Posts tagged "indonesia"
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Merantau Cino
A scan of a film photo of a wooden table in Tretes, Indonesia with light coming in through the window, making it a very atmospheric picture Tretes, Indonesia (link to some photos I took I have been struggling with my feelings on and about immigration. Some time in mid 2023, a woman at a bus stop in San Francisco…
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Roadtrip to Tretes
A memory I will always treasure: the opportunities I've had to visit Tretes. Going to Tretes always means going on a short road trip with my best friend of 25 years. I remember listening to her describe her home to me, when we met as teenagers in Singapore, and dreaming about going there with her one day. Indeed, we…
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Doors of Surabaya
One of my oldest friends in the world lives in Surabaya. I love visiting her. Not only is the food one of my favorite cuisines (East Java food is my favorite Indonesian regional food, and it can be hard to get abroad), the city is also a place I enjoy photographing. Eat, shoot, eat, shoot. That's basically all I do…
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Road, Gravel, Mud
It’s been a while since I’ve written about work. Even longer since I’ve gotten on a bicycle. In so many ways, running a startup is like a race. Some people like to do sprints. Some people like lycra. More and more, I find myself preferring endurance sports and comfortable clothing — perhaps because that’s the closest…
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Munduk
Munduk. Two people, suspended between heartbreak and fury, met on Hong Kong Street after almost 2 years without each other. Their hearts, recently broken by others, found each other agreeable — even safe. They made a plan. The universe attempted to foil it. To no avail. Through long public holidays, expensive flights,…
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Shaken Not Stirred
When you work at Wobe, you’re bound to have conversations like these at some point: “Can you check on this transaction for me in dumplings?” “Let’s make some changes to kaya.” “This PR removes the confirmation code from diplomatico request” This is a feature, not a bug. We’re a company founded by foodies, but our…
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Randomization
As the cofounder and CEO of a tech startup working to improve financial inclusion in one of the world’s largest countries that is also one of the largest cash economies, I have amassed a wealth of odd knowledge on how cash works. How it works, specifically, at the intersection of people and connectivity. It always…
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The Last Mile
How to create products for emerging markets Nearly everyone wants to cash in on emerging markets. Facebook wants to fly drones to deliver internet connectivity over rural areas. They may or may not collide, in scale, ambition and delivery, with Google’s balloons (link). Whoever you are, emerging markets are hard. Every…
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How to Build Something
Wobe’s founder on the basics for technical success Jakarta Panorama by Gunawan Kartapranata (CC BY-SA 3.0). If you’re a founder too, technical or not, you’ll know all about the struggle. The struggle: late nights, being poor, having everything go well and then not, the very same minute. For me as a non-technical…
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My article on Indonesia in Brink, last month
I've started writing articles for Brink, a new media publication by the same people behind the Atlantic. My first piece is on Tech’s Role in Reaching Indonesia’s Rising Middle Class.
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In Small Rooms with Betawi Women
Not for the first time, I found myself in a tiny room on a hot day, the youngest among old women. Each with a different thing to say to me, also the only person not from around these parts. You're so old now! And unmarried! Your hair is too white! Eat more soy beans! One woman rubbed my tattoos, making a screechy sound…
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When I Was Young
I'm seated now by the side of an old vending machine in Jakarta airport, with power sockets so dirty and old I had to think twice about plugging my cables in. Yet in all of Terminal 1, one of the oldest airport terminals in a country not known for modern aviation facilities, there was only this one socket free.…
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Paths
12 years ago this time I was deciding where I should go, what I should study, at university. I was also four months away from deciding I would try to be happy in spite of my newfound queerness. 11 years ago this time I was in Kolkata, volunteering with an organization, not knowing I would go on to do that in the…
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The Cult of Busy
I do quite a few things. Run a startup. Run two non-profits. Mentor queer kids. Spend a lot of time with my family, partner and our dog. Play video games. Paint the house. Cook for friends. Take my dog on long walks. Even, gasp, sleep! A lifetime ago on my first entrepreneurial rodeo, I did not know many of the things…
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The Borneo Express
For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be somewhere else. In all of my childhood day dreams, of which I had many, daily, and often, I imagined being an explorer out at sea. Being a pilot about to set off for yonder. Even the short stories I scribbled all had to do with stowing away, seeing new lands,…
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My Life on a Bike
Every morning, I get on a bike to work. Except I don't ride it. I bargain with someone on the street, or use an app to book one at other times. Do you want masker? They ask. It's the Indonesian word for face mask. Gak mau masker, makasih pak. Sekarang pergi ke Jalan Hang Tuah bisa? A string of words that I sometimes…
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Split Language Disorders
It is a well-documented fact: multi-lingual people have multiple personalities. I am no different, though I was only recently cognizant of that. Of how my languages affect the way I perceive myself, present myself to the world. How I trade, make contracts; how I fall in love. For as long as I can remember, 'foreign…
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Don't Work With Assholes
There's a wealth of literature out there about this, but it can never be said enough. Too many people work with assholes. You see them everywhere. The cafe owner that takes a shortcut by hiring an asshole barista? The barista plays shit music at your cafe and nobody wants to go there. The startup founder who values…
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Stress Balls.
Some time ago, some people (read: entrepreneurs) I follow on Twitter posed a seemingly innocuous question. What drives us, as so-called entrepreneurs, to do what we do? Is it hubris? Ego? Is it an out-sized and unrealistic view of one's abilities? For most of us, choosing this life also means the opportunity cost we…
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Do You Know About Galau?
I was just telling someone tonight: I force myself to meet a different stranger in Jakarta every single day that I'm here. Even if I'm exhausted after work (which I usually am), I try to meet a new person, or eat a new food. Go to a new area. The first time I lived outside of Singapore was when I moved to Dubai in 2007…
22 posts tagged "indonesia"