You have 0 items in your cart
I have spent this last week in Jakarta meeting some amazing people. I travelled from London to Singapore and on to Jakarta and as I sit and write this blog on my flight home I am left with a sense that my return journey in July will be even more interesting.
So let me give you a glimpse of my last day. It is early evening and I arrive at the airport to see on the plasma screens images of people distressed due to an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. The earthquake of 8.6 magnitude and its aftershock indicate that a tsunami may occur. It isn’t long before friends begin to send me messages to check on my safety and one sent me some newspaper headlines including: David Cameron and Maggie Semple were visiting Indonesia when quake struck. Fortunately the tsunami did not happen and the headline was made up.
Earlier in the afternoon I met a fashion blogger in my hotel lobby. Bethanny Putri Supriadi aged 21, lives in Jakarta. She speaks Bahasa Indonesian, Mandarin and English and is studying Chinese Literature Studies at a university. As we drank tea she talked about her blog Afternoon Tea and Living Room and her love of fashion and how she would like to develop a fashion business once she graduates. I gave Bethanny two copies of my Semple book and encouraged her to continue designing and selling her clothes. Bethanny inspired me as she was very clear about the business opportunities in the Asia Pacific region and of what she would need to do to be successful.
In the morning I sat in Cafe Batavia, an old colonial 16th Century imposing building on Fatahillah Square. This beautiful renovated bar and cafe, dining room, lounge and the famous Churchill Bar had ceiling fans, panelled walls of dark Indonesian wood and every wall space was covered in framed photographs of royalty, film stars, pop icons and world leaders. Some of the photographs were signed including one from Dame Edna Everage.
And earlier in the morning I did something that only Indonesian’s know how to do. I tried to walk along and cross some major roads. Impossible! What appeared to be chaos was organised, give and take with people, motor bikes and cars weaving their way like long sinews of brightly coloured silk down busy roads.
Defeated by the traffic I hailed a taxi and during the drive back to the hotel I thought about the people I saw and of the stories that they no doubt could tell about life in Jakarta.
