Apa Kabar?

Out of instinct in seeing a nicely designed magazine I picked up an issue of the latest Kabar, a magazine dedicated for expats in the country. For its extremely high content of “travel, experience, and taste” –their tag line- I dunno why I hadn’t pick them up earlier than that blessed day at Hero Kemang. It was indeed a blessed day for I could not be even happier to find that tasteful pics of hot men were gracing pages after pages in the name of art.

The topic of the month was Sarong and the City Guy. While traditionally I only found two uses of sarongs for the guys in the city: 1. To guard against bad-night-chills and mosquito-laden pos kamling when you have to help secure your community once in a while. 2. Ritual item to wear during prayers especially in the month of Ramadhan in Indonesia.



I didn’t give too much interest in sarongs except for one of those collectible batik peranakan style which are so goddamn gorgeous in some textile museum. But it all changed after seeing Hengky, Mike, Arie and Paul strutting their stuffs for the photographer. Now, I realized how a sarong would enhance your upper torso that you’ve worked so hard and create a mysterious aura of what lies beneath those sheer fabrics. How gay can you be? I asked. Furthermore, I bet Mr. Samuel Wattimena was having a blast when he had to contribute some of his intricate sarong works while also becoming the stylist for the shoots. Do I have enough reason to hate him now?

Moving on to the hunk with the cap above, he is not just some tourist jerk you’d find around Kuta or Jalan Jaksa. Amazingly, Brandon Hoover, was one of the photo contributor for the magazine for the travel section around Java and Bali. Ah, those arms… Must be the intense clicking of the shutter button to create such massive biceps… Hmm.. Find more on him at www.thejavajive.com . A.s.l: 28, m, Jakarta (since 2002).

Reading onto the sport section, it read: “Jiujitsu Hits Jakarta… with a Brazilian Flavour” Adorned with a cute picture of a Jiujitsu instructor. Yeah… they must’ve taken the pic somewhere just to decorate the page right? Wrong! Niko, the guy in the white kimono (duh!) is actually the instructor that would teach you personally (well, maybe not that personal!), hands-on, mano-a-mano if you’d join his class every Tuesday and Thursday in Pasaraya. Anyone?

For it seemed that this reading material was targetted towards horny ibu-ibu (ladies) expat or their closetted conterparts maybe I should read more of the incoming editions of this publication. Very refreshing, inspiring, and shall I say... perspiring?