Travel Pekanbaru - Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta - Pekanbaru

From 6 to 8 February 2019 I traveled from Pekanbaru to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur to arrange for a working visa in Indonesia. I am with my cousin who is also processing his visa for work.

This blog is all about tri-city travels and some side trips.

1. Pekanbaru to Kuala Lumpur

From the house at 7:05 which is too early for our 10:55 local time. It is still early and the holiday for the Chinese New Year is just finished so there is not much traffic. From Jalan Riau, we reached the airport at 7:40 AM which is still too early. So we waited for the opening of the booth for the Air Asia printing of our boarding passes since we already had online check-in.

The booth opened at 10:00 and the boarding passes were printed quickly. We then proceeded to the boarding gate and the flight went on time at 10:55. We reached Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 (KLIA2) in 40 minutes; the local time was 12:45.

We then proceed to reserve for a bus to KL Sentral. It is 12 MYR per person and the travel time is 45 minutes at a very light traffic situation. Luckily, we were able to catch the near departure time of the bus so we immediately rode after reserving for a ticket.

At KL Sentral, we rode the monorail to Bukit Bintang-Air Asia station. The fare for this is a token which is purchased from a machine. It is 2:50 MYR per token and bills and coins can be used for the machine. The travel time is around 30 minutes.

From Bukit Bintang station, we had 15 minutes walk to Corona Inn - our hotel.

We stayed there for two nights and two days. Our visas were processed by agents.

While there, I was able to visit Sentul area and had some social responsibility visits.

Bukit Bintang is district a mix of a business area, entertainment bars, and restaurants. Meals range from local and Indonesian dish to foreign ones. Strings of food stalls are located along Alor Street and the Tong Shin Streets.

2. Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta

I would say that there is an ease of travel in Kuala Lumpur because all transportation modes are interconnected - MRT, LRT, Bus, Taxis, etc are well integrated. It is not much better than Singapore but it is easier than Manila.

We left the hotel by taking a taxi ride going to KL Sentral at 5:00 (16 MYR via Grab). We immediately purchased tickets with Skytravel Bus going to KLIA2 which is at 12 MYR per person.

It departed at 6:30 and we were able to reach KLIA at 7:15. The travel is 45 minutes with free traffic.

Our flight went on time from 9:40 in KLIA2 and reached Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 10:45 local time. It was a 1-hour 45-minutes flight.

With our working visas, we queued at the area where the one with temporary stay, KITAS/ KITAP would go. We had face and fingerprint capture and stamped with an exit-return permit for one year. The agent mentioned that the KITAS will be emailed to us in 3 days.

3. Jakarta to Pekanbaru

We then stayed at the airport to wait for our next flight which is at 16:55 local time. We were booked with Lion Air (Batik Air). The flight went on time without delay and it was 1 hour and 35 minutes. We reached Pekanbaru at 18:40. And our pick up has been there to send us home.

We thank God for a successful and safe trip.

Expenses Work Visa Processing 6 to 8 February 2019
Date	Particular	Price IDR	Price MYR
6 Feb	Hotel: Corona Inn, Bukit Bintang KL (6 to 8 Feb) (Standard Twin sharing = 130x2)		260
	Hotel tax (paid upon entry) (10x2 days)		20
	Aiplane: Pekanbaru to Kuala Lumpur with 20kl	1,525,500
	Bus: KLIA2 to KL Sentral		12
	Monorail: KL Sentral to Bukit Bintang		2.50
	Meals: nearby restaurants (Alor Streets, Jln Tong Shin, etc)		90
7 Feb	Roaming around the city Mycard top up		10
8 Feb	Grab taxi: Corono Inn to KL Sentral		16
	Bus: KL Sentral to KLIA2		12
	Airplane: Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta		219
	Meal (Jakarta airport)	65,000
	Airplane: Jakarta to Pekanbaru	1,234,000
	Car: Airport to home	Free
TOTAL		2,824,000 IDR	641.50 MYR