What is solo travel? (14) Indonesia

(9) Indonesia

Indonesia is a huge island nation made up of tens of thousands of islands, and since it has more islands than the Philippines and Japan, the natural environment of the islands is different, and each boasts beautiful natural scenery and rich cultural heritage.

Even if it is not because of the large number of islands, keep in mind that Indonesia itself is the 15th largest country in the world, and the straight-line distance from Sabang, the westernmost city of Indonesia, to Merauke, the eastern end, is equivalent to the distance from Korea to Jakarta.

As you can see from the map, there are many islands, so it takes a lot of time to travel between regions, so travelers who have a relatively short trip tend to stay in popular areas and enjoy recreation or leisure.

Indonesia is divided into Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Bali, Timor, Nusa Tenggara, and West New Guinea (Papua).

In fact, the mainstream ethnic Javanese in Indonesia are of Malay descent, but they are not Malays.

As such, many regions have their own characteristics, so if you want to travel all over Indonesia, you will use Jakarta, the capital and center, as a base camp, and travel by domestic flight.

Unfortunately, Jakarta itself does not have much to see, and Indonesia has no casinos, and alcohol is expensive, so you should be especially careful about prostitution.

In this regard, most of the Western tourists who visit are for the purpose of parasitic tourism, and the evidence is that major European airlines are showing videos about not prostitution on flights to Southeast Asia.

In addition, Indonesia is a famous tourism country that is said to attract about 5 million tourists every year, but it is shocking that 48% of men have committed rape in areas such as New Guinea, according to national safety information.

In addition, Indonesia’s Aceh, Maluku, Central Sulawesi, and Papua provinces are classified as Level 2 travel restrictions, and the rest of the provinces are also classified as Level 1 travel warnings, and caution is urged, but other general security is relatively good.

You just need to be careful about entering remote areas or conflict zones without permission. In addition, the cost of living is much cheaper than that of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, but you should know that Bali, a tourist destination, is the most expensive place in the country, not to mention big cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya.

However, it can be said that it is cheaper than developed countries such as Korea and Singapore, but Indonesia is also a developing country, not a developed country, but in fact, its GDP per capita is high for a developing country, and it is expensive compared to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, which are far behind.

In this regard, the street food that the locals eat is very cheap and may be tempting, but the hygiene is terrible, so you may be able to try street food at least once, but if you are unlucky, you may risk getting food poisoning, dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera, etc.

In principle, it is better to use a good restaurant, and some intercity and charter buses are careful of reckless driving, so you should use Grab, Gojek, and Bluebird when taking a taxi to avoid being ripped off.