There is a stretch of West Jakarta — bounded roughly by Slipi to the north and Kebon Jeruk to the south — that most Jakartans drive through without ever looking at. It is called Palmerah. The road through it is one of the busiest commuter arteries in the city. The neighborhoods on either side of […]
The Neighborhood Jakarta Forgot to Gentrify Read More »
Picture this. You’re at a warung in Yogyakarta. The coffee is good, the conversation is easy, and the owner has been genuinely warm. Curiosity gets the better of you. “So — is it true people here practice black magic? Like, can you actually hire someone to curse a person?” The smile doesn’t disappear. It just
Asking Locals About Dukun and Black Magic in Indonesia: Read This First Read More »
In cities and villages across Java, a woman walks the streets each morning carrying a basket loaded with small bottles of dark liquid — yellowish, brown, deep green, occasionally an unsettling black. People come out of their homes and offices to meet her, exchange a few coins, drink a small glass on the spot —
What Is Jamu? Indonesia’s 1,300-Year-Old Herbal Medicine That the West Just Discovered Read More »
The handshake feels safe. You extend your hand, the Indonesian person takes it, and everyone moves on. Except the handshake in Indonesia is not what you think it is. The pressure, the timing, what you do with your other hand, whether you bow slightly — all of it is being read in ways most foreign
How to Greet People in Indonesia: What Every Tourist Gets Wrong Read More »
The performance begins at nine in the evening. It ends at five in the morning. One man — the dalang, the puppeteer — will voice over two hundred characters, operate hundreds of leather puppets, conduct a full gamelan orchestra behind him using only foot signals, and narrate an eight-hour story drawn from the Hindu epics
What Is Wayang Kulit? The Shadow Puppet Show That Runs All Night Read More »
In a gallery in SoHo, New York, a textile hangs on a white wall under museum lighting. It is approximately two meters long, rust-red and indigo and cream, with a pattern of horses, skulls, and geometric spirals woven into it with a precision that makes your eyes work to follow the logic of the design.
There are approximately seven pink-sand beaches in the entire world. Most are remote, difficult to reach, and quietly extraordinary. One of them sits inside a national park patrolled by the largest living reptile on earth. That one is worth talking about. Pantai Merah — “Red Beach” in Indonesian, though the world knows it as Pink
The Pink Beach of Komodo: Why Is the Sand Actually Red — And Is It Safe to Visit? Read More »
In 2018, a study published in the journal Cell stopped biologists in their tracks. A specific group of people in Indonesia had evolved — over generations, through natural selection — spleens significantly larger than those of any other human population on earth. The Bajau people’s spleens were on average 50% larger than those of their
The Bajau Sea Nomads: Indonesia’s People Who Evolved for the Ocean Read More »
On the summit of an active volcano on the island of Flores, there are three lakes sitting in three separate craters — so close to each other that you can see all of them from a single viewpoint. They should look identical. Same altitude, same geology, same rainfall, same volcanic activity beneath them. They don’t
The Pirate Kings: How the Srivijaya Empire Ruled the Strait of Malacca There is a passage of water between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula that is, by most measures, the most important stretch of ocean in the world. At its narrowest point, the Strait of Malacca is 65 kilometers wide. Through it passes roughly 40
How Srivijaya Ruled the Strait of Malacca Read More »
