Singapore, Indonesia trip report 2023
May 24th, 2023, 09:33 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Singapore, Indonesia trip report 2023
Trip report —Singapore and Indonesia. April 20- May 9, 2023
I’m attempting to write a helpful trip report as I have benefitted greatly from others who have shared their experiences. Sorry if it’s too detailed—I’m just including what I would like to know myself before going to Indonesia for the first time. A couple of things just in general I’ll share to make life easier when packing. I wish I had brought my own hair dryer because most that were in the hotels weren’t hot enough or powerful enough. Took a long time to dry my hair and I have short hair. And since it is so so hot, you will be taking a lot of showers! Which brings me to the other thing—pack way more underwear than you think you’ll need. I tended to change clothes a lot because of the heat. And we were able to have laundry done twice during our 19 day stay. It’s not expensive, just had to time it right so I would be sure to get it back before we left! And I didn’t want to invest in quick dry shirts and underwear. Maybe more than you want to know up front, but there it is! In retrospect, our pace on this trip was a lot slower than usual. Maybe it was the heat…..but we didn’t race around like we usually do. We decided on some things to do and just didn’t worry about what we were missing. Trying to stay in the moment and enjoy.
Day 1-3
We flew the non-stop on Singapore Airlines from Seattle to Singapore. 16hrs! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and the longest non-stop I’ve ever taken. We had Premium economy seats so they were a little smaller than regular first class, but I thought roomy. If you have the money and or miles, recommend Business class , of course. Entertainment on the flight is really good so lots of movies, etc to keep you occupied. I would suggest that you go to the website and order food from the “Book the Cook” section. We neglected to do this going over and the food was practically inedible which was quite disappointing since Singapore Air has such a good reputation. Book the Cook was better, but overall the food was not good. Everything else was great. I left my Kindle on board and didn’t realize it for a few days—-wrote to Singapore Air and they had found it and gave me detailed instructions on how to retrieve it when we came back through on our way home. Easy peasy!
Two nights at The Telegraph hotel downtown Singapore. Really nice place with a great rooftop pool and bar.
Ate at the big food court/market—Lau Pa Sat—-an adventure in itself. They close the street in front of it every evening and put tables out in addition to the tables inside the open air food court. Must be 250 people at the tables outside. Really fun and lots of choices.
Day 2- went to Gardens by the Bay to see the big steel trees that are so emblematic of Singapore these days. They had a special exhibit of tulips which are not common in that part of the world apparently. I especially liked the exhibits of flora from around the world. Did I say it was hot?!! So, we just went back to the hotel for a beer and a swim. That evening we went to Marina Bay Sands hotel—the one that looks like there’s a skateboard on top—for the view and a drink. You pay $30 for a voucher to go up to the bar that includes a drink. And guess how much the drinks were? $30 !! But it was a good drink and the view is worth it. Saw the light show at Gardens by the Bay from up there.
Day 3— Went to Chinatown just to explore—saw some old Hindu temples which are still actively used. Wandered around some markets, etc. Then made it over to Little India and did the same. Not there at the right time to see inside the Sultan’s Temple in that area, but would be worth planning better for that. Went for a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel which was totally worth it. Great drink in that historical hotel. Decided to go back to Little India for dinner because the food looked so good while we were walking around. And indeed it was.
I’m attempting to write a helpful trip report as I have benefitted greatly from others who have shared their experiences. Sorry if it’s too detailed—I’m just including what I would like to know myself before going to Indonesia for the first time. A couple of things just in general I’ll share to make life easier when packing. I wish I had brought my own hair dryer because most that were in the hotels weren’t hot enough or powerful enough. Took a long time to dry my hair and I have short hair. And since it is so so hot, you will be taking a lot of showers! Which brings me to the other thing—pack way more underwear than you think you’ll need. I tended to change clothes a lot because of the heat. And we were able to have laundry done twice during our 19 day stay. It’s not expensive, just had to time it right so I would be sure to get it back before we left! And I didn’t want to invest in quick dry shirts and underwear. Maybe more than you want to know up front, but there it is! In retrospect, our pace on this trip was a lot slower than usual. Maybe it was the heat…..but we didn’t race around like we usually do. We decided on some things to do and just didn’t worry about what we were missing. Trying to stay in the moment and enjoy.
Day 1-3
We flew the non-stop on Singapore Airlines from Seattle to Singapore. 16hrs! It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and the longest non-stop I’ve ever taken. We had Premium economy seats so they were a little smaller than regular first class, but I thought roomy. If you have the money and or miles, recommend Business class , of course. Entertainment on the flight is really good so lots of movies, etc to keep you occupied. I would suggest that you go to the website and order food from the “Book the Cook” section. We neglected to do this going over and the food was practically inedible which was quite disappointing since Singapore Air has such a good reputation. Book the Cook was better, but overall the food was not good. Everything else was great. I left my Kindle on board and didn’t realize it for a few days—-wrote to Singapore Air and they had found it and gave me detailed instructions on how to retrieve it when we came back through on our way home. Easy peasy!
Two nights at The Telegraph hotel downtown Singapore. Really nice place with a great rooftop pool and bar.
Ate at the big food court/market—Lau Pa Sat—-an adventure in itself. They close the street in front of it every evening and put tables out in addition to the tables inside the open air food court. Must be 250 people at the tables outside. Really fun and lots of choices.
Day 2- went to Gardens by the Bay to see the big steel trees that are so emblematic of Singapore these days. They had a special exhibit of tulips which are not common in that part of the world apparently. I especially liked the exhibits of flora from around the world. Did I say it was hot?!! So, we just went back to the hotel for a beer and a swim. That evening we went to Marina Bay Sands hotel—the one that looks like there’s a skateboard on top—for the view and a drink. You pay $30 for a voucher to go up to the bar that includes a drink. And guess how much the drinks were? $30 !! But it was a good drink and the view is worth it. Saw the light show at Gardens by the Bay from up there.
Day 3— Went to Chinatown just to explore—saw some old Hindu temples which are still actively used. Wandered around some markets, etc. Then made it over to Little India and did the same. Not there at the right time to see inside the Sultan’s Temple in that area, but would be worth planning better for that. Went for a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel which was totally worth it. Great drink in that historical hotel. Decided to go back to Little India for dinner because the food looked so good while we were walking around. And indeed it was.
May 24th, 2023, 09:35 PM
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Singapore-Indonesia trip report 2023
Day 4-6
Flew from Singapore to Makassar on Sulawesi Island. The Visa is easy to get once you land anywhere in Indonesia. Just pay the $35 USD fee. The only reason we went to Sulawesi was to visit our former exchange student. We were supposed to go for her wedding in 2020, but Covid. This trip was really much better because we got to spend time with her and her husband their 16 mo old son! As far as Makassar, as others have reported, it’s just a big city and a jumping off place for further exploration of Sulawesi.
Day 7-9
Flew from Makassar to Manado on the very northern tip of Sulawesi. Then, a 30 min. Car ride to the port, then a 40 min. Boat ride to Bastianos Dive Resort. I read about the spectacular snorkeling and diving on Sulawesi and even though it was way out of the way just figured we should go for it. Most people go there for the diving, but they accommodated us snorkelers just fine and the corals, fish and turtles were beautiful to see. The resort was really nice and the staff lovely. They are doing some upgrades after no visitors for a couple of years. There are opportunities for two snorkels/dives a day and some night diving as well.
Day 10-13
Flew from Manado to Yogyakarta by way of Jakarta. Had a driver from our resort in Borobudur meet us in Yogya. We stayed at the Amata Borobudur Resort. It was really lovely. We had our own bungalow with a huge room. The pool was great as well and the grounds filled with orchids and other flowers. Really nice breakfast included. We had a driver one day to take us to some small temples and to see batiks, ceramics, wood working and some other crafts of the area. One thing I noted was that when we asked if a driver/guide spoke English there was a difference in what I would consider fluent English and speaking enough English to get by. When I go to Indonesia again—which I hope I get to—-I will be more specific. It was the one detail that I didn’t spend a lot of time on and I wish I had. The big disappointment was that the sunrise tour at Borobudur Temple is still not operational. So, no sunrise view of the Temple. We opted to go to the sunrise at Punthuk Sembutu. It was just ok. Mainly because of the weather. It was really foggy. In my estimation, I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.
We went to the Chicken Church, which we found out is really supposed to be either duck or a dove. Fun for the novelty of it. We did, of course, go see the Borobudur Temple. Not too crowded this time of year. So , the English speaking group was rather small which was great. Again, I could have done more homework and gotten a private guide who spoke fluent English but I thought the guide we had was really good and learned a lot about the Temple anyway.
Probably, stayed one too many nights in Borobudur but the resort was so nice that we had more downtime than we normally do on trips like this. It was a different pace than we’re used to but I thought it was a good thing just to relax for once. The town itself doesn’t lend itself to walking around so once our driver brought us back, we were in for the night! The staff at Amata resort couldn’t have been more helpful or nicer. Really a great place to stay.
Day 14-16
Had a driver and a guide to take us up to the Dieng Plateau on our way to MesaStila Resort. I had read how beautiful the Dieng is so thought it would be fun to see it on the way. Again, if we had had a different guide I think our day would have been more interesting. We did go to Candi Arjuna which is a Hindu Temple. The weather was cloudy and rainy most of the day so that did not contribute to seeing the plateau very well.
However, MesaStila Resort made up for all that! What a gorgeous place. It’s an old coffee plantation that is still in production. We just spent two nights there, but I”m glad we did. The spa is wonderful and I had a two hour spa treatment that included an hour massage for $86 USD!! Pool nice and so many beautiful places to hang out. It was slow since Ramadan was just over and the summer crowd hadn’t arrived, so we were lucky. Highly, recommend going there.
Day 16-18
Driver took us from MesaStila to Yogyakarta in the morning and on the way stopped at Prambanan Temple complex. As others have noted, a must see in the area. They have English speaking guide but again, not fluent so we just didn’t ask a lot of questions. Lots of info though and we are glad we went there. Not very crowded either at that time of year.
Stayed at the Phoenix Hotel where I read that most fodorites stay! It didn’t disappoint. I even told the staff at the front desk about all the people who recommend that hotel. They had no idea but were delighted to hear. A friend of a friend who is from Jakarta joined us for the two nights we were in Yogya. She had been there many times and so gave us the grand tour. I hadn’t done much shopping the whole trip so I was waiting for the Batiks here. Saw the main sights of the Sultan Palace where there were two groups of dancers. Lots of walking and shopping on Malioboro Rd. Really crowded and have I mentioned how hot it is there???!!! There’s lots of cheap batik-like shops where they have lots and lots of rather poorly made clothes etc. The shop I liked is called Keris. There are several of them on that road. They are not crowded and have great air conditioning! It is still not the best batik but the real stuff is beyond my price range for presents to take back. Even so, the fabric there is really beautiful. And they have the obligatory shirts, etc. Went to Fort Vredeburg Museum. The exhibits seem old and a little old fashioned. The history is always fascinating though about colonialism throughout the region.
Flew from Yogya to Singapore to spend the night at the airport Crown Plaza Hotel. Very convenient and they have a great pool as well. Next day for our long flight all the way back to Alaska!
We flew on Scoot Air (which is owned by Singapore air ), Garuda, and City Link (which is owned by Garuda). They were all fine. We were warned against Lion air because they are late, lose luggage, and cancel flights. On our flight on Scoot back to Singapore, I was worried about the weight of our luggage since I had done my shopping! However, if you are traveling with another person, they weigh all your luggage together so we were under by 3kg, thank goodness. Singapore Air has very liberal weight allowances and two bags per person. And just think of the frequent flyer miles you get!
As far as covid is concerned, it seemed to be the same as in the US. Some people wore masks, most did not. Most people have been vaccinated more than once. There were no big outbreaks either before or during our time there.
Truth be told, if it wasn’t for our exchange student living in Indonesia, it wouldn’t have been on my list of places to go. Well, what a mistake that would have been! I was really taken with the people most of all. I’m already dreaming about going back to Indonesia and other parts of Asia as well. As the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
Flew from Singapore to Makassar on Sulawesi Island. The Visa is easy to get once you land anywhere in Indonesia. Just pay the $35 USD fee. The only reason we went to Sulawesi was to visit our former exchange student. We were supposed to go for her wedding in 2020, but Covid. This trip was really much better because we got to spend time with her and her husband their 16 mo old son! As far as Makassar, as others have reported, it’s just a big city and a jumping off place for further exploration of Sulawesi.
Day 7-9
Flew from Makassar to Manado on the very northern tip of Sulawesi. Then, a 30 min. Car ride to the port, then a 40 min. Boat ride to Bastianos Dive Resort. I read about the spectacular snorkeling and diving on Sulawesi and even though it was way out of the way just figured we should go for it. Most people go there for the diving, but they accommodated us snorkelers just fine and the corals, fish and turtles were beautiful to see. The resort was really nice and the staff lovely. They are doing some upgrades after no visitors for a couple of years. There are opportunities for two snorkels/dives a day and some night diving as well.
Day 10-13
Flew from Manado to Yogyakarta by way of Jakarta. Had a driver from our resort in Borobudur meet us in Yogya. We stayed at the Amata Borobudur Resort. It was really lovely. We had our own bungalow with a huge room. The pool was great as well and the grounds filled with orchids and other flowers. Really nice breakfast included. We had a driver one day to take us to some small temples and to see batiks, ceramics, wood working and some other crafts of the area. One thing I noted was that when we asked if a driver/guide spoke English there was a difference in what I would consider fluent English and speaking enough English to get by. When I go to Indonesia again—which I hope I get to—-I will be more specific. It was the one detail that I didn’t spend a lot of time on and I wish I had. The big disappointment was that the sunrise tour at Borobudur Temple is still not operational. So, no sunrise view of the Temple. We opted to go to the sunrise at Punthuk Sembutu. It was just ok. Mainly because of the weather. It was really foggy. In my estimation, I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.
We went to the Chicken Church, which we found out is really supposed to be either duck or a dove. Fun for the novelty of it. We did, of course, go see the Borobudur Temple. Not too crowded this time of year. So , the English speaking group was rather small which was great. Again, I could have done more homework and gotten a private guide who spoke fluent English but I thought the guide we had was really good and learned a lot about the Temple anyway.
Probably, stayed one too many nights in Borobudur but the resort was so nice that we had more downtime than we normally do on trips like this. It was a different pace than we’re used to but I thought it was a good thing just to relax for once. The town itself doesn’t lend itself to walking around so once our driver brought us back, we were in for the night! The staff at Amata resort couldn’t have been more helpful or nicer. Really a great place to stay.
Day 14-16
Had a driver and a guide to take us up to the Dieng Plateau on our way to MesaStila Resort. I had read how beautiful the Dieng is so thought it would be fun to see it on the way. Again, if we had had a different guide I think our day would have been more interesting. We did go to Candi Arjuna which is a Hindu Temple. The weather was cloudy and rainy most of the day so that did not contribute to seeing the plateau very well.
However, MesaStila Resort made up for all that! What a gorgeous place. It’s an old coffee plantation that is still in production. We just spent two nights there, but I”m glad we did. The spa is wonderful and I had a two hour spa treatment that included an hour massage for $86 USD!! Pool nice and so many beautiful places to hang out. It was slow since Ramadan was just over and the summer crowd hadn’t arrived, so we were lucky. Highly, recommend going there.
Day 16-18
Driver took us from MesaStila to Yogyakarta in the morning and on the way stopped at Prambanan Temple complex. As others have noted, a must see in the area. They have English speaking guide but again, not fluent so we just didn’t ask a lot of questions. Lots of info though and we are glad we went there. Not very crowded either at that time of year.
Stayed at the Phoenix Hotel where I read that most fodorites stay! It didn’t disappoint. I even told the staff at the front desk about all the people who recommend that hotel. They had no idea but were delighted to hear. A friend of a friend who is from Jakarta joined us for the two nights we were in Yogya. She had been there many times and so gave us the grand tour. I hadn’t done much shopping the whole trip so I was waiting for the Batiks here. Saw the main sights of the Sultan Palace where there were two groups of dancers. Lots of walking and shopping on Malioboro Rd. Really crowded and have I mentioned how hot it is there???!!! There’s lots of cheap batik-like shops where they have lots and lots of rather poorly made clothes etc. The shop I liked is called Keris. There are several of them on that road. They are not crowded and have great air conditioning! It is still not the best batik but the real stuff is beyond my price range for presents to take back. Even so, the fabric there is really beautiful. And they have the obligatory shirts, etc. Went to Fort Vredeburg Museum. The exhibits seem old and a little old fashioned. The history is always fascinating though about colonialism throughout the region.
Flew from Yogya to Singapore to spend the night at the airport Crown Plaza Hotel. Very convenient and they have a great pool as well. Next day for our long flight all the way back to Alaska!
We flew on Scoot Air (which is owned by Singapore air ), Garuda, and City Link (which is owned by Garuda). They were all fine. We were warned against Lion air because they are late, lose luggage, and cancel flights. On our flight on Scoot back to Singapore, I was worried about the weight of our luggage since I had done my shopping! However, if you are traveling with another person, they weigh all your luggage together so we were under by 3kg, thank goodness. Singapore Air has very liberal weight allowances and two bags per person. And just think of the frequent flyer miles you get!
As far as covid is concerned, it seemed to be the same as in the US. Some people wore masks, most did not. Most people have been vaccinated more than once. There were no big outbreaks either before or during our time there.
Truth be told, if it wasn’t for our exchange student living in Indonesia, it wouldn’t have been on my list of places to go. Well, what a mistake that would have been! I was really taken with the people most of all. I’m already dreaming about going back to Indonesia and other parts of Asia as well. As the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know”.
May 26th, 2023, 07:22 AM
#4
Thanks for the report. I went to Indonesia once in early May, agree about the heat issue and the difficulty in understanding the accent (one person in Ubud was an exception). Lodgings can indeed be the best part of the trip. Especially those with good A/C.
May 30th, 2023, 03:53 AM
#5
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 9,370
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the report. Always good when someone takes the time and trouble to come back and relate their experiences.
We loved Sulawesi but didn't make it up to Manado despite being keen divers. Maybe we should have done. Instead we headed overland to Tanah Toraja and back via Lake Tempe and a couple of other places.
Good to know we were the only ones with issues with guides. In Tanah Toraja, ours was superb but in Java when we went to Mt Bromo and Mt Ijen the guide was beyond useless. Bad enough that he was totally lazy but when I found out he was collecting tourist entrance fees from us but paying the local fee at the various entrances (a difference of 90%) I got really angry.
Shame you missed the sunrise and sunset @ Borobodur. We were fortunate to be staying in the hotel in the grounds and got to see both! Sadly I think that hotel may now have closed. some photos if you are interested on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2015/09...ing-borobudur/
Bali is always high on a lot of wish lists which is a shame because it really isn't the most interesting of the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia.
We loved Sulawesi but didn't make it up to Manado despite being keen divers. Maybe we should have done. Instead we headed overland to Tanah Toraja and back via Lake Tempe and a couple of other places.
Good to know we were the only ones with issues with guides. In Tanah Toraja, ours was superb but in Java when we went to Mt Bromo and Mt Ijen the guide was beyond useless. Bad enough that he was totally lazy but when I found out he was collecting tourist entrance fees from us but paying the local fee at the various entrances (a difference of 90%) I got really angry.
Shame you missed the sunrise and sunset @ Borobodur. We were fortunate to be staying in the hotel in the grounds and got to see both! Sadly I think that hotel may now have closed. some photos if you are interested on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2015/09...ing-borobudur/
Bali is always high on a lot of wish lists which is a shame because it really isn't the most interesting of the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia.
May 31st, 2023, 09:38 AM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The other diving place is Wakatobi National Park. It's on the southern tip of the wishbone that is Sulawesi. A friend of mine went there last year and said it was glorious. It was out of our price range so that's why we went north! Your pictures are beautiful. The Manohara is open, but it was full. I'm really glad we stayed at Amata Resort though because it was a little oasis. and it looks nicer than Manohara at least from the pictures. If you are a diver, make haste to one of those diving spots! Other guests were from Germany and avid divers and they took some great photos with a fancy dive camera. Indonesia is a fascinating country and I would go back in a heart beat. So many places to explore next time.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
AKgirl
Asia
4
Jun 11th, 2009 05:50 AM
Gigi
Australia & the Pacific
6
Jun 1st, 1999 11:31 PM
