Travel Guide to Indonesia
If you travel to Indonesia you will have your choice of about 17,000 islands. About 6,000 of these islands are not civilized. People that travel to Indonesia do so either by airport or seaports. When you travel to Indonesia it will be necessary for you to get a visa for your stay. The cost is about ten dollars a day for a stay up to seven days. Between seven and thirty days the cost is twenty-five dollars. It is best if you are able to pay the fee for the visa exact local currency.
When you travel to Indonesia, you can receive the visa at the airport or seaport where you arrive. There is a standard procedure for getting a visa when you travel to Indonesia. Before you get to Indonesia, you should fill out the arrival card as your visa application. When you get to Indonesia, you can pay the fee at the bank counter. At this time you will be given a receipt with a bar code on it. You can take this receipt to the counter marked Visa on Arrival. An officer will then take note of your arrival card, passport, and your receipt. You will be given a visa sticker. At the immigration counter, they will stamp your passport. As you travel between different ports in Indonesia, the process might vary a little.
For travel to Indonesia, it is important to know that language that is spoken. The main language that is spoken in Indonesia is Indonesian. As you travel through different parts of the country, the dialect will be slightly different. While you travel through some parts of Indonesia many educated Indonesians will be able to understand and speak English. Before you travel to Indonesia, it might be helpful to get a book on how to translate the language so that you will be able to communicate as you travel. Be aware that there are many local languages in throughout the country, so as you travel between islands and villages in Indonesia, the language might vary from a little to a lot.
You will find that when you travel to Indonesia, the currency, the rupiah (Rp), has been significantly devalued against the dollar. It takes over 9,000 rupiah in order to buy just one dollar. Their highest banknote is Rp 100,000, a large amount for many of the purchases that are made in the country. As you travel you will find that many people in Indonesia will readily accept the dollar. However, they seem to be highly selective in the condition of the dollar that they will accept. For example, when you travel, a merchant might not accept a bill that is older than a few years. There are also ATMs available and credit cards are accepted. It is not advisable to use credit cards as you travel in Indonesia because there is a high amount of card cloning and credit card fraud in the country.
Because the level of poverty in the country, it is necessary to be aware of the crime level when you travel to Indonesia. While serious crimes are not very widespread, crimes that involve theft, especially pickpockets are very common as you travel. Make sure that you keep a close watch on your belonging when you travel to Indonesia. If you are going to wear a money clip when you travel wear it close to your body and preferably on the inside of your clothing.
The country is very corrupt. In fact, it is one of the most corrupt in the world. When you travel, you might be asked for tips and bribes from officials. They do this because they need money to add to their extremely low salaries. Sometimes if you pretend like you do not understand what they are talking about, they may back off from asking. Be courteous and polite, smile a lot, and ask for an official receipt for what you are being asked to pay. Many times this will help to avoid problems while you travel in Indonesia.
Despite the corruption and theft that is prevalent in the country, it is still possible to have a good time when you travel to Indonesia. The islands are some of the most beautiful in the world. Once you travel to Indonesia it will become the point of comparison for each place you travel to thereafter.
