Surviving Jakarta as A Foreigner

Credit : Olga Bonitas for the sign clipart

Background

I was born in Indonesia. And I have spent half of my life there. Though the last few years most of my visits were very short. This visit would be the longest ever.

Gathering Information

With so many changes around travel restriction due to COVID, it's really hard to keep up with the latest information. One way that I found helpful was to be member of Facebook group : Visa & Law Indonesia. I didn't even ask any questions because most of the questions I had were already asked and answered.

Just before I got on the flight to Jakarta, I googled the latest travel restriction just to be sure I didn't miss anything.

Visa On Arrival

There are currently 86 countries on the visa on arrival list. If you are holding passport from any of those 86 countries then you're eligible for Visa On Arrival. It cost IDR500,000 (USD 33) and allows one to stay up to 30 days.

Prepare cash for IDR500,000 when you arrive at the immigration line. At Soekarno-Hatta airport (CGK) the line for VOA payment was on the right hand side of the immigration hall. After you pay the staff behind the counter, you would receive a receipt. Bring that and your passport to the immigration counter next to it.

Other Visas

If you plan to stay more than 30 days, consider applying single entry visa prior to your arrival in Indonesia. Check out this page for more information.

Registering Cell Phone and Purchasing SIM Card

One of the new laws in Indonesia for foreigners is the requirement to register the phones they brought in. It's a confusing law, but I gathered that if you stay in Indonesia for less than 90 days then you don't have to register your phone.

If you are travelling to Denpasar, Bali and part of Lombok, you could pre-order your tourist SIM Card from Telkomsel. Not sure why there was no option for travelers arriving in Jakarta. I did send an inquiry to Telkomsel regarding that particular question. The answer was not satisfying. 😒

When I arrived in September 2022, the cost of prepaid Telkomsel SIM Card was IDR200,000. (USD13). That gave me a SIM card and 15 GB of data that lasts for 30 days. I found out through MyTelkomsel app that my SIM card actually lasts 5 months. Since I stayed more than 30 days. When my first data package expired, I only needed to purchase additional data package and I was good to go.

Make sure to download the MyTelkomsel app, it helps to manage your SIM card.

Gojek App

Gojek is similar to Doordash in the west but far more robust than just food delivery. Gojek also offers payment system through its gopay. For people like me who doesn't own a bank account in Indonesia, gopay is one of the way you could pay for your online purchase through Tokopedia. US and Canada has Amazon and Indonesia has Tokopedia. 😍

There are a few ways you could fund your gopay account. The most cost effective way would be to ask your gojek driver to transfer some credit to your account. No fees involved.

I have not used that gojek driver method yet. Instead I walk to my neighborhood Alfamart and top up my gopay account there. Just tell the person behind counter that you want to top up your gopay. Let them know your cellphone number associated with the gojek account. They would ask whether it's for consumer or driver. The answer is consumer. Then you tell them the amount. The fee for each transaction was IDR2000 (USD0.13). I usually top up quite a decent amount to be used for Tokopedia purchases so I still think this method was pretty cost effective.

Tokopedia

Tokopedia is the Amazon of Indonesia. It's an online shopping platform that connects sellers to buyers. I used Tokopedia to buy my rubber gloves for dishwashing, henna hair color all the way to my supplements.

Unlike Amazon where transactions are paid with debit or credit cards. Tokopedia actually has way more different payment methods. From COD (Cash On Delivery),  bank transfers, virtual bank transfers to cash payments at convenient stores like Alfamart, Indomart, etc. Tokopedia also accept cashless payment method like OVO and gopay.