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Kamasan: An Ancient Living Tradition
Imagine you are a master Balinese painter, and your King has recently commissioned you to do a piece of work. As you sit down in front of a large cloth stretched upon a wooden frame with a pencil in...
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Settlers, Saints, Kings and Conversions: The Dawn of Indonesian Islam
Author of A Brief History of Indonesia, Tim Hannigan, travels back in time to explore the history of Islam in Indonesia. The hamlet of Leran lies amidst the low fields north of Gresik in East Java, a...
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The Mapping of Java
The islands of Java and Bali located 8 degrees south of the Equator in the Indian Ocean are two of the 17,000 islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago and the...
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Tugu Kunstkring Paleis: A Culturally Rich Dining Experience in the Heart of...
On a quiet, leafy-tree street corner set amongst stately white mansions and European luxury cars parked roadside is a structural gem designed by the Dutch architect and artist Pieter Adriaan Jacobus...
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Rebuilding Ruins: PT Pembangunan Kota Tua
Most of Jakarta is made of new developments and expanding suburbs, however look to the North and you’ll find Kota Tua, or ‘Old Town’, which was where the original city of Batavia began hundreds of...
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The Influence of Javanese Music on Early Jazz
“Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.” – Herbie Hancock Previously I wrote about the arrival of jazz in Batavia in 1919. What was heard until...
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Life Back Then
Rosie Milne’s ‘Olivia & Sophia’ Author of Olivia & Sophie, Rosie Milne, explores what expat life was like 200 years ago. My novel Olivia & Sophia explores the lives of two predecessors of...
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Menteng Pulo: Field of Honour
The most astonishing experience when entering the Netherlands Field of Honour Menteng Pulo (Menteng Pulo Ereveld) is the silence. Just beyond the gate is the noisy hustle of Jalan Casablanca, but here,...
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Tana Olen, the Forbidden Forest
“We call this place Tana Olen,” Philius, the Dayak elder explained. “In Kenyah Dayak language this means forbidden forest – forbidden to destroy.” The locals of Tana Olen are spiritually connected with...
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British Bengkulu: A Forgotten Imperial Outpost
Bengkulu, October 1685: The fort stood atop a small hillock on the banks of a coffee-coloured creek. To the west the Indian Ocean stretched blank and white and empty. To the east the dark wall of the...
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