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Literary Works Capable of Change Culture Shock-Jakarta-Sydney Alcohol and Islam “Bintang, Anyone?” Dying For a Drink
 

Literary Works Capable of Change

Take an ambitious businessman drunk on being so close to power, a media baron who uses his political acquaintances to strengthen his own newspaper’s position, the highly idealistic radical who talks of empathy with the common worker with his middle class friends all the while telling said workers their leaders know best, and a civil [...]

Culture Shock-Jakarta-Sydney

My wife Srie and I, normally resident in Indonesia, recently spent four months in Sydney where our son is studying. I’m British, and this was my fifth visit to Sydney and my seventh to Australia. My first reaction this time was “This is a nation of FOODIES!”. What a contrast to my first visit in [...]

Alcohol and Islam

During one period of my years in living in Jakarta, a favorite activity was my weekly visit to Pak Trisno, an elderly antiques dealer and former journalist with a prodigious knowledge born of a long lifetime of reading in several languages. On one occasion, during Ramadan, I dropped by about an hour before sunset. When [...]

“Bintang, Anyone?”

Indonesia’s Most Loved Beer and the History Behind the Label A holiday spent in Indonesia most likely revolves around a bottle of Bintang. It is a household name and the perfect thirst-quencher to help one survive the tropical heat of this archipelago. For years now Bintang has always been a favourite amongst locals and foreigners, [...]

Dying For a Drink

The Indonesian government claims that its high taxes on alcoholic beverages discourage heavy drinking but the reality is that many people are turning to illicitly produced liquor, sometimes with deadly consequences. Every year, dozens of people across the archipelago are killed by consuming drinks adulterated with toxic substances, especially methyl alcohol, which is normally used [...]

The Busy Jakartan’s Guide to Better Health and Fitness

27 February 2012

Can you use some scientifically sound shortcuts to fitness, weight loss and stress management that apply to our unique Jakartan existence? Probably, since many of us are stuck – for so many reasons – doing little or nothing about our wellness. We often cloak – and even ennoble – this inaction with the familiar litany [...]

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Posted in Health0 Comments

Love is in the Air

17 February 2012

Do you remember the song Love is in the Air, which was a big hit by John Paul Young in 1978? I guess the normal people under us will, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean old people. When I say normal I mean the people that do not need the Internet to find [...]

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Posted in Technology0 Comments

Love the Local Brew

17 February 2012

If you’re starved of somewhere to have a decent cup of coffee, look no further. Anomali prides itself for having the best local coffee from around Indonesia, with their fresh beans coming in from Bali, Java, Toraja, Flores, Papua, Aceh and Mandailing. We took a trip into their latest branch in Kemang to discover some [...]

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Posted in Food & Drink0 Comments

Simon L.

17 February 2012

Meet Simon the happy bachelor who doesn’t feel the need to fall in love. Simon, which answer best describes your current love situation?  a.) Single and happy  b). Single and lonely  c.) Single and definitely not lonely or d.) In a committed relationship. C. Single and most definitely not lonely. I didn’t even have to [...]

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Posted in Meet the Expats3 Comments

Anna Ingrid Woolcott Feliciano

17 February 2012

Meet Anna Ingrid Woolcott Feliciano. The Danish Aussie animal lover who’s lived in more countries than most people will ever visit. Where do you come from? I am half Australian and half Danish. I’m officially an Australian, and I was born in Canberra, which I regret to say. Probably one of the most boring places [...]

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The Big Squeeze

14 February 2012

Women from the arid island of Madura, east of Java, are famed for their ability to enhance sexual intercourse by the rhythmic clenching of their vaginal muscles. Some even take classes in sexual gymnastics to learn this supposedly secret technique, which has been passed down through generations over hundreds of years. Many also use tongkat [...]

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I Hate St. Valentine

14 February 2012

That’s the most stupid fake date on earth! When I was a teenager in Europe, it even didn’t exist (or maybe it did but I didn’t notice). We didn’t used to celebrate this date despite that it basically comes from the Roman Empire. Then when I was 20 or something like this, America sent us [...]

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Posted in Comedy1 Comment

Love In The East

14 February 2012

An old photograph of ‘Indo’ girls (mixed European and Indonesian) in Batavia The early days of the expatriate in South East Asia, back in the 16th and 17th centuries were fraught with danger and the unknown. Never knowing when a passing ship would call in and take them home and consumed with a fear they [...]

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Posted in History1 Comment

Tee Off More

06 February 2012

The Long Par 5 Hole #11 At Sentul Highlands, photo by Dennis G. Kloeth Jakarta is probably one of Asia’s best golf destinations and certainly when judged from the amount of courses that can be played in and around the city, thirty eight in total. Next to fabulous golf, Jakarta also offers a thought-provoking package [...]

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Posted in Health, Sports0 Comments

The Unnecessary Fire

06 February 2012

We call the magical device we have in our pockets a “phone”, but it really should be called a “communicator”. Amazing advances in technology in the last few years have turned the simple phone (which was amazing enough in its day) into a multi-platform multimedia communications device that gives us the ability to communicate in [...]

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Posted in Comedy, Technology0 Comments

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