Anyone lived in Jakarta as an expat?

I did see rats in Jakarta but to be honest I have seen more here! They are not quite as big though! I found the storms exciting, better than the same dry weather here day in and day out. I had never heard of car jacking, I have friends who have been living there for years and they've never mentioned it either. There are no pavements which makes taking a buggy out and about a waste of time unless you go to the malls. The weather is no worse than what it is on average 8 months of the year here. It does not get any where as hot as here, however the cooler weather months here are very nice. It is true that you have to clean all your fruit/veg with a special cleaner which is a bit of a pain. Some days are nice and sunny but yes there is a lot of pollution. It is true that a lot of the locals do laugh at you, especially the girls in malls. They are tiny and they think you buying a UK size 10 is huge! I used to shop in a supermarket called Ranch Market which was really nice, it was more expensive but it was a pleasure to shop there and had no bad smells. Jakarta has changed hugely over the last few years and is a surprising city. I went there expecting the worst (only ever used to see disasters on TV) and was pleasantly surprised. You always have the option to see and expat Dr at the SOS clinic if you are unhappy with the local Dr. Flooding can be an issue but I lived in a compound with excellent drainage. The company we rented from were Lembong and they were excellent. They sorted out any problems very quickly and had good security. A lot of Embassies have there staff living in there compounds. My house was of an excellent standard, there was generators for when the power went. I had a private swimming pool, something our budget here would never allow. It can be an amazing opportunity and yes very frustrating at times. It could be an important move for you DH's career and maybe you do not need to stay there for long. One of the most annoying things I remember was trying to get in out of the lifts in the malls with my baby in her buggy. It was next to impossible, people in the malls seem to be allergic to using escalators and they are very rude and just shove. I used to get very upset by this! People in Dubai are much more polite in this regards. Ramadan is a lot more relaxed than here, restaurants are still open and just put curtains up. Will let you know if I think of anything else.

Snakes, big bugs, mosquitoes, rats bigger than cats, earthquakes, rain and storms with thunder like you have never heard, flooding, intestinal amoeba, poverty, dengue and other disease, children begging at your car windows, being stuck in traffic for hours on end, bad healthcare and hopeless doctors, watching whole families living in handcarts and picking rubbish from bins, corruption, dishonest police, car jacking, no seasons, humidity, few pavements and depending on a driver, low light and gloom as the sun only shines for a few hours every morning.... The list of reasons not to go are endless! It is a hard place to live. Proximity to Singapore etc is negated by the fact that it can often take double or more the expected time to travel anywhere for no particular reason. It once took me 4 hours to travel a 45 minute journey. 7 hours to get home! Kemang is one of the nicer areas but I once came out of a very nice restaurant had a rat run over my foot. After long periods of unexplained illness the doctor told me not to eat anything grown in Indonesia as it is often fertilised with human excrement thus . Trips out of Jakarta made my heart sink as it all only got worse! Went to a luxury villa retreat in Puncak and ended up with fleas and bed bug bites all over me. ON the plus side it was a life changing experience and the butterflies were amazing. The Indonesian people are amazing and live with incredible dignity alongside horrendous poverty and corruption by the police and government. The divide between rich and poor is huge although there is an emerging middle class. The staff we had were amazing and very honest although there were many stories about others who were not. Average wage for a maid per month is around 500 dhs. Don't agree with what a previous poster said about the shops! One or 2 decent malls but the stock in Marks or Debenhams didnt change for months and months and was already about 6 months out of date. Even in the most modern and western malls tiny locals will stare and giggle at us as tall westerners. Even worse, when shopping the smell of durian and dodgy freshwater fish pervade all around the shop and beyond. Easy to get Australian and some american products in the supermarkets but things like tinned tomatoes would disappear for months. If you really think you have to go there visit first and take the things people have said on this thread really seriously!

We lived there many years ago when learning Bahasa Indonesia was really useful. Even though the AWA had a good choice of servants, the language barrier was a toughie. The pollution was rife then and friends of ours who lived there when we did and again recently just left for good a month ago. They did not enjoy the second time around, mainly because they felt the pollution was much worse as was the traffic. If you have young kids my recommendation would be to live as close as possible to the school. As for accommodation, many expats enjoy living in villas and all the baggage that comes with them. It's not for everyone. These days, there are many apartment complexes, you have a choice. Living in an apartment can be less stressful. From our personal experience, Jakarta, the city left very little impression other than noise, pollution and stress however, outwith the city, there are some lovely areas such as bandung, Puncak and Sambolo. Mind you, we're talking many moons ago so these areas might have become very touristy too :( At this time of our lives, we much prefer to be in Dubai, it's always down to your personal choice. Wishing you the best !

Just to add another spin to this thread, I lived there before coming here and there is no way I would go back there to live! I absolutely hated it and was so pleased to leave. It was my 3rd overseas posting so I was not new to living overseas and all previous postings had also been in Asia so that wasn't a problem. I found it unsafe, dirty, polluted, drab and I didn't think the people looked particularly happy (mostly nice though). I didn't have a good package and I think that would have made the world of difference. My housing was shocking with no running hot water and the electricity going off all the time but that was all I could afford on the allowance I was given. I didn't have a car/driver and had to rely on unreliable taxis, sometimes having to phone in to work to say I couldn't get in because I couldn't get a taxi! Sorry to be negative but it is the only place out of the 4 expat places I have lived that I didn't like. Dubai is so much easier to live in.

I'm going to disagree with Barbie doll. I only knew very little Bahasa and I got by fine. There is staff who speak enough English if you look hard enough. Some of the nannies who lived in our compound spoke perfect English. You may have to pay extra for them but believe the cost of staff is peanuts compared to here. I didn't have anyone live in with me but that was my choice as I like my privacy. There is lots of challenging voluntary work if that is something you are interested in. I forgot to mention that some companies will pay hardship allowance which is a bonus.

Jakarta was our first overseas posting as well. Bodabz has given great tips & information, but what she missed out telling you is that u will need to learn Bahasa Indonesia as the Driver, Nanny, Cook etc will not speak in English. So there is no way around that, atleast not 16 years ago when we lived there. I prefer Dubai anyday as I found the life there extremely laid back, as most women are ladies of leisure & its almost impossible to get employment due to the country having a large population of its own. Good luck wid your posting.

My cousin lived in Jakarta for several years. It's a huge, polluted and chaotic city, much bigger than Dubai, and will be more challenging in many ways. Most of the expats tended to live in a handful of areas including Kemang (where my cousin lived in a compound). From what I gathered the expat community is much tighter in Jakarta than in Dubai and everyone seems to belong to the same clubs and the kids go to the same 2-3 schools. Help is much cheaper in Indonesia and my cousin's family had a cook, maid, nanny and driver. Having a driver is essential. It's very easy to go to Bali, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand for vacations.

http://www.jakartaexpat.com/community/schools http://www.anzajakarta.net/

Hi Owls I lived there. It was my first expat posting. I would return tomorrow if given the chance. My DD wasn't in school then but I did visit a few schools for some running events and thought they looked very good. JIS is quite central and looked fab and then the BIS is quite far out but there are school buses from the compounds. I would put my DD on a bus in Jakarta long before I would here. My friends used both of these schools and were happy. THe malls are great and have all the well known shops e.g. Debenhams, Marks and Spencers, ELC, Mothercare etc. You can get some Waitrose products in some shops. The roads are very congested so not high speed like Dubai. It is very likely that you will have to get a driver. We got a car and driver provided with hubbies company. It is very unusual to see expats drive. There are lots of advantages to this, you don't have to find parking etc. You get dropped off at the door of where you want to go, as a result of this you also get very spoilt! It is very cheap to get help, gardeners, drivers, helpers etc. Indonesians are very friendly people and love children. Children are very welcome at restaurants etc. We lived in Kemang which is a popular area. There are lots of expat clubs in this area. The houses are of the same standard as here (depends where you look). They are mainly in compounds and are very nice. I can't help you with the package as we had everything included, e.g. house, utility bills, car, schools etc. We had someone help us with all the paperwork from the company which I think is important. It is quite overwhelming when you go to get fingerprints etc and am glad we had someone with us. I had a much better social life in Jakarta that I have now. There are lots of expats balls etc. Where are you from? When I was in Jakarta, I made new friends that had previously lived in Dubai, they all preferred Jakarta. It is quite dirty, noisy and you can get stuck in traffic for a long time but you can take a book etc. It is a exciting city and close to lots of great places for holidays such as Bali! It is very close to Singapore too. The healthcare was okay, we used the SOS clinic. For anything major you would tend to go to Singapore. Here are some useful websites. Just google and keep looking. http://awajakarta.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=31 http://www.bwajakarta.org/ On the negative side, the mozzies are bad and dengue fever is a problem. Overall I have good memories and as I said I would move back tomorrow given the chance.