Sportsmans Bar and Grill, Jakarta 2007

Sadly now closed and abandoned, the upstairs bar at the Sportsmans Bar and Grill in Jakarta used to be a favorite of mine.  The food was good, you could watch sport, and the barmaids were always friendly. This photo was taken about 2007. 

Merry, trying to get me to try a vodka martini.....

And here is the Sportsmans in mid 2012...

Bali Sunset on Tannah Lot

This is the sunset from the cliff top near Tannah Lot, on Bali. 

Two pretty girls in the crowd photograph it:

Ambhara Hotel Jakarta

For various reasons the Jakarta Ambhara Hotel is one of my favorites.  It is well located, has an impressive foyer, great bar,  and was popular with the expat crowd.  I must have stayed in May 2005, although I can't remember being there then.  Again I kept the door pass....

I was back again in May 2012, when I took these photos. The hotel seemed to be losing some of its charm and was getting old.  I still enjoyed my stay though.

No swimming sunset. Bali

On Bali the sun sets behind a "no swimming" flag.  Widely ignored, they warn the unsuspecting tourist of the fierce rips and undercurrents that will drag a swimmer out to sea. 

Bali lifeguards patrol the tourist stretches. They are tough wiry guys with dark tans and a ready smile for passing girls. 

Hilton Hotel Jakarta

Before the wave of bombings forced a change of name away from anything American, there was a Hilton Hotel in Jakarta. I stayed there many times over the years.  My family name usually caused amusement and confusion at check-in. 

Sometime in the last few years it changed its name to the Saladin. There is no Hilton Hotel in Jakarta these days. think the Hilton licensing expired as well.   I believe standards have slipped somewhat too.  They were always a bit doubtful - I remember Tim Herriman finding  giant rat on his bed one night. 

I usually keep door passes as mementoes.   Here are two door passes from different eras at the Hilton Jakarta:

Double 6, Bali

 I was shocked to discover that the Double 6 club is gone, as too is Déjà vu. The two kingpins of entertainment on the Seminyak side of Kuta, both gone in a year. 

 Double 6 was legendary around the world. It opened at 6pm and closed at 6am (hence the name) and the nightclub had a huge pool and a bungy tower in the middle of it.  An entry fee kept the riffraff out, and the drinks and fun flowed like water.  It first opened in 1987 and had a 15,000 watts sound system that you could hear halfway across Bali. They would even let you ride a motorbike off the bungy tower. The place was like that.

And now its gone. The photograph shows the wall of a construction site where people once partied all night long. 

Vale Double 6.  I had a ball with you.

A burnt out Double 6 sign....  (years before it closed)

Me looking half dead, leaving the club at dawn.

To the left of the traditional Balinese tower you can see the illuminated bunjee tower at 66. You could see it for miles......

Seminyak Beach sunset.

On the island of Bali, people make their way off the beach as the sun sets on another day.  Soon the bars and restaurants will be busy, and later the nightclubs will be packed.  

Life for visitors on Bali generally follows three phases: a relaxing dan on the beach, in the pool or on a surfboard, followed by dinner and drinks as the pace of life speeds up, followed by the frantic energy of a nightclub.

The volcanic history of Bali means the beaches are usually black sand, and the surf and tidal rips means that swimming in the sea is not for beginners. The beaches also attract hawkers by day and thieves by night, both of whom provide worry and hassle.  And to top it off the beaches nearer Kuta are filled with cut price Australian holiday-makers, many of whom are loud and drunk. 

This was taken in mid 2012 on Seminyak beach, where things are a little quieter. 

Disparate lifestyles

These is a shocking disparity in lifestyles in Asia that takes some getting used to.   This is the lobby of the Ambara hotel, a medium sort of place - by no means high class.  But a pianist plays day and night in the lobby, doormen open the door for you, the floors are always polished,  the coffee is fresh and the staff all smile 

This is the scene right outside the hotel. Men sit around with nothing to do, there is no pavements, everything is dirty or does not work....

Le Barons and the Stamford Arms, Jakarta

Mew with the Stamford Arms bar staff, 2004.

Same bar (now called Le Barons)  eight years later.  Still fun bar staff.......

Stamford Arms Jakarta

My favorite barmaid in the old Stamford Arms bar in the Ambara Hotel, Jakarta.  Always happy and cheerful, she made the bar bounce along.

This would have been about 2004 -05. In a strange coincidence I believe that she later married a guy from EDS Australia that I vaguely knew from my days working there. 

Tanah Lot

Tanah Lot is a rock formation on the West Coast of Bali.  Tanah Lot literally mean "land in the sea" in the Balinese language, and the island is the home of a famous temple.

One of the most popular tourist spots in Bali, Tanah Lot is famous for its spectacular sunsets and for the poisonous sea snakes that live in holes around its base.

Jalan Pelatan, Jakarta

2004, in a bar on a boulevard of broken dreams called Japan Pelatan in Jakarta.  I think it was about 2am, and I was thinking of going home.....

And just for reference, here is the bar in daytime:

And here it is at night, complete with "ayams" - chickens, meaning bar girls.....

Kuta Go Go dancer

Just up the road from where 200 died in the 2002 bombings, a go-go dancer in Kuta, Bali tries to encourage drinkers to go into the bar.

Balinese dancers

In a Seminyak restaurant, Balinese dancers perform for the diners.

Although part of Indonesia, the Balinese are Hindu, and are culturally very different from Javanese.

Bali is often called the Land of the Gods, and until 30 years ago was an agricultural economy.  In recent years this has been surpassed by tourism, although agriculture is still the number one employer.