Experience in Jakarta, Indonesia by Rosaria Cynthia

What is it like to live in Jakarta? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Living in Jakarta is quite fun, but also requires an extra energy. Because, the traffic here is amazingly crazy. Moreover, jakarta is also a very busy city, because almost all big companies in indonesia put their central offices in this city.

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What is the student lifestyle like in Jakarta?

The student lifestyle here is pretty down to earth, because indonesia is famous fοr its multiculture condition. On the other hand, jakarta also has its interesting night life, jakarta has so many cool clubs. So some student may have their fun night when they are kind of down.

How much does it cost to live in Jakarta?

If we compare jakarta with other big cities in the world, i can say that jakarta might be one of the lowest ones. But if we compare jakarta with other cities in indonesia itself, unfortunately i must say it could be the highest one than the others. To survive in jakarta maybe you should have at least $175-450$ for accomodation only, and maybe if you are smart enough to manage your lifestyle as cheap as you can, i would say you only need maybe around $300 per month (school and stuffs are excluded). The accomodation i was talking about is kind of something like dorm or flat. Sometimes you can also find a very cheap flat but the security isnt very save for a student, maybe it could be only $30 per month, which i personally don´t recommend for anyone.

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Jakarta? Is there any advice you can give?

It isnt very difficult to find accomodation in Jakarta, because almost every campus or school has its own dormitaries or many people rent flats around. Advice from me : to rent accomodation (especially flat/appartment) you should see the place by yourself before you pay anything. Safely, you should contact your university or people who can be trusted for it. And furthermore, i recommend you to ask if they could cut the price, because I think negotiation is able to do here.

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

Indonesia is one of those famous countries for food. Traditional foods in indonesia are absolutely delicious and must try! But, if you can´t eat it or you are not adapted yet, jakarta has many international food places, maybe you can meet your traditional food here. The restaurants are unique and not very expensive. I have a lot of favourite dishes here, one of those is called Nasi Padang and you can meet this kind of restaurant in every single street hahaha, its not expensive at all and its popular with it's spicy things. The others are called Sop Buntut, Nasi Sali, sate Padang (it is also called Padang but its very rare to find in the Padang restaurant), Babi Panggang, and many more. Food expedition in indonesia is absolutely fun, you can even contact me if you want to try some with me. Haha

What places would you recommend visiting in Jakarta?

First place is Ancol. Specifically, it is called Dufan. It is a very big playground for (i will say) adults, because the games here are pretty extreme but fun! In ancol itself, you can see a long beach, and it also has more recreation places in it. Another place I recommend is 'Taman Mini', where you can learn more about indonesia and the many traditional things are here. The last but not least is called Taman Buah Mekarsari, me myself dont know if it´s in jakarta, but its very near to jakarta i guess, this place is very recommended if you like fruits and things about it, because its a very big park, where you can meet almost every kind of plants in indonesia.

Is it good to eat out in Jakarta? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

Yea, it´s very good to eat out in jakarta, because some restaurants have very good views to see all over jakarta, which is beautiful of course. But some places may not be perfect for it, because like what i said before, jakarta is a very traffic city, there are many means of transportation, the air polution is yeaaa pretty bad. My favourite spots is everywhere near to the beach or lake, you can find them in some places.

Is the nightlife good in Jakarta? Where is good to go?

The nightlife is cool, some public places like clubs are mostly closed after 5am, and back open on maybe 7-10pm. My recommendations are: Empirical, Lucy in the sky, Jayapub, X2, SKYE, Eastern promise, Umbra, and yea my most favourite one is definitely FABLE and Safehouse, and actually there are many more but i can´t remember. And I am personally not really in for the prostitution ones, but yea some nightclubs in jakarta have it, like Golden Crown, ect..

What advice would you give future students headed to Jakarta?

My advice is not to be afraid of Jakarta, because people here are awesomely friendly, but yea some people can´t be trusted so u should keep be careful, because the criminality is close to a high level. And when you arrive, make sure that you have at least one person who can pick you up and drive you to your accomodation, because the street in jakarta is quite confusing to journey your first time. You don´t need to bring every single tool like housing tools from your hometown, because it´s not too expensive to buy in here, so you can bring your private or important things more. Do not be afraid to make friends here, most people are socialize very nice here. And once again, do not trust people easily in jakarta!

Ps: You probably need to learn a lil bit indonesian language, because most original indonesian people can´t speak english (police, drivers, ect.. ).