Cewek Jakarta

Being a blogger you get a fair amount of emails coming in from people you’ve never even heard of before.

And I’ve had a few emails from people asking me about the practicalities of living in Jakarta. You know the sort of stuff: best places to live, where to go at the weekends etc. There’s even one asking me what the girls are like here.

So what are the girls like in Jakarta? Well, in this case, a picture really is a thousand words of course:


Image © Benny & Mice. They are two Indonesian cartoonists, who worked together on the 'Kartun Benny & Mice' strip, published in Kompas Minggu.

Note the following:

Favored jaunts: Malls, fitness centers, cafes, clubs, malls, more malls…
Typical occupation: Unemployed, PR, advertising, media, banking, legal, uni student (high school student?!), secretary, receptionist, etc.

The tattoo. Most often on either the upper shoulder or the lower back (as a tramp stamp). Increasingly popular in the last few years. Flowers, suns and butterflies are popular designs. But be very wary of girls with tattoos of skeletons, skulls, devils etc - they may be bad news indeed! 

Tank top. Revealing plenty of flesh and fairly monumental assets from eating too much hormone packed junk food (KFC, McD, etc). Definitely the minimalist approach; nay Dadaism!

Dyed hair. Not so much the "I wanna be a bule complex", more the “I wanna follow the crowd” mentality.

The brand name handbag. Most likely imitation, but surprisingly many of these girls have the real thing.

The handphone. Nokia used to rule supreme, but no longer. Now it's a Blackberry for sure - a device ironically devised for boring businesspeople. Catch her attention and she’ll gladly put your number into her contacts list – which is, of course, very, very long!

The tight pants. If you’ve got it flaunt it I suppose.

The panty line: every good girl wants to show her knickers.

The lipstick: bright and cheerful, matches the clothes.

The fragrance: Versace, something pricey but fun.

The wallet: Some cash, but heaps of ATM cards and credit cards. Name cards from admirers. Silly photos of the girl with her mates pulling faces taken in one of those photo booths that you find in Jakarta's ubiquitous malls.