Greetings, /fellow travellers!

A little something has come up just yesterday that might be the chance for a bit of OE that Ive been looking for, and could be awesome: to travel to the Trilanda Kongreso de Esperanto (the Trination Esperanto Congress) in Bandung, Indonesia in March of next year.

Id love to go – see Indonesia, meet people, speak Esperanto, do something unique…only, since bringing it up to family I was visiting yesterday, a few concerns were raised, and what Ive seen on the internet so far seems to back it up…so I thought Id ask for the opinions of actual people whove been in that part of the world.

Im a 24 year old nonreligious woman of androgynous appearance, who would be travelling alone on a very limited budget, with dual British and New Zealand passports. I speak English, Esperanto, French and a smattering of atrocious Spanish, and would have a sister a phonecall away who speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. I intend to learn some Indonesian before travelling, if I go.

The main concerns that have been raised are:
– its a very strictly Muslim area, and apparently being a young nonreligious woman travelling alone could be a problem, enough to make life difficult. Im totes cool with Muslims, and have known many – its whether they would be cool with me thats possibly of concern.
– its a bit politically unstable at the moment, and dangerous at the best of times. I dont understand politics at all, but my mum has been to a part of Indonesia not far away from Bandung (Im not sure where) and reports being warned not to talk to the police at all, me (as a pre-school age child – I have a vague memory of this, actually, though I didnt know at the time) finding drugs on the beach, and her being in a taxi that got pulled over and the driver arrested at gunpoint with more police pointing guns at my mum.
– Bandung is apparently very polluted and dirty nowadays, and not really as worth seeing any more as it once used to be.

As I see it, by the sounds of it, I have a few options for how to react to this:
– not go at all, and wait for the Kongreso to come around to Australia or New Zealand.
– go, but only for the three days of the congress and just stay in the congress venue – itd seem a shame, though, for the cost of the flights.
– make more friends! Join up with some other Esperantists and stay a little longer to try and see some more of the area, but be super-super-careful and stay in a group (probably not a bad idea in the best of places when travelling, actually).

But for all I know, these concerns might be baseless or dated. Im really not sure. Maybe Im worrying about nothing. Id hate to miss an opportunity because of rumour, one persons bad luck, and internet-exaggeration.

So, what do you think, /fellow travellers, if I may ask? Is there anyone out there whos been to Bandung in recent years? Anyone whos been to Indonesia in similar circumstances to me? Any thoughts to offer?

Thanks for your time!