Jakarta

I've been reading several of the Indonesia forums in preparation for my first visit to Indonesia. Plan to hit Jakarta and Bali...perhaps for two weeks total. Have been thinking of traveling in September, but just noticed that Ramadan this year is the month of September. My preference is freelancers in the bars and malls....and just an occasional mp. Is Ramadan going to impact my experiences and should I wait until Oct? I'm from the US and don't know much about Ramadan. thanks

[QUOTE=Xdentx]I've been reading several of the Indonesia forums in preparation for my first visit to Indonesia. Plan to hit Jakarta and Bali...perhaps for two weeks total. Have been thinking of traveling in September, but just noticed that Ramadan this year is the month of September. My preference is freelancers in the bars and malls....and just an occasional mp. Is Ramadan going to impact my experiences and should I wait until Oct? I'm from the US and don't know much about Ramadan. thanks[/QUOTE]

Never been during the month of Ramadan but reading posts by other members, it will certainly impact upon the availability of talent. Many venues close their doors for the whole month. I think it would be sensible to delay your trip until October

[QUOTE=Xdentx]I've been reading several of the Indonesia forums in preparation for my first visit to Indonesia. Plan to hit Jakarta and Bali...perhaps for two weeks total. Have been thinking of traveling in September, but just noticed that Ramadan this year is the month of September. My preference is freelancers in the bars and malls....and just an occasional mp. Is Ramadan going to impact my experiences and should I wait until Oct? I'm from the US and don't know much about Ramadan. thanks[/QUOTE]
I just checked my calendar, the fasting month of Ramadan is scheduled for September 1 - 29th or 30th, and the Eid-al-Fitr holiday is either September 30 or October 1st. Since the Eid holiday falls in the middle of the week, the entire week will be a government holiday, with offices (and mps!) re-opening on Monday, October 6th.

The Eid holiday is known as "Lebaran" in the Indonesian language. Those expats who live in Jakarta love this holiday, as there's no traffic and the air is clean and breathable for a few days.

Prince2 is correct, if you are able to delay your travel here until after Ramadan has ended, you should do so. Try to arrive on or after October 6th.

However, if you don't have any flexibility in your travel plans and must come here during Ramadan, all is not lost. While the free-standing mps such as Kartika, Berlian, TC, etc. in Kota and the Maribaya Spa in Blok M are closed for 5 weeks (the 30 days of Ramadan plus 4 or 5 days for the Eid-al-Fitr holiday after Ramadan ends), some of the hotel-based mps such as Malioboro remain open, and many of the girls are still doing business out of hotel rooms etc. for at least the first 3 weeks of Ramadan (September 1 - 21). And many freelancers are still "doing business" in the bars that have remained open, especially the bars in the 5-star hotels. Oyenk and I wrote several posts here last year during Ramadan, I recommend you check them out to get an idea of what's available then.

Please note that the last week of Ramadan (September 22 - 29/30), the Eid-al-Fitr holiday itself (September 30 or October 1) and the 3-4 days after that are probably not a good time to be mongering in Jakarta, simply because most of the working freelancers, etc. will have traveled home for the Eid holiday.

Last year at least a dozen of the girls who worked at the Maribaya Spa (Melawai Hotel 6th floor) stayed in town during the first 3 weeks of Ramadan and worked out of a couple of hotel rooms in the Hotel Melawai. I went there several times and enjoyed my sessions, as there was no "1-hour" time pressure, I had several 2-girl 2-hours 2-pops sessions then. Unfortunately all of those girls then went back to their villages for the last few days of Ramadan and the subsequent Eid-al-Fitr holiday.

Good post about shorts. I altered my travel attire because of that. Although I never went out in shorts, even in the hotel, I would wear white Reeboks.

I always thought it was supremely stupid to pad around in the Jakarta heat in long pants or jeans (OK, it isn't bangkok heat, but still...), but I did it anyway.
Then one night in BATS, a coupe of girls were staring and laughing at my Reeboks. I got the point. Now I never pack sneakers anywhere I go outside the US, except to use a hotel gym.

Reminds me of the first time I went Tiga Puluh, I crashed out of my room at 11pm with my 3/4 pants on and sports shoes , I think, and got "bounced" at the door and offered some sort of native attire. I spun round to go get get changed but ended up getting picked up by 2 lovelies waiting for things to get started, sitting in the big sofas.

Problem is my feet are fucked with my sports shoes.

Well, now that I'm back to work, I'd like to thank JAD, and all the others who helped out while I was in Jakarta for a couple of weeks. While, I never was able to contact Kiki, I did find some nice ladies to have some fun with. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys for drinks, but ran out of time. Sorry.

And, although I've complained about Jakarta taxis in the past, they are miles above the Bangkok ones I took a few days ago. Most will try not to use the meter, and will sometimes quote rates as high as 8x more than what it should be!

[QUOTE=Jaimito Cartero]While, I never was able to contact Kiki, [/QUOTE]

Is it Kiki or Keke ? PM me if you like.

[QUOTE=Xdentx]I've been reading several of the Indonesia forums in preparation for my first visit to Indonesia. Plan to hit Jakarta and Bali...perhaps for two weeks total. Have been thinking of traveling in September, but just noticed that Ramadan this year is the month of September. My preference is freelancers in the bars and malls....and just an occasional mp. Is Ramadan going to impact my experiences and should I wait until Oct? I'm from the US and don't know much about Ramadan. thanks[/QUOTE]
If you can not be in JKT on August...then I suggest you to come in mid October (based on calendar).
But all high-end spa usually open during ramadan 'fuckin' month, see in this thread...I have submitted some spa which open during ramadan. Travel bordell opens during ramadan.

Before ramadan month, criminality usually raise (not only in the street but also in spa, bordell and mp / billing scamming) ...remember that !

cheers.

[QUOTE=Cooze Hound]Is it Kiki or Keke ? PM me if you like.[/QUOTE]

Well, Kiki is the only spelling I know of, but I'm sure there are tons of names that I spell incorrectly.

Many thanks to the several posters who offered comments on the Ramadan holiday. Will try to avoid that time period in Indonesia. Appreciate it guys!

A few people posted some information aobut floods which might occur around june 4.
there is nothing on the news in Bali.
juau wodnering if there were any floods? if yes, were they severe?
Anyone there can supply some info?
thanks

[QUOTE=1Ball]A few people posted some information aobut floods which might occur around june 4.
there is nothing on the news in Bali.
just wondering if there were any floods? if yes, were they severe?
Anyone there can supply some info?
thanks[/QUOTE]
As of Thursday late afternoon:

Yes, there was flooding but luckily it was restricted to some areas of North Jakarta, and most of Jakarta was not affected. The government actually tried to take some preventive measures this time, including building up some embankments with sand bags, etc., and that seemed to have helped.

But let's not be complacent here, it was a close call, and could have been much worse. I saw one video shot on TV where water was "licking" the top of an embankment; a few centimeters higher and there would have been more flooding. And the people living in the areas that were flooded are mostly very poor, and their lives were very much affected by this week's flooding.

Update:
There were heavy rains Thursday evening, which may have exacerbated the situation. But as far as I know, the highway to the airport is still open.

[QUOTE=Mighty Spearsman]Unfortunately we may never know the truth about Cynthia's death....

Cynthia first went home to her "kampung" (home village) near Semarang in late June as she wasn't feeling well. Sadly, she never returned to Jakarta.

I talked to her on the phone a couple of times in July/August, also sent one million rupiah to her twice (through Rista). I stopped hearing from Cynthia once Ramadan started in mid-September as her cell phone ran out of pulsa...

Rista travelled to her kampung last week and met with Cynthia's family. Understandably they are all devastated by what happened, especially Cynthia's mom and 3-year-old son. I may travel to the kampung myself soon to express my condolences in person (yes, I know the family will ask me for money for the son!).[/QUOTE]
This is not a normal ISG report, but I think that those members who know the late Cynthia from Kartika should appreciate this info.

The above post was written by me on December 4, 2007, shortly after Cynthia died on November 20th.

Six months later, I was able to keep the promise that I had made to myself. I was in Semarang for my work, so I hired a car and went to visit Cynthia’s son and family in Bangsri, a small rural farming village outside of Jepara, Central Java, around 2 ½ hours from Semarang.

Cynthia’s family lives in a fairly-nice new house, presumably built with funding from Cynthia’s work at Kartika from 2003 to 2007. Cynthia’s mother is a pleasant but tired-looking woman around 50, and is the primary caretaker for Robby, Cynthia’s son and only child, who will be 4 in early September 2008. Cynthia’s father died a few years ago. She has five surviving siblings ranging in age from 31 to late teens (Cynthia was child #3 and was 26 when she died), her older brother and sister are both married with children.

I stayed for about one hour, which included a visit to Cynthia’s grave in a nearby cemetery. The family knew who I was (since I had twice sent money to Cynthia when she was sick last year) and were very friendly, but conversation was difficult as the mother, indeed most of them did not speak Bahasa Indonesian, only Javanese. I could have used my driver as an interpreter but the car was parked far away from the house (no road to the house, only a footpath). Cynthia’s older siblings did speak some Bahasa Indonesian and did most of the talking.

They said that they had never had a “bule” (foreigner) visit them before, probably the truth. Robby was shy at first and then started crying after I gave him a bunch of presents (clothes, toys, coloring book & crayons, a backpack, etc.), my guess is that he was overwhelmed by the whole scene. I gave Cynthia’s mother 2 million rupiah and smaller amounts to the two older siblings (who had children), took several photos, and off I went. By the way, no one in the family asked me for money or anything, I gave the money on my own.

Afterwards, I regretted that I did not ask the family to show me other photos of Cynthia from when she was younger; it would have given me more insight into her as a person.

Two haunting items: First, the only photos on the walls of the two front rooms of the house were a large photo of Cynthia and a smaller one of her father. Also, Cynthia’s oldest brother has a 14 year old daughter who looks just like Cynthia. Let’s hope her future is brighter than Cynthia’s was.

Note: much of this visit was arranged through cell phone calls with a couple of Cynthia’s friends who still work at Kartika, they were busy giving my driver directions to Cynthia’s house, and had given a heads-up to the family of when I’d be there.

*****************************
Postscript:

I stopped by Kartika at 4:30 p.m. last Thursday after I returned to Jakarta, bringing my laptop computer with the photos downloaded from my camera. Every girl who worked there wanted to see the photos, especially the photos of her grave and the group photo of the 18 or so family members. I ended up showing the photos separately at least six or seven times to groups of girls, even the mamasans took a look, and my apologies to the 6 or 7 Indonesian guys who were there drinking and who were ignored for 10 minutes while I showed the photos.

I then went upstairs for a nice 2-girl session with Rista and Sonia. Afterwards, I had to show the photos several times again to those girls who had missed the show the first time around because they were either working or had not yet arrived for the evening shift.

I was overwhelmed by the warm thank-you’s from virtually every girl who worked there (at that time there’s close to 50 girls on duty), who seemed sincerely touched that I had visited the family and then reported on my visit to them.

[QUOTE=Mighty Spearsman]This is not a normal ISG report, but I think that those members who know the late Cynthia from Kartika should appreciate this info.

Mighty Spearsman:

Thanks for the update and sharing with us your experience with Cynthia's family. Good job bro!

Woodman

[QUOTE=Mighty Spearsman]This is not a normal ISG report, but I think that those members who know the late Cynthia from Kartika should appreciate this info.

Great to see one of us not being a devo and instead showing some respect and humanity-Well done buddy. A sad story.