Jakarta

[QUOTE=HungMan1808;1700843]
Oh why not, here's another one: I was told the reason the original Transjakarta buses (or should I say, the older ones still running?) had doors on either side was due to them being imported from another country's system.

Some on here could probably verify if that story is true, [/QUOTE]A nice story but alas, like the story that the Rio De Janeiro suburb of Brooklyn got its name because the subway trains used to service the route were bought second-hand from New York or that Jalan Malioboro in Yogya was named after a Marlboro billboard that was erected on the street, it is not true.

The Transjakarta buses (at least on Corridor 1) pick up passengers at stops in the middle of the street hence the right-hand doors but deposit and embark passengers on kerb-side platforms at the Kota and Blok M terminals hence the left-hand side doors.

The original Corridor 1 service was a Godsend to hobbyists who split their game between Blok M and Kota, it's almost like it was designed with us in mind. It used to be a great joy to whizz up and down the Thamrin / Sudirman axis during rush-hour but with the endless annual renovations (pointed out by Hung Man) and now the MRT construction this is no longer the case. As to the other corridors due to the fact that most of them don't operate on 100 percent exclusive lanes there is no real advantage and the standard of maintenance on the buses is appalling. Quite a number of them are LPG-fuelled and I remember reading somewhere that one could visualise a scenario where a bus stuck in rush hour traffic starts leaking gas, some bloke on a motorcycle next to it decides to light a cigarette, then whoosh! Doesn't bear thinking about.

Ojeks are handy for emergencies or when you simply need to get somewhere at a certain time (but why bother? The person you are meeting won't be on time) but relying on them as transport would not be recommended. The real solution is just accept there will be traffic with a Zen-like patience, get a good e-reader and sit back and relax, what awaits you at the end of your journey hopefully will wash away all stress.

Greetings ISG,

Planning a trip to Jakarta and was looking for opinions on my info. Trying to get a feel for the lay of the land in regards to my nightlife choices.

I heard a lot of clubs have closed in the past year or so. So far this is the list I have gathered from online sources.

Illigals / Immigrant / CJ's / Bats / Golden Crown / Mille's / Sydney 2000 / Exotis / Blowfish / Dragonfly / X2 / Prive / Domain / Classic Hotel (Terminal) / 999 / UMBRA / Alexis / Venue / SCBD (Nebula / Fable / Lucy's / Empirica).

My tastes are quite varied and I would like to sample a little of everything Jakarta has to offer. Am I missing any club or bar of note?

What is your personal favorite from the list?

All info and recommendations are much appreciated.

Cheers

I do not think I have ever been to any clubs like what is described in and. Jakarta. I imagine an initial shock and awe for the first hour. I am not into techno, house, or anything like that so I will just have to tolerate the music as best I can. Woman come before music preference.

Assuming, I wanted to get a freebie from one of these type clubs, what is the best strategy for picking up a young Indo girl on E from one of these clubs?

Thanks in advance.

[QUOTE=MedellinKuya;1702385]Greetings ISG,

Planning a trip to Jakarta and was looking for opinions on my info. Trying to get a feel for the lay of the land in regards to my nightlife choices.

I heard a lot of clubs have closed in the past year or so. So far this is the list I have gathered from online sources.

Illigals / Immigrant / CJ's / Bats / Golden Crown / Mille's / Sydney 2000 / Exotis / Blowfish / Dragonfly / X2 / Prive / Domain / Classic Hotel (Terminal) / 999 / UMBRA / Alexis / Venue / SCBD (Nebula / Fable / Lucy's / Empirica).

My tastes are quite varied and I would like to sample a little of everything Jakarta has to offer. Am I missing any club or bar of note?

What is your personal favorite from the list?

All info and recommendations are much appreciated.

Cheers[/QUOTE]Although I note you state your tastes are quite varied, it is difficult to give recommendations without knowing more about what you like. For example, in other locales which places do you like to frequent?

Having said that, it seems you have missed the Blok M bars like Top Gun and D's Place, the Maribaya Bar (or whatever it is called) at the Melawai Hotel (also in Block M), and the Penjay Bars in Kota, such as Sari Ayu and LA Bar (there are a number of such bars in the Komplek Indah Kota on Jalan Pengaran Jayakarta (may be off on some of the spelling). But whether you would enjoy Komplek Indah Kota in particular depends on how flexible you really are (e.g., very little English spoken there but still possible to have fun if you don't speak Indonesian).

I would also add Malioboro towards the top of the list, and you might want to consider Hotel Travel, although the service level there can be problematic.

[QUOTE=MedellinKuya;1702385]Greetings ISG,

Planning a trip to Jakarta and was looking for opinions on my info. Trying to get a feel for the lay of the land in regards to my nightlife choices.

I heard a lot of clubs have closed in the past year or so. So far this is the list I have gathered from online sources.

Illigals / Immigrant / CJ's / Bats / Golden Crown / Mille's / Sydney 2000 / Exotis / Blowfish / Dragonfly / X2 / Prive / Domain / Classic Hotel (Terminal) / 999 / UMBRA / Alexis / Venue / SCBD (Nebula / Fable / Lucy's / Empirica).

My tastes are quite varied and I would like to sample a little of everything Jakarta has to offer. Am I missing any club or bar of note?

What is your personal favorite from the list?

All info and recommendations are much appreciated.

Cheers[/QUOTE]I don't know of any clubs that have closed recently other than Red Square and Stadium.

Your list there contains such a wide variety of places, they need to be rated separately. If you are young and decent looking, you don't need to spend your time in brothels because the girls will throw themselves at you at the clubs with no hookers.

In my opinion:

Best Brothels: Kings Cross, Malioboro, Hotel Classic (Alexis is better than all of these, but more expensive).

Best Night Clubs with Hookers: Bats, Top Gun, CJs.

Best Night Clubs without Hookers: X2, Immigrant, Dragonfly (I see you list others that are new and trendy and they would all be good pickup spots if you are young).

Best Rave Discos: Golden Crown, Milles, Colosseum.

There are lots of other places as well, but if I was new in town, these are the ones I'd go with. Hell, even if you had been in town over 10 years, these are the ones I'd go with.

Not a pickup spot, but a fun place to go these days is Jaya Pub. It's popular with both expats and locals. It's one of the oldest bars in the city and used to be one of the hottest hot spots in Jakarta. Then it died for almost 20 years. It has become popular again and is good fun. An old Dangdut singer runs the place. I'd never heard of him, but every time I've taken a girl there they always recognize that guy immediately as a famous "artist" from the past. He doesn't perform there, but has done a good job at bringing the bar back from the dead. The band mostly plays rock, but they also play dangdut on occasion. I love it when the hot chicks (why is it that dangdut chicks are always hot?) get up on the bar and sing dangdut. I normally bring a girl with me to the place. I have only been there on the weekend, so I'm not sure what it's like the rest of the week. Great atmosphere if you like a beer and a good time.

The Jaya Pub is right across the street from hotel Sari Pan Pacific.

Read on some other sites that some of the hotel brothels have an entrance fee. Not sure if it is waived if you took a girl or could be used towards your beer / drinks if none of the girls are to your liking. Also not sure if entrance fees only apply to certain times or days, like weekends. ?

I had plan on visiting several mentioned on this board and need to know if they have entrance fees and the amount as not to be surprised upon arrival.

Classic.

Travel.

King Cross.

Malioboro.

(Maybe Alexis- but unsure as it seems too pricey already with or without a fee).

Also, if other places you can think of have entrance fees, could list them here with the cost so others can also benefit from this info.

Thanks.

[QUOTE=HungMan1808;1700754]Show me a woman in Indonesia without scars on her legs and you are showing a woman who doesn't Ojek. There aren't many of them.

Ojeks can be handy. In these circumstances:

- When the traffic is guaranteed to be gridlocked from start to destination.

- When it is a short distance and you need to walk (too short or awkward route for a taxi).

- When it isn't going to pour rain or isn't clear skies (I. E. You can see blue through the smog, meaning damn hot).

- When how you look or smell isn't important when you reach your destination.

The traffic level is especially important. You *do not* want to give the Ojek a chance to get up speed. One time I got an Ojek in Bali, late at night. No traffic, open road, just been raining, no helmet. Casual ride down the road turned into something resembling qualifying for Moto GP. Never again. Rides since require bumper to bumper traffic all the way to impede speed.

You could also try a Bajah. I probably spelt that wrong, and if not forum autocorrect probably will! Those 3 wheel noise machines couldn't get speed up when trying on a steep downhill run. But they can't get through traffic like an Ojek. Ideal for short runs or carrying things however.

If a regular, finding a reliable Ojek or Bajah for your daily run can also work out just fine.

All other times. Taxi. Even the Transjakarta has deteriorated over the years. In recent years it has taken longer to get *on* the damn bus than the journey north to south would have taken in a taxi.[/QUOTE]Thanks for the info as I was also interested in alternate types of transport.

Are Bajaj available everywhere?

Also what should be a standard negotiated price from Gambir station to Mangga Besar, or Mangga Besar to King Cross on a Bajaj?

Just a thought as others have mentioned that the cost of taxi is also close to what the Ojek or Bajaj would cost. If this is true then why would they even exist?

[QUOTE=Freezone;1703024]Thanks for the info as I was also interested in alternate types of transport.

Are Bajaj available everywhere?

Also what should be a standard negotiated price from Gambir station to Mangga Besar, or Mangga Besar to King Cross on a Bajaj?

Just a thought as others have mentioned that the cost of taxi is also close to what the Ojek or Bajaj would cost. If this is true then why would they even exist?[/QUOTE]For your health and safety use a Taxi. AC and pretty well protected. Why suffer the heat, rain, dust and traffic when you can relax in an AC Taxi? And Jakarta Taxi are cheap.

RL.

[QUOTE=Freezone;1703015]Read on some other sites that some of the hotel brothels have an entrance fee. Not sure if it is waived if you took a girl or could be used towards your beer / drinks if none of the girls are to your liking. Also not sure if entrance fees only apply to certain times or days, like weekends. ?[/QUOTE]Most of them the entrance fee is the minimum you will have to spend. I think classic entry fee is 30 k, but it's really just a guarantee that you will spend that much. If you buy enough (drinks or girls) to exceed 30 k, you don't have to pay an extra 30k. They do that because a bunch of cheap ass locals pile in there to see the naked dancers, and if they didn't charge anything at all, no paying customers would be able to get through the door due to it being overcrowded. I wish they would raise it to 100 k. It gets too damn crowded in that place.

I think Malio charges a minimum of 200 k to enter and same with Alexis, but it's the same theory. The good thing about that is you won't have a bunch of local ojek drivers jamming the place crowded in there due to those prices.

The ground floor at hotel classic where they have the foreign girls does charge a cover and I think it's good for one drink, but I forget. Bats and CJs also charge a cover that definitely includes one drink. Bats is 120 k and CJs is a little more than that. Places like Golden Crown and the other rave discos charge a cover as well.

I consider it a non-issue because in any of those places, I will at least buy one drink. And that's enough to cover that cover charge in any case.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;1703062]The ground floor at hotel classic where they have the foreign girls does charge a cover and I think it's good for one drink, but I forget.[/QUOTE]There used to be a free drink over at Bunker with the entry fee but now they won't give free drinks anymore.

I think Classic's fee is higher than 30,000 closer to 60,000 if I am not wrong, however it is not waived even if you run up a substantial bar tab, it's only waived if you take a girl to the room.

Another scam happened to me the other day at a new place just opened behind Taman Angrek, Hotel be (that's not how it's spelt but I can't be arsed getting a way around the anal-retentive spell checker) Fashion, a nice spot but a bit pricey, 800,000 for a girl. I had arranged to meet someone there, arrived, picked up the bracelet at reception and went in only to be told the person I was looking for had left so I simply turned round and walked out, less than 45 seconds inside all told, I didn't even enter the main room. I walked out and dropped the bracelet on the counter and suddenly there was all sorts of hullaballoo, ending only when I paid over 150,000 "cancellation fee". Very irritating and a sure way for a new place, looking to establish a customer base, to cheese off a potential regular client.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;1702574]Not a pickup spot, but a fun place to go these days is Jaya Pub. It's popular with both expats and locals. It's one of the oldest bars in the city and used to be one of the hottest hot spots in Jakarta. Then it died for almost 20 years. It has become popular again and is good fun. An old Dangdut singer runs the place. I'd never heard of him, but every time I've taken a girl there they always recognize that guy immediately as a famous "artist" from the past. He doesn't perform there, but has done a good job at bringing the bar back from the dead. The band mostly plays rock, but they also play dangdut on occasion. I love it when the hot chicks (why is it that dangdut chicks are always hot?) get up on the bar and sing dangdut. I normally bring a girl with me to the place. I have only been there on the weekend, so I'm not sure what it's like the rest of the week. Great atmosphere if you like a beer and a good time.

The Jaya Pub is right across the street from hotel Sari Pan Pacific.[/QUOTE]I was there once with a group of expats and it is a fun place.

[QUOTE=MedellinKuya;1702404]I do not think I have ever been to any clubs like what is described in and. Jakarta. I imagine an initial shock and awe for the first hour. I am not into techno, house, or anything like that so I will just have to tolerate the music as best I can. Woman come before music preference.

Assuming, I wanted to get a freebie from one of these type clubs, what is the best strategy for picking up a young Indo girl on E from one of these clubs?

Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]I don't know if the traffic stops by the police are still a problem, but at least a couple of years ago cars, and even more so taxis, were stopped for "checks" by the police, particularly in parts of North Jakarta. If you were foreign and in a taxi you would be at particular risk. If you didn't have your passport with you, you would in many instances have to give a bribe in the range of 50,000 - 100,000 rupiah. But the more troubling scenario, which I fortunately never experienced, would be one where they checked for drugs. Even if you weren't carrying, if your "friend" was there could be trouble for you from what I understand. Others here might have both better and more up to date information about whether this is something to be concerned about, but your post did raise the issue in my mind.

How much would a night out normal cost?

Taxi from Plaza Senayan to the North and South to Kemang?

Entrance fee?

Local beer price?

Going to try to do small dates near my apartment during the week and go out alone on Friday or Saturday night.

Also, I think people missed my post about the rave clubs up North.

What is best strategy for picking up some rave girl on E? I assume to find one that is showing some interest. Then tell her to lets go and lead her out? Never dealt with any girls or venues like that.