And other CIS countries can be reached, flown or sailed with transfers. If you are considering the option of getting to Indonesia by plane, it is recommended to make a transfer in either Kuala Lumpur (), or. The flight from Singapore to Jakarta takes 2 hours, and the ticket costs from 30 USD. You can also fly from Kuala Lumpur to the capital in 2 hours, but the ticket will cost a little less – 25 USD. The Dubai-Jakarta flight will take about 8 hours and the ticket price is 295 USD. The most expensive and longest route is considered to be from Istanbul to Jakarta. The flight lasts 12 hours, and the ticket costs from 520 USD.
Water transport
Regarding water transport, it should be said that ferries regularly run from Singapore to the Indonesian island of Sumatra with the possibility of landing in the capital, Jakarta. From Malaysia, most ferries and boats to Indonesia depart from Port Klang, operated by the Port Klang Authority. The average cost of such a trip is 40-50 USD. From some Malaysian ports, for example, Malacca, a boat ticket to the Indonesian Dumaya can cost you 20-25 USD. Also, you can get from Malaysia to Indonesia by sea from Penang, Port Dickson, Kukup.
You can find less expensive boat tickets from Singapore. So, through the Penguin company, you can book a ticket to the Indonesian Sumatra for an average of 15 USD. Such flights from Singapore to Indonesia are daily and operate on a strict schedule.
Bus
You can get to Indonesia by bus from Malaysia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. Daily buses link Dili (East Timor) and Kupang (West Timor province in Indonesia). The border point is the village of Motaain (Mota'ain). The trip takes about 12 hours and will cost you approximately 23 USD. From Malaysia to Indonesia you can travel via the island of Kalimantan, from the Malaysian city of Kuching to the Indonesian Pontianak. The cost of such a trip, which takes about 9 hours, is 14 USD. Also, you can get to the Indonesian city of Jayapura from the city of Vanimo in Papua New Guinea. The cost of such a trip will be only 3-5 USD, and the duration of the trip will be 2 hours.
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Numerous Indonesian islands are connected by state-owned ferry services. Large and even huge ferries carry trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles and many passengers with numerous belongings and livestock. The ferries are very diverse: from vintage ships, painted and repainted many times, to modern Japanese ones with air conditioning, sensor doors, and automatic toilets. How are different ferries arranged inside?
"Children's" ferry Dewana Dharma(built in 1982, lifting capacity 232 tons)
Dewana Dharma is one of two ferries that operate daily between Sumbawa and Flores. What makes this ferry different from others is its children's playground and cheerful coloring.
You can sit in the sun on a colored sun lounger
Or on a colored chair 
You can play with a lifebuoy 
Or play chess on the roof of a truck 
It takes a long time to sail on it - 7 hours. After two hours, children get tired of riding on carousels and swings, and by the fifth hour, adult Indonesians are already sleeping peacefully on the carousels. 
And there are trucks below, from them, standing on the technical platform, you can carry bananas
Paired with Dewana Dharma on the same line is Cakalang ( Indonesian: tuna) - built in 2006, load capacity not published.
More ferries
A small ferry from 1969 with a “bus cabin” on the captain’s bridge. Satya Dharma at Poto Tano port. Loading capacity - 150 tons. 
Passenger ship DIngkis (1993) 
Three more ferries at Labuan Lombok port 
Sindu Dwitama— built in 1997, 305 tons.
We have sailed quite a lot on different Indonesian ferries, so when we got on this one we were very surprised. Instead of a rusty, good-quality ship, we found ourselves on a sparklingly clean one, with carpeted floors, a soft air-conditioned interior and painted over hieroglyphs from a past Japanese (or maybe Chinese) life.
The ferry was introduced on the Bali-Lombok line in September 2009, joining the other 18 ferries that operate 24-hour services between the ports of Padangbai and Lembar. Already in November 2009, a ferry with cargo and passengers ran aground off the coast of Lombok. A ship sent to refloat him joined him. Passengers were removed from the boats, and both ferries sat aground until the next high tide.
The ferry is more modern than all the others. For example, he has two pneumatic guns that shoot corks from a line, which then pulls the mooring lines ashore. Indonesian sailors, not accustomed to progress, do not use cannons and throw the cork with their hands.
A modern captain's bridge is equipped with a computer, two stands (what if the captain turns out to be short) and a mattress 
In the salon, instead of benches there are armchairs, sofas and tables 
Latrine of the 21st century. On the wall on a piece of paper: “Save water!” Above the door handle in yellow letters: “The door is touch sensitive, do not pull the handle.”
Without trade, a ferry is not a ferry. Sellers of necessary things are everywhere
I don’t know what this salon is for, but Indonesians sleep here.
We prefer to ride on the upper deck. There is, of course, no air conditioning, but you can see dolphins chasing flying fish. 
Entering the technical room of the ferry is very simple: scrub the door and go in. Here are the anchor and mooring drums, a mooring air gun (on the left on the bulwark), a long boarding ladder, boarding hooks, fire extinguishers, a government telephone and other small items. In addition, from here it is convenient to carry bananas on top of the body of a truck parked inside (I was unlucky, I got caught by a bus).
If you pull this handle, the exit ramp will open and trucks with bananas and coconuts will become prey for dolphins. To prevent this from happening, the trucks are tied with cables to the walls of the ferry while still on the shore, and passengers are strictly prohibited from entering the technical department. But if you stand at this parapet, you will be doused with cool spray from under the stem. And it's great to see dolphins from here.
Large ferry Salindo Mutiara I(1977, lifting capacity 459 tons)
This ferry runs side by side with the previous one: between Bali and Lombok.
There is a lot of seating on the upper deck and it is even cool in the evening 
The captain's bridge is not that modern and there is no mattress. 
Inflatable rescue rafts are always located on the upper deck. Now you know where to run and what to pull if something happens 
What can be seen from the ferry
Indonesia - the name of the country uses the Greek word “nesos”, meaning “islands”. It consists of five large islands - Borneo, Sulawesi, New Guinea, Sumatra and Java. But the most famous and popular of the many Indonesian islands is small Bali. But here’s the thing: once here, any tourist begins to think about how else he can visit neighboring Java.
What possibilities exist for this? You can travel from Bali to Java by ferry or plane. By plane, of course, it is convenient and interesting - it flies right over the mouth of an extinct volcano, not far from which you can see the picturesque smoking smoke of its smaller brother... I can imagine what kind of photographs you can take!
Roundtrip
I won’t speak for everyone, my friends, but here’s the thing: if I’m sure of anything, it’s this:
- the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection,
- that the sum of numbers remains unchanged, no matter how the terms and positions are changed
- that the time spent covering the distance from point A to point B, under equal conditions, will be exactly the same as if you go from B to point A.
That was until I decided to look on the Lion Airlines website for how much you can buy tickets from Denpasar Bali to Yogyakarta in Java. What I saw made me think. Take a look too:
My first thought was that old man Einstein was right! Here it is, confirmation of the theory of the great physicist about the distortions of space around the Earth.
But no, this time it didn’t come true. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but what we are seeing has absolutely no connection with the subtle effects of our planet's influence on the surrounding space-time, nor with paranormal phenomena, nor even with simply going crazy. But the whole point is simply that Java and Bali have different times, and Javanese is exactly 1 hour behind Balinese.
Indonesia Ferries
But we didn’t have to choose; the organizer of our trip, Doctor V, planned to move from Bali to Java by Indonesian ferry.
There is a well-developed and intensive ferry service between Indonesia's densely populated islands. The most popular crossings connect Java and Sumatra, Bali and the island of Java.
But between neighboring countries it leaves much to be desired: from Indonesia you cannot get to the Philippines by ferry, and from Malaysia you cannot get directly to Java. But that's not the worst thing. Indonesia buys old, sometimes decommissioned ships, unsuitable for operation, from various countries and uses them as ferries. At the same time, they are often loaded to the maximum and even overloaded.
It is therefore not surprising that ferry boats in Indonesia are prone to accidents and most boating accidents involve multiple fatalities. There are countless messages of this kind: “Ferry crash, 300 people killed,” “Ferry sank, death toll reached 15 people,” “There were 250 people on the sunken ferry,” “Fire on an Indonesian ferry claimed at least 17 lives.”
Of course, not all Indonesian ferries are completely painted, repainted floating ruins. They are very different, there are also ultra-modern ones with air conditioning and touch doors.
Road without end
After snacking on the breakfast offered by the hotel - coffee and an omelet or pasta, we said goodbye to Lake Bratan and went to meet the new island of Indonesia. Once you leave Bali, take a ferry 4.5 kilometers to the island of Java, you will immediately find yourself in a completely different world, with a different way of life, a different culture and religion.
But it’s still a long way to get there: it’s a four-hour journey to the crossing, then a ferry and only then - hello, Java! Om Swastiastu, beautiful island of Bali! We just met you and didn’t know much about you. This takes time. But we want to continue our acquaintance with you. We dream of coming here more than once, to the paradise island, where gods and demons live together with good Balinese people.
Well, on the road! I was frightened by the narrow one-lane mountain serpentine road and the matter was further aggravated by the suicidal driving style of local motorists. In order to minimize the inevitable worries and shocks, I decided to act proactively and sleep them off, which I did with all possible zeal. At this time, Sanya continued to build bridges and establish friendship between the great Russian and Thai peoples.
Tired of the uncomfortable bus seat, he put the laptop on the chair, connected a card reader with photos to it, and sat down on the floor... At first our comrades simply glanced sideways at the photographs. Then there were pictures in which the sun glowed like a bright star against the background of the temple. Then they started squealing with delight and filming them with their phones directly from the screen.
Hearing this, the others sitting further away became interested. Soon the whole bus was making a pilgrimage and viewing. Everyone clicked their tongues in approval and patted Sanya on the shoulder, and somehow it so happened that at that moment that piece of ice that stood as a barrier between us and prevented normal communication suddenly melted.
Yes, we are farangs, alas, we are not Thais. Aware of this unfortunate fact, our Thai friends nevertheless decided to admit that we were the kind of farang who could be accepted into decent Thai company. I woke up and fell asleep, and Sanya and the Thais kept talking and talking and laughing.
Watermelons and degrees of friendship
We immediately liked the restaurant where the driver took us. It was very picturesquely located on the shore. But there were no places - it was a holiday! We went further. The second one looked like a simple eatery. But the hungry Thais rushed there as if they had not had poppy dew in their mouths for a day.
And we hesitated - the place caused fears. How is it: the best coffee on the road - take a sip...
Here we are, but I didn’t want to stretch my legs, so Sanya, instead of lunch, bought three watermelons - one for us, and two to treat the horde of Thais. Which further strengthened the friendship and increased the warmth of the relationship. I don’t really like watermelons, so I limited myself to one piece, and Sanya ate half of it with a spoon.
Surprisingly, we didn’t see many fruits on the tropical island; in comparison with Thailand, Bali clearly loses. Theoretically, there is an extraordinary variety of them, but to buy them at any time, anywhere... Maybe it was the off-season for them - after all, we were in the summer. Or maybe our nomadic life has become a hindrance. If we were in one place, then we could go to the markets to find an abundance of fruit. But they weren’t full.
Bali Ferries and Selat Bali Narrows
Selat Bali - Bali Strait - connects the waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. At its narrowest point it is 2.4 km, and its maximum depths do not exceed 60 meters.
Between the western tip of Bali - Gilimanuk Harbor and the eastern point of Java - the port of Ketapang, there are tirelessly plying ferries that burn diesel fuel during the day and at night. The government's long-term plans include building a bridge across the strait that will connect both islands.
And now we are entering the territory of the ferry crossing from Bali to Java. She is huge. We get in line. Having experience of sailing on ferries plying from Trat in Thailand, we understand this for a long time. A bunch of buses, huge trucks, cars, mopeds... Oh, it’s good if we leave by morning. Sanya became depressed and sat down with the driver to find out how long we should wait in line. “Five minutes,” the driver answered. Silent scene...
It turns out that everything is different in Bali. A huge number of ferries sail here. One leaves, and another immediately takes his place.
The driver turned out to be right, within ten minutes we were on a ferry towards Java. The ocean was calm. And against the background of this silence and smooth surface, the elastic jets of the current stood out especially. They crossed our path and curved, sometimes in a semicircle, sometimes turning into spirals. We didn’t take our eyes off it – beautiful and creepy at the same time...
Why do a hundred thousand live in this world?
And then I remembered...
It is believed that the salty basis of ocean waters was laid by the products of paleovolcanic eruptions in the Archean era, because volcanoes are not only rivers of lava, but also gas mixtures of complex compositions. The products of the eruption condensed and poured down as acid rain. There they reacted with rocks that in the future would become the seabed. As a result of the reactions, salty solutions of the primordial ocean were created.
Then, for hundreds of millions of years, rivers along their path washed salts out of rocks and volcanic rocks and carried them into the ocean. But that's not all. There is another constant and reliable supplier of mineral impurities - these are giant faults at the bottom of the world's oceans, through which they come in large quantities from oozing basalt from the very depths of the earth.
However, whether a tiny puddle in the yard or the great world ocean, both are equally subject to the law of the water cycle in nature. Water evaporates, steam rains down onto the ground and falls into rivers, which on their way continue to sharpen stones, dissolve and absorb everything possible and give the resulting pinches of salts to the ocean.
It’s logical to assume that its salinity should increase from year to year? But scientists say that the concentration of salt in the depths of the sea has remained constant and has been approximately 3.5 percent for a good one and a half billion years. Oops …. So where does the excess salt go from the water???
First steps on the island of Java
The crossing takes about an hour, all this time we stood on the upper deck of the ferry, looking at the water. Finally the port appeared. Another ten minutes of waiting until the berth becomes available for us. And so we, having left the Bali ferry, settled into two minivans and are already driving around the island of Java!
Many kilometers of mountain serpentines and the fantastic beauty of the Ijen volcano await us ahead.
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Asian ferries
In Asia, the situation with ferries is quite complex and contradictory. While the world's largest archipelagos with thousands and tens of thousands of islands are located here, international ferry service - due to unresolved border conflicts between neighboring countries and poverty - is poorly developed. Indonesia and the Philippines, the most populous archipelagos on Earth, have a complex, well-developed and heavily used domestic ferry network. And at the same time, there is no international ferry service either between Indonesia and the Philippines, or between the Philippines and Malaysia. From Malaysia you can take a ferry to Thailand, Singapore and a number of Indonesian islands: Sumatra, Batam and Bintam (the last two are located in the Riau archipelago, in close proximity to Singapore). But you will have to get to the most densely populated Indonesian island of Java by land and by local ferries. Indonesia. “The Bali Strait is narrow but deadly” was the headline that caught my eye in an English-language Indonesian newspaper while I was waiting for the ferry to depart from Java to Lombok. The note reported that another ferry sank. The fact is that in Indonesia, old European ships written off for scrap are used as ferries, and they are also loaded to capacity, and often overloaded. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that they periodically go to the bottom. After another disaster, a total check of the entire fleet begins. This is when it is safest to use Indonesian ferries!
The most popular Indonesian ferry services connect the island of Java with the islands of Sumatra and Bali.
Malaysia. In terms of quality, safety, speed and comfort, Malayan ferries are far superior to Indonesian ones.
Penang Island is connected by ferry to the mainland (Georgetown - Butterworth line, departure daily, every hour, trip duration 40 minutes, fare $0.06 - the same as on the toll bridge). Ferries also run to the islands of Langkawi (daily, 1 hour 45 minutes, $8) and Tioman (daily, 2–3 hours, $6).
In Japan, all the largest islands are connected by tunnels and bridges; ferries are used only to get to the small islands in the southern part of the Japanese archipelago. The country is connected by international ferry service to Russia, South Korea (4–5 times a week, trip duration 3 hours, cost from $120), China and Taiwan.
South Korea is connected by ferries only to Japan (Busan - Hakata ferry, 4-5 times a week, trip duration 3 hours, cost from $120) and China (Incheon - Tainan ferry 2 times a week; Incheon - Qingdao ferry - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, the cost is approximately the same - from $120 (economy class).
Asian ferries
Beetle(Japan, South Korea): www.beetle.jrkyushu.co.jp
Weidong Ferry(China - South Korea): www.weidong.com
Bintan Resort Ferries(Singapore - Indonesia): www.brf.com.sg
Shanghai ferries(China): www.shanghai-feny.co.jp
From the book Secrets of Ancient Civilizations by Thorpe Nick From the book How to Travel author Shanin ValeryEuropean ferries European ferries resemble floating hotels. They have comfortable cabins and soft seats, TVs and cinemas, swimming pools and saunas, restaurants and bars, casinos and children's playgrounds, duty-free shops and exchange offices. Meals on board and prices
From the book 100 Great Adventures author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai NikolaevichFerries in Australia and Oceania There are no ferries between Australia and New Zealand, nor are there any between most of the islands of Oceania. Ferry services link the Australian continent with the island of Tasmania, the two largest islands of New Zealand and the South Island with the island
From the book Vacation without intermediaries author Romanovskaya Diana How ferries are arranged There are many decks, open and closed, observation platforms, areas with entertainment, restaurants, cafes, bars, spas, swimming pools, shops. Lots of entertainment for children: children's playgrounds, TVs with cartoons, animators, show programs. Also by ferryI would like to talk separately about such a topic as transport in Indonesia - it deserves a separate post and mention!
In March 2016, we traveled around the island of Java, moving from the capital Jakarta east towards Bali, and managed to try almost all types of local ground transport, and we will tell you about our impressions here. All information will relate specifically to the island of Java; perhaps in other parts of the country the situation is slightly different.
Moving around Java is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent: for us it was sometimes fun, sometimes annoying, and sometimes downright scary :-)
Most tourists fly to the island of Bali, many limit themselves to it, but we still recommend taking a trip to other parts of the country, because Indonesia has 17,000 islands, many of which are completely uninhabited. At least Java has a developed transport system, and the easiest way to get there is from Bali.
You can also get to Indonesia by flying to large cities such as Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan from neighboring Asian countries on local airlines. The popular low-cost airline Air Asia has many flights from Malaysia and Thailand, where in turn there are many flights from Russia.
We are approaching Jakarta
How to get from Jakarta airport to the city?
If you have arrived in the capital, exit the airport building and go left. There you will see several buses and a ticket sales counter, the Damri company. The fare from the airport to Jakarta (central railway station) is 40,000 rupees. You can go to various parts of the city or to nearby cities, for example to Bogor.
Indonesia Trains
There are railway connections in Indonesia only on the islands of Java and Sumatra (they are not of particular interest here). Trains are a fairly fast and comfortable way to get around the island, but the prices are much more expensive than by bus.
There are 3 classes of Indonesian trains:
Executive (Eksecutif in local) - air-conditioned carriages with wide and soft seats, each with a power outlet, and plenty of legroom. The most comfortable and most expensive class.
Business (bisnis) - also an air-conditioned carriage, but without prior reservation of seats.
Economy (ekonomi) is a carriage without air conditioning with ordinary benches, like in electric trains. A lot of people with all their belongings.
Executive - class
The main trains in Indonesia are not numbered, but named. Another interesting feature is that in large cities there are several railway stations and different trains depart from different points. For example, in Jakarta, the Gambir Central Station operates expensive trains, while the other station, Pasar Senen, operates economy class trains.
Gambir railway station schedule
You can view the schedule and find out prices at. Enter in the right column from where to go, and all trains with prices will appear. You can buy it there, but you need an Indonesian SIM card and most likely a local bank card.
We simply bought tickets at the box office, having previously found out the price on the website. In Jakarta, we saw ticket machines and even used them (they don’t give change, you need a local SIM card!) It’s better to get train tickets at least a few days in advance, they run out quickly, especially on weekends.
Indonesian Railway Map
Indonesian Railways
Airplanes and domestic flights in Indonesia
The internal network of air traffic in Indonesia is quite well developed, and this is understandable - how long it takes to travel by land and by ferry from island to island! Often, an airplane is the only way to get to a particular island. Flights between major cities and to/from Bali are inexpensive and can cost the same as trains.
— Garuda Indonesia
— Sriwijaya Air
You can buy tickets on airline websites, although some either do not sell them online at all, or you need an Indonesian card. Travel agents and travel agencies can also help with tickets.
Luxurious Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali
Buses in Indonesia
Intercity buses are the main and most popular transport in Indonesia, well at least in Java. Moreover, they can walk not only within one island, but also on neighboring ones.
There are three classes exactly the same as for trains. The fastest and most comfortable Executive class buses are equipped with air conditioning and travel from start to finish without any special stops. And economy buses are many times worse and trashier.
Java has very dense traffic (140 million people on one island) and narrow roads, plus sometimes in the mountains, so all the buses are very slow. You can’t even imagine how long they can trudge, stopping at every pillar and picking up passengers. For example, we sat down in the city of Jember with the goal of getting to Banyuwangi (to the ferry in Bali) some measly 100 km. Well, we’ll get there in two or three hours, we naively thought. Ha! Seven! Our difficult journey that day took seven hours.
5 seats in a row - a regular Indonesian bus
On almost all of our trips, luggage could not be stored in a special compartment, so we had to keep our backpacks on our laps for several hours. Legroom is very limited and the seats are narrow and arranged three abreast rather than two.
But this is not all the delights of Indonesian bus transportation. When you enter the station, a whole company of men swarms at you asking “where are you going?” Once we were prompted to answer, we thought it was a station worker in uniform (well, we’re used to it in Thailand that everything works humanly). He took us to the bus (which we could have found ourselves in 3 minutes) and told us to get on. A conductor in uniform immediately came up and took 50 thousand rupees each and issued tickets. Well, okay, we think, everything seems to be official, although it’s a little expensive, maybe inflation.
Already during the trip, we saw how the locals were giving a completely different amount, we began to ask them - it turned out that the fare costs 16 thousand. We're going to the conductor, why did you charge us more? He turned on the fool, they say, I don’t understand anything and in general “Offer” (deal). That is, he took three times as much from us, took part for himself, gave it back to that guy at the bus station, and now, of course, he can’t return it! Moreover, the locals sit and understand everything, but no one will say a word. It seems like the amount is small, but a residue remains...
We often found ourselves in such situations while moving around Indonesia on buses and bemos (minibuses).
The wheel is smoking - the pads are burning
Another way of scam: just the left person (taxi driver) gets on the bus and says that you have arrived, although in fact you have not yet. The conductor on the bus is silent and says nothing, although he understands everything. This is how you go out late in the evening and don’t understand where, and here’s a taxi :-) Use a map and GPS.
Plus to all this, Indonesians smoke a lot right on the bus, and it doesn’t matter that their own small child and wife are sitting next to them. Some smoke without stopping at all! At all intermediate stops, as well as at the initial and final stops, all kinds of sellers of everything in the world and musicians walk around the narrow interior of the bus. The latter act on the principle of “Give me money and I’ll leave” and sing terribly, playing broken, out-of-tune guitars. Interestingly, a trip on an expensive VIP bus will not get rid of all these characters! To get acquainted and immerse yourself in the local flavor, you can’t think of a better way than riding a local bus.
I apologize for the poor quality, but this is what riding a Bemo looks like from the inside, fun, but cramped.
Bus drivers drive straight into oncoming traffic, accelerating motorcyclists and dodging oncoming trucks. In general, it's still fun!
Boats and maritime transport
We didn’t go on boats, except for the ferry from Java to Bali, so I can’t say anything for sure about them. I know that maritime transport in Indonesia is quite well developed; most of the populated islands are connected by sea transport by the Pelni company. On their website you can see the schedule and cost of ferries. They don't run that often, so if you plan to travel between the islands by ferry, allow plenty of time. It is also better to book and buy tickets in advance.
About the ferry from Java to Bali
Getting from Java to Bali is very easy - the islands are separated by only about 5 km of strait, where ferries run very often. The easternmost point of Java is the city of Banyuwangi (ferry departs from the village of Ketapang), and the westernmost point of Bali is Gilimanuk.
You can get to Banyuwangi by bus from Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Probolinggo and some other cities in Java, or by train from Surabaya and Probolinggo.
The ferry itself costs 8,000 rupees per person and 18,000 rupees per motorbike. From Gilimanuk you can already drive to Denpasar (30-40 thousand rupees). We recommend taking a bus in Java directly to Denpasar, you and the bus will be loaded onto a ferry, and then you will travel around the island of Bali on the same bus.
Urban transport in Indonesia
City transport in general is difficult and unclear; only in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Solo (Surakarta) did we encounter a more or less clear bus system with routes and fixed prices.
Buses
There is no metro in the multimillion-dollar capital, but only trains to the suburbs from the Gambir central bus station. But there is a bus network, Trans Jakarta, with routes throughout the city. Buses run along a dedicated lane and stop at specially equipped pavilions. To get inside, you need to buy a ticket from the cashier, then go through the turnstile, and then sit on a bench to wait.
Yogyakarta and Solo have a similar system with similar names TransYogya and Batik Solo Trans. The fare is fixed and does not depend on the distance; you can travel like on the subway, jumping from line to line - quite convenient and inexpensive! All buses are equipped with air conditioning, although it is often not very cold inside and can be stuffy.
In addition to these buses, there are many others; in Jakarta there are generally a lot of different companies; it is quite difficult to understand their routes.
In all cities in Java we came across local minibuses; in different places they are called differently - bemo or angkot.
Bemos are very small minibuses that ply around the city and surrounding areas along a given route, but it is quite difficult for a foreigner to understand them, as they are not always signed. They pick up and drop off passengers anywhere, stand for a long time, gathering people, there are small benches for sitting inside and it’s very crowded. Drivers are constantly trying to deceive, calling the price 2-3 times higher than normal, it is better to find out in advance from the locals.
Often, a bemo is the only way to get somewhere, so you have to grit your teeth and put your feet under you and drive for more than one hour. For example, from Yogyakarta it took us a couple of hours to get to the volcanic lake Kawah Putih.
Bemo - Indonesian minibuses Bemo Indonesia
This is a simple motorcycle taxi, which is found everywhere in cities, mainly near markets, shopping centers, and major intersections. They will find you themselves (by the end of the trip their importunity even ceases to irritate you). It's fast, but it's inconvenient to travel with luggage. You can also travel by ojek outside the city; for example, they can take you to the nearest village.
Becak are three-wheeled pedicabs where the “basket” is located at the front and the driver pedals at the back. Drivers usually sleep lazily in the shade, waiting for you at hotels and guesthouses. The seat can accommodate two people, and quite slender ones at that :-) As a rule, travel is inexpensive if you bargain well, but in my opinion, there is little practicality in this transport, unless you travel for the sake of the exotic.
