marmot, others, if you return, may i ask what you think of the aston rasuna in terms of location and security?

(it is a big building they say is in kemang).

i have asked about the driver and we shall see.

thank you all again.

In the early 90s we sent employees to Jakarta on 6 month rotations. All female associates had personal security as well as car and driver. All associates had car and driver and security on request for males. Sounds sexist but that was the policy.

keri, the Aston is a good group but I'm not aware that they have a property in Kemang. The Aston Rasuna is in Kuningan which is newish development on the edge of the central business district.

Most Jakartans live in houses or low-rise apartments. The high-rise apartment block is a fairly recent concept, that's booming right now. There must be 50 under construction and the quality and occupancy level varies widely.

An "older" (10 years or so) highrise in the Kemang area is the Dharmawangsa Apartments which is adjacent to the hotel of the same name. These are really nice, but may be a bit pricy as they are quite popular.

Security in Jakarta is generally in the hands of the people who manage the building or in the case of a private house who work for the resident. Generally it is reliable. Java is a crowded place and there are no secrets in the kapong (neighborhood). If there is a burglary everyone knows who is responsible -- usually a disgruntled employee.

As I said violent crime is very, very rare.

As long as you have a car and driver I wouldn't worry about security moving around Jakarta. It's the taxis that are suspect. Silverbird, as Geordie mentioned above, and their lower price division Bluebird, is a good service and is reputed to be safe. The problem with taxis and carservices of any kind is that they often don't know where they're going.

thank you once again for your input.

i appreciate it.

dealbreaker?

the response i just received on the car was all about how modern and safe jakarta is.

how everyone takes the bus, etc.

al responses welcome, as i am convinced this is a dealbreaker based on responses here.,

does anyone else consider jakarta to be modern and safe and the buses reliable for transport to work every day?

i think the answer is a resounding no, but if anyone else has heard otherwise, please do let me know.

many thanks!

kerikeri

Absolute deal breaker. A car and driver are a necessity in Jakarta.

Our company has specifically instructed us on which taxi companies to use (same as mentioned by marmot) and buses are an absolute no-no - company policy. Having seen the buses, I wouldn't even be slightly tempted anyway.

Seems the folks you're dealing with don't know much about Jakarta.

For an entirely different perspective, take a look at this article regarding public transport in Jakarta - this guy seems to think buses are the way to go:

http://www.indonesiamatters.com/1795...lic-transport/

Different strokes...

Or maybe get a boat

http://news.smh.com.au/world/tidal-w...0604-2lq4.html

Geordie

keri, I'd say dealbreaker. Jakarta is relatively safe, it is modern in many -- but not all -- aspects, but it has a dismal public transportation system. The person who envisions that you will "just hop on a bus" has obviously never been to Jakarta. In light of what you wrote in your initial post about your suseptibility to heat and pollution you'd be miserable.

thank you all.

the person who wrote that, believe it or not, was the recruitment person *in* jakarta. he is undeniably daft as it took him 5 separate tries to understand the time zone difference to coordinate a conference call interview. on time he proposed a time he thought was "my' 9AM and was, in reality "my" 3AM...not a good sign.

and that link to the blog mentioning the jakarta post article about the public transport system is indeed all i need as documentation.

you would all be shocked to learn the name of the international organization who told me to hop on the bus.

thank you so much for your valuable input. you have saved me undue misery.

kerikeri