There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Snowbay Water Park, Jakarta

A waterpark in the tropics. And they call it SNOWBAY?!!! I mean wtf?!!!!

Yeah I should have heeded this ominous warning. But I didn’t. So it’s on with the new speedo swimming trunks, which although a couple of sizes too small, are nonetheless highly effective in keeping at bay the conservatively-dressed mums - and their hyperactive offspring.

We arrived at the Taman Mini complex about an hour after leaving home - and then had to complete as many circuits as you’d expect to find in your average F1 grand prix race before finally managing to nail a parking spot.

So around 10.30 on a Saturday morning, and we make our way into the waterpark, and whilst not quite expecting any snow, I am still amazed by what I can see –

The place is bloody packed!

And when I say packed, I mean PACKED – a veritable “seething mass of humanity”, with people EVERYWHERE. This I was told later was the wonder of promotion – free tickets for the shoppers at local hypermarkets – and cut price deals for the dreaded school kids who came by the busload.

This alas, is snow joke for a water park and does not make for a particularly pleasant day out. Not unless you like queuing for hours just to ride on one of the slides, that is. Oh well. There may be no snow about but they’d better be some bloody ice-cold beer in the fridge when I get home! Arggg!!!!!!

Snowbay Water Park, Jakarta

Snowbay Water Park
Komplek Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
Jakarta Timur, 13560
Phone : (021) 877 83530
Fax : (021) 877 83580

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