In one of my favorite books, the cult classic “Fooled by Randomness”, an unforgiving deconstruction of financial markets’ forecasting, Nassim Nicholas Taleb relates an interesting little anecdote concerning an inexperienced and naive philosopher asked to observe the setting of the sun over a period of time.

This particular exercise goes on for much longer than expected – about 2 years - and when asked what he can deduce from his 500+ observations of the setting sun (some sunsets were unseen, obscured by clouds), the young philosopher states that since he never once failed to see the sun set, it could be rationally concluded that the sun would continue to set in the sky for the rest of eternity, in saecula saeculorum.

But informed by his teacher that he had given the wrong answer, the young philosopher was not discouraged - even though he was told to observe the setting of the sun for another 2 years.

This time, after experiencing a mind blowing epiphany of the glorious nature and true meaning of the universe, the young philosopher is only too eager to finally tell his teacher the correct answer.

“Master”, he said in a trembling voice. “I have watched the sun set for over 4 years now, on every evening without exception. There has not been even one occasion on which I have failed to see the sun set. This can only mean one thing….”

“…I am immortal and I will live forever!!!”

However, the day will eventually come when the philosopher will not see the sun set again – he will be dead – although it will be much longer – much, much longer, in fact - before no one ever sees a sunset again because there is no sunset to see.

Transversing time in the other direction and we have the equally intriguing question as to who was the first person to ever see a sunset? And on what date did they see it?

But such epistemic matters aside, the sunset will always be a beautiful thing.

The way the sun just seems to sit there in a blood soaked sky of oranges and reds, taking its time about what to do – and teasing you to stare it squarely in its fiery face – before it suddenly dives below the horizon to mark the end of yet another brutal and energy sapping day in the city and the beginning of the cooler, introspective night.

But what about the sunset’s alter ego, its other half, the sunrise or dawn – when the sun’s rays finally come cascading down to mark the birth of a new day and the hard struggle ahead of us?

How does it differ from a sunset in visual terms? And if you were to replay a videotaped sunset back in reverse would it appear as a sunrise? Or would there obviously be something wrong about it?

Well, according to some, there is a difference:

The red and orange color of the sky at sunrise and sunset can be explained by the Mie theory. Sunsets are typically more vibrant than sunrises because there are typically more particles in the atmosphere at sunset. During the night, many of the particles fall to the ground, thus there are less particles in the sky to scatter the sunlight in the morning. Occasionally, sunrises can be more vibrant than sunsets, but that's usually only if there is a fire or an erupting volcano to the east of the observer.

Source: Yahoo

But I’m not so sure.

Have a look at some photographs of my sunsets and sunrises and see if you can tell the difference. You just might not find it that easy…


Lembongan Island, Bali


The Big Durian. But is it dawn or dusk?

I’m in search of a coffee boost and I’m on Jalan Sabang. I rub my eyes. But there is something very wrong: all the little roadside stalls - known here as kaki lima (meaning “five legs) - have gone! Disappeared. And nope they haven’t been dumped in the Java sea like the becak were in the 70s. And it ain’t Lebaran either – the holiday period after Ramadan when many of the city’s residents make their yearly pilgrimage back to their hometowns to spread the word that Jakarta’s pavements are not only NOT paved with gold but that - in many places - they are barely paved at all!

Nope, cos what’s happened is that many of the kaki lima have been relocated to a special area. But this suits me fine. As you can now actually walk along the pavements on Jalan Sabang without either having your way blocked or your shirt sleeves singed off by accidentally getting too close to a sate vendor’s inconsiderately placed street side barbeque.

Anyway, Kopotiam Oey is soon located and in we go.


Inside it’s pretty small but luckily one of the tables is empty.

The décor is tastefully done and combines elements of Chinese culture – such as the hanging lanterns – and the “good old colonial days” (even though they weren’t really, of course) as portrayed by the nostalgic advertising posters on the walls – although this particular one, I should say, was not one of them:

Giving your wife a “good spanking” if she buys the wrong coffee is no longer de rigueur behavior in these thankfully enlightened times - although caning is still carried out in Aceh.

The Coffee

There are plenty of good options on the coffee front and the great thing is they ain’t drowning in the creams, sugar, syrups and other junk that is typically loaded into your coffee at places like Starbucks and the other modern capitalist coffee outlets in Jakarta.

- Kopi Toebroek Djawa (Traditional Javanese Coffee) - which literally means “collision coffee” - has the consistency of mud as boiling water is simply poured straight into a cup filled with a couple of spoonfuls of ground coffee - and then drunk unfiltered after it’s brewed. Magic. Enjoy a caffeine rush that really kicks you in the b******s.

- Kopi saring atawa Kopi-O (Traditional filtered coffee)

- Kopi taloe Boekittinggi (Traditional West Sumatran coffee with beaten egg). Yep, it sounds weird but tastes great.

- Kopi soesoe Indotjina (Vietnamese drip coffee, with sweet condensed milk). One of my favorites this, and I love watching it brew (it’s a bit like having your own mini chemistry lab in front of you). Evokes an earlier age when the Americans were up to no good in this part of the world. And don’t you just love the smell of fresh napalm coffee in the morning?

- Kopi hitam-kental Italia (Italian black coffee). Awesome.

- Cappucino. 10 years ago many Indonesians didn’t even know what a Cappucino was. Now it’s a daily necessity.

- Wiener Melange (coffee topped with vanilla ice cream). Yeah, I know I said I didn’t like calorie packed drinks but there’s an exception to every rule. This is it.

Besides the coffees there is a fine selection of teas as well.

Oh yeah.

And the food ain’t half bad either.

Kopitiam Oey
Jl H Agus Salim 18, Central Jakarta. 10340
Tel: + 62 21 392 4475

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!
>J.G. Ballard

Nothing better encapsulates the American Dream than a sleek automobile cruising on an open highway.

But here in Jakarta things have gone pretty much pear shaped, and instead of any such eye-pleasing image what we get is a dystopian nightmare unfolding in front of our very own eyes as the traffic monster grows exponentially before it finally runs out of space to grow and, then, looking inward, surely devours itself (I’d give it another 2 or 3 years at most before Jakarta is total gridlock).

The breakdown of any semblance of order on the roads is already well into the advanced stage – and even those charged with enforcing what passes as “the law” seem to have given up the ghost (vehicles swarming the bus lanes, virtually all traffic regulations being violated, dangerously unroadworthy vehicles etc etc)

It was 7.00am at the Pancoran intersection and whilst waiting for the lights to turn green – some others didn’t even bother, they just rushed the red light anyway (Kamikaze on a Kawasaki!)– I looked to my left and there on the tarmac about 20 meters away was the crumpled body of some hapless chap who had come off second best to one of those large, ubiquitous killing machines (oft-referred to as “cars”).

For what seemed like an age – but was actually just a few seconds – cars continued to go past the prone figure as if noone was lying on the ground. It was then, of course, that the realization of what had happened sank in and a number of people rushed over to help the poor sod – one even dragging him by the feet to get him out of (further) danger. Ouch.

Then the lights turn green where I am and it’s like the start of the Grand National at Aintree and every nutter’s tearing away from the starting line as fast as they possibly can, the lightweight motorcycles having a big advantage over their heavy four-wheel brethren who are left far behind in a proverbial cloud of filthy exhaust smoke.

This increasing passion for road mayhem is bad enough but God help us all if we go the whole hog and end up with the roads dominated by symphorophilia incidents - as was the case in The Master’s great book Crash.

… but on the other hand it might be fun I guess

Later in the day and I’m in less than salubrious East Jakarta, heading back to the city center along Jalan Letnan Jenderal Suprapto when I notice a sign for the turnoff to Tanah Tinggi in Jakarta’s infamous Johar Baru subdistrict.

Most people would give this area a wide berth, but having run through some stats a while back which revealed that Tanah Tinngi is the most densely populated area in the whole of South East Asia – and possibly the world - I think what the hell, and take the turning to see what its like.

So how densely populated is it? Well let’s just say we are looking at a mind boggling 38,000 people living in a space of only 62 hectares! (1 square km = 100 hectares)

To put it in perspective, that’s nearly 13 times the population density of London or even nearly 6 times the population density of Jakarta itself!

Yep it’s tightly packed in here alright – and shockingly poor as well - but I don’t even think about venturing into the impossibly narrow side alleys where “complete” homes are typically around 3 square meters in size – that’s so small that the occupants have to take it in turns to sleep (kids during the night, parents during the day) as there is not enough space for them to all sleep together at the same time.




Many of the adults who live here are either unemployed or work in the informal sector and are of little consequence to the nation’s notoriously inept and corrupt politicians, so conditions here are unlikely to ever improve.

Yet despite the poverty, Jakarta’s slums are nowhere as dangerous or threatening as, say, those in Rio, Jamaica, or Cape Town (why is that?), and in stereotypical fashion most of the kids playing on the streets appear to be happy enough - laughing and joking - albeit without the fancy clothing or Ipads of the kids of the nouveau riche living in places like Kemang and Pondok Indah.

Getting out of Tanah Tinngi and it’s onto the main road again and before too long I’m at Senen, waiting at the traffic lights across from one of Jakarta’s most decrepit and dingy cinemas where, it seems, the American hardcore actress Sasha Grey is still titillating the masses in her latest film…


A barely dressed Sasha Grey makes it known that the best things in life are still free. And you can bet those in Tanah Tinggi are bloody glad to hear that!