Asia After Hours

Top Gun, Blok M, Jakarta, May 2011

Top Gun is the best place of Blok M.

The bar isn’t really that big, some people might expect it to be bigger. The girls are not top-notch but it is a laid-back place where you primarily go to have some more down-to-earth fun and get away from that “only-inside-huge-buildings”, all-round entertainment, hotel shit.

It was great to see some old faces again. It seems like almost everyone there had seen my “CGK : That bule is crazy” video in its original version. People at Blok M were almost “fighting” to buy me drinks. The perks of doing this site…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSphipiuKU

Popularity: 2%

CGK : That bule is crazy !

Blok M, here we go again. Top Gun is a place everyone has to check out when going there. This bar is more fun, raunchy and real than any normal, casual bar I have seen so far across whole South East Asia. One major difference in terms of girls is that the babes you see in the bar never are employed by the bar, they are all freelancers – their own boss. There is no barfine like most newbies would expect. I think in general I prefer a freelancer spirit over a bargirl number. It has advantages like having a girl who chose herself to stay with you, paying less maybe and not being hassled with barfines/drinks. Disadvantage is that the girls have their own will if things get messy, you have no place to complain to if you get into trouble somehow and the girls at Blok M are not as tame as the ones in PI and Thailand. The guys are also raw in general. Having a look at the characters at Top Gun, My Bar, D’s, ect…, you experience it’s a very different breed than in PI, Thailand – it’s the true Star Wars bar melting pot of cultures, races and characters….

The only real downer is the beer, I very much dislike Bintang and Heineken. You are forced to drink light beer like Corona and even that you don’t get always, sometimes you find yourself having a Carlsberg in your hand. It is humiliating.

The picture above shows CJ’s where I really had a great time. Hotel Mulia can be a lot fun, it was a mistake that I didn’t check it out earlier. I like it currently more than BATS. Red Square you also see in the video. Today they are celebrating their 5th anniversary. Red Square is always a big gamble, some nights are smashing, some just bore the shit out of you. The video displays Jakarta’s naughty nightlife.

Track of the video is “N.i.C.E.” / DJ Jack Tennis / Berlin Battery. It is a very positive mood track like the entire video :

http://www.vimeo.com/12322602

Popularity: unranked

Jakarta Underground : A tribute to Toni Wibisono

This is a tribute to my friend Toni, manager of Top Gun, Blok M, Jakarta. I was shocked when Lita told me in the Top Gun office that Toni had passed away a few weeks ago.  I got to know him as an extremely friendly, smart and down-to-earth person. He was very well informed and knew what was going on in the Jakarta underground.  It is a shame. He died too young, officially from a heart attack.

Now Lita and A. Haris are managing the place. They are not complaining but you can see that they must have suffered quiet a lot the past weeks. There is simply so much work to do and they don’t have that much staff. I really hope they are able to keep things rolling there. Lita and A. Haris are both under 30 years old I suppose. It won’t be easy. I like them very much and hope they can keep the spirit of Toni alive there.
Special thanks to Lita for always sharing time when I visit the place.

Here is the video :

http://www.vimeo.com/6727265

I also by chance  met the regional manager (area vice president) of the Hyatt Group in Jakarta. Mr. P. Stettler. He is from Switzerland. I saw him walking around  in the executive lounge, so I asked if he got 15 minutes for a chat which he had.
He is a serious and very capable manager. We mainly talked about the bombings. Of course in his position he is not able to really talk free and I fully understand that he has to remain political correct in some ways. But his facial expression told me that he sees important issues similar like me. He strongly agreed on that it is absolutely impossible to bring such bombs into the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton without the knowledge of several people and helpers in the hotel.
The management of the Grand Hyatt Jakarta in general is really cool. There is E. Hirawan, the No.2 guy of the hotel, half German half Indonesian. I observe him pretty often whenever staying in their hotel. We even one time flew in the same plane to Germany from Thailand.
Then there is F. Marigliano, an Italian guy, director of food and beverage and to round things up they have an Australian fitness trainer. When you see the management hanging out at Burgundy bar, it is a cool picture. A truely diverse team who are doing a fine job. They really make a good impression on me.
I actually didn’t plan for this, but I did quite a bit of business development in the hospitality sector in Indonesia and Thailand.
By chance I shortly exchanged contact info in Bangkok with R. Stampfer, the regional vice president of the Four Seasons. He is German and actually not that old yet. I hope to get to know him better. He appears to be friendly on my first impression.
Their spa in Bangkok is small but very good, managed by Jitrawan P.
I also got allowance from Mr. N. Dana, Jimbaran Bay Four Seasons, to shoot video there, which was pretty cool. Thanks also to Karma Kandara Bali staff and Grand Hyatt Bali.