A Day at Banten Lama
Jakarta is sadly lacking in opportunities for a pleasant day trip out of the city. The traffic, not to mention...
Travel
Get Some Fresh Bandung Air!
When visiting Bandung there are many attractions and nature reserves to explore in the surrounding mountains. Included amongst these are...
Run to New York
The English, bless our little cotton buds, have always loved a gallant loser. Years of feeble cricket and football performances...
Not Losing Their Religion
How many people know there’s an Indonesian god at Jakarta’s oldest Chinese temple? And who knew the city’s oldest church...
A Trip to the Badui Tribe
First published on Alterity Incredible as it may seem, but just 120km (75 miles) from the bustling metropolis of Jakarta...
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...
Bengkulu Blues
At first sight Bengkulu seems an odd place for a trading post. It’s situated on the west coast of Sumatra,...
“Bintang, Anyone?”
Indonesia’s Most Loved Beer and the History Behind the Label A holiday spent in Indonesia most likely revolves around a...
The Mad Tuk Tuk Challenge
First Published on Latitudes.nu Picture the scene : You’re riding your bicycle along a dirt road near Prolit village near...
Of Spice and Profit
Nearly half a millennium before the world, slowly getting connected by grainy black and white TV images, was entranced by...
Love In The East
The early days of the expatriate in South East Asia back in the 16th and 17th centuries were fraught with...
Zheng He, The Chinese Muslim Eunuch
Zheng He is renowned today as a great explorer, honoured by both Chinese and Muslims throughout South East Asia. But...
Run, Scott, Run !
1,250 kilometres in 25 days, from Bali to Jakarta, running through the sweltering 32 degree Equatorial heat and 75% humidity,...
‘W’ stands for ‘Wow’
Wondrous. Other worldly. Wow, what a whale of a time. Welcome to W Hotel, Seminyak, Bali, a place where wishes...
The Virgin Dancers of Belu
Like endangered species, magical encounters with pure and unadulterated Indonesian traditional culture have become increasingly rare events in the 21st...
Diving Wakatobi
“What a great idea – if only I had thought of it: take a trip to paradise, stay in a...
Uneasy Money
Gambling, like prostitution and corruption, is an age-old vice that is part of Indonesia’s culture. Despite being criminalized in the...
The Eco Island of the Not-So Tigers
Most people don’t get over-excited when you mention the Thousand Islands (Pulau Seribu), myself included, however, one of these one...
Treading in Jogjakarta’s Ancient History
Jogjakarta and its Hill of Stones Anyone with but the flimsiest knowledge of Indonesia will know the pivotal role Jogjakarta...
The Rinjani [Rubbish] Trail
The naturalist John Muir is credited with a quote most mountain climbers have memorised and tend to recite after a...
Sticks and Stones won’t Break by Bones and Artfully they Speak for me – the Eco in Kamoro Art
Long and heavy it lies on the wet morning grass, the dew licking its undersides. Young sunlight grazes its skin....