Tag Archives: Jakarta

The World’s Smallest Mobile Clinic

  JP/J. Adiguna I love this kind of stuff, and wish these kinds of initiatives got better support from government, NGOs and companies: Harun checks the blood pressure and weight of a customer in a park in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday. He has offered the mobile service for the past 10 years, charging Rp… Read More »

First Impressions, Last Impressions

What’s the first and last thing you’re likely to experience in a country you visit? And what kind of lasting impression is that going to leave? Cigarette-burn marked toilet paper dispenser (empty) at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport, April 28 2007 Toilet paper dispenser at Singapore’s Changi Airport, April 28 2007 Investment in tourist attractions, advertising campaigns… Read More »

Old Habits, or New Uses?

Young hospital worker using her cellphone in a phone booth, Jakarta, April 2007 Either she uses the phone booth out of habit from her pre-cellphone days, or else she’s making use of a privacy feature of old technology — the sound-proofing booth — her new technology doesn’t offer. Tags:  indonesia, privacy, cellphones, technology, booths, soundproofing

Traffic Rules Part I

The difference between a developed metropolis and a developing one isn’t transportation — it’s the rules and discipline about how that transportation is used. A city like Hong Kong flows because everyone follows the rules. A city like Jakarta doesn’t because people don’t. It’s not about building more roads, or more subways, or more bus… Read More »

Why Journalists Aren’t Loved

The first reviews for Loose Wire the book are beginning to trickle in and I’m beginning to get a sense of what it’s like on the other side of the fence. First off, you can understand why us journalists aren’t well liked: If we are pleasant to people when we interview them the interviewee goes… Read More »