Jakarta Living Costs: Accommodation, Transportation, Food & Entertainment

Jakarta Living Costs: Accommodation, Transportation, Food & Entertainment:
By: Ario Triwibowo

Jakarta is one of the world’s busiest, largest and most populous cities. The Indonesian capital is ranked as the 9^th largest city and 13^th most populous city in the world. As the center of governance and business, the city attracts more and more people (Indonesians as well as expats). Indonesians come to Jakarta in search of better education, work and above all luck. Expats mostly for the latter two. Adding to the estimated 10-15 million people, this is not without consequence. The traffic is pure mayhem and living costs soar.

Jakarta can have you spinning in circles, By: Bonita Suraputra

Jakarta Living Cost: Housing/Accommodation

For expats, renting an apartment is probably the most convenient way of living in Jakarta. The city’s property sector has been growing rapidly throughout the past decade, as the need for strategic-located housing increased. Traffic jams have also contributed to this rapid boom. Traffic jams eat time, money and patience, so location becomes even more important when you want to settle down in Jakarta. If you work in the business district, be sure to find housing in the vicinity, or with good access to and from the toll road.

Apartments are considered expensive in Jakarta. An apartment differs from a flat (rumah susun). Flats in Jakarta are relatively smaller and less convenient than apartments. They are mostly occupied by long time residing Indonesian families and rarely offer any space. Almost all expatriates in Jakarta live in an apartment. Strategic areas with a lot of apartments on offer are Kuningan, Cilandak, Pondok Indah, Thamrin and Tanjung Duren.

In Jakarta, the apartment rent rate varies according to type, location and facilities. If you plan to rent an apartment with one bedroom prices start around Rp. 5.000.000 to 25.000.000 (around USD 500 to 2500) a month, while two bedrooms go from Rp. 25.000.000 – 50.000.000 (around USD 2500 -5000) a month. Three bedroom apartments will set you back even more, starting from Rp. 35.000.000 – 70.000.000 (around USD 3500 – 7000) a month. If you think about buying an apartment, prices start at Rp. 1.000.000.000 (around USD 10,000).

A typical apartment block in Jakarta, By: Andrew Kippen

Don’t have that kind of cash on you? You can always rent a room in a boarding house (like most Indonesians do) called “kos-kosan”. These boarding houses vary widely in terms of the luxury and facilities. There are minimal types which just consist of a small room without air condition, that go for as little as Rp. 300.000 – 500.000 (around USD 30 – 50) per month. But normal rates, including air conditioning and other facilities can range from around Rp. 800.000 – 2.000.000 (USD 80 – 200), once again depending on the room and location. Boarding houses are almost available in every part of Jakarta.

Vehicle Ownership in Jakarta

Owning a vehicle in Indonesia is expensive, but living in Jakarta you are almost forced to buy a car as distances are huge and public transport is not very efficient. A cheaper option is a motorcycle, but remember you can’t enter the toll roads with those. Both cars and motorcycles can be obtained easily through credit payment, (hence the ludicrous amount of brand spanking new cars and motorcycles on the road in Indonesia). First let’s look at the cars. Most Indonesians prefer Japanese cars since they are energy efficient and easy to maintain. But the main thing is that Japanese cars are more affordable. A standard Japanese family car like the Toyota Avanza or Daihatsu Xenia costs around Rp. 130.000.000 – 180.000.000 (around USD 13000 – 18000), depending on the type (standard or deluxe edition, automatic or manual transmission, etc). Smaller cars strangely might cost you more than normal family cars. The most popular small cars (including sedans) in Indonesia are Toyota’s Yaris, Vios and Corolla. The Altis costs around Rp. 200.000.000 – 400.000.000 (around USD 20.000 – 40.000). The Honda Jazz is also popular and costs around Rp. 200.000.000 – 225.000.000 (around USD 20.000 – 25.000), while the City, Civic and Accord start around Rp. 300.000.000 – 480.000.000 (around USD 30.000 – 48.000). European and American cars are considered luxury items in Indonesia. A Mercedes-Benz or BMW can cost from Rp. 400.000.000 to a whopping 4.000.000.000 (around USD 40.000 – 400.000).

A new model attracts the attention

Motorcycles are Indonesia’s most common means of transport. It’s cheaper and more efficient, provided you know the way. In big cities, motorcycles are often used to avoid traffic. But as the years went by, motorcycles grew rapidly in numbers so these days many people say traffic is CAUSED by motorcycles. There are many types of motorcycles in Indonesia like dual-sports, sport bikes, scooters and the most famous “bebek” motorcycle known as an underbone motorcycle in English. In Indonesia, it is better to buy a smaller, compact, light and easy handling motorcycle. Small motorcycles like bebek and scooters cost around Rp. 12.000.000 – 15.000.000 (around USD 1200 – 1500). While bigger motorcycles like dual sports or sport bikes can cost double or more.

Jakarta Public Transportation

Jakarta’s public transportation is considered insufficient, impractical and inconvenient. When you realize to vast number of public buses, minivans and other modes of public transport, the system still falls short, especially during rush hours. Jakarta’s public transport doesn’t have a reliable schedule as arrival and departure times depend on traffic jams. Trains are more predictable but often late and most certainly overcrowded.

The busway in front of Sarinah, Jakarta, By: Basibanget

Transjakarta is Indonesia’s first Bus Rapid Transport (BRT). Transjakarta’s routes covers almost all major points in the city, so it has become a much used means of transportation. However, it will be very crowded during rush hours and long queues are a daily occurrence. At least it’s cheap. Tickets cost Rp. 3.500 (around USD 0.35) for a one way ride.

Taxis are also abundant and a good alternative when getting around in Jakarta. But you might want to stick with the most qualified taxis, since there are some dodgy taxi companies that charge more while the driver doesn’t even know where he’s going. The taxi fare is usually, around Rp. 20.000 – 50.000 (around USD 2 – 5) within city limits, but can cost up to 150.000 (around USD 15) for longer routes, such as from the airport to the city center.

Another convenient means of transport in Jakarta is the motorcycle taxi called “ojek” in Indonesian language. Ojek have unfixed prices, so you need to negotiate with the driver before you hop on. Typically, a 10 minute ride should be around Rp. 10.000-15.000.

What would Jakarta be without nasi goreng, By: Azlan DuPree

Food in Jakarta

Indonesia is famed for its culinary diversity. An advantage of the huge influx of immigrants is that you can taste all the archipelago’s cuisines in one city. You can either grab a meal at a street hawkers or try out the innumerable restaurants. Street vendors or hawkers are abundant in Jakarta. They sell various meals, such as chicken noodles (mie ayam), satay (sate), fried rice (nasi goreng), fried fish dumplings and tofu (batagor), steamed fish dumplings (siomay), vegetables with peanut sauce (gado-gado) and many more. You can enjoy these delicious meals for around Rp. 5.000 – 10.000 (around USD 0.5 – 1). Restaurants can often be found in malls (food courts are a great way to savor the rainbow). It will obviously cost more in eating a restaurant rather than eating at a street vendor’s. Typically a plate of nasi goreng in a diner should set you back around Rp. 20.000 – 50.000 (around USD 2 – 5). Fancier restaurants that provide gourmet food with all the trimmings will charge Rp. 100.000 – 250.000 (around USD 10 – 25) per dish.

Whatever you do, don't forget your hp ('handphone'), By: Yasmina Haryono

Jakarta Entertainment

Jakarta’s entertainment is mostly centered around malls. The nightlife is surprisingly lively. Drinks for two are around Rp. 100.000 – 200.000 (around USD 10 – 20) and to enter a club you have to rake out another Rp. 80.000 – 100.000 (around USD 8 – 10) per person.

X2 Nightclub in Jakarta filled to the brim, By: Rollan Budi

The cinemas here are also mostly located in malls. Watching movies in Jakarta is a very cheap way to keep yourself occupied, at only Rp. 15.000 (around USD 1.5) on weekdays and Rp. 35.000 (around USD 3.5) on Fridays and weekends. State of the art, plush Blitz Megaplex offers comfy seats, big screens, surround sound and some English subtitled films.

Concerts are also a popular passtime. Over the years, many music promoters have succeeded in bringing international artists to perform in Jakarta. The ticket price for attending a music concerts varies depending on the artist performing. It can range from reasonable Rp. 300.000 – 700.000 (around USD 30 – 70) to over the top at Rp. 700.000 – Rp. 2.000.000 (around USD 70 – 200).

Living in Jakarta can at times be frustrating, with the congested traffic, the lack of green and huge distances one needs to cover. But there are advantages too: there are many things to explore, see, hear and to eat! If you want to survive in and explore Jakarta, a little patience and a whole lot of positivity can be very useful along the way. Enjoy Jakarta!

Cross-Cultural Couples: Gerard and Komang

Cross-Cultural Couples: Gerard and Komang:
By: Emma Kwee

This next portrait in our cross-cultural couples series came to us from an unexpected corner of the world. Yours truly was enjoying a nice mother-daughter weekend on a small, windy island in the Netherlands, Ameland! While on a cycling trip we decided to stop for lunch in the village of Nes. The girl working there looked decidedly Indonesian. That’s how I met Komang, from Bali, who turned out to be married to Gerard, who also works in the fish shop. They met on Bali 9 years ago and one thing led to another. Now they divide their time between their two most loved islands: Bali and Ameland.

Gerard and Komang met on Bali and moved to Ameland, where they work in a fish shop.

Do you have an equally inspiring story to share? If you want to be part of this series, all you have to do is e-mail info@latitudes.nu!

Please introduce yourselves to our readers.
We are Gerard Tiemersma (33) and Ni Nyoman Sriartini, but everybody calls her Komang (28). We live on the beautiful island Ameland. I grew up in Buitenpost (a small town in the northeast of Friesland province). Komang was born and raised in Tabanan on the island of Bali.

How did you meet and where?
We met 9 years ago on Bali. Komang was doing an internship in a restaurant in Kuta. As soon as she walked up to my table there was a click and we started talking.

How did your relationship evolve?
Actually it was love at first sight. I fell head over heels for her. I somehow already knew this was right. Komang felt the same way but she was still hesitant. She didn’t speak a lot of English either. I offered to teach her some English and that’s how we became good friends. That seemed better at the time because it would be so hard to have a long distance relationship, coupled with the cultural differences. Still, we felt we were in love with each other. Luckily just before I left something happened and we both said we were going to give it a try. After some years of uncertainty, waiting and humongous phone bills I finally found myself on the way to Schiphol to pick her up from the airport. In September we will have been married 7 years and we live in a nice little home on Ameland, the island where we both live and work.

Gerard and Komang on Bali

What does it mean to your relationship to be of two different cultures?
When we started out we had some difficulties, but you get used to each other in a couple of years. The problems were mostly caused because I had to start working again which would leave Komang on her own a lot. But when she started to speak the language she quickly found a job as well, and everything turned for the better.

Has it ever caused any problems or miscommunication?
Yes, especially the cold and getting homesick. We don’t interact with our families that much here in the Netherlands. On Bali they tend to live together with their family.

How did your surroundings react to your mixed relationship?
In the beginning both our parents weren’t that positive. We had to deal with a lot of criticism from Bali, fueled by the Wild West stories of prostitution and also because of their Hindu beliefs. Luckily, by persevering and staying myself, trust has grown and now I get on great with my inlaws.

Gerard and Komang tied the knot 9 years ago

What are the biggest challenges you had to overcome?
For Komang mostly the freedom, the cold weather and Dutch food.

What are the best things that this relationship brings you?
Love and the fact that, after waiting for so long and dealing with so many obstacles, we can finally be together.

What makes you a perfect fit?
Komang is pretty strong headed, whereas I am a bit milder. We both enjoy good food, especially Indonesian food. We have the same taste when it comes to decorating our home; warm and lots of color. And we both love Ameland and Bali!

What language do you speak with one another?
We speak Dutch now, but we started out in English.

Are religious differences an issue between you and your partner? How did you solve these?
Komang was raised Hindu and I have not been raised with any faith. Most people in the Netherlands don’t hold on to one single faith. I respect other faiths but mostly believe in myself.

Fairytale in a forest

What are your future plans?
Our house has just been built and we enjoy living there tremendously. We don’t really have any plans for the future, even though we might want children in the future, we are taking it easy for now. We want to enjoy life with the two of us first.

Do you have any tips for other mixed couples?
Stay who you are and never give up. Love conquers all!

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Facebook starts to let you know how many friends logged in recently, and the last time you’ve posted

Facebook starts to let you know how many friends logged in recently, and the last time you’ve posted:
What’s the fun in having a lot of data if you don’t end up using it? Facebook has information on over 900M people, and the data alone isn’t interesting.
It looks like the social network is starting to put some of the data to good use. As Techie-Buzz spotted, Facebook is showing you how many of your friends have recently logged in and the last time you posted a status update.
Have a look:


Facebook tends to push small features like this into a small group of users for testing purposes, but this hasn’t hit my account yet.
It’s interesting to see what Facebook is trying to do when it comes to getting its userbase more engaged. Recently, the company started showing us trending videos to try and bring more activity to News Feed items that we may have missed.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for a comment, but have yet to hear back.
Does getting a reminder that you haven’t posted in 2 days make you want to do so? Let us know in the comments.
Also, be sure to drop us an email to tips@thenextweb.com if you see any interesting or new features on Facebook.

Google+ announces “Events” feature that is active before, during and after your party

Google+ announces “Events” feature that is active before, during and after your party:
Today during Google I/O, Google senior VP Vic Gundotra announced that a new feature for Google+ was launching, and it’s called “Events.” I got a sneak peak at the product this week and it absolutely blew me away.

When I asked Gundotra about why events were such an area of focus, he told me:

Going to an event, a picnic a wedding, is the most social thing we do. They’re the most memorable thing that we do, various discreet events.

Google+ Events help with all facets of having an event: before, during and after.

Before the event

Naturally, Google+ events is fully integrated into Google Calendars. When you set up your own event, you can choose a theme, called cinegraphs, that were custom-built by Google. There are subtle animations in them which carry over to the invitation on your Calendar.

Without a doubt, the invitation process is a simple one, but by having those invitations fully integrated into your Calendar is huge. You’ll be able to get all of the details about the event, as well as letting the person know if you’ll be there or not.

During the event

This is where Google+ Events really shines. The service has something called “Party Mode” which takes all of the photos and videos that you shoot during the time period of the event and uploads them to the event page. If everyone is using Google+ on the recently updated Android app, this feature will do the work for everyone.

During the event itself, you could toss the event page on to a big screen TV, as it has a “slideshow” mode for photos. Imagine having all of the people at your wedding reception taking photos that are automatically shared, it would be awesome.
I got to see this feature in action at Google’s offices, and the experience is absolutely seamless. Watching the photos stream in within 30 seconds of taking them is pretty awesome.

Now that all of those photos are uploaded, they are sorted by which photographer took them, as well as how interesting people thought the photos were. If a particular photo has a bunch of +1′s, it will then find its way to the top.
The best part is that your friends who can’t make it to your event can still check out the event page and all of the content, if they’re invited. Want to go public with your event? Simply switch on the “On Air” mode, which will broadcast it publicly.
Gundotra tells me that the On Air option is great for concerts and conferences.

After the event

If you’re someone who isn’t using Google+ on an Android device, you’ll get an email from the event reminding you to upload your photos. Everyone who was invited has a “folder”, and can add their photos to it easily. All of the photos will be sorted chronologically. Pictures also get facetagged.

Gundotra is extremely proud of Google+ Events:

This makes going to the event page after the event the most amazing and magical experience anyone has ever built.

Google+ Events is available today, and might take a while to roll out to everyone. This is another example of how Google is using + as a social layer to tie all of its products together.

The BBC takes to Facebook to stream Olympics, Wimbledon and other live events with new Sports app

The BBC takes to Facebook to stream Olympics, Wimbledon and other live events with new Sports app:
BBC Sport announced today the launch of a new Facebook app that will let users follow live streams of major sports events, from Wimbledon to the Olympics. As the BBC points out, it is the first time it has live streamed events on Facebook.
As a matter of fact, the beta version is already available today, on time for viewers to catch up with the Grand Slam. In addition to BBC’s network TV coverage, users will also get access to up to six extra match streams from across the courts.
Yet, it seems this new app is accessible from the UK, as we couldn’t open it from other countries, which is not very surprising due to rights issues. Here’s how it looks like for British Facebook users:

As you may expect from a Facebook app, the beta version already includes commenting and sharing features, with a live chat functionality to be added in time for the Olympics.
According to BBC News & Knowledge’s general manager Phil Fearnley, one of the purposes of this app is indeed for the corporation to experiment with social viewing, while giving users a new way to follow BBC Sport’s coverage:

“It’s a core part of the BBC’s mission to bring our quality content to audiences wherever they are, so I’m very excited to be able to offer sport fans on Facebook a really distinctive live streaming experience.
With our Facebook app we aim to bring even greater value to our online audiences, enabling them to watch together and share their excitement. We hope to use it to test the benefits of social viewing, as part of our ambition to deliver more innovative and transformative experiences to sports fans.”

It will also be interesting to see if “frictionless sharing” will help boost the events’ ratings, as the in-app Activity Stream will show you what your friends are watching in real time.
Image credit: Craig Moulding

Google Chrome now reaches 310M active users, almost doubling from 2011

Google Chrome now reaches 310M active users, almost doubling from 2011:
Today at its I/O conference, Google’s SVP of Chrome and apps Sundar Pichai announced that Google Chrome now reaches 310 million active users.
Pichai covered the announcements of Chrome for Android and talked about the growth of internet traffic, which he says has reached 2.3B users. Mobile users, Pichai says, account for 1B of those. He says that Chrome’s pre-fetching techniques save 13 years of human lifetime every year.

Google also demonstrated the various tab synchronization capabilities of Chrome from one computer to another and across to mobile devices, allowing you to carry your tabs, settings and more with you.
That number is up from some 160 million in 2011, demonstrating growth of almost double the active users in one year.

New Twitter search experience revealed: includes autocomplete, Spelling corrections, related suggestions and more

New Twitter search experience revealed: includes autocomplete, Spelling corrections, related suggestions and more:
As promised last night, Twitter has dropped a brand new search experience on its service to help you find things that really matter to you.
Here’s what Frost Li, an engineer on the Search and Relevance team at Twitter had to say about it:

We’re constantly working to make Twitter search the simplest way to discover what’s happening in real time. To that end, today we’re introducing search autocomplete and ‘People you follow’ search results to twitter.com. In addition to recent improvements like related query suggestions, spelling corrections and more relevant search results, these updates make it even easier to immediately get closer to the things you care about.

The search experience on Twitter has always been a sore spot, especially since there is so much content to parse through, without an idea of what’s trustworthy and worth your time, and what’s just noise.
According to the post, the company has focused on a few areas to clean up the experience and make it more streamlined.
With autocomplete, you’ll now find an experience similar to the one you’d see on Google, where you’ll get suggested terms as you start typing. A dropdown will appear and let you choose an option.
Also, if you spell something wrong, Twitter will now automatically show results for the right spelling. In addition, “related suggestions” will start popping up so if you’re searching for the Broncos, you’ll get suggestions for other things to search on, like the NFL.
In the department of finding dependable and trustworthy content, when you search for someone like Jeremy Lin, you’ll see people referring to his real name and his username. No longer do you have to perform searches for both, which is a huge timesaver.
We’ve been seeing “top” and “all” tweet options when performing searches for a while now, which is helpful, but today Twitter has announced that you’ll be able to dig into topics based on tweets from the people you follow, in its very own view.

Being able to search through your friend’s tweets only is something we’ve all been waiting many many years for, and I’m stoked to be able to give it a try. It’s like having a search engine for your friends right at your fingertips.
All in all, this is a step in the right direction for Twitter and discoverability on its platform. It has been very difficult for new users to jump into the service by finding things that are relevant to them and the handful of people that they follow. This should fix that onboarding problem, as well as cut out the noise for the rest of us.
The autocomplete and spell correction features will be rolled out for Twitter’s mobile apps as well. Want to see what the new search experience is all about? Go check out our hands-on.

Hands-on with Twitter’s new Simpler Search: Timeline search is a game changer

Hands-on with Twitter’s new Simpler Search: Timeline search is a game changer:
Now that the cat is out of the bag, we know what Twitter meant when it said the company would be changing the way we explore and discover on the service forever.
I’m taking the new features for a spin, and I have to say that I’m might impressed. Have a look at the autocompletion:

That feature alone is worth the price of admission, but when you throw on the fact that you can now sort through tweets only from the people that you follow, aka “Timeline search”? It’s gangbusters:

It truly is a whole new world, and a whole new Twitter experience to be able to do this. Once again the service feels small when I want it to, or global and massive when I choose.
By being able to search for things like “dog” and narrowing it down to just the people I follow, I can in essence see what all of my friends are saying about their pets. It might sound goofy, but man, it’s powerful. The other neat thing? Your own tweets pop up in the search results:

Suggested results is a great way for Twitter to get users to dig deep into content, without them leaving the site or performing multiple searches:

The user experience for a company that has so much data is key, and very difficult to solve. I’m not saying that Twitter is perfect, but in a lot of people’s minds, this type of experience is what could make the service more long-tail than real-time. That’s huge.
Without a doubt, this is something that the company has been working on for some time. Features like this will go through many iterations in the future, but what we’re seeing is most certainly the core Twitter search experience for years to come.