Mistakes expats make in Indonesia

Totally true and I won’t disagree with you Fred, however it’s no different from Europe, the America’s, any and every country in Asia and the Middle East, (some more than others ) and Africa,
I’ve met some really nice “girls” in bars and clubs, but not all are gold diggers or scammers (though your advice should not be ignored).
Within my line of employment I visit many many countries and the scams are how you say but many times worse and openly worse
maybe because of my background and years of travel I’ve become so accustomed to it (meaning I can smell it a mile away) and see the scams before they happen I can stay clear
But if some are to say bar girls or club girls  are scammers and gold diggers I would have to disagree, it would be like saying all government employees are honest, it’s evident it’s just not true, many are but not all

Many of the high end hotels in Indonesia have brothels or working girls employed by the hotels/ lease holders in hotels, Blok M is no different to a $400 a night hotel in Jakarta

Going back to Freds words and like I said don’t ignore them as they are accurate
But if it comes to a newbie or short time Visiter/ contractor (I half expect this to be deleted) a saying my old RSM used to say “think with your big head, not the little head” and you’ll be ok....,.. many mistakes like at home are done with alcohol

I worked in Bangkok for a year and the situation there is much more open and worse. Plus there are a lot more expats there, materials for the scammers to work on.

To me Indonesia is a lot more subdued. You are always on guard for it but they are not very experienced and you can smell it a mile away.

It does help too that I can read and converse in bahasa (80%  )

Yes bahasa is a help (I’m the worlds worst at learning languages) and I will agree thailand is more open but has changed slightly since the military took over and the last king passed away
I think the difference with Thailand whether Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang rai, Bangkok, Pattaya etc is you know you’ll be ripped off, scammed etc plus nothing like a pretty Asian to melt your heart...

Haha true. You will be very surprised and suspicious why you are not scammed in Bangkok. Drinks are more expensive there as well.

Chiangmai (equivalent) Rp 30,000 for a pint of draft, Krabi Rp40,000 Bangkok Rp150,00 approx average 2017 taxi (tuk-tuk) don’t even try in Bangkok ......walk

A lady drink will cost 1.5x or 2x of yours in Bangkok.

Normally I'll just take Uber of Grab there if there are no transport. I tried the motorbike transport once and promise never to do it again. 

Walk, quicker and free in Bangkok lady drinks similar here as in Bangkok possibly between 50/100k (Rp) for water/ juice the girls end up with about 10% of what you pay or on a none salary girl who typically gets Rp 50,000 per day about 15% (not exact just estimated)

Cant walk in Bangkok because the work sites are quite far apart.

Hmm I have never tried buying a ladies drink in Jakarta before .

😳 niether have I (I’m Lying) ( shoot me) (big head thinking now)👍👍

Gwmeath wrote:

😳 niether have I (I’m Lying) ( shoot me) (big head thinking now)👍👍

Hahaha  , well we are allowed that sometimes   

H there,
I definitely would like to know your friend in the higher position. Thanks.

I like your last bit.

miakarisma wrote:

H there,
I definitely would like to know your friend in the higher position. Thanks.

Perhaps that needs a little rephrasing.

Well, we need help. He says his friend is influential. Thanks.

Number 1
Learn language

matabiru111 wrote:

Ya iank in general u are right. And if u ask me why i stayed for so long than exactely because i always try to see the positive things. And of course i always thought this time its the worse one and it cant get worse. But believe me in here it can. And its simply about live and commitments i made. And i am not indonesian so i stick to my promises, but indonesians make it very difficult to do so. And the question of the post is what can u do wrong and i simply wanna warn people to not see this place from the permanent smile they offer you, behind that smile is a strong double moralistic dirty world. For me this eye opener is to late, I am through all of this, this is just to warn others to think twice or even more to move here for what ever.

This is very strange.
I do hate Jakarta, because unless you live in the poshest area it’s truly a sinking cesspool. I can’t never understand why anyone would want to live in that city, unless it is Pondok Indah or probably Bintaro Jaya. So far this is the only think that I dislike about Indonesia.
So the on-going trouble mentioned by “Matabiru111” is news to me.
For a Third-World country, Indonesia in general is great compared to places in Africa like Mali or Senegal...... Am I biased because most of my Indonesian friends are either university academics or super wealthy? Or because I am Dutch with a bit of Javanese blood? Probably....... But I can’t see how the general population could be that bad as described by “Matabiru111”.