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“Blow-Up Babies”: Quite possibly the most inappropriate name for a business? [photo]

Throughout Southeast Asia the English language is often misinterpreted, misrepresented, or massaged into new forms of communication through humorous signage. Take this one I captured as an example. Throughout the Philippines, and Manila especially, English is widespread and I have yet to see many humorous examples as I have so often seen in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Japan. Until today. Let me introduce you to a photo studio by the name of “Blow-Up Babies”.  Read more
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Post about Indonesian women and expat men has reached 221 comments

This post from nearly 5 years ago has certainly received a lot of feedback – currently at 221 comments. And there were many more comments not approved or moderated for various reasons (and I’m very lenient). It appears the nature of relationships between Asian women and foreigners is a hot topic. Unfortunately, the discussion also seems to breed hate, blatant racism, extreme generalizations, and the other crap that comes with the telling of peoples’ personal history. Each of these delicatelyRead more
23 Comments

Expat experiences: making new friends, approaching foreigners

The other day at the gym, a Chinese/Indonesian woman I know comes up to me and says, “Why don’t you ever talk to anyone at the gym?”, “And you always wear headphones, so no one can talk to you. And when you workout you don’t smile.” Those of you reading this from the States or similar countries will agree with me that this isn’t exactly something a gym-friend would normally ask you in America. (gym-friend is a term I coinedRead more
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Prison Break: Maids

John left this comment regarding my maid posting: “escape out the roof at midnight to ‘hang out’ with the construction workers” 🙂 seems like you’re turning into an old fart. I guess I may as well come out with the full story of this one. It’s Friday and there’s nothing better to talk about at the moment. My next door neighbor has two maids: one about 17 years old, cute but knows it, and one a couple years older andRead more
537 Comments

Western Men, Indonesian Women.

Thang D. Nguyen has written an interesting post and subsequent discussion in regards to Western men and Indonesian women. I’ll leave my own thoughts out of this one, but would be interested in hearing how Indonesian women feel after reading this. Here’s an excerpt from his post: As my friend and I sipped our coffees last Sunday afternoon at Plaza Indonesia, he asked, “Don’t you think that many of the Indonesian women that white foreigners (buleh) go out with orRead more