Going Out

Food and Drink

The staple diet for most Indonesians is nasi (rice), which is replaced on some islands with corn, sago, cassava and sweet potatoes. Indonesians like their food highly spiced - look out for the tiny and fiery hot red and green peppers often included in salads and vegetable dishes. Seafood is a regular feature on menus (with salt and freshwater fish, lobsters, oysters, prawns, shrimp, squid, shark and crab all available). Coconuts are often used for cooking. A feature of Jakarta is the many warungs (street stalls); each specialises in its own dish or drink.

National specialities:
• Rijsttafel (a Dutch-invented smorgasbord of 12 various meat, fish, vegetable and curry dishes, sometimes served by 12 ‘maidens’).
• Sate (chunks of beef, fish, pork, chicken or lamb cooked on hot coals and dipped in peanut sauce).
• Rendang (west Sumatra; buffalo coconut curry).
• Gado-gado (Java; a salad of raw and cooked vegetables with peanut and coconut milk sauce).
• Babi guling (Bali; roast suckling pig).

National drinks:
• Es (ice drinks with syrups, fruits and jellies).
• Brem (Bali; rice wine).
• Tuak (palm-sap wine, a famously potent local brew).
• Arak (rice or palm-sap wine).
• Kelapa muda (young coconut juice).

Legal drinking age: 18 (minimum purchasing age: 16).

Tipping: 10% is normal unless service charge is already included in a restaurant bill.

Nightlife

Jakarta nightclubs feature international singers and bands. Jakarta has many cinemas, and some English-language and subtitled films are shown.

Dancing is considered an art, encouraged and practised from very early childhood, and dances are based on ancient legends and stories from religious epics. Dances include the Legong, a slow, graceful dance of divine nymphs; the Baris, a fast moving, noisy demonstration of male, warlike behaviour; and the Jauk, a riveting solo offering by a masked and richly costumed demon. Many consider the most dramatic of all to be the famous Cecak (Monkey Dance) which calls for 100 or more very agile participants. Larger hotels, particularly in Bali, put on dance shows accompanied by the uniquely Indonesian Gamelan Orchestras.

Throughout the year, many local moonlight festivals occur; tourists should check locally. Indonesian puppets are world famous and shows for visitors are staged in various locations.

Shopping

Favourite buys are batik cloth, ikat fabrics, woodcarvings and sculpture, silverwork, woven baskets and hats, bamboo articles, krises (small daggers), paintings and woven cloth. At stalls and small shops, bartering might be necessary.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sun 0900-2100; some shops have shorter hours on Sundays. Most local markets open either very early in the morning or at dusk. In the smaller towns, shops may close between 1300 and 1700.