City Introduction

Bandung has the charm of ever being honoured as “Paris of the East” by the whimsical travelers, and it is dotted with the modern personalized decorations in the streets. If you could explore in this reinforced concrete forest, from the splendid buildings with decorative art style to those peculiar glass fiber sculptures in Jeans Street, and from the goat fight in the Sunday morning to Sunda culture, you could have experienced the unique characteristics of the fourth largest city in Indonesia. This city can be roughly divided into the Northern and Southern parts. The Southern part is the commercial zone, north part is the residential zone, with State Guesthouse, and big hotels, and there are apartments with novel design in the suburb. There are and the memorial Independence Hall and the Independent Hall in the former site of Asian-African Conference in Bandung held in 1955. There are large portion of tea park and cinchona park, planted rice, vegetables and flowers in the suburb. Bandung is one of important cultural and industrial centers in Java Island, and has the culture, dance, music and opera of the Sunda nationality in West Java.

 

 

 

 

History and Culture

Bandung is the sourceland of “Bandung Spirit”. On April 18 - 24, 1955, the first Asian-African Conference was held in Bandung, known to history as Bandung Conference. This was the first time that the Asian-African countries held the large-scale international conference by themselves without the participation of western colonial countries, with the participation of the representatives of 29 Asian and African countries and regions. Bandung Conference unanimously approved Final Communique of the Asian-African Conference, proposed that the Ten Principles of Bandung Conference based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were taken as the criteria for the peaceful coexistence and friendly cooperation. The spirit for Asian and African countries’ solidarity and common will to fight against imperialism and colonialism, strive for national independence, safeguard world peace and promote friendly relations among themselves as demonstrated in the Bandung Conference was later summarized as, and Bandung has become well-known in the world since then. The former site of Bandung Conference is a three-floor beige building built in 1895. This building was originally the high-level club of the Dutch colonists and served as a cultural center during the Japanese occupation. Since Indonesia declared independence in 1945, it was renamed as “Independence Building”. To commemorate the historical Bandung Conference, the Indonesian government built the former site of Bandung Conference into “Asian-African Conference Museum” in 1980 and named the most prosperous street in the city as “Asian-African Street”.

 

 

 

 

Natural Environment

With the west-east length over 5,500km, it is the second Asian country with the widest territory, after China. Indonesia is composed of 17,508 islands between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, in which about 6,000 islands are inhabited by the persons. There are more than 400 volcanoes, with 77 active ones. There are two seismic belts in the world: Circum-Pacific seismic belt and Mediterranean- Himalaya seismic belt. Indonesia is situated in circum-Pacific seismic belt and is a earthquake-prone country.

 

 

 

 

Climate

The annual average temperature is 22.5°C. Annual precipitation is 1,988mm. It enjoys mild and pleasant climate, and is the ideal place for health resort.

 

 

 

 

Useful Information

Most hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and coffee bars in Indonesia provide Wi-Fi, internet access interface or public computer. There are many Internet cafés in the streets.

The postage for mailing the post card from Indonesia to China is 7,000 Indonesia Rupiahs (IDR).

Information of Embassy and Consulate

Address: Jl. Mega Kuningan No.2, Jakarta Selatan 12950, Indonesia

Website: http://id.china-embassy.org

Country Code: 0062-21 (Jakarta)

Reception office: 5761039

Special fax number of the embassy: 5761034

Consular Protection Tel.: 8179838410

Consular Protection Email: consulate_idn@mfa.gov.cn

 

 

 

 

Visa Information

Materials needed:

Original of the passport of the applicant (with a validity period of over six months)

Personal Data Sheet fully filled

Two 2-cun close-up photos in color with white background

Copy of the business license or organization code certificate if of the organization where the applicant works (affixed with the official seal)

Letter for vacation from the organization where the applicant works

Front-and-back copy of Identification Card

 

 

 

 

Notes

1. The stay period includes the days for entry and exit;

2. It is required to make preparation for the advance application in case of the transit visa.

Currency Exchange

The currency of Indonesia is Rupiah (Rp), and the exchange rate is roughly RMB 1 = Rp 1,300-1,350, USD 1 = Rp 8,500 - 8,900.

UnionPay

UnionPay cards may be used to withdraw money in Indonesia, and in the ATMs of the banks such as BCA and Citibank, no handling fee is charged for the first several times; additionally, the payment may be made with UnionPay cards in the shopping malls, without any handling fee.

 

 

 

 

Religion

In Indonesia, there is no state religion, but there is a regulation that everyone shall believe in a religion. About 87% of the population believe in the Islam, and Indonesia is the country with the most Muslims in the world. 6.1% of the population believe in Christian Protestantism, 3.6% believe in Catholicism, and others believe in Hinduism and Buddhism.

 

 

 

 

Tourism Service Number

First-aid: Fire Alarm 118: Police Alarm 113: 110

Notes

Contact information

Locally bought SIM cards are convenient and cheap in dialing. In some regions, 3G network may be used for direct internet access. There are various types of locally supplied SIM cards, SIM3, SimPati, Mentari and ProXL. SimPati is the largest local telecommunication company with the best signal. There are many special stores selling SIM cards, with the prices basically same, for example, SimPati card sells only Rp 15,000, containing the fare of Rp 10,000, about Rp 1,200 per minute. The fare for dialing the fixed line is higher, and the answer of the call is free. The fares may be top-upped in the stores.

 

 

 

 

Festivals(Important/Historical/Folks Ones)

National Day (August 17):

It is also called Independence Day. August 17, 1945 was the day that Indonesia declared independence. Every year, the grand celebration ceremony is held on the square in front of the Office of the President of Indonesia.

Mother’s Day (November 22):

On this day, the mothers do not do the housework, and accept the congratulations from the family members.

Id al-fit:

This is the most important festival in Indonesia. Each September of Islamic calendar, the Muslims in this country practice the fasting in the daytime. The day after the Ramadan is Lesser Bairam (between February and March of the solar calendar). Before Lesser Bairam, the Islamists will hold the charity donation activities. The official holiday for this festival is one day. But actually for this festival, there will be the holiday for more than three days, and some organizations will have the holiday for more than one week. The persons working outside will come back home to join with their family members before Lesser Bairam.

Corban Festival:

This is also an important Islamic festival. According to the Islamic regulations, Corban Festival is on December 10 in Islamic calendar. In this festival, the Muslims will take bath and dress them up, to hold the celebration activities.