Thank You and Farewell

Last updated: September 21, 2015

Mau Ke Mana is closing permanently on 30 September 2015.

It is with some sadness that we announce Mau Ke Mana will cease operations on 30 September 2015.

After this date, we will not be accepting any new flight or train enquiries.

Goodbye

Why?
Mau Ke Mana’s full-time employees, David and Chris, are returning to their home country for personal reasons.

What If My Flight/Train Departs After 30 September?
Chris will advise affected clients of any schedule changes and cancellations to flights via the Twitter feed and their emergency contact telephone number (if supplied).

Some of the more common questions are answered on the FAQ page and in the text of the email containing your e-tickets.

How can I book flight/train tickets now?
Unfortunately, it is still difficult.

Most Indonesian airline websites continue to only accept local credit cards. Since earlier this year, you can’t book flight tickets at airports.

The official Indonesian train website is only in Indonesian, the train stations are in an unusual order (not just alphabetical) and our experience is that the booking system regularly doesn’t work properly.

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If you have a question or a comment, please write it below and Chris will answer it, even after 30 September 2015.

12 Comments on “Thank You and Farewell”

1. Kevin Edner says:

   September 21, 2015 at 5:00 am

   Chris,

   I am literally in Chicago O’Hare airport on our way home from Jakarta as I read this. We just had a fantastic trip to Borneo, Yogyakarta and Bali that would not have been possible without your help. I am so grateful for your excellent service and fair pricing. Your service will be missed. I wish you well!

   Kevin

2. Lynne says:

   September 23, 2015 at 9:28 pm

   Hi – are there flight between Ponianak ans Kuching? I can’t seem to find anything.
   Can you recommend someone to assist me booking my Borneo flight now that you are closing shop. I am finding it very difficult.

   I am flying from Melbourne to Pangkalanbun (via Jakarta so it seems). I then want to go from Pangkalanbun to Kuching, which I think can be done in 2 ways. 1. Go back to Jakarta, then flt to Kuching, which seems a little extreme. 2. Fly to Pontianak (stay overnight as per your website), then flt to Kuching next day..is that correct?

   All seem a long way around to me.

   From Kuching I need to fly to Bali, which I think would entail going bai Jakarta.

   Any help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

   Thank you
   Lynne

3. Chris says:

   September 24, 2015 at 1:36 pm

   > are there flight between Ponianak ans Kuching?

   Yes, on Xpress Air and MasWings (the regional/partner/subsidiary airline of Malaysia Airlines).

   > Can you recommend someone to assist me booking my Borneo flight now that you are closing shop.

   We aren’t closed yet, we close on 30 September. Flights to/from Pangkalan Bun are available now for flights until December. If you are departing next year, unfortunately we cannot assist.

   > I am flying from Melbourne to Pangkalanbun (via Jakarta so it seems). I then want to go from Pangkalanbun to Kuching, which I think can be done in 2 ways. 1. Go back to Jakarta, then flt to Kuching, which seems a little extreme. 2. Fly to Pontianak (stay overnight as per your website), then flt to Kuching next day..is that correct?

   Yes, only option 2 is possible.

   > From Kuching I need to fly to Bali, which I think would entail going bai Jakarta.

   No, the quickest way would be via Kuala Lumpur.

   > Can you recommend someone to assist me booking my Borneo flight now that you are closing shop. I am finding it very difficult.

   Unfortunately, we can’t. To this day, Mau Ke Mana remains the only travel agency that specialises in foreign visitors to Indonesia and accepts all credit cards with a well-known payment method like Paypal.

   Other Indonesian online travel agency websites are designed mostly for local consumption, but have an English translation of their webpage in the hope of scoring some extra sales from foreign visitors.

   I’m not going to go into a list of which ones are better than others; you can find that on e.g. Lonely Planet Thorntree, Trip Advisor, etc.

4. azlina says:

   October 6, 2015 at 9:10 am

   Hi Chris, I was just browsing through the internet for my upcoming “backpacking” in Indonesia (Surabaya – Bali – Lombok) in late November. Found your website but sadly it is closed now. I want to seek your advice on the best travel arrangement/accommodation suggestions for my little adventure soon. This is hubby’s and my first time travelling to Indonesia and hope to make the best out of it.

   Hope to hear from you soon.

   Thanking you in advance :)

   Azlina
   Malaysia

5. Hon says:

   October 6, 2015 at 3:47 pm

   Really sorry to hear you have to go.
   Hope everything works out.
   Best wishes.

6. Chris says:

   October 7, 2015 at 5:04 pm

   Dear Azlina,

   I can’t give you personal feedback now, so here are some ideas for the overland/sea trip from Surabaya to Bali via Mt Bromo and Ijen Plateau:
   http://flights.indonesiamatters.com/8192-java-bali-train/

   And the trip from Bali to Lombok/the Gili Islands:
   http://flights.indonesiamatters.com/3840-bali-gili/

7. Jakes says:

   November 9, 2015 at 2:10 pm

   Hi Chris,

   Wishing you well on your next venture. I only used your services once and I must say it was really awesome. Thank you for that!

   Sorry to hear your service has closed.

   Best wishes.

8. Nadine says:

   December 7, 2015 at 6:05 am

   Hi Chris,
   Even though Mau Ke Mana stopped 2 months ago, I hope you will read this and can give me advise about our coming train trip in February 2016. We (4 adults and 2 children from 3 and 4 years old) want to travel with the Argo Willis from Bandung to Yogyakarta and with the Sancaka Pagi from Yogyakarta to Surabaya. Which carriage and which seat rows could you recommend? And on which side of the train is the best scenery?
   I wish you all the best!
   Thank you,
   Nadine

9. Chris says:

   December 7, 2015 at 5:25 pm

   Hi Nadine,

   Bandung to Yogyakarta
   Sit on the left (A-B seats, not C-D seats) for the best scenery

   Yogkarta to Surabaya
   Sit on the right (C-D seats, not A-B seats) for the best scenery

   Carriage and seat rows aren’t so important because the windows are big. Rows 1 and 13 are at the ends of executive class train carriages, Row 7 is in the middle.

10. Amanda says:

    January 2, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    Hi Chris, sad to hear this website stop! I was very excited to find it just now.
    However if you find the time to reply can advise the best seat for Jakarta Bandung with Ago Parahyangan? Thxk all the best!

11. Chris says:

    January 3, 2016 at 5:06 am

    Hi Amanda,

    We have a general guide to picking the best seats here: Holy Seat.

    For trains from Jakarta to Bandung, there isn’t a large difference between window seats on the left side of the train (D seats) and the right side of the train (A seats). Maybe D seats have slightly nicer scenery.

12. Timothy Brown says:

    January 6, 2016 at 4:38 am

    I echo the above comments about this website! It seems very helpful and I am only now finding it, having been directed here from “Stay Raja Ampat”. We’re traveling to Sorong via Denpasar in less than a month and have had a very tough time purchasing Garuda flights both online and over the phone. Garuda says they do not accept major US credit cards, and we were told you might be abel to help us. We would be most grateful with any suggestions you have. Thanks!