[Soma]

At Fisto's request I finally got around to writing up some Jakarta data, which the forum is sorely lacking.

Regarding lodging, You want to be located as close as possible to Jalan Sudirman. All the best nightlife is located off this thoroughfare and it's the quickest way to get around at night. Due to a large influx of Asian investors and consequent strained supply of rooms, hotels are poor value for money in Jakarta. OTOH, you can find great deals on Airbnb. Serviced apartments are another possibility, though Airbnb still beats them.

Jakarta100Bars is a great, comprehensive site with lots of info about the nightlife and dating culture. It's written by a French guy who would fit in well at RVF. Read this first. For alternative suggestions, see here.

Soma's top nightlife suggestions (a few months out of date, but venues don't change that often):
- Immigrant: NYC style lounge. Had good success here with the mid-20s crowd. Celebrity sightings common. Probably my favorite spot.
- X2: Big warehouse-type club playing house and electro. Most expat hookup stories originate here.
- Dragonfly: Wednesday (IIRC) is models night with the local girls looking for foreign boyfriends. Your competition is dorky oil & gas engineers dressed in chinos and striped shirts. And they're still pulling.

When those fail and you want to shore:
- BATS: Professional expats and high-class hos in a 5-star hotel.
- CJ's: Same as BATS.

Wildcards:
- Skye: Great view with a good setup. People pre-game here before heading out before midnight. Celebrity sightings common. Good to ask around where the best parties are later that night.
- Domain: I never personally went here as it was temporarily closed the nights I tried, but Jakarta100Bars ranks it the #1 pickup spot in Jakarta.

Overhyped venues:
- Red Square: Used to be the place for local good girls looking for foreign guys, but now packed with lame pros.
- Loewy: A see-and-be-seen place with terrible setup for pickup.
- Blowfish: Young, rich, insular Indo-Chinese crowd with no interest in foreigners.

Also, check out Stadium in Kota once for the experience, nowhere else quite like it. It's not a club per se, but rather an "entertainment complex", meaning combined nightclub, brothel and drug den packed with all sorts of interesting, sketchy characters. Many locals are afraid to step foot in the place. If you're there alone the mamasans will push their working girls on you - quite attractive but all heavily loaded up on ecstasy and/or happy-5. Standing on different parts of the dance floor indicates different things, e.g. gay area, mongering area, etc. Everyone is fucked up on drugs and wearing sunglasses. Quite an odd place.

Lastly, keep in mind with the upper class Indo girls, although they want it, a ONS is less likely as they can't appear too slutty in front of their friends. However, first date bang is pretty much guaranteed, barring a complete fuckup.

Enjoy!