Ten Years in Indonesia

I’ve never been one to make a big deal out of an anniversary, but May 20 marked 10 years to the day when I left Hong Kong for a new job and a new life here in Jakarta. The milestone passed quietly while I was on assignment in Rote, a small eastern Indonesian island known for its surfing. I remember that first night after I landed, and how it felt to lie in bed as a wave of trepidation and uncertainty suddenly washed over me. It came with the stark realization of all I had left behind: family, home comforts, familiar surroundings, a city with a world-leading public transit system and easy access to the great outdoors. Then the question crossed my mind: “What am I doing?”

Since then, I have never doubted my decision to move to Jakarta. A decade of living in Indonesia has made me a better person: more grateful and content, more patient and empathetic. More flexible, too. Initially, I hoped I would become 100% fluent in the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, within a few years. Though I still mix up my suffixes and prefixes and muddle through sentences sometimes, I speak it at a decent-enough level to conduct interviews on work trips and join client meetings. Formal language classes continue to elude me, but I have learned so much by practicing at the office on a day-to-day basis.

My wonderful coworkers have also shown me what it means to be more than open-minded: not merely to tolerate differences but to embrace them. We celebrate each other’s religious holidays, often by eating communally in an expression of the all-important spirit of togetherness, which Indonesians call kebersamaan. One particular instance from my first few months on the job stands out. About 10 of us crossed the road to a mall for lunch at a ramen restaurant, and our group represented a mix of different faiths: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Buddhism. The Muslims among us did not mind that pork was on the menu. After all, this ramen spot had come up with an ingenious workaround by color-coding the tableware to accommodate dietary needs: red for dishes with pork and black for those with chicken. In the kitchen, these were prepared at separate counters and washed in separate sinks. That way, we could all sit and eat together, pork or no pork.

The sacred volcano of Mount Agung at sunrise. (Bali, 2024)

Majapahit ruins in Trowulan: Candi Tikus and Candi Wringin Lawang (East Java, 2018)

A cat on a 600-year-old wall of red brick, also at Trowulan (East Java, 2018)

Selling fruits at a floating market on the Martapura River (Banjarmasin, 2018)

Semarang-style “lumpia”; ingredients for the steamed Javanese dish “botok” (Semarang, 2024 & 2016)

Overlooking the Great Mosque of Central Java (Semarang, 2016)

Purple yam and coconut-milk cakes at the heritage hotel Tugu Blitar (East Java, 2017)

A food court on the island of Bintan, across the strait from Singapore (Bintan, 2018)

Semarang’s Dutch-colonial old town after dark (Semarang, 2020)

Working as a travel journalist has given me ample opportunities to return to places I once visited with Bama: the islands of Lombok and Flores, Komodo National Park, and the shores of Lake Toba in the cool Sumatran highlands. Each assignment offered the chance to delve a little deeper into Indonesia’s astonishing cultural, linguistic, and culinary diversity. Outside of work trips, there were three short domestic breaks I haven’t yet posted about. In mid-2018, Bama and I spent a few days in East Java to explore Trowulan, an archaeological site with a collection of red-brick monuments dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, when it was the capital of the powerful Majapahit Empire. The following year, we flew to Yogyakarta to visit ArtJog — an annual contemporary art fair — and catch up with one of Bama’s old friends while hopping between ancient Javanese Hindu-Buddhist temples. Covid put a halt to flying for a long spell, but when overland travel became possible again in late 2020, we set out on a series of road trips within Java.

First came several extended stays in Bama’s hometown of Semarang to spend time with his parents, Uncle Basuki and Auntie Dhani. Bama’s selective-eater father had zero appetite for non-Indonesian food, but Auntie Dhani was always up for trying something new. She looked forward to having sushi and salmon belly sashimi whenever we were in town, and we also took her out for Western delicacies, be it flaky croissants, ravioli in truffle cream sauce, or pan-fried foie gras. (On one of those pandemic-era trips, she excitedly told a close friend, “I tried goose liver!”) These are memories I hold especially dear now that Bama’s parents are no longer with us.

Over the years, Auntie Dhani also made a few visits to Jakarta. The final time she stayed with us was in Christmas 2022, when we introduced her to matcha crepe cakes and Basque cooking: she relished grilled octopus in boletus cream and escargot in a sort of vol-au-vent dressed in Idiazabal cheese sauce. She also appreciated the abundance of fresh leaves and herbs in Vietnamese cuisine, and enjoyed crispy banh xeo (stuffed rice pancake) loaded with seafood and beansprouts. Auntie Dhani was not so impressed with the Moroccan place we brought her to on another day, but part of that was down to tiredness from the not-so-straightforward journey via public transit. When we dine at new restaurants these days, Bama and I sometimes talk about how she might have reacted to the food. We know for certain that his mom would have loved Sushiro, our go-to Japanese kaiten sushi chain for good-quality seafood like plump scallop and sweet shrimp at reasonable prices.

There is no doubt that my adopted city has evolved and changed for the better over the past decade. The much-awaited MRT line that opened in 2019 has been a game-changer, slashing travel times and bringing new vitality to some of the neighborhoods along its length. This was followed a few years later by the launch of an elevated light rail system passing right through our area. And Jakarta has become significantly more walkable since I arrived in 2016. Successive governors have poured money into expanding sidewalks and adding bike lanes along major streets. The dangerous road crossing I detailed in my first blog post as a Jakarta resident is happily a thing of the past: two years ago, a pedestrian bridge was constructed to get people safely across the busy seven-lane road instead of forcing them to brave the oncoming traffic. What’s more, there’s now a Chinese-built high-speed train (aptly named Whoosh) that connects Jakarta with Bandung — Indonesia’s third-largest city and a popular weekend escape for its shopping and milder temperatures.

Coastal scenery on the uninhabited island of Padar (Komodo National Park, 2019)

Local performers in Manggarai dress in the village of Kampung Melo (Flores, 2019)

Ripening paddy stalks in the fields of Kampung Naga village (West Java, 2021)

Rice terraces in the idyllic Ciwulan river valley (West Java, 2021)

A steaming fumarole field at Mount Papandayan, seen from afar (West Java, 2021)

The former headquarters of a Dutch-era railway company in Tegal city (Central Java, 2021)

“Nasi ulam” is a Betawi (classic Jakartan) rice dish with toasted coconut and herbs (Jakarta, 2022)

A reproduction of a 1960s concrete-based relief made from fishing nets (Jakarta, 2022)

Tea plantations in the highland area of Puncak, south of Jakarta (West Java, 2022)

But that’s not to say that everything is rosy. Indonesia is a developing country with its share of woes, most notably the endemic corruption at all levels of government and a volatile currency that has now fallen to record lows against the U.S. dollar. (Good for anyone visiting from abroad, bad for everyone who earns their salaries in Indonesian Rupiah.) The quality and reliability of critical infrastructure is also a problem: Bama and I returned from our 2019 Yogyakarta trip to a 10-hour blackout that plunged not just Greater Jakarta but also nearby provinces into darkness. On three occasions we’ve had to pack our bags and move to a hotel because the water supply to our high-rise housing estate was cut off for unsustainable periods of time. And this is in the national capital — imagine how much worse it must be out in the remoter provinces!

Another major issue is environmental degradation: it seems very little is being done to combat the serious air, water, and garbage pollution afflicting Greater Jakarta. The putrid rivers coursing through the city are conduits for all kinds of trash; more than a few run black from the sheer amount of untreated effluent. The rush-hour traffic here is still notoriously bad, though Jakarta is doing far more than other Indonesian cities to push through public transit projects and alleviate the gridlock. Transjakarta, which began operations in 2004, has since grown to become the world’s longest bus rapid transit network. One recent innovation is a bus-only skyway 9.3 kilometers (5.8 miles) long, connected to the MRT and providing a traffic-free shortcut to two of Jakarta’s hippest areas for dining and nightlife. Elsewhere, a light rail extension is slated for completion in August, while there are plans to break ground on a second MRT line later this year. Construction has continued on the earlier north-south metro line with the goal of reaching Kota Tua, the Dutch-colonial old town, come 2029.

And what continues to amaze me about this nation is the immense creativity I find at every turn, paired with a real sense of craftsmanship; Indonesians are exceptionally skilled at making beautiful things with their hands. They also have a knack for improvising and problem-solving on the spot, a necessity in a country where things often break down. And I could go on and on about the incredible food: the cornucopia of tropical fruits and spices, the culinary traditions that change from island to island, the entire universe of heritage dishes virtually unknown outside Indonesia’s borders.

But more than anything, it’s the people who keep me here. There’s Bama, our like-minded friends who also love to travel, the many inspiring figures I’ve met through my work, and my hilarious gang at the office, who are great company for dinner and a no-holds-barred karaoke session when we’re not knee-deep in deadlines. After a week or two traveling abroad — be it in Greece, Uzbekistan, or Mexico — I find myself missing the natural warmth and easy smiles that radiate from ordinary Indonesians. Unlike my native Hong Kong, a culture of hospitality is deeply rooted here: I see it in everyone from taxi drivers to airport cleaners, restaurateurs to fashion designers, chefs to gardeners. I don’t have a definite answer on how much longer I will stay in Southeast Asia’s biggest nation, but what I do know is this: with each passing day, Indonesia feels more and more like home. ◊

Traditional Batak carvings on a reconstructed palace near Lake Toba (Sumatra, 2024)

The former royal residence of Istana Malige in Baubau city (Sulawesi, 2025)

Prehistoric rock art in the Liang Metanduno cave on Muna Island (Sulawesi, 2025)

A path above a secluded beach on the island of Rote in eastern Indonesia (Rote, 2026)

Chicken and braised young jackfruit at Gudeg Yu Djum; a man in Javanese dress (Yogyakarta, 2019)

A river-facing suite at the 25-room House of Tugu, Old Town Jakarta (Jakarta, 2025)

Jembatan Kota Intan, a 17th-century drawbridge in Jakarta’s old town (Jakarta, 2022)

The Javanese-style Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Ganjuran (Yogyakarta, 2019)

Prajnaparamita of Java, a 13th-century masterpiece; Tebet Eco Park (Jakarta, 2024 & 2022)

A delicious Betawi freshwater fish dish known as “gabus pucung” (Jakarta, 2022)