Getting Around Indonesia

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When I was departing Bali for Java I had taken a "bemo" local small bus to the small coastal town of Gilimanuk to make the ferry crossing from the port of exit in Bali at Gilimanuk..The Ferry across the straits takes about 40 minutes before arriving at the Java side in Banyuwangi the point of entry into Java..This is a very straightforward crossing only costing a few dollars..The bus station is a five minute walk to the ferry office where tickets are easily purchased and there are many ferries leaving every twenty minutes.here in the town of Banuwangi the train leaves for the city of Surabuya.

When taking a cab look for BLUE BIRD (blue car) it has a radio . You can also hail E-Express (white) and Taxiku ( yellow) but most of the drivers doesn't speak English. The other taxis are not so reliable as they will bring you around and around (jalan-jalan).

Order by phone (24 hours) :
BLUE BIRD & PUSAKA, Regular Taxis : (021) 79171234 / 7941234
SILVER BIRD, Executive Taxi : (021) 7981234
GOLDEN BIRD, Limousine & Car Rental : 7944444
BIG BIRD, Charter Bus: (021) 7980808

If you are in Indonesia in Bandung or Jakarta or Bali, it is from my experience in last years easy to book a domestic flight there inside. So you can plan your travel quite easy. Of course make shure that is not greater ceremonys like Lebaran are in the next- than maybe all transportation will be difficult to plan...

If You that over the clouds, take time and if able try to see from window!
If clear sky you can search the vulcanos at Java-
if are cloudy, look, maybe you can see some Heros of the Javanese Wayang Shadow Play-
like here in the Photo -
I´m conviced we meet some - look at photo it seems like Arjuna, Laksmana, Hanuman and other there,
seems they making a round table meeting ....

But more to earth problems: I had even no difficulties to pay with the creditcard. Sometimes in the travel offices the flight cards filled with hand, sometimes printed, but I had no problem with it.

If you in an Indonesian Travel office booking, they will shure first offer the budget lines.
It maybe no problem with it, but be in one very shure - in the budget lines you will offered nothing to eat- only a bottle of aqua/water!! If you have some proviant by yourself it is quite good.

Another advice: If you maybe have an transit in Jakarta, chose better a line connection come /go the same terminal. If you come to terminal 2 and want start at terminal 1 you have an problem (2006 maybe today better but not shure).
Be shure that you take a real taxi of a taxi company. Much people (suddenly coming from nowhere) will offer you a cheap transportation and - together with this - all taxis seems suddenly away-
But no worry, simple wait to next taxi, be shure it will come sometimes.

Get to Darwin in Australia and Perkins Shipping Group Pty operate a barge that runs Darwin-Dili-Singapore (and reverse) 3 times a month. check their website at www.perkins.com.au for schedules and contact details, you would have to ring up and arrange in advance for passage. This is not a luxury boat - it is a freight barge, sorry, I have no idea how much passage would cost.

You could take this barge straight to Singapore (takes 13 days) or if you want to stay in East Timor for a while then get off at Dili and you can continue overland by taking a 12 hour bus from Dili to Kupang in Indonesian West Timor (check conditions to see if the border is open) and get on a number of boats leaving Kupang and heading to other Indonesian islands (check www.pelni.in) for routes, timetables and prices).

Continue using Pelni ships island hopping your way through Indonesia (and buses on larger islands such as Java and Sumatra) until you reach either Batam or Bintan in the Riau Archipelago where you can get on ferries to Singapore or Johore Baharu in Malaysia, or Dumai on Sumatra where you can get a ferry to Melaka in Malaysia or Medan on Sumatra from where you can catch a ferry to Penang.

From Penang you can get another ferry to Langkawi and then another to Satun in Thailand or you could get a ferry to the Malaysian mainland (Peninsula).

Once you are on the Malaysian peninsula continue north by either bus or train to Thailand.

If you want to go overland to Europe from Thailand you will have to go through China (crossing borders either via Laos or Cambodia and Vietnam as all land borders with Myanmar are closed to foreigners).

From China there are many options:
(mainly ending up either in Moscow or Iran)
To end in Moscow:
- The Trans-Mongolian Railway leaving Beijing, going through Mongolia and ending in Moscow. Or the Trans-Manchurian (same route but going around rather than through Mongolia), or cross the border into Russia from north east China and catch the Trans-Siberian Railway from Vladivostock to Moscow.
From Moscow you can travel either by bus or train to pretty much anywhere in Europe you desire (with connecting stops).

To end in Iran:
- Head west to Urumqui in Xinjiang province and continue overland through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into Iran (note: It may be difficult to arrange a visa for Turkmenistan in particular). Or;
- From Xinjiang take the Karakorum Highway into Northern Pakistan and continue south crossing the border into Iran where you get on that same train. Or;
- Apparently the border between Tibet and Nepal recently re-opened while I was there (Nepal) in 2007, so you could get yourself to Lhasa in Tibet (The railway from Beijing is now complete), then cross into Nepal and continue into India where you can gross the only open border into Pakistan at Wagah (Between Amritsar and Lahore in Punjab), then continue through to Iran. (Note: the border between Pakistan and Iran has been described as dangerous but it is open).

Getting from Iran to Europe there are a few options too:
- The easiest by far is to get on the Tehran-Istanbul train which operates weekly and takes 2 days. Or;
- Go to Georgia either via Azerbaijan or Armenia and cross into eastern Turkey and get a bus from Trabzon to Istanbul. (Note: the border between Georgia and Russia is closed). Or;
- You could even get on a boat to the gulf states (Qatar, Bahrain, UAE) and continue through Oman into Yemen from where you could get on a boar to Djibouti in Africa and continue through Ethiopia into Sudan, Egypt, Libya and then Tunisia from where you could get on a boat to Sicily in southern Italy but this is a very long way around.

From Istanbul there are trains heading pretty much everywhere in Europe going via Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and others.

These routes could obviously also be done vice-versa.
And there are also many other possibilities for overland travel from/to Australia and Europe, these are just the easiest ones I could think of.

I have found www.seat61.com a very useful tool for overland travel.

Good luck and have a great journey.

Whilst you will not have any problems finding transport in Bali it sometimes can be hard to find a reliable driver. We use Sanny Bali Tours, the owner Sanny worked on cruise ships in the Carribean for nearly ten years so his english is excellent . He is good for shopping tours is very friendly and helpful with having an eskie stocked with ice cold drinks. Additionally he has a proper baby seat which came in very handy for us on our recent trip with a 6 month old baby. Let him know that you were recommended by Meg and Louise from Aust.

Hi fellow travellers,
To seek informations about schedule and fare of the train in Indonesia, please go to this site www.infoka.kereta-api.com
It is an official site from PT Kereta Api.
ps: The site is in Bahasa Indonesia, so these are some hints to help you:
kereta api ---- train
asal ---- departure station/city
tujuan ----- arrival/destination station/city
stasiun ----- station
cari ----- search
jadwal ----- schedule
tarif ----- fare

To reach here (Bukit Tinngi,Padang,SUMATRA) by 3 ways:-
1) Domestic Flight from Jakarta to Padang.

2) Direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Padang

3) Direct flight from Kuala Lumpur or Singapore to Medan, 4x4 to Bukit Tinggi.

Route # 3, expose traveller to a new travel destination, Lake Toba and The BATAK CARO culture & custom.
If vacation period permitted, advice route # 3 expose to the new adventure and comparison to Bukit Tinggi.

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Flying between Jakarta and Bali is easy and cheap.
There are many ways to choose to travel around Bali but We love motorcycle. I sometimes feel tired with buses and we got a wise choice.
A taxi from Denpasar (Bali airport) to Kuta (the heart of Bali) only cost 50000 rupiahs (6 bucks) and we shared it with a couple we met at Jakarta airport.
Anyway, I should say about motorbike.
We rent a motorbike in Kuta with price: 90000 rupiahs for 3 days. Normally, the price is about 50000 rupiahs a day. My love made a good bargain while I was eating chicken satay at the beach. Hehe I must admit he is a good negotiator.
Riding motorbike in Kuta is so much crazy. Small streets and too many people makes this city in traffic jam most of the time. We needed to escape from here. That was only one thing I know I must do. I don't need to taste one more Patong (Thailand).
It's a bit confusion for me to drive on the left even I drove in the north of Thailand before. "Left, left, left I must remind myself. Always"
It's quite funny when I tried to be like a balinese girl. It's better if the policeman thinks you're balinese. They won't stop you and then we don't have trouble.
I don't have an international driving lisence, only a vietnamese driving lisence. But don't worry if you have ever driven in Vietnam you can say our driving skill can be an international driving lisence. We have good environment to practise it everyday :D
In Medewi, A spanish man at the hostel adviced us : "if the police stop you, just show your vietnamese driving lisence and say loud: " THIS IS MY INTERNATIONAL DRIVING LISENCE" "then everything could be ok. If not, they must pay a lot of money for driving without lisence even they can take your motorbike.
What a pity! Noone stops us and I can't practise to speak english " This is my international driving lisence" lol
We made a tour from Kuta - Medewi - Lovina - Gigit waterfall - Kuta by motorbike. That was great. We saw long lines of traffic on road - just staying at the same place but we went through.
How lovely motorbike is ^^