It’s hard to put your finger on what makes Ben Hil (short for Bendungan Hilir), right at the heart of the city, the go-to spot for street food. Maybe it’s the atmosphere—the perpetually wet streets, the howl of the bemo, the ubiquitous banci whose Adam’s apple bobs as she points her chin at you and [...]

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When it comes to New Year’s Eve parties, there are only two corners of the room: The corner where some eyebrow-raiser is busy trapping girls and trying to impress by asking if they have any idea what “Auld Lang Syne” means and the one on the other side of the room, chock-full of people plugging [...]

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There are two kinds of people in Jakarta: the ones that eat street food and the ones that don’t.   The ones that do boast about late-night haunts, one-of-a-kind stalls and meals so good you’d sell your mother for another bite.   The ones that don’t eat street food are, well…forgettable. If the fact that [...]

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If you plan on walking into a department store this week and dropping Rp 3.2 million on a six-foot tall fake Christmas tree, don’t read this story. But if Christmas tree haggling is something you pride yourself on, if you look at the whole thing more like Christmas tree hunting than shopping, by all means [...]

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The naturalist John Muir is credited with a quote most mountain climbers have memorised and tend to recite after a few beers or moments of beauty and sheer awe. Climb to the top of Rinjani in Lombok and you might hear a few of the brave souls who left camp at 2am to make the [...]

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Kyle Blakeway’s love of the ocean runs deep: it started when he earned his junior open water dive certification —he was ten years old— blossomed over the years as his passion took him to Egypt and the Gilis and finally manifested itself in the purchase of the “Cecilia Ann,” a 60-foot ketch rigged sailing boat, [...]

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