Jakarta International Airport, Indonesia

Jakarta International Airport (S6°07.436' E106°39.103')
We reached the Airport almost 6pm. Took a burger from A&W fast food stall (Burger and Root Beer Float cost MYR9.40) and quickly snap around the Airport for my collections....
The Airport is Huge!

The road in front of the Departure Hall...

Communication Tower of Jakarta International Airport

There are many Statue around the Airport, even more along the Highway...

The Statue at Airport

You won't lost your way because the signage are big enough.

The A&W Stall spotted easily once you enter the hall.

Inside the airport...

Nice decoration on my right...

Group of travelers on my left...

After we finish our 'burger', the time was limited and we have to check-in to our flight.

The Check-in Hall

Upon check-in, we realized that the ticket we purchased from Airasia was not include the Airport tax in Indonesia. I was panic at the moment because we finished our Rupiah! Luckily the officer was kind enough to accept Malaysia Ringgit...
I wonder why during my booking through Airasia website, it was not mention at all!

After check-in, we were passed by the Duty Free Shops...

I did not buy anything from the shops, the reason was they only deal in USD. And after the conversion, all the stuffs was expensive than Malaysia.

I was surprised that the 'Smoking Area' in the waiting area actually is a 'Cafe'. It's different from Senai Airport (Johor Bahru), Changi Airport (Singapore) and Taipei Airport. They are just a 'small' room with Full of smoke inside. I believe the smokers at Indonesia are really enjoy their smoking places! Haha!

The actual flight was 18:55hrs (Indo time), 19:55hrs (MY time). But before take off, it delayed for about 30 minutes because of the Heavy Traffic on the sky....
We started to fly on 19:30hrs (Indo time), 20:30hrs (MY time). It tooks 1 hour 45 minutes to reached Senai Airport at Johor.

The Indonesia Airasia Boeing 737

That's end my trip to Cikarang, Indonesia.

Home sweet home...

Related posts :-
* My First Impression of Jakarta, Indonesia
* Pesona Hotel at Lippo Cikarang, Indonesia
* Roas Rasa Makanan Sunda Restaurant at Cikarang - Bekasi, Indonesia
* Lippo Cikarang Mall, Bekasi, Indonesia
* Cikarang, Indonesia
* My Indonesia Trip on March 2009

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Sunset at Cape Phromthep

Cape Phromthep is Phuket's southernmost point, a rocky headland surrounded by steep cliffs with views of the ocean and all the islands to the south and east of Phuket. The coastal scenery is quite beautiful, and the area around Phromthep heading towards Rawai Beach to the east or Naiharn Beach to the north is still quiet and undeveloped, making a nice change from the main beaches of Phuket. This little corner of Phuket has always been a favourite of ours. Nothing else to do? Let's take a drive down to Rawai and Phromthep...

Yes, we've stopped at Laem Phromthep countless times. Anytime we have visitors, this area is on the to-do list. But somehow, despite the fact that Phromthep Cape is known as THE sunset viewpoint, I have never been there for sunset.. until yesterday. We drive along Rawai beach road past the little seafood restaurants and turned left onto the winding hilly road up to the cape. Now, as I say, Phromthep is THE place to watch the sunset, all the guidebooks and websites say so. I was not too surprised to see a packed car park, a dozen buses and people everywhere. On the road by the carpark you find food stalls and souvenir stalls...





We walked up the steps, stopping for the kids to much some BBQ pork and sticky rice. At the top of the steps above the cars you have a large open area with great views, and everywhere there were people waiting for the sunset and taking holiday snaps. Most of the visitors seemed to be locals, being that this was a Saturday, a day to relax and enjoy living in Phuket. A fair number of foreign tourists too. All waiting for that magical sunset.





The sun was already low in the sky when we arrived. I had a feeling that the sky was too hazy for a spectacular sunset, and was proved right. The sun did eventually sink behind the hazy horizon, but nevertheless it was a great photo opportunity! I would say there are better sunset views. I prefer the sunset at Kata Beach, or watching the sunset and views from Buddha Mountain for example, but Phromthep is a very scenic area, and after sunset you could head down to Rawai for dinner or a drink at Nikitas Bar on the beach for example.





There's a small but interesting temple at Cape Phromthep with elephant images all around. People were saying prayers as the sun set...



And at Cape Phromthep you get entertained too! There was live music...



And a bongo playing / fire dancing combo... We gave our kids some change to put in the hat. My 4 year old son was particularly impressed by the fire dancer. I kept wishing I had a better camera... coming soon!





Being a rather rocky headland, there is a lighthouse here. The lighthouse, built in 1996 for the golden jubilee of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is open to the public - you can climb up some steps inside for a better view (please remove your shoes). Outside is a sunset scoreboard:



Note the year "52". The old calendar is still used for official business. In Thailand it's 2552. So, here's a view from the lighthouse (click to enlarge), the sun having already all but sunk into the hazy horizon. Sunset over, time to go home!

Cikarang, Indonesia

We walked around the Cikarang area on the 3rd day. I took many photos around the area, would like to share with you all....

I was so curious about the bunch peoples waiting outside the Bank BTN just beside the hotel. I saw the situation two days since I was there...just wondering what they are waiting for?!

The peoples outside the bank

After a while, I saw these two security guard around the bank area...Initially I thought he's a police?! Because they dress like police in Malaysia...

Security Guard at Cikarang

One of the common car in Indonesia...."Kijang"

The car is manufacture by the joint venture of Toyota and local company, it's also same with Toyota Unser in Malaysia.

Nice roof decoration by the 'Holland Bakery'. Same row with the hotel...

The method the local workers transport the construction stuff...

When we reached the road junction, finally we saw the traffic police! I was curious to know about their uniform and also the vehicle....

The Police motorcycle

I only realized the gray colour uniform is for Traffic Police...

And also discovered there was a small Police Station exactly located at the junction.

Police Station

We just crossed the street and walked towards the Carrefour Hypermart (S6°18.661' E107°08.672') at Cikarang. According to my client, the locals here will spend heavily after they get their paid. Most of them will slow down until their pocket money are almost empty! Then wait for another next month salary to start soending again!

Carrefour Cikarang, Indonesia

I was wondering....most of the car over there fill up the Nitrogen for their tyre?

I spotted this Police Vehicle while we had a drink in one coffeeshop. Ops! They named it 'Restuarant' over here.

There are many small stalls like this along the road (Jalan Cikarang-Cibarusah). and most of them are almost same size...

Except the stall below is slightly bigger...

The common convenience stall along the road. Their local culture.

The motorcycle repair shop

We went back to hotel around 2pm and waiting for our transport to Airport. The traffic congestion here is bad, so we need to hit on road 3 hours in advance before our flight on 1855hrs Indonesia time!

During the journey to the Airport, I still continue to take pictures....because my card not Full yet! Haha!

One of their commercial transport

And finally, I saw this Police Station

Tosera Supermart. This is the one we missed!

The Alfamart Convenience Shop. I believe it's same like the 7-Eleven at Malaysia.

While passed by the flyover, I noticed the safety net was full of rubbish! Don't they care? Hmm.....I don't know....

The Jakarta Post. The only English newspaper I read in Indonesia.

We reached the Airport around 6pm. The journey took 2 hours 30 minutes for 70km. I think you can imagine the traffic congestion along the road....

I will blog about the Airport in the next post....

Related posts :-
* My First Impression of Jakarta, Indonesia
* Pesona Hotel at Lippo Cikarang, Indonesia
* Roas Rasa Makanan Sunda Restaurant at Cikarang - Bekasi, Indonesia
* Lippo Cikarang Mall, Bekasi, Indonesia
* Jakarta International Airport, Indonesia
* My Indonesia Trip on March 2009

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Hotel Booking with Agoda.com

Over the years since Jamie's Phuket started, I have looked at a number of online hotel booking sites, signed up for affiliate deals, seen the results, tried new sites... the original idea was to have several different booking options for the hotels reviewed here, giving people the opportunity to check rates at a bunch of different sites. Regular travelers will probably have their preferred booking site, I don't wish to try and change anyones mind about which is best, but I have to say that over the last few years the Agoda.com site has got neater, the hotel descriptions better, the booking process easier.

Having experimented quite a bit, there are just two hotel booking options on Jamie's Phuket - Agoda and occasionally LateStays. The latter is designed only for late bookings, no more than 28 days ahead and sometimes has good rates. Agoda can also be used for late bookings, but of course also offers advance booking.

Agoda is part of a larger company that also included PrecisionReservations.com and PlanetHoliday.com - these both redirect now to Agoda.com. The brand name is getting well known especially around Asia, as Agoda is based in Singapore and Bangkok. The word "Agoda" you might expect to mean something in Chinese or Thai.. in fact it's just a result (according to the About Agoda page) of a phrase suggested by someone at Agoda "Agoda where I wanna go to!". The important part of the word being "GO"! For more about Agoda, check their FAQ.



Agoda offers a reward program. From your first booking you get reward points worth around 5% of the room price. You can use these points to reduce the price of the room you are booking, or you can let the points mount up after several bookings and use them to get even bigger savings, or even free rooms! You decide. A friend here in Phuket said he ended up with a free room on his last trip to Kuala Lumpur, having saved up his reward points. You can earn extra points by contributing a hotel review (good or bad!) after your stay. You should also check the special offers on offer.



The Agoda site is available in many languages, not just English - for example you can find Agoda in German, French, Japanese, Swedish, Thai .. and many more, reflecting the worldwide appeal of Agoda. Not just Thailand, not just Asia, but Worldwide. The site is very easy to use, easy to navigate, it's easy to find rates, easy to make bookings. I'd suggest checking Agoda for your trip to Phuket and Thailand.

Related Jamie's Phuket pages:

• My Phuket Hotel Recommendations
• Top 10 Phuket Hotels

Lippo Cikarang Mall, Bekasi, Indonesia

Once our stomach filled up, we continue our journey to the nearest shopping mall : Lippo Cikarang Mall (S6°20.039' E107°08.186'), trying to buy some souvenirs for my wife and daughter. (The information about the mall was given by the Hotel staffs)

'Angkot' (Angkotan Kotaraya) - The public transportation of Cikarang, and maybe the whole of Indonesia.

We were waiting across the street of the Hotel for cab, suddenly there was a kind of 'Van without the side door' approaching us and ask : "Where are you going?" (in Indonesia language). We reply : "Lippo Cikarang Shopping Mall". The driver said he will take us there ans ask us to jump in to his 'Van'! Kind of curious, we just hop-in...
Along the road (Jalan Cikarang-Cibarusah), we saw many villages and also many small stalls, I mean 'many'!

The pictures I took on 'Angkot'

After 5 minutes drive, the 'Van' was full of Indonesian passengers. We enjoyed the view along the way, 15 minutes later....we reached the Mall. The driver was kind enough to inform us! The journey is about 4.5km and the fares was IDR3,000.00 = MYR0.90. It's cheap!

The time was about 9pm (Indonesia time) when we arrived at the mall. I started to look around, and hoping to see any unique souvenirs....
This shop "Batik Keris" caught our attention of the local batik product. I think Quachee will love it very much! I bought a small unique purse made by coconut shell and a small cute little batik bag. Beside that, there are some other stuffs I grap too! Haha!
The damages of all the souvenirs I bought : IDR57,000.00 = MYR17.80

Lippo Cikarang Shopping Mall

We meet a friendly & helpful guy on the 'Angkot' while on the way back to hotel. His name is Sunarto, working as a Project Enginner of Muitistrada. He speaks very good English! And help us to communicate with the driver of the hotel location. (We having problem in communicate the local language) It's nice to meet the locals....

Peoples here are 'friendly'. I was so surprised. Because from the news on TV and newspaper we read before about the perception, actually it's totally different here! The security along the road will definitely wave their hand to you with a courtesy smile while you walk pass!!

I had a chat with my client who migrated from Malaysia to Indonesia (10 years ago) about the surrounding. The words from her was really a shock to me! She said she is not even hear a single robbery case within a year! She felt more secure living in Indonesia than Malaysia!
I feel more positive towards the country...

Many small stall like this along the Jalan Cikarang-Cibarusah (Local Culture)

As usual, the second night end with few bottles of Bintang local beer....

Related posts :-
* My First Impression of Jakarta, Indonesia
* Pesona Hotel at Lippo Cikarang, Indonesia
* Roas Rasa Makanan Sunda Restaurant at Cikarang - Bekasi, Indonesia
* Cikarang, Indonesia
* Jakarta International Airport, Indonesia
* My Indonesia Trip on March 2009

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