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Bandung, Indonesia

Safety

Safety in Bandung, Indonesia
What do other Racers need to know in order to be safe? Current safety protocols/precautions in place? Any relevant issues/concerns? Any precautionary suggestions?

People’s Opinions

  1. Our hosts said that Bandung is “safer than most American cites at night”, and it certainly felt so for us. We used the buddy system to prevent getting lost alone (more fun when you get lost with a friend).

Ministry Summary

Ministry Summary in Bandung, Indonesia
Breakthroughs? Suggestions? Concerns? On a scale of 1-4 (1 being not at all, 4 being absolutely) how strongly would you recommend another World Race team go to this ministry location & why?

People’s Opinions

  1. We worked with the Center and it was awesome. We practiced conversational English with young adults in hang outs settings, coffee chitchats, sports days, karaoke, and all sorts of other fun events. They also encouraged us to hang out with the center members outside of center events and form awesome relationships. I left Bandung with incredible friends, most of whom are Muslim which is an awesome evangelism opportunity.We also worked with Kita and Freedom House- ministries with sex-trafficked women. We would hang out with the girls and do Zumba and sing with them and help teach English at Kita which is where many of the women work creating textiles to sell.We also got to help with English club in the local women’s prison and our teammate even taught a hairstyling class in the prison.
  2. Bandung Alliance Intercultural School (Kota Baru)This school is legit. It prepares the students for college in the states so all the students speak great English. The teachers are mostly American. While we were there, we got close with the teachers and they were constantly inviting us over for dinners. It was awesome! Our main ministries included leading chapel for the students, talking with the students about mission work and our personal lives, and helping the teachers with various classroom projects.
  3. We worked with several different ministries once a week. Each of the sites had needs that future teams could serve, and even spend more time with them than we got to. We served at Adolphus Mental health facility (leading bible study, music, painting, and aerobics), ITB University American Corner (teaching things about America, and making connections with students), Ruth House (home for un wed mothers, helping with a bible study), SMK High School (teaching english), local aerobics (Muslim women outreach program put on by the Advent college), and Bandung International Church (teaching sunday school, leading worship).
  4. We were serving our hosts ministry, “The Center”, an English drop-in training place.Every permanent staff member that works there has their own personal ministry.Some of these included a women’s prison (English training on one day, Bible study on another, boy’s prison, homeless kids’ ministry, a recovery house for exploited women and others.Our hosts gave us so much freedom to take the relationships we developed with the English students to the next level, and connect with them in the evenings over coffee.We have many meaningful conversations.

Lodging

Lodging in Bandung, Indonesia
Where did you stay? What were the accommodations (sleeping arrangements, toilets, showers, etc.)? Cost (per person per night in USD), Contact info.

People’s Opinions

  1. We stayed at the Center’s Guest House. Shared rooms with two beds in each except one room that just had a full sized bed. Hot water, full kitchen, nice living room, but be warned if you are an introvert, there are people over ALL the time
  2. Bandung Alliance Intercultural School (Kota Baru)We stayed in a house all to our own. It was amazing!!! it had 5 bedrooms and a tv! also a full kitchen couches. It was by far the nicest place i’ve stayed on the race.There’s a cribs video of it on youtube. Search “worthy pearls” and the video is called “cribs indonesia”

Food / Meals

Food / Meals in Bandung, Indonesia
What did you eat? Where did you get the food? Cost (per person per day in USD)? Contact info (if applicable).

People’s Opinions

  1. We found it easiest to either buy street food, make food at home, or order food through our host’s phone. We buy rice and/or noodles almost every night from a street vender just up the road from the Guesthouse. It’s easy, cheap, and delicious.
  2. Most people in Bandung eat the street food. Rely on hosts to tell you which ones are safe to eat at. Satay and Nasi Goring were our favorites. An average meal was 25,000 rph (appx. $2.50 USD).Grocery stores are close by and more expensive sometimes than eating out, but still an option.

Transportation

Transportation in Bandung, Indonesia
What transportation did you use to enter the country? Where were you coming from? What transportation was used to move throughout the country? Be sure to include the cost per person in USD and contact info if applicable.

People’s Opinions

  1. We used Uber mostly because the public transportation (ankots) are sort of difficult to figure out and when you have a whole team or at least 4 people, it costs about the same. Traffic is horrendous though and we actually for special permission through our Squad Leader and AIM to ride on motos because it was inconveniencing our ministry hosts and making ministry difficult when they constantly had to wait on us to come by uber. EVERYONE in Bandung seems to have a moto.
  2. We flew into Jakarta with our squad. We were coming from Vietnam, then Malaysia. Our host picked us up in a van.We used public transportation (ankots) for most of our time in Indonesia. We suggest if you could get an ankot route map to do so. It will make life a lot easier and save you some time because there are so many of them that look alike but go different places. The price for the ankots differed for us depending on how far we traveled. Short distances cost 2,000 rp. and the longest we took cost 10,000 rp. Our host was able to give us rough estimates on how much we should expect to pay so we didn’t over pay. We also found that if you can figure how much it cost before getting on or from other people riding, hand the money to the driver and walk away, it is cheaper. Every time we had to ask how much it was the driver told us a higher price.The ankots stop running about 6 p.m. so we had to use taxis at night. Make sure they use a meter. We suggest that you also have some way to know if your going the right way also because we found that there are several streets with the same name. We often used maps.me which is an offline gps and it worked great here.We also found that taking the ankots can take up A LOT of time so we connected with a really nice ankot driver and paid him for the day. It ended up being cheaper than if our whole team would have taken all of the ankots to get where we were going.
  3. Our hosts showed us how to use public transit (small busses named ankots), which charge 3,000 rph/person ($0.30 USD). They are often and accessible.

Medical

Medical in Bandung, Indonesia
Information on local hospitals / doctors / pharmacies. Where would someone go in a medical emergency? (addresses and contact info).

People’s Opinions

  1. The Center –Jane and Steve have contacts in the area that practice medicine out of their home. They appreciate being kept in the loop about anyone feeling ill

Communication

Communication in Bandung, Indonesia
Did you have cell reception / Internet service? Where? Carrier / Provider, where did you get phones / SIM cards, cost? Country code?

People’s Opinions

  1. Many SIM cards in Indonesia now require you to give further information. Because of this, the SIM card I bought did not work and I had to get another. If you are at a place that will require you to type in information after buying the card – don’t buy it and find one somewhere else!
  2. SIM cards 20,000 rp each. 50,000 rp of minutes per phone was plenty for the month. Internet best at Chiwak Mall and PVJ Mall.
    Telkom sel was the carrier. Country code: +62

Financial

Financial in Bandung, Indonesia
Location of banks or ATMs, notes about transaction fees, best places to exchange money, and other money related advice.

People’s Opinions

  1. CommentWe did not find a specific ATM with cheaper fees. In order to exchange money the bills had to be in perfect condition.
  2. The most success we had at withdrawing money was from ATM’s in the malls (“chiwalks”).Make sure you select the ones with the VISA option, and choose “credit card” from the account options.

Translators

Translators in Bandung, Indonesia
List any local translators – name and contact information, languages spoken

People’s Opinions

  1. Comment

Off Days / Fun Activities

Off Days / Fun Activities in Bandung, Indonesia
What activities did your team experience? Recommendations? List locations/contact info. Any locations to be avoided? Any extra safety tips for off days?

People’s Opinions

  1. **If you work with the Center, make friends with the members and ask them for suggestions/to go on an adventure with you! I went to all of these places with Center members and a few teammates.Punclut is an area that overlooks the city of Bandung- it is awesome to go at night and see the lights but also cool during the day. They have a bunch of traditional Sundanese restaurants. Probably best to go with a localCar-free day- There is a street that is only open for walking and bicycles every Sunday morning. They have food vendors and stores and it is a fun way to spend a morning. Almost like a fair at home.Puncak Eurad- This place has cool views, a few hiking trails (nothing hard core), and places that sell food ( I would use the term restaurant VERY loosely but they are good). Great picture taking place and there is a strange phenomenon where it is really windy in one small area and nowhere else. It is about 1 to 1.5 hours outside of Bandung my motorbike- not really sure if you could get there by car.Café D’Pakar- restaurant kind of in the middle of nowhere about 35 minutes outside of Bandung (by moto- ask a Center member about it). It has incredibly pretty views and it isn’t really expensive given the view. It is outside and tables/stools are all wooden. Great picture-taking place!
  2. Bandung Alliance Intercultural School (Kota Baru)– Moto ride through the mountains. The teachers took us all on their motos through dirt roads and little towns to the lake. Then we took a ride on a boat on the lake. It was a chill and fun day.– Bandung city day. We took the bus into town with some of the teachers and went to the top of the iconic temple, went to a market, and went to Aroma coffee. It was fun to get to see Bandung, but overall the city isn’t impressive at all.– Around Kotu Baru there are several coffee shops (Ekuator & Better days) and we went to a salon and got a “cream bath”. It sounds gross, but it basically an intense head massage for like $4. It was amazing.There is also a volcano somewhere, but we didn’t get the time to go.
  3. -Three different hot springs.-Floating Market in Lembung.-Tea plantations in Lembung.-Rock climbing in Lembung area (our host took us but I’m sure you could find a contact to it).-Travel to BaliOur host allowed us to save one adventure day and combine it our last adventure day and off day. We traveled round trip $136, but it can be done cheaper. We took a train from Bandung to Surabaya for $11 (the cheapest day we saw it was $6, and go for business class if you can it can be just as cheap as economy on the right day). Then we flew from Surabaya to Denpasar for $42. Then from Denpasar to Jakarta to meet our squad to leave the country for $83. It can be done cheaper if you watch and book at the right time. Garuda was the only airline we found that was not black listed.

Other Important Contacts

Other Important Contacts in Bandung, Indonesia
Additional ministry opportunities, local pastors, etc. Relationship & follow up suggestions

People’s Opinions

  1. My team and I had the opportunity to connect with a local principal of a mixed religion school, “Temasek Independant School”, in Bandung last month.Her name is Sylva Sagita, and she’s Muslim, but a woman of peace. She invited us because she wanted us to inspire faith in her Christian students. We shared our testimonies, and she listened to the whole thing. She was very eager to have a future team return to her school. You can read the details of our interaction here:http://nicolewolf.theworldrace.org/post/wedding-crashing-and-chicken-feet-snacking-dont-live-this-lifeI think she’s a prime connection for future teams (who bunk with our Hosts- since the school was minute walk out their door).You can contact her through:Phone number/ WA : +6281321904487Email : sylvasag@gmail.com

Tips

People’s Opinions

  1. All Burger Kings in Indo seem to have the same password so write it down and then if you go to Ciwalk (pronounced like “knee”-walk but with a ch), you can always use Burger King’s wifi to call an uber or a grab (Asian version of Uber)

Additional Info

Additional Info in Bandung, Indonesia
Anything we’ve left out? Any additional suggestions to make travel easier for others?

People’s Opinions

  1. Bandung is extremely Muslim and you will likely meet and spend a lot of time with Muslims so just be aware of that. Don’t talk about eating pork or drinking alcohol because those are things they find offensive (once you form a relationship with someone, those types of things may come up in normal discussion which is awesome but if you are with people you just met or don’t know very well, be aware).If you are a woman Muslim men (like our age) will likely not touch you aside from a high-five or handshake. Americans are very touchy and side-hugs and stuff like that are very common but they just don’t do that. Women might hug you but men will not so don’t worry, they like you, they just respect women by not touching them. When we were saying goodbye to the people we were closest with, we asked each person specifically if it was alright to hug them and if they said yes, then we did.When young people greet older people, especially women, they typically will sort of shake hands and put the older persons hand to their head/forehead. Kids will probably do this to you and if you do it to older people, they think it is very respectful. And if you walk by an older person on the street say “poon-ten” (I don’t know how to spell it but that is how it sounds) which means “excuse me” in Sundanese, the tribal language spoken in Bandung and they will respond with “manga, manga” which means “Go ahead.” They think that is very respectful and it will probably earn you some smiles.You will be called a “bule” which means white person. It isn’t offensive, don’t worry. Also, everyone will want to take your picture and yell hi, sister, mister, etc. to you while you are walking. Just smile and wave- people were always friendly to us, they are just curious. Also, in Bahasa Indonesia, he and she are the same word so sometimes Indonesians call you mister even though you are female just because that is how their language works, don’t be offended, they know you are female.All of that to say, don’t worry! Especially if you work at the Center, you will be with mostly young adults who understand Western culture a little bit and they will teach you things and help you out. Ask lots of questions because they definitely will also!P.S. they LOVE learning American slang words or expressions.
  2. We worked with muslim women for the majority of our time. Our host preferred we dress in a way that would be modest for the women in their culture. This required us to wear longer sleeve (tank tops and short sleeves had cardigans over them, quarter length sleeves, or long sleeve), and long pants or skirts (knee length dresses had leggings under them, long dresses, long skirts, pants). There were a lot of technical things like tighter pants needed a longer shirt/top, shorter sleeves needed longer pants. We found it was very important to be dressed nicer than the average Racer wardrobe calls for. Our worn out, wrinkly clothes were allowed if that was all we had or could get, but more business casual or more metropolitan style was preferred. Of course it is all up to your host and the work you will be doing, but she said it prevented us from offending or intimidating anyone we might want to minister to because it was predominately muslim. We found that the two malls (Chiwak and PVJ) were just as cheap and more time efficient as the street shops to find appropriate clothing.