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TEAM_PAPUA
Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1679 Location: HOLE
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Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 5:03 pm Post subject: * |
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I'm packing up my MTB and taking it over to Indonesia. I will buy a motorbike once I get there also. I knew some people who used bicycles in Surabaya, I wouldn't suggest it in the big cities - mad traffic!
I don't think you'll have any problems finding work year round in Indonesia. Let us know how you get on.
T_P |
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leeroy
Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK
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Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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Interested to know whether it is safe to get around on a conventional 21 speed mountain bike throughout Indonesea, and whether this mode of transport (the normal pedal bike) is used in Indonesia? |
(A story, sorry I've had a couple of beers so this might not make a lot of sense..)
I fondly recall a time in Yogyakarta..
I was cycling home on a Sunday morning, with a horrific hangover and an unforgiving sun. I came to a junciton, and tentatively edged forward. Immediately, I was moved from doing 10mph to 50mph, and I felt a strange presence on my neck. A motorbike had swerved to avoid me, and (bizarrely) the passenger on said bike had seen fit to hold onto me as he was whizzing past. Suffice to say, we all ended up on the road, on our arses, with quite a few cuts and bruises between us.
Allah was looking upon us favourably that day, as we had crashed outside a bicycle shop. While I was still unconscious in the road, the guys who had crashed into me(?) paid the man who owned the bike shop for my bicycle repairs. While I was still semi-concussed, they sped away again while the bike-man got busy repairing my bike. By the time I was with it, I had a bike with new wheels and a whole load of very impressed (and well-wishing) onlookers. Anyway, I walked home.
All good fun. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia
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Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 1:07 am Post subject: |
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leeroy wrote: |
I was cycling home on a Sunday morning.... |
The wacky thing is that, having spent a year in Indonesia, I actually can believe this story! |
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Chester
Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 383 Location: Australia
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Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2004 3:18 pm Post subject: wacky |
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gee. tee hee. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Hong Kong
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Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:09 pm Post subject: Re: Bandung - cool place? |
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ghost wrote: |
Thanks for the tip on Bandung, which one just checked out through `google.``
The climate at 700 metres above sea level would be nice, and it seems to be a very dynamic place with all the factories and technolog institutes. Also some beautiful parks and buildings in the area.
One can imagine that because of the climate, etc...Bandung would be a favourite spot for E.F.L. teachers, and the competition for jobs consequently harder?
Are there any other `highland towns` to be recommended for living and teaching in Indonesia?
Thanks for the info. |
Be careful about all these highland towns - Malang, Bandung, and Bogor. I have been to all 3 with the illusion that they would somehow be cooler - they are still all hot as hell!!
Also, they arent as clean or beautiful or anything else as the books sometimes make them out to be. They might just marginally be ever-so slightly cooler or slightly more trees than Jakarta.. but basically they are a bit depressing and extremely city-ish to me.
After exploring all of Java looking for a good place to stay and teach.. I found that none except Jakarta (the only one I wasnt interested in before arriving).. seemed to be best.
(Ultimately I left after visiting Java for a month carrying around all my stuff though). |
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Winmar
Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 125 Location: Melbourne
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Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 2:12 pm Post subject: |
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Bandung's not very good if you just hang around downtown. Go to the north of the city though and it is much cleaner and greener.... I was shivering like hell once on my motorbike on the way back down from Lembang. |
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guruengerish
Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 424 Location: Australia
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Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2004 2:59 am Post subject: Lembang - kampung bule! |
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I couldn't resist poking my nose in. I lived in Lembang and commuted down the hill to teach. It's a great place, and lots of gardens and nice scenery.
However, it is also called the whitemans' village, as that's where we'd all end up. It also attracted thieves like bees to a honey pot; the only solution was to hire a gardener/guard who stayed on the property until once came home at night.
As you say, there were one or two nights in the year where it actually felt cold.
Bandung's a pretty good place to stay and teach, but it's filled with Jakarta's rich and upwardly mobile on the weekends. Last time I was there, a new highway was being constructed to allow even more cars in from Jakarta. |
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Winmar
Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 125 Location: Melbourne
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Ah I didn't realise Lembang was like that. It's a shame.... I tend to try not to live where all the expats live... |
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guruengerish
Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 424 Location: Australia
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 3:52 am Post subject: in Lembang... |
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Lembang seems to be one of the few places in Java's most densely populated city, where you can actually rent a place which has a garden around it, instead of the dreaded concrete and asphalt, adding to the heat. It's also a little quieter, and it's not too difficult to find a place within a bearable distance from a loudspeaker. |
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