Kzenon Überforward

Indonesia, as such, is not a bad place to be. Even though a lot of things do not work as we mere mortal Westerners might think they should work and other things do not work at all there are small miracles that make you cheer and happy to be here. One of those is “Bintang Zero”, a “non-alcoholic malt” of “international quality” (or so the label says) which even the brewery does not dare to call “beer”. “Zero” gets raving reviews on ratebeer.com. Reviewers note that it is “not unpleasant as such, but very, very unusual” and analyze the aroma as consisting of “rotting pineapple with stale butter”. Others are less enthusiastic, remarking very wittily to be “glad [they] did not swallow it” or calling it simply “perhaps the worst beer in Indonesia, even cold”, which is probably true.

Small wonder I recently developed a knack for it. Lucky I am that the Oakwood Ranchmarket just opposite to our building has the drink in stock. Basically as the only non-alcoholic beer-like thing. The market for such things seems to be small in a overwhelmingly Muslim country where beer and wine is plenty. I shall not wonder.

I absolutely love looking at skylines. For some reason it gives my ego a better proportion to the whole than it usually has and strangely enough I very much enjoy this mixture of humility and transcendence. The theory (remember the punch cake) goes otherwise but I pretend not to know. Having been headquartered most of my time in Munich, Germany, where the local people voted to ban high-rise buildings, I did not have a chance that often.

So it is very fortunate that currently I happen to live in the 18th floor of a nice building with a view on Jakarta’s Menteng (I think, probably I am wrong) skyline. It is rainy season – and very much so – but still there are some clear days. As most skylines this one also is much more impressive by night but I still have to find a decent tripod somewhere an then shall come back to that issue.