Drinking Brunello in Jakarta

Posted on 2009/06/20 06:30:13 (June 2009).

[Friday 19th June 2009]

Brunello di Montalcino is one of the wines that we produce in Tuscany, it is considered to be one of the best around Italy, undergoes 5 year ageing in a oak barrel and all in all is the type of drink that normally here in Asia is not well known.

Since when you travel you meet a lot of interesting people, I had to see it coming sooner of later, that I was to find some Asians that actually know and like this type of drink!

Let's take a step back, I am in Indonesia, for the first time in my life, and I decided to spend an extra day here to take a look around, grab the feeling of the city while not working.

My client is taking care of everything, from passport controls at the airport (he has people that know people that get you through passports in 4 minutes flat instead of having to wait hours in a queue), to transportation and of course meals.

The country is what I would describe a typical southern Asian country, there is a very big gap between the rich and the poor, but the degree of progress is stunning if I compare it to other places that I have been. You can find anything you like here, all the major chains, brands, goods are not just represented, are everywhere.

Of course that is the spanky Jakarta that we are talking about, there is also another Jakarta that lives near polluted gutters full of still water (and mosquitoes), that earns 60 dollars a month, that runs on mopeds that I dare say are keeping together with a lot of glue and good helping of faith.
Corruption is widely accepted and practiced at all levels, but that doesn't surprise me as in Pizzaland things used to be like that and now they are a bit less under the sun.

Indonesia is a Muslim country, so the minarets are everywhere, but the general feeling that I have had is that it's much more easy going than other places like Morocco where we could feel not welcome in some places. Having said that there are a lot of police checks and in the places where we went to eat, or even at my hotel, you get really tight checks at the car and then before entering.
I guess that these checks are there just to make you feel more secure (they are carried over is a superficial way sometimes), in the end they are quite pointless (why sneak a bomb in from the main gate?!?!).

My client is a very cool guy, and so is his friend that was with us the first two nights. First of all their English is quite great so that helped communication a lot, and they are both young, we all studied abroad, and their mindset (probably because they hold very high positions in their respective companies) is very international.

It was them bringing up the Brunello story, and soon after, I was at a very nice restaurant, talking about life, experiences, ideas and dreams, eating a marvellously soft Aussie beef and sipping Brunello overlooking Jakarta by night.

And for a brief moment, all of a sudden, it felt like home...

Well business trips cannot always be stressful occasions!!! ;)

Compared to your previous business trip it seems that this one is going definetly better.

So you can finally stop complaining about your bad luck on trips :-)

Posted by Federico at 2009/06/21 15:41:21.

Fede: Crossing finger and touching all the wool and iron near me, let's say that this trip is a bit better than others.. Workwise is quite terrible but you cannot have everything I guess.. :P

Posted by Lox at 2009/06/21 16:19:59.

Post a comment