_id]

Moving out of Jakarta was one of the better things I did, although me and mine are slumming it halfway between Bandung and Jakarta.

Even when it's "dead"*?

*Not me saying that

[MadCat]

Well done on your move Jaime. I have never been to Bandung but my wife lived there for a while and told me it is really nice. I have only ever heard of nice things about it. Good luck with the move and the baby :
MadCat, we will be living close to you. We will be living beside Lake Jatiluhur. Can I ask how you find living in Purwakarta? As for free food, I love the BBQ so I'm sure there will be some free food from time to time You'll have to be patient
Ray

Ooh Jatiluhur, nice area! How I find living in Purwakarta; well it's a bit of a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it's pretty quiet, not too much going on at any one time, and my neighbours have gotten past the fact there's a bule gila living in the area. A curse because it's pretty quiet and there's not much going on. Anything more complex than a trip to the Giant requires going to Bandung or Jakarta (Carrefour, etc.) so it does require a bit of planning at times since going to Jakarta means 2.5 hours there, 2.5 hours back, so the wife and I usually try to fill our entire day with stuff to do. Going to Bandung on the other hand is easy and only takes 45 minutes, if it's not Friday.

I'm a big BBQ fan too coincidentally! Unfortunately my BBQ is small, and apparently has been "borrowed" by my brother in law so I'm going to have to find a new one. Let me know though when you're settled in your lakeside abode, who knows.

Even when it's "dead"*?

*Not me saying that

Even when it's "dead" - granted sometimes it grates a bit that there's nothing to do around here but most of the time it's peace, quiet, and ... well.. that.

[Jaime C]

Part two

The continuing adventures of Jaime and lovely Lily, who is almost 6 months pregnant, moving from Hot, Horrid, Jakarta, to cool and somewhat serene Bandung.

I was flying back from the US at the end of July. I ended up having to move my flights back about 4 days, since I had more stuff to do. Luckily most of my flights these days are award flights, so I was able to change the flights for free. For those that have to fly to the US, award miles are great. I couldn't afford the Business or First class seat, but award flights often "cost" less than an economy ticket.

We had been looking for household items on this forum for months. We found about half the stuff we needed, and found more, but it was too far away. Any savings would be negated by the transportation costs.

We already had a queen mattress, tv, desk, tv table, DVD player, dishes/silverware, plus all sorts of odds and ends. We had bought a used washing machine, hot/cold water dispenser, oven/stove, and small BBQ. No luck on any baby crib, queen base, or complete bed.

The person we bought the used items from had to move before we did, so we had to get it moved to Lily's parents house in Bekasi. This cost about 250k.

Moving day

The movers went to Bekasi first and loaded up the used items first, and them came to Kalibata City in South Jakarta, to help with the rest. Lily had been packing non-essential things up for weeks. They arrived a bit after 10am, on a Saturday. We were packing the rest of the items, and then Lily's mother, father and brother helped too.

We were all finished in about two hours. The movers had a Daihatsu pickup set up for moving. Looks like a base Xenia body, with flatbed, and railings, and we used every single centimeter of space. The put a tarp over the top and secured everything. I was impressed.

The price quoted for the move seemed too cheap for me. My pessimist side, had them watching my flatscreen in their living room. For what would be a total day of work for 2 guts, for 550k, including gas, tolls and labor was amazing. I guess having Indonesian relatives setting up stuff helps a lot.

We arrive in Bandung in about 2.5 hours. Traffic was so-so for the first 45 minutes of the trip, and then horrid once we got off the tollway in Bandung. It took another 30 minutes to get to our new house in the Pondok Hijau area. Having lots of helpful hands is good.

The only major thing we were missing was a fridge. Since the parents were leaving in a day or two, we thought it better to have our moving guys come and bring a new fridge back to the house. They agreed to do so for another 150k. If only they had known.....

Traffic was even worse, and when we got to the Carrefour, it was bumper to bumper in the parking lot. In fact, not a single space was available, you still had to pay for parking! We got out though, and went into the store, and the guys went to have their after fasting meal.

Lots of nice smaller fridges in the 160-240 liter range. Most in the 2-2.5jt range. Ended up with a Panasonic two door, 208l for 2.3jt. Bought some food, cleaning supplies, and a big bottle of Aqua.

It took 30 minutes for them to drive into the parking lot, and be able to pick the fridge up. Going home, the traffic was pretty bad, too. Too much like Jakarta.

They bring the fridge in, up the entry stairs, and are finally finished. I tip them a bit for all the hard work, and they seem quite happy. I'd guess they get back to Bekasi at 11pm!

This marks the end of part two. Over time, I'll add more posts about our experiences in Bandung. I hope they can help others who are moving into new territories or lives.

[MadCat]

Jaime, one thing about Bandung is that during the weekend (more the Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) everyone from Jakarta goes to Bandung. That makes traffic very Jakarta like during those times, so you have to somewhat "shift" your schedule. For example, going to Carrefour is best done on a Monday, and the real weekend is best spent at the house with a good book and some cold beverages.

[deviray50]

Thanks MadCat for that information. It makes me more eager to live beside the lake asap! Like everything, moving from one side of the world takes a lot of planning. But be sure, the BBQ will be lit, cold beer in hand as soon as I can. See you there..

Ray

[Jaime C]

Jaime, one thing about Bandung is that during the weekend (more the Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) everyone from Jakarta goes to Bandung. That makes traffic very Jakarta like during those times, so you have to somewhat "shift" your schedule. For example, going to Carrefour is best done on a Monday, and the real weekend is best spent at the house with a good book and some cold beverages.

Yep, in another thread, I mentioned about getting invaded from Jakarta every weekend. Trust me, I'm happy to stay in the neighborhood most of the time.

[MadCat]

Yep, in another thread, I mentioned about getting invaded from Jakarta every weekend. Trust me, I'm happy to stay in the neighborhood most of the time.

Yea just figured I'd mention it It's also an indication as to when is a good time to go to Jakarta